The end of Twinkies.
That last poll choice was, in fact, a big favorite in my childhood home. We used the expression "sneaking up on Mommy" to refer making and eating what we called sugar sandwiches. They were good! Feel free to use my recipe. Unfortunately, you won't be able to use Wonder Bread for your soft white bread, because that brand is going down too in The Wreck of the Twinksperus.
१६ नोव्हेंबर, २०१२
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१७७ टिप्पण्या:
Enough with the gay code words.
My regret: When Hostess took over the Drake's Cakes brand, they reworked the recipes so the products were less unhealthful - although I loved Drake's apple pies, Yodels, Ring Dings, etc., they were originally loaded with trans fats. Hostess lowered the fat content without destroying the flavor of the snacks.
Now it's all gone.
I love Twinkies. This is ridiculous. Thanks, Unions.
Didn't you heat the bread under the broiler? So the sugar caramelized? Yum.
The good thing is, Twinkies in existence will last forever
The Twinktanic- it's unsinkable!
The right to make twinkies and other hostess 'goodies' will likely be sold in the liquidiation process. So, maybe we haven't seen the last of twinkies etc.
I used to sort of enjoy those Hostess pies. They made a lemon one. It must be about 25 years since I last had one. Doubt I'd still like 'em, I don't have much of a sweet tooth.
A family story from when my brother and I had a paper route: We had to ride to the next neighborhood to pick up and deliver the papers. My older brother would put the papers together, and I'd ride down to the store to buy candy and Hostess stuff to eat before we delivered the papers. Of course we knew that Mom didn't approve - she'd never allow that stuff at home, so it was all surreptitious. As luck would have it, one day as I was walking out of the store, dear Mom was walking in. She apparently guessed by the look on my face what was in the bag, grabbed it and looked to see the loot! Oops.
None of the poll options would survive a nuclear apocalypse like a twinkie. We're all doomed!
I go for the soft white bread option, since it most closely describes myself.
A spoonful of frozen Cool-Whip is always a good treat.
Somewhere, Pete Wells is laughing.
It's hard to imagine someone won't eventually produce Twinkies again. But it may be overseas.
Did you ever see the expiration date on Wonder bread? It's right there on the side: "Hey, pal, you should live so long."
- Jay Leno
Also...sprinkle cinnamon on top and toast it in the broiler!
Twinkies probably will be back under different ownership. They still own the brand and are not bankrupt. I'm sure the union can get financing to buy the brand and maybe some of the production assets. Then the union can have fun running the company for the workers.
You mean companies don't exist to keep unions employed?
When I was a kid, my mother used to make homemade bread. We didn't have much money, and so she made home-made everything. Hand-me-downs and canned everything.
I wanted white Wonder Bread - like the other kids.
I thought Wonder Bread was something special. I had no idea that home-made bread was something special.
I have this odd memory (a memory I don't necessarily trust) where my dad and i get out a slice of white bread, slather it in Miracle Whip and sprinkle it with white sugar. Yum. er I mean - yuck.
WTF?
Geeez, 10:25 AM and I'm ready for the bourbon.
No more Twinkies?
Damn.
On the bright side, the rich won't be getting any richer
Twinkies were good, but the Hostess Cupcakes get the edge. Really it's like who was better, Nolan Ryan or Bob Feller? Quisp or Quake?
This is going to hit the State Fair Deep Fried Twinkie Cartel hard.
Businesses. Jobs. Who needs em'?
We can have corrupt unions killing it all off for the common good.
We also did the sugar-sprinkled-on-buttered-white-bread snack.
During rhubarb season, we would put a large amount of white sugar in the palm of a hand, and dip a stalk of rhubarb into it, consume a bite, re-dip, etc.
Hostess is going Galt.
Fr. Martin, perhaps you would be amused to hear that after the above referenced story, my Mother insisted that I go to confession. I was a little uncertain how to classify the sin, so after some discussion with the Priest, we went under some general dishonesty and disobedience. I sort of tried to argue my case ("she never really said don't do this...") but was shot down pretty quickly.
I can only imagine, but I would think that some kids' confessions are a little on the amusing side.
Where I grew up, in a small town in Iowa not far from the Wisconsin border, we put butter and brown sugar on a piece of bread and then heated it up in our small toaster oven. Really good. Sadly, I haven't had one of those since then, back when I was still wearing Bart Starr tennies. Damn. I'm all growed up.
If you're in the mid-Atlantic region, Tastykake Krimpets are pretty good substitutes for Twinkies.
Remember when they said if you buried a Twinkie, 200 years from now it would still be a Twinkie? We need to start digging some Twinkie tombs. For posterity.
FYI, only use real canned whip cream in the bedroom.
Union members voting to kill their own jobs. They're stupid enough to be Democrats, yessir.
All that sugared lard inside a twinkie. I can't imagine my grandchildren not knowing the joy.
I've had a Twinky or two in my life, but I've never been a Twinky eater, to make a distinction.
