The news story on KRCR made me choke: Amid the economic troubles facing the north state — and, hell, all states — there was a bright spot, they reported on the 11 p.m. news. Starbucks, that Utopian mix of caffeine and calories, posted fourth quarter earnings.
That was it. Earnings posted. A bright spot in the economy. End of story.
Yahoo, let’s whip out the double lattes, cap ‘em off with a morning bun and browse the “Way I See It” quotes on the brewer’s paper cups.
And while doing so, don’t pay any mind to the 1,000 employees who were shed from the coffehouse’s payrolls amid a 97 percent income decline and the shuttering of some 225 stores.
Correct my math, if I’m mistaken, but doesn’t a negative, added to another negative, give you an even larger negative number? That’s to say add 1,000 shredded employees (-1,000) to 225 shuttered stores (-255) and the final equation (-1,000 + -225) doesn’t exactly pencil out into positive territory — for anyone, especially the unemployed baristas.
Voodoo Wall Street math. Too bad it doesn’t count people into the equation. And too bad that a local news source didn’t get past the press release. I mean, I wonder what the newly unemployed baristas (who are they? College kids? Moms? Dads? Folks trying to cobble together a living amid economic collapse?) would think about their former employer’s profit margins.
New York Times story about Starbucks’ profits here.
And don’t even get me started on newspaper profits, although the AP has an interesting article about the profitable E.W. Scripps Co., which made $14 million last quarter and is shedding 400 jobs in an effort to protect future profits, story here. (You’ll recall that my — present — employer is owned by E.W. Scripps.)
-Christy
Filed under: TV, conversation | Tagged: E.W. Scripps, economy, KRCR, layoffs, profits, Redding, Starbucks
