However, the SPH program put a lot of pressure on store managers and sales. In 2010, a large group of the R&R associates sued it for “working off the clock”. This lawsuit might cause reputation damage, and the settlement is up to $200 million. In 2008-2009 before the case, there was an economic recession. The whole luxury goods industry in the U.S. dropped over 14%, and R&R revenues declined 10%.
Unemployment and Its Impact On American Cities Michael Collins Marygrove College Abstract The United States, its cities, and regions for decades have been trying to maintain low unemployment rates. It is a well know fact that the economy in America is facing tough times and many companies are being forced to pass out pink slips. As a result, America and its cities have being confronted with some of the highest unemployment rates in the 21st Century. Politicians have employed many strategies and ideologies to help regulate the unemployment rate. Unfortunately, over the past 10 years these strategies and ideologies have failed.
This subject is near and dear to my heart because my husband was laid off several times during this period and has still been laid off now for nearly a year. “According to the spotlight on poverty and opportunity, “The national recession of 2007-2009 has taken a very substantial toll on American workers. From the final quarter of 2007 through the last quarter of 2009, the number of employed civilians 16 and over declined by more than 8 million; the number of unemployed more than doubled, as did the number of the employed working part-time for economic reasons (the “underemployed”); and a growing number of persons who wanted work but could not find it withdrew from active labor force participation (the so-called “labor force reserve”). In the fourth quarter of 2009, nearly 28.9 million persons, or 18.2 percent of all U.S. workers, were unemployed, underemployed, or a member of the labor force reserve, the highest such ratio since the beginning quarter of 1983”. According to Richard Posner, “A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of 08 and the Descent into Depression, Harvard, University Press, Cambridge, 2009” the facts and causes that were identified to perpetuate this great recession were an excess savings flowing in from Asia and the reckless lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve Board; the relation between executive compensation, short-term profit goals and the risky lending; the housing bubble fuelled by lower interest rates, aggressive mortgage
On the other hand, some would disagree and argue that the cause of homelessness is because the economy is bad. Every time the economy goes south, the cost of living remains the same or goes up. For example, when the economy is bad, a large number of people always lose their jobs. With job loss, there is always the threat of becoming homeless if they cannot find another job
After a while, there were less people who had good credit and were eligible for a mortgage. In order for mortgage brokers, lenders, investment bankers, and investors to continue to make their money, they needed people who were going to buy houses or else they would not be able to maintain their large amounts of income. They decided to accept unqualified mortgage applicants. This added risk to the mortgage and made it inevitable that the homeowners would default on their mortgage resulting in the house foreclosing where the investment banker could then put the house up for sale. This cycle continued to happen which caused houses to lose their value bringing down the other houses around them.
As same as the case study said, Alex and his company had been having very tough time. “… when the American economy was just falling into a recession caused by the combination of the bursting of the telecom and dot.com bubble and the terrorist attacks of September 11” (CAMERON AUTO PARTS (A). Financial condition of Cameron Auto was precarious. The case study mentioned that the sales in 1990 are dropped and the Cameron Auto continued to lose the money in 1990 and in the first six months 1991. In addition, strong competition in auto industry is kind of reason that reducing the Cameron Auto’s Sales.
Many times people face poverty because they lack the means to move up in life. This barrier often times comes from lack of education. In many areas instances, children never even make it out of high school because their presence is needed to work and help the family survive. Seniors are often faced with many challenges which lead them to fall into poverty. Companies are known to let seniors over 50 go from their jobs.
Employees are losing their; 401(k) accounts, pension plans, and their social security benefits. With that said, families are forced to put their homes up for sale for more affordable living in our struggling economy. Our political leaders have failed to see the severity of this recession and warn us that recovery is unlikely by the end of this year. There is refusal to reveal the growth predictions, but forecasters say that the economy could shrink by as much as 3% this
With the economy in the shape it is, it makes those full-time jobs seem like only part-time jobs. “We are spending more money fighting poverty than ever before, yet poverty is up,” said Michael D. Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “Clearly we are doing something wrong.”( Poverty Stats Show the Damage) Specialists say the government needs to rethink their calculations of poverty. According to Carol Morello’s article, “Poverty Stats Show the Damage,” about 44 million Americans (one in seven) lived in homes at the poverty level. For a family of four that level is $22,000 annually or less.
The economy is changing and people change their minds about almost everything all of the time. It would be pointless for the company to make their final decision and then 5 years down the line, the company starts to lose money because the economy is no longer the same. Right now a lot of people do not want SUV’s and trucks. The customers choose to go the other way because right now, the only thing that customers can think about is gas prices. This is an economy issue.