TheFoothillsForum

This has just started to affect them. Alt-A mortgages are starting default uin august as predicted.
From the WSJ -
"Home Depot Inc. said its second-quarter net profit fell 24% as the world's largest home-improvement retailer by sales struggled to sell big-ticket items due to the slowing U.S. economy and housing market."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1219140 ... s&ru=yahoo

The only 2 things that kept this drop in earnings from plunging even further was the stimulus checks and the seasonal sales. The next quarter won't have the benefit of either. Their only hope is a devastating hurricane season which even they admit they don't wish to profit from.
Their shareholders, or at least some of them, however, seem to be looking forward to a particularly brutal season.

In the 'birds of a feather' cagtegory, from Huffington Post:

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.

"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it."

.........
full story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/2 ... 61248.html

Here we go again, latest presidential give-away
of our scarce tax dollars to be "redistributed":

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_ ... efficiency

The White House hopes the appeal of the retrofitting program — which some administration officials have dubbed Cash for Caulkers — will be similar to the now-expired Cash for Clunkers program, which offered rebates for trading in used vehicles for more fuel-efficient ones. At a White House jobs forum earlier in the month, Obama told Home Depot chairman Frank Blake that home improvement companies would be key partners in this program.

Why is this BAD news?

As the owner of a house built in 1933 and a person who tries to be kind to the environment and a person who wants to give the oil-producing nations LESS of my money, I am thrilled by this news.

Here's another article with some analysis of the Cash for Caulkers program. I agree it sounds like a good thing. Just because Home Depot may profit from selling more things doesn't make it a bad program. Lots of others stand to benefit, too, plus it should lead to more effecient energy usage long term

See: http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/2009/121 ... kers-going

Thanks Sharon. A big plus would be putting people to work. With proper oversight, some of the millions of unemployed will have something to do. It does not take an engineering degree to learn to caulk and insulate. I think of just the teens and young adults I know who do not have a marketable skill but are willing and able to learn a skill but can not find work. Cash for Caulkers is a chance for some of them to do something good for the enviornment, the homeowners and especially themselves.

And as you all have heard, my kitchen was completely destroyed by a leak form my 1 1/2 year old LG refrigerator. State Farm and their contractors prefer to use Home Depot. I have been happy with the service I've received from them and happy, most of all, to drive to San Fernando to use their services. Now that they do not want to move to Sunland, I do not view them as the enemy any longer. They employ A LOT of people.

Hmm. Cash for caulkers.
They could use Tiger Woods as the spokesmen.
He is currently unemployed.