In the movie ZOMBIELAND, Woody Harrelson plays a hard-bitten survivor and implacable zombie-killer whose one great goal is to find an extant cache of Twinkies somewhere in the blighted post-human world, as they remind him of the world "pre-zombie."
Unions cannibalize their jobs; in California they've cannibalized the state's future; they'll do the same to America.
The America they'll create won't be worth having.
And Americans aren't smart enough to stop them.
We always sprinkled a little cinnamon on our sugar sandwiches. Toast it sometimes.
Twinkies, Choom Gang, and upcoming marijuana legislation. Hm. Somehow all of this ought to tie together, right?
On That 70's Show, there was an episode where Red was verbally kicking Eric and Hyde's ass when they were all choomed out. But our fellas were oblivious to Red's ass-kicking because they were focused on the Twinkie on the counter behind Mr. Foreman.
No Tastykakes option?
Shame on you, Ann.
A girl from right outside Philadelphia and you said nothing about the best snack cakes ever?
Scott said...
If you're in the mid-Atlantic region, Tastykake Krimpets are pretty good substitutes for Twinkies.
Substitute?
You must be joking. Krimpets are and always were a superior product.
It's like saying Wise Potato Chips are the same as any other.
Chocolate Hostess cupcakes were my favorite rare packaged baked good indulgence.
Also, Wonder Bread makes a kid-pleasing whole wheat white bread. (How? I dunno. Science!)
I feel bad for the people who didn't vote for the strike and the people who didn't get a say in the matter. I wonder if any of them voted against their class interests with the strike, to turn the phrase.
White bread, toasted, with butter, sugar and cinnamon
MMMMMM
Vicki from Pasadena
Old Dutch potato chips are much better.
And the best French Onion chip dip, bar none, is Bison, made in upstate New York.
Too bad their markets are mutually exclusive.
We're supposed to care we can't get our Twinkies? As if we never heard of ...
Circus Peanuts.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
We still got Little Debbie's!
Ding Dongs, Hostess is dead.
Patrick:
I can only imagine, but I would think that some kids' confessions are a little on the amusing side.
I can't say.
Diamond celebrates people out of work.
Scott said...
Old Dutch potato chips are much better.
Not in a million years.
No love for Ho-Ho's?
Loved them as a kid ... my grandman always had them. Came wrapped in actual foil for a long time until the stupid plastic/foil hybrid bags came about.
Better (and less sweet) than anything that bitch Little Debbie makes.
No love for Ho-Ho's? Loved them as a kid ... my grandman always had them. Came wrapped in actual foil for a long time until the stupid plastic/foil hybrid bags came about.
HoHo's are the only Hostess crap I really liked. It was fun to pick the chocolate off first, then unroll 'em.
And the best French Onion chip dip, bar none, is Bison, made in upstate New York.
I think some Wisconsinites would take offense to that.
However, I prefer Heluva Good -- also made in New York state.
We used to have Lawson's Chip Dip -- really good stuff -- but you have to dig around to find it.
Make your own Twinkies: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/twinkling-good-vanilla-snack-cakes-recipe
Oh, Fr. Martin, I know you can't say, but I'd still wager you've had an amusing one or two in your day.
For my younger brother's First confession, he tells me he sort of choked, and couldn't remember his sins, so he made some up! The next month, he went in and confessed that one. My son was amused to hear that one hours before his first confession last year!
HoHo's are the only Hostess crap I really liked.
Me too. Twinkies never captured my taste bud fancy.
Fruit Pies were hit and miss. (Cherry and maybe Lemon)
Headline:
Unions Kill the Twinkie. Urban Cops Hardest Hit.
Is there a Sno Ball's chance in hell that the Twinkie defense will survive this calamity?
Came wrapped in actual foil for a long time until the stupid plastic/foil hybrid bags came about.
Yes, I think the foil actually had lead in it. Like the tinsel we used to hang on our Christmas tree.
Diamond celebrates people out of work.
Honestly, edutcher, what difference does it make? You've GUARANTEED us that the American economy will collapse any day now and that we need someone like George W. Bush to save it, just like he did before.
Or do you have a set of dumber theories to replace the ones you were posting yesterday?
I thought the line 'Parasite kills Host(ess)' worked pretty well.
I agree that many of these products will return after the recipes (and brand names) are licensed to other bakers. Hostess will never run a bakery again. They'll be the Apple of snack foods.
Yes, I think the foil actually had lead in it. Like the tinsel we used to hang on our Christmas tree.
You mean to say those things weren't healthy? Say it ain't so..
I will make my own twinkies and cream filled cupcakes. It isn't hard. And the store versions aren't nearly as good as they used to be anyway since they eliminated transfat, which was one of the stabilizing ingredients in the cream filling. I haven't bought an actual Hostess product in years and years, so...I won't miss them.
I have a good recipe for home made whoopie pies too. Full of chocolate, sugar and calories nom nom nom. Nanny Bloomberg would crap his pants.
Love those names.....twinkie....whoopie.
BTW: I bet the striking bakery union goons are really populuar now in Irving Texas :-)
Jake Diamond said...
