Expats in China Grapple With Surging Costs

James Carney, a 27-year-old New Yorker, who's been living in southern Chinese city Shenzhen for the past 16 months, says he's feeling the pinch from rising living costs.

The American expat, who works for a local property developer, says the monthly utility bill for his small one-bedroom apartment has doubled in the last five months.

"Power, water, building management fees - everything you'd associate with renting an apartment has gone up big time - it's been really noticeable in the last four to five months," Carney told CNBC.

"Shenzhen cabs are the most expensive in China," he added. "To get in a taxi you're going to go ten feet [and] it's $13 - if you're using a private driver, that's up as well."

While China's major business centers, Shanghai and Beijing are known to be among the most expensive cities for expats in Asia, the cost of living in other, less well-known Chinese cities is now surging.
The southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou jumped a whopping 49 and 34 spots respectively to rank 55 and 56 globally this year when it comes to the most expensive places to live for expats, according to a recent survey from human resources consulting firm ECA International.  

READ MORE:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/expats-grapple-surging-costs-china-065911317.html

Supreme Court Upholds Mandate as Tax

WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court largely upheld the Obama administration's health-care law, saying the law's penalty for those who ignore a mandate to carry health insurance counted as a tax and was justified by Congress's constitutional taxing power.

The court did find one part of the law unconstitutional, saying its expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program threatened states' existing funding. The court ruled that the federal government can't put sanctions on states' existing Medicaid funding if the states decline to go along with the Medicaid expansion.

The ruling on the insurance mandate question was 5-4. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion, joined by the court's four liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented on the mandate question. 

READ MORE:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898704577480371370927862.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

We Are Living in a ‘Modern-Day Depression’: David Rosenberg

The Federal Reserve cut its growth forecast for the second half of 2012 and 2013 last week, raising concerns yet again about the potential for a "double-dip" recession. While some, notably the cycle watchers at ECRI, believe the U.S. economy is definitely heading for another recession (or already there), Gluskin Sheff's chief economist and strategist David Rosenberg goes a big step further.

"We are living in a modern-day depression," he declares.

This dramatic statement is based on several factors, including the record number of Americans living on Food Stamps — 46 million or 1-in-7 in 2011. Because these benefits are now given in the form of electronic debit cards, we don't have bread lines like in the 1930s, but they are there in virtual form. And that's just the most obvious form of government support for its struggling citizenry. (See: Marion Nestle on The (Big) Business of Food Stamps: "Here's Where the Profits Come In")

READ MORE:  http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/living-modern-day-depression-david-rosenberg-121332909.html

BIS: Central Banks Reaching Limit of Power to Fix Economies Read more: BIS: Central Banks Reaching Limit of Power to Fix Economies

Central banks in developed nations are confronting the limits of their ability to aid economic recovery as government efforts to strengthen their finances fall short, the Bank for International Settlements said.

“Central banks are being cornered into prolonging monetary stimulus as governments drag their feet and adjustment is delayed,” the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS said in its annual report, published Sunday. “Both conventionally and unconventionally accommodative monetary policies are palliatives and have their limits.”

While central banks’ actions were key to limiting damage from the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., interest rates are now “as low as they can go” and debt purchases have swollen central bank balance sheets, the BIS said. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has indicated that the ECB is close to exhausting its tools after cutting its benchmark rate to a record low and flooding the banking system with cash.

Read more: http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/BIS-centralbanks-fed-euro/2012/06/24/id/443254?s=al&promo_code=F48B-1

Forget Europe, It’s US That Poses Bigger Threat: O’Neill

Troubles in the U.S., particularly relating to the weak employment picture, pose a bigger threat to markets than the European debt crisis, Goldman Sachs strategist Jim O'Neill told CNBC.

Ben Stansall | AFP | Getty Images Jim O'Neill

Despite all the focus on weakness in Greece, Spain and elsewhere, the chairman at Goldman Sachs Asset Management said he is more concerned about elevated weekly jobless claims as a sign that the American economy remains fragile.

"The markets are right to be concerned with these (European) issues. But just as importantly to the (Standard & Poor's 500 [.SPX  1319.99  ---  UNCH    ]) in my opinion is what's going on with weaker job claims and the growing evidence that some of the momentum in the U.S. has been lost," O'Neill told "Squawk Box." "I'm not sure that the European thing is that important to non-European markets going forward."

