Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCXXXVII

Scott Walker stagnated the state's economy to the point of anemia.  People that are lucky enough to still have jobs are finding their take home pay smaller.  The predictable result is that people spend less.  And when people spend less, the economy takes another spiral downwards.

And when the economy takes another downward spiral, the results are becoming all too familiar:
The JCPenney store at Regency Mall in Racine will close during the first quarter of 2015, a spokesman for the company said today.

“As we continue our turnaround, an important part of our work is identifying opportunities that enable JCPenney to maximize long-term growth and profitability. Doing so is essential to meeting our long-term goals for future company growth. While it’s never an easy decision to close stores, especially due to the impact on our valued associates and customers, we feel this is a necessary business decision,” said JCPenney spokesman Joey Thomas.

The company has no plans to close other stores in Wisconsin, Thomas said.

The JCPenney store closure is another major blow for Regency Mall, which lost its Sears store that closed in January.
In other words, people weren't spending enough for the story to remain viable and so they decided to cut their losses. This means more lost jobs and even less money in the economy.

I am truly at a loss to see how this is a good thing at all.

16 comments:

  1. Why would good companies stay or move to WI after they saw what Walker does to good WI businesses like Trek.

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    1. Plus it's given the remaining companies much more leverage and power since they know no one is going to relocate or start up in Wisconsin. Look for more subsidy demands and regulation-bending requests or they'll be moving/cutting employees.

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    2. Or new businesses like Talgo...

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  2. I rushed back to WI to vote after traveling to Iowa to bury my father on Monday. When I got back, I discovered that despite having voted in the primary and school board election, I had been purged from the voting rolls. I had to reregister to vote (thank god for election day registration) and learned that at my rural polling place they'd registered 150 voters that day. Mostly "new" voters like myself who were very surprised they were no longer on the ballot.

    I received no notification of this election. I very strongly suspect they mailed it to my physical address where I do not receive mail, ignoring my post office box. This is voter caging, preying on new voters because they are most likely Democrats. It is putrid and thank god for Doug LaFollette because I will be filing a complaint about this.

    Since moving to WI I couldn't understand why the govt only wanted my street address where I cannot receive mail. Now I know. The Southern Democrats have completed their takeover of the Republican party, and now cheat and spend their way to victory.

    God save Wisconsin because no one else can.

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  3. Wisconsin voted them in, they deserve what it entails.

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  4. Probably nothing to do with an increase in online shopping huh?

    By the way, still waiting for the post specifically regarding the ass whooping handed to liberals last night.

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  5. The fact that you'd use JCPenney in an example to highlight the WI economy does nothing but highlight your ignorance of the global retail economy, the demise of brick & mortar operations, the downfall of store-based big box soft good retailers, and the advent/growth of the online economy. The inability of firms like JCPenney to adjust to consumer buying patterns has nothing to do with the local Racine economy. If you argument were to hold any water, JCPenney would be pulling completely out of WI, while still maintain and growing operations in other states. The drop in spending at the local JCPenney store, will be more than replaced by the distribution dollar flow and wages at the Amazon DCs down the road.

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    1. You need to study Retail. Stores close where sales are low and more importantly, market pontential is low. Amazon is embracing automation. Don't bet on those low wage jobs sticking around past the end of the decade. One of the most pig ignorant tax subsidy deals ever made. Bezos must shake his head over how easy the game can be played here.

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    2. retail sales are low where demand is low. Its that simple and in Wisconsin our demand is lagging behind.

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    3. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Not only have I studied, I've done work with jcp and other major retailers. The Racine closure is a culmination of a number of factors, but can be primarily chalked up to a store owner that's lost it's way with the American consumer and a local mall that's lost it's way with the local consumer (a la Northridge). If, as you wish, this were state specific, there would be a mass pullback. There isn't, and it's not. And if you knew anything about Amazon, you'd know they embrace full automation in a very small part of their distribution business. Picking labor will be a mainstay of their operations for a long time to come.

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  6. Nothing says ass whuppin' like going to vote in your second election in three months and discovering you've been purged from the voter rolls. Over a hundred people had to reregister at my polling place. Multiply that by the number of polling places in Kenosha County and you just might find out where the Republican margin of victory came from.

    Because if it's worth winning, it's worth cheating for, right Corey?

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  7. The same two chains left Fond du Lac's Forrest Mall in this past year. Kohls and Younkers are still open. Many established, locally-owned businesses have also recently closed. The retail stores had been here 30+ years, serving the needs of lower- and middle-income shoppers, as well as providing jobs for people who spend at local businesses.
    The online economy has been around since the 1990s. If the online economy and consumer buying patterns have changed so much, our local economy would have shut down long ago.
    Just maybe the obvious causes of poor responses to dealing with the financial meltdown of 2007-08, followed by mass-austerity measures with laws like Acts 10 to further constrain demand for local goods and services has had that effect on our local economy. WalMart coming to Fond du Lac also had a vastly detrimental effect on locally-run retail business.
    Brick and mortar will always will always be here because all people have to spend locally to live.
    Those that aren't rich spend a much larger portion of their income, and a large portion of income is spent locally.

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  8. Capper, you got taken to the wood shed again by Gov Walker, please keep doing what your doing. Wisconsinites don't want to here your gloom and doom, the majority wants to keep the this path Gov Walker has laid out.

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    1. The Dark Money that elected Wisconsin Republicans ran on a Hate Democrats platform. The Wisconsin Republican Dark Money puppets did not articulate an agenda. We are yet to find out what the puppets will do. My bet is they will raise the sales tax and cut income taxes and property taxes. This would shift the tax burden onto lower incomes. I find it incredible how many of those who will pay higher taxes if this happens voted for Walker and Republicans. Republicans did launch a trial balloon for this tax shift not too long ago. There was not too much protest from those who were going to be screwed.

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  9. Dern right, wur gonna make Wisconsin a wurld klass power on minimun wage and no publec edukation. Vote Republikan.

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