Diamond celebrates people out of work.
Honestly, edutcher, what difference does it make? You've GUARANTEED us that the American economy will collapse any day now and that we need someone like George W. Bush to save it, just like he did before.
Never said we needed Dubya. The Romster would do nicely.
Just pointed out he did a Hell of a lot better with the bad economic hand he was dealt.
Or do you have a set of dumber theories to replace the ones you were posting yesterday?
No theories, facts.
That's why Diamond has to come here and shoot off his mouth.
If they shout long enough and loud enough, they think they discredit people.
BTW, I note no rebuttal that Diamond is happy the unions closed Hostess.
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year from the people who brought you death panels, Sandy, and Benghazi.
The world will little note, nor long remember, the passing of Twinkies and HoHos.
Surely foods with an indefinate shelf life and high sugar contents shall ever not perish from the earth?
If a HoHo were called a Lincoln Log, would it still be a HoHo?
In any case, the shelf life of a Twinkie is such that even if production ended forever one might still see them (in the original wrapper!) offered for decades to come on eBay.
BTW, Hostess Brands (which was formed by a merger with Continental Bakeries) has been in decline for decades, as brands such as Wonder Bread and Butternut Bread have declined (presumably due to consumers' unwillingness to pay premium prices for these rather ordinary products).
And there's been a sea change in food production that has killed off union shops. The change is a shift from in-house production to contract manufacturing- which is rarely unionized.
It's not just store-brand and private label foods that are made by contract manufacturers; even major brands (e.g., Sara Lee) outsource their production to contract manufacturers.
It's a shame this Bakers Union just does not understand that it can't preserve costly, in-house production in its unionized plants after most competitors have moved to lower cost contract manufacturing.
EMD said...
And the best French Onion chip dip, bar none, is Bison, made in upstate New York.
I think some Wisconsinites would take offense to that.
However, I prefer Heluva Good -- also made in New York state.
We used to have Lawson's Chip Dip -- really good stuff -- but you have to dig around to find it.
The Blonde introduced me to Lawson's. She felt about it the was you do.
Couldn't see what the excitement was about.
Best dip ever was Breakstone's. Only around a little in the 70s.
Oh please don't let Little Debbie's buy Ding Dongs.
I don't think the world is ready for Little Debbie's Ding Dongs.
Kay & Ray's potato chips are superior to any other bagged chips. It's all about lard!
I can't say I'll miss Hostess products. I'm not much for sweets, and if I am going to have sweets, I prefer something delicious, not corn-syrup-soaked cellulose sponges injected with expanded polyurethane foam.
I'll bet those workers will miss their jobs, though. Oh well.
I wanted white Wonder Bread--like the other kids.
I thought Wonder Bread was something special. I had no idea that home-made bread was something special.
To quote Ray Stevens: Everything is beautiful, in its own way.
I'll miss their pies. Now, with Hubig's temporarily out the picture, I'll have to find another avenue for my pie fix.
White bread with butter & sugar - that's my family life in the 50's & 60's - ugh! We were a large family, no money for snacks (and I don't think there was as large a variety of junk food as there is now). Anyway, if we expressed the desire for something to eat before supper, Mom's suggestion was always bread with butter & sugar on it. Which imputed to basically nothing to eat until supper (and there was always dessert with supper).
Bottom line, "have some bread with butter & sugar on it" was code for "you get nothing until supper time".
Never thought of the idea of toasting the bread. Back in the day, we didn't even have a toaster. Sometimes we would put a slice of bread on a long fork and hold it over the gas burner.
Now that I reflect on all this, I guess maybe my parents practiced some devious methods to feed such a large family.
Heluva Good is salty as hell.
Can? I haven't eaten whipped cream in several years—too high in fat for me now—but when I did, I would get actual cream, in a little carton, and put it into the blender, with a little powdered sugar and rum extract. Nothing like homemade!
Ew. This discussion is turning my stomach. Celery, anyone?
The actual shelf life of a Twinkie is less than one month.
LD already makes a Ding Dong knockoff. Or is it a Ho Ho knockoff?
Surely this is an opportunity for the administration to save the Twinkie. The government should save the bakery jobs!!!!! The Twinkie Industry!!!! Makes more sense in many respects than "saving' General Motors. Twinkies are a better product. People like and admire and eat Twinkies. Bakers are people too. Lots to be said for buying this company instead of investing in crappy solar panel makers.
I loved the Ding Dongs, especially when they're frozen. I hadn't bought any for years until one hot summer day I decided to pick up a box and freeze it. I was surprised they didn't taste as good as I remembered. They were on the dry side and the filling was different. I examined the box and found the reason...NO Transfats it proudly proclaimed.
After hunting around I found the Walmart brand is as good as the old Ding Dongs. I will miss the wonder bread though. Just had a sandwich using the last couple of slices.
I'll miss their pies. Now, with Hubig's temporarily out the picture, I'll have to find another avenue for my pie fix.
They've already been replaced with an "off brand" equivalent in the vending machines at work. And actually I think the new cupcakes are better. And theirs already multiple choices of powdered doughnuts. So I think we're pretty much covered.
LD already makes a Ding Dong knockoff. Or is it a Ho Ho knockoff?
Ho-Ho knockoff called Swiss Rolls. They're disgusting.
Corporations aren't people so who cares about any of this.
They used to have good chocolate donuts. Changed that formula, too.
Another run of bad luck, it's a shame.
edutcher -
I don't know what you were drinking or snorting yesterday, but you said some of the dumbest things I've ever read at Althouse (which is really saying something!). Let's review a few of them:
1. "Once the economy collapses, and it looks like any day now, the mob is going to turn and rend on all the little Lefties who helped make it possible."
2. "Dubya pulled us out of the economic mess Willie left us"
3. "Bottom line, the election was stolen."
Do you still believe all that lunacy?
Ho-Ho's and Suzy Q's will be missed, Twinkies not so much.
Indeed, what will Americans do for their sugar fix now? Oh wait!
C'mon. Give us some sugar, Shiloh.
Hark, the Hostess Bailout. Every Chevy Volt will now come with a Ho-Hos subscription.
Twinkies ~ Twinkies ~ Twinkies
Obama ~ Obama ~ Obama
Just wait 'til that Muslim born in Kenya outlaws Apple Pie !@#$%^&*
Jake -
Talk about Hostess products (or their competitors) or GTFO!
This is more evidence of Global Warming. Twinkie extinction is only the beginning.
I know that's not easy to understand since we have experienced 15 years of global cooling.
But you must believe right and triple the cost of living by carbon based energy excise taxes!
Maybe we could contract for prisoners to make them for us?
There are a number of now displaced employees huddled under a tent in the rain across the street from the local Hotess factory. Their jobs, factory and livlihood are gone and there they still stand with thier signs and the rain and the reporters and their sad befuddlement. Poor bastards.
--Hark, the Hostess Bailout. Every Chevy Volt will now come with a Ho-Hos subscription.--
And a dead tree subscription, too.
GOD YES, Rllyen, Hubigs is the best! I particularly love the coconut and the chocolate ones..
PS: I guess this means that they'll have to revise the lyrics to the song "I'm a junk-food junkie" now--calling Dr Demento!! lol
180000 people out of work, and jake diamond uses that as an opportunity to re-confirm his economic ignorance again...
18000 people who will now draw unemployment for 99 weeks.
After that, some will go on disability. Instead of working for the next 10-20 years as part of the effort to create objects with value, and therefore increase the wealth of the United States, these people will be supported by taxes, increasing the amount that future generations have to pay.
And the only workable idea I've seen from the left at all to fix this is to inflate away the debt, which spreads misery to everyone except the politically connected. It especially hurts the poor.
This will be happen again and again to other producers. This is the future the BOCOP voted for.
From ZeroHedge:
... because it wasn't really PE that was the pure evil in the Obama long-term campaign, it was associating PE with Republicans, and thus: with jobs outsourcing. And here comes the Hostess twist: because Tim Collins of Ripplewood, was a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters' long-term heartthrob Dick Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess). In other words, the traditional republican-cum-PE scapegoating strategy here will be a tough one to pull off since the narrative collapses when considering that it was a Democrat who rescued the firm, only to see it implode in a trainwreck that has resulted in the liquidation of a legendary brand, and 18,500 layoffs.......
And for those of you who will miss the Hostess Cupcakes.....try these. Black Bottom Cupcakes
As already stated by myself and Kelly, when they removed the fat and transfat from the recipes the products were just not the same. Dry, crumbly and cardboard like taste and texture. Thanks food Nazis for ruining something that was once an occasional guilty pleasure.
PS: The pineapple ones aren't bad either!
Has Michelle Obama commented on this?
As already stated by myself and Kelly, when they removed the fat and transfat from the recipes the products were just not the same. Dry, crumbly and cardboard like taste and texture.Thanks food Nazis for ruining something that was once an occasional guilty pleasure.
Jeez, it's not like making stuff with transfats is illegal, is it?
That's how capitalism works.
"Never eat a sugar sandwich in the wind"
---Ancient Native American Wisdom
You're so right about the fat/transfat bit, DBQ. The Food Nazis strike again. They'll not be satisfied until we've all been marched to virtue at bayonet-point..
New York City passes trans fat ban
Restaurants must eliminate artery-clogging ingredient by July 2008
You've already stated you're not curious, phx. If you were, you'd already know this.
Ding, Dong, The Twinkie is dead.
Mortician Harry said something farely logical about business?
Do tell........
Somehow I don't think the ban on transfats in NYC restaurants is the reason why you can't buy the old transfat products you long for.
If I post on the Internet about my affection for Little Debbie will I get on some list of deviants?
I was watching a show either on the food network or perhaps the travel channel that was filmed in Napa Valley. At one point a chef was shown a Ding Dong and was intrigued. (I believe he was not from the U.S. and had never encountered one before.)
He decided to recreate one without the massive amount of preservatives and using higher quality ingredients.
To do so he cut some rounds out of a chocolate sheet cake, put some home made whipped cream between two of the rounds and covered the whole thing in melted dark chocolate and then refrigerated the treat for an hour or so to allow the chocolate to solidify.
I have on occasion thought about trying this myself. But then I think, isn't a Ding Dong at least partially defined by the preservatives and cheap chocolate?
If I post on the Internet about my affection for Little Debbie will I get on some list of deviants?
Posting on Althouse comments section has already put you on a list of deviants.
Symptom.
Are you having a symptom, Seeing Red?
I'm sure Obama would like to help them out, but first the plan would have to clear the food police wing of the west wing.
18,500 jobs potentially lost. Thanks unions.
And don't forget about all the HO HO suppliers, This could ripple all the way back to the wheat farmers.
Jake Diamond said...
I don't know what you were drinking or snorting yesterday, but you said some of the dumbest things I've ever read at Althouse (which is really saying something!). Let's review a few of them:
1. "Once the economy collapses, and it looks like any day now, the mob is going to turn and rend on all the little Lefties who helped make it possible."
2. "Dubya pulled us out of the economic mess Willie left us"
3. "Bottom line, the election was stolen."
Do you still believe all that lunacy?
It's all fact. Too bad some people only want to take what Kos or Puffington tells them without doing any research.
The economic figures, as well as the news, are unrelievedly grim. And Dubya pulled us out of most of the mess Willie created; he couldn't beat Dodd and Little Zero on subprime mortgages.
As for the election, the same jackasses that brayed for years there were no WMDs in Iraq (the Israelis, the Limeys, and Assange proved that one wrong) are the same ones telling us Rove, Morris, Barone, Kraut, Ras, and even Gallup were wrong.
Levi Starks said...
And don't forget about all the HO HO suppliers, This could ripple all the way back to the wheat farmers.
That's the point. This will have a ripple effect throughout Hostess' supply chain.
As Peter notes, some other baker may take up the products, but there will be more dislocation than just the immediate employees of Hostess.
Shiloh wrote:
Ho-Ho's and Suzy Q's will be missed, Twinkies not so much.
Indeed, what will Americans do for their sugar fix now? Oh wait!
just as much missed. Salaries. What will those 18000 do for salaries now. Oh wait!
My favorite was brown sugar sandwiches - white sugar, close second, and mustard, third (I know, I know. I liked mustard, disliked mayo).
Our dinner alternative to sugar sandwiches was milk-toast. Toasted white bread with butter and sugar, cut into cubes, placed into a bowl and covered with warm milk. Loved it.
Did I mention our family was pretty low income in the 50s?
Cheers
Third time in bankruptcy is the charm for Hostess Bakeries. The predecessor company International Bakery gobbled up a host of regional baking companies in the 1970's and 1980s. I had a law school classmate who did a lot of antitrust work on various challenges to those acquisitions. They also inherited/created a holy mess of union labor agreements.
Twice into bankruptcy for reorganization, with a new group of investors buying the company out of bankruptcy.
This time the heck with it--straight liquidation. People will be able to buy pieces of the Twinkie empire. As for the jobs in those bakeries--or at least the union jobs? Gone With The Wind.
And frankly unions, I don't give a damn.
I suggested to my son's fiancee that she consider the second entry on this page, but I guess that's by the board now. She wasn't in favor of the idea anyway.
redneck wedding cake
elections have consequences
Jeez, it's not like making stuff with transfats is illegal, is it?
That's how capitalism works.
That might be a pertinent statement IF we actually had a free market. Instead we are legislated to death by the food nazis and the greenie goons.
Transfat shortenings have been basically removed from the market. It is illegal for restaurants and manufacturers to use transfats.
It is impossible in California to find transfat cooking ingredients. <a href="Crisco changed their recipe</a>. It is utter crap.
At the same time as Calif got rid of transfats, they also changed the laws on lead in plumbing supplies, making thousands of dollars worth of brass valves in our inventory totally worthless in California. For no good reason since an itsy bitsy iron part does no one any harm. We sold them to a company in Idaho.
If we had a free market, we could also still buy dish washing soap, laundry soap that works.....but we don't.
Phx wrote:
Hostess is going Galt.
18000 employees are about to go Galt.
Crisco link
So in addition to making Hostess and other companies ruin their product by removing what made it taste the way it did, the food police also made the product more expensive because of their demands. No wonder they went out of business. The Volt of the baking industry.
This is also why we have to put up with that HORRIBLE tuna packed in water in our basic grocery stores.....instead of packed in good olive oil like God intended.
Amazon PRIME. Go shopping. At least you can get some decent food from importers.
@DBQ
"If we had a free market, we could also still buy dish washing soap, laundry soap that works.....but we don't."
Adding a shot of TSP from a box bought at the hardware store does wonders in the dishwasher. Cheap, too.
Lard. Not raw, fried.
Phx wrote:
Jeez, it's not like making stuff with transfats is illegal, is it?
That's how capitalism works.
liquidated companies and 18000 people out work. That's how unions work.
2% growth, record unemployment, restaurants cutting back hours, massive layoffst hat's how Obamanomics
Work.
For people that supposedly work to strengthen the middle class, might I suggest you're not doing it right.
thanks for the tsp info chuckr. brb.
liquidated companies and 18000 people out work. That's how unions work.
2% growth, record unemployment, restaurants cutting back hours, massive layoffst hat's how Obamanomics
Work.
For people that supposedly work to strengthen the middle class, might I suggest you're not doing it right.
I'm glad you're here sharing your opinion on unions. If I ever decide to share my opinion on unions with you on althouse, I'll let you know.
America works less
When it says "union yes"
phx said...
Hostess is going Galt.
Yep.
Reorganized and back in a year.
Twinkies most certainly sell in interstate commerce; can't Congress just tax us all for 2 Twinkies a day and bail out their union friends?
@ Chuck
Re: TSP. I know. It works in the laundry also. Small amt of tsp dissolved in water and added and agitated before you add the clothing :-) You will be amazed at how clean your clothes will be.....again......as they were before the nanny state decided to fix things.
Lard is best for pie crusts, but there is still no adequate substitute for good old Crisco....pre the transfat/hydrogenated vapors that the food police have had. Fortunately, because California has a large Hispanic population, and we certainly don't want to offend THEM, we can buy lard by the buckets full in the grocery stores.
Just recently in my pump house where we store food and some other supplies, while moving old stock to the front of the line and putting new purchases in the back.....I came across a package of old formula Cascade dishwashing soap and a package of the old formula Crisco butter flavored shortening sticks. You would have thought that I found GOLD bars!!!! I made Toll House cookies with the treasured shortening. No comparison to the new crappola. Light, crisp, buttery flavored, absolutely fabulous. Butter is not a substitute either, because the texture of the cookie will be different. Good...but different.
edutcher,
You're probably familiar with the Philly's Best cheesesteak chain. We have one here in our neighborhood in Southern California and I really like the Tastykake selection there. Actually, I would be interested in your take on Philly's Best, e.g., are we really getting Philly's best? We love it here.
The white bread with butter, sugar and cinnamon, toasted under the over broiler, was one of my Dad's favorites back in the 50's. So was cooked bacon with a slice of cheese on bread, again toasted under the broiler. We also ate raw potatoes (with lots of salt when it was available). Perhaps all this depends on where you lived (or came from).
Oh, and AprilAnnie, mayo on bread was another one we ate. But putting sugar on it is disgusting, and all right-thinking white-bread-with-mayo eaters would agree with me. I'm sure of this since there probably are no more than 10 such people, and most of them are in my family.
Shouldn't this be considered a victory for leftists? I thought the next issue in producing Nirvana was to protect us from evil bad foods, like Twinkies.
18,000 people out of work is obviously worth the improvement in personal health for the rest of the nation.
heyboom, you should have had the selection before Pepperidge bought them out.
Their lemon and coconut cream pies were to die for.
There's certainly a fair argument to be made (at least with the facts presented in the article) that the unions were imprudent in their decision, but the cause of this failure is, ultimately, poor management, as even CEO Rayburn admits:
"Mr. Rayburn blamed a host of factors, from years of mismanagement to a lack of capital investment to legacy labor costs, for the demise of the company, which was founded in 1927 as Schulze Baking Co.
"'I think there's blame to go around everywhere," he said. "There's almost nowhere you can look that didn't play a role in the company ending up in this position.'"
@DBQ
If I were a neighbor, I'd try and mooch some of those cookies. In the 60's, my mother knew she didn't have to bake them because one of her four kids would. Crisco, butter, white and brown sugar, flour, vanilla, eggs, chips. What's not to like?
bonus - just had a commemorative Hostess cupcake to follow up on the Friday fish and chips....both from the local semi-upscale food market.
There was a stellar lawyer rant Insty linked to after the election.
Obamacare might put temp agencies out of work. It's not just restaurants who will go part time.
I keep thinking of an In Living Color skit when the wife wanted the husband to go out and get a job & listed her jobs. He told her he already had 23 jobs.
Turns out they are in bankruptcy.
But Twinkies will live to be devoured again.
The creditors will become the owners of the brand and the physical assets. As I said the union could buy this up and finally run their own company in a socially responsible way.
Maybe they can get some government financing. Want to bet against it happening?
The ultimate culprit, Robert Cook, is a highly leveraged capital structure. Hostess was in bankruptcy once before, and when it came out it could not attract enough equity capital because the likely rate of return was too low. Thus the real buyers were leveraged buyers of "distressed debt."
You can say the hedge funds were greedy and evil but that misses the point. The point is that this business, even with its well known brands, could not earn enough rate of return to attract equity capital to a lower leveraged investment. That all has to do with cost of doing business, labor, regulatory, tax, transportation, raw materials, etc. The high labor cost was surely a very important factor, though not the only one. Cost of doing businesses matters big time, Robert. The more government policies pile on costs, the tougher it gets to keep people employed.
David, they are on bankruptcy because of the unions and because of obligations that can't be met (due again to unions). If the unions buy the company what makes you think they would run it responsibly? If they make it a union shop it will, almost out of necessity be run irresponsibly.
edutcher,
Thanks for that. I might just head over there today and buy some as a show of solidarity for the Hostess folks who didn't vote to lose their jobs.
David, I'm not accusing anyone of being "greedy" or "evil." I'm merely pointing out the obvious: any time a company fails, poor management must always be considered as the primary suspect, (just as the spouse must always be the primary suspect in a murder).
This natural suspicion is validated by CEO Rayburn's admission that "years of mismanagement" were among the factors that led to this end result.
UNION: Give us money.
EMPLOYER: We don't have the money.
WORKER: I don't want to give you the money I earned. I don't agree with your agenda.
UNION: Give us money. Give us your money, employer, and give us the money that workers do not want to give to us. Give us money or we walk.
EMPLOYER: We don't have the money. The money does not exist for us to give it to you. We cannot give what we do not have.
UNION: So what? Give us the damn money!
EMPLOYER: We. Do. NOT. Have. The. Money.
UNION: OK, we are out of here -- instead of eating snacks, you all can eat s**t instead.
EMPLOYER: The company is dead now. Way to kill your jobs, way to commit economic suicide. But at least you can now eat that s**t you wanted everyone else to eat.
Robert Cook: Part of the mismanagement at Hostess was senior leadership capitulated to the unions over and over in order to have peace in the valley. It did not work. Tougher management earlier in the game would have made a difference.
JR565: I think that David was being a bit sarcastic about the unions. Clearly the unions will not buy the asset because that would mean they would have to be responsible for the outcome. Further it is unlikely they have the gonads for running the company.
Michael, this is your assertion, but you have not demonstrated this to be necessarily so.
Further it is unlikely they have the gonads for running the company.
Or, more importantly..... the brain power to understand HOW to run a business.
Part of the mismanagement at General Motors was senior leadership capitulated to the unions over and over in order to have peace in the valley. It did not work. Tougher management earlier in the game would have made a difference.
Ah, the blame game. The unions were merely "imprudent" whereas company management, the evil owners, are "ultimately" to blame.
Bullshit. The whole point of the unions is to watch out for their membership, the employees. They are ultimately to blame for these 18,500 people being out of a job.
Robert Cook: You are correct. I don't intend to write a paper on the fall of Twinkies but you are certainly welcome to. Here, let me outline your thesis for you: company fails because of greedy management, poor employees let go because their union which protected them from flour dust inhalation and other hazards was blamed wrongly. High hourly wages for manual labor were not to blame nor were featherbedding rules or the generous benefits given and promised
That "going on strike" thing can go both ways you know. Just as only the rich can own property because only those with money can pay the high property taxes, so too are the wealthy (such as company management) easily able to simply walk rather than continue a business.
Constantly we are told that those making over X dollars per year do not need the money. And they are right -- they don't really need it, they can easily go without it, but that does not mean paying the excess over to government, but simply not earning the money in the first place.
What needs to happen is that all of the people making over $150,000 simply go on strike for a week or two. Forgo the income for a week or two or four. Deprive the country of the fruits of your labors for a month, as well as denying those income taxes to the government.
Frankentwinkie lives? Alas, no.
“The industry has overcapacity. We’re overcapacity. Our rivals are overcapacity,” said Rayburn in an interview on CNBC. Asked if the shutdown decision could be reversed if the Bakers’ union agreed to immediately return to work, he responded, “Too late.”
@Virgil
Every year, I go to Georgia to hang out with a bunch of my friends for a few days during the summer.
Every year, I'd bring a satchel of Hubig's Pies to the get together.
It was like I was distributing crack. The damn things would barely survive the second day.
Then, a couple of months ago, one of their friers exploded and burned the Hubig factory down to the ground. I was wailing and rending my garments at the news.
Post Katrina, they were the ones I missed the most, and they came back, Thank God.
This time, I was really worried that they would not rebuild. Fortunately, they said they would but they wouldn't be back in production until next year. The company, being the great guys they are, found temporary placement for their workers while they rebuilt the company.
Hopefully, they'll have them back in the stores by the time I go back to Georgia. Otherwise, they're going to have to make due with the other La. staples: Zapp's potato chips and Elmer's Chee Wees.
"Ah, the blame game. The unions were merely 'imprudent' whereas company management, the evil owners, are 'ultimately' to blame."
I said the unions were "arguably" imprudent, based on the facts provided.
And yes, the failure of any company--absent unexpected catastrophe, such as typhoon, hurricane, fire, or nuclear war--is always, ultimately, the fault of those running the company.
To paraphrase Walter Brennan in The Guns of Will Sonnett, "No blame, just fact."
Running a company is so easy and guarantees such great riches, you'd think everyone would do it.
Just talked to a friend of mine (about taking her kid to a parade tomorrow) who helps manage a local, family business, specifically a family restaurant. She's scrambling to find a large enough quantity of bread for the weekend in the wake of a call she just got informing her that her delivery from Wonderbread/Hostess would not be forthcoming today (or, obviously, ever again).
Just an illustration that these things ripple, and fast.
She said she felt so bad for the guy who called her, because he too is out of a job. He was not happy with the hold-out strikers, let's just put it that way.
No one says running a company is either easy or guarantees riches, Freeman. However, there are many--who are themselves just working people, and whose ilk seem prevalent here--who are all too ready to blame any business' problems on those in the company who hold the least power, (yet who do the work from which derives the company's income): the workers.
Robert, the union drove the company out of business. Union bosses are not the least powerful, they're clearly too powerful.
Robert: It seems to me that in this particular situation, at this particular point in time, that particular group of striking workers certainly had the power to trigger the immediate loss of 18,500 jobs. That's more power than their non-striking fellow-employees ended up with... .
Look, the whole thing sucks, but the fact is, like it or not, those 18,500 folks didn't have to lose their jobs ***immediately***, and the majority chose a path to help prevent that. The holdouts prevailed. I wonder if even the latter are happy about that now?
Cook,
I pretty well agree with your most recent statement. But it's pretty easy for a company to up and move to another state or country, so the unions just don't have much power anymore (at least in the private sector).
This company was on its last legs as it is so I don't know if anyone's to blame. Even if the unions had given in, the place probably would've liquidated within a year anyway.
On a lighter note, does anyone know how they pack that white sugary sludge inside the Twinkies and Cupcakes?
Union bosses are not the least powerful, they're clearly too powerful
Not to mention being rich fat cats much of the time.
"Robert, the union drove the company out of business."
Freeman, refer to CEO Rayburn's own statement regarding the reasons for the failure of the company.
Dolly Madison's involved, too. No more Zingers... *sniff*
Sorry, I'm getting a little verklempt here...
And somewhere, Michelle Obama is smiling.
Eat your broccoli, America.
"No blame, just fact."
The point of the union is to look out for its members, the workers. The union failed, utterly. Those 18,500 people who are now out of work were not collectively well represented. It was not "merely" or even "arguably" imprudent. Like, gee maybe we overreached a bit. No. It was a total abject mission failure on the part of the union, and it took the company down with it. Unions have hogged enormous power and influence over the companies they infest so they must share in the responsibility for the company's mission failure, in addition to acknowledging their own mission failure.
My wife just called from the grocery store and said the Twinkies section has been cleaned out.
heyboom said...
My wife just called from the grocery store and said the Twinkies section has been cleaned out.
You can get them on eBay.
The white Al Sharpton, union thug Richard Trumka blames those "Bain like" investors ( well you know, in my opinion were stupid enough to invest $130 million to get them out of bankruptcy) for the failure.
Earlier this week I was reading the comments section in the NY Post regarding Hostess. Some employees chimed in, one mentioned
mismanagement and illustrated that by citing product delivery, instead of being consolidated, were actually shipped in four
different trucks. I assume this is why the teamsters were AOK with the latest give-backs,they had more jobs to protect.
Talk about Hostess products (or their competitors) or GTFO!
Nah.
18000 people who will now draw unemployment for 99 weeks.
Is it possible for Nathan Alexander to be as stupid as his comment suggests?
Robert Cook said...
"Ah, the blame game. The unions were merely 'imprudent' whereas company management, the evil owners, are 'ultimately' to blame."
I said the unions were "arguably" imprudent, based on the facts provided.
And yes, the failure of any company--absent unexpected catastrophe, such as typhoon, hurricane, fire, or nuclear war--is always, ultimately, the fault of those running the company.
And here comes the Hostess twist: because Tim Collins of Ripplewood, was a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters’ long-term heartthrob Dick Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess). In other words, the traditional republican-cum-PE scapegoating strategy here will be a tough one to pull off since the narrative collapses when considering that it was a Democrat who rescued the firm, only to see it implode in a trainwreck that has resulted in the liquidation of a legendary brand, and 18,500 layoffs.
Ooops.
Rule of thumb,comrade Bob. Never strike a company that's in bankruptcy.
Now everybody in the company except the union members are eligible for unemployment benefits.
Actions have consequences, comrade Bob.
I've never liked Twinkies, but they aren't going anywhere. I'll bet Kellogg makes a bid, as will Fritolay/Pepsico and many more.
Joe
No doubt, but not in those same factories. The brand names will be purchased not the production capacity. It's been reported that the industry has excess capacity. Probably by bakers that do business with unions that allow the products to be delivered in the same trucks as bread.
Oh please don't let Little Debbie's buy Ding Dongs.
I don't think the world is ready for Little Debbie's Ding Dongs.
Debbie Does Dongs
Little Ho's
Cinnabon. Available now at Burger King, or make your own at home.
No doubt, but not in those same factories.
Why would any company use those same factories? Why would any company do business in those same towns? The Baker's union sent a clear message; do business with us and we'll fuck you over. The solution is to tell them to sod off.
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