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47944902

Bankers Call for Wider Measures to Stem Crisis

An organization that serves as an umbrella institution for the world’s largest central banks on Sunday joined a growing list of institutions and leaders pushing euro zone countries to insure bank deposits and take other steps to prevent the European debt crisis from further undermining the global economy.

The organization, the Bank for International Settlements, warned that central banks could not cope with the euro zone crisis alone. The central banks are nearing the limits of their resources, the organization said in its annual report, and it is time for policy makers to act.

“Central banks are being cornered into prolonging monetary stimulus, as governments drag their feet and adjustment is delayed,” the organization said. “It would be a mistake to think that central bankers can use their balance sheets to solve every economic and financial problem.” 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47946726

New Housing Crisis: Not Enough to Buy

Sales of existing homes declined in May, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors, not just because the overall housing market is struggling, but because there are simply not enough homes to buy.

There are currently 2.49 million for sale, a drop of 20 percent from a year ago. To make matters worse, supply is lowest on the low end, where so much of the investor activity has been over the past several years. 

This lack of supply has seriously skewed the readings on home prices for the second straight month.

The median price of an existing home, as reported by the Realtors, rose 7.9 percent in May annually, but NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun was quick to point out that this does not mean the average home owner gained that much equity; it is simply a big shift in the type of home that is selling. Sales of homes priced under $100,000 dropped two percent from a year ago, while sales of homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000 shot up nearly 29 percent (though still at low volumes historically). Again, this is due to lack of supply on the low end, specifically distressed homes. 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47903627

'Pretty High Hurdle' Before Easing: Fed's Bullard

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers still see a "pretty high hurdle" before they would unleash a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, a top Fed official said on Friday.

Tetra Images | Getty Images United States Federal Reserve

Speaking two days after the U.S. central bank decided to take a more modest policy step to help the flailing economic recovery, St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard said the Fed has done "what it can do."

"QE3 I think is viewed as still having a pretty high hurdle," Bullard said on Bloomberg TV. "We can do that, and I think it would be effective, but we would be taking a lot more risk on our balance sheet and we'd be going further into unchartered territory."

The Fed on Wednesday decided to extend through the end of the year a bond maturity-extension program called Operation Twist, in which the central bank replaces short-term debt it holds with longer-term securities. Operation Twist had been due to end next week. 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47917484

IMF Sees Euro Crisis at Critical Stage, Sees Bank Stress

The euro area crisis has reached a “critical stage” and member nations must make a “strong commitment” to the shared currency to stop the plunge in investor confidence, the International Monetary Fund said in a report that recommended issuing common debt as one solution.

“Despite extraordinary policy actions, bank and sovereign markets in many parts of the euro area remain under acute stress, raising questions about the viability of the monetary union itself,” the Washington-based organization said in a report today. “The financial and economic environment continues to deteriorate. Investors are withholding funding from member states most in need, moving capital to safe havens and driving risk premiums to new records.”

READ MORE:   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-21/imf-sees-euro-crisis-at-critical-stage-sees-bank-stress.html

5 Housing Markets Where Renting Beats Owning

By AnnaMaria Andriotis

In theory, plummeting home prices and record-low interest rates should make buying a home cheaper than renting one. But experts say in some parts of the country, it still pays to be a tenant.
Despite the incentives to buy now — namely that average rates on a 30-year mortgages are now 3.7% — sales of single-family existing homes slipped 1.5% in May from a month earlier, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors. Experts say the drop, which came during the historically busy spring season, suggests the housing market has a way to go to recover. If anything, the ranks of American homeowners are dwindling. The homeownership rate in the U.S. fell slightly from 66% to 65% during the first quarter of 2012 — the lowest in 15 years, according to the latest data by the U.S. Census. (It peaked at just over 69% in 2004.)

Renters, meanwhile, have more inventory to choose from as owners who are unable to sell their homes often have no choice but to find tenants, says Dan McCue, research manager at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

READ MORE:   http://blogs.smartmoney.com/advice/2012/06/21/5-housing-markets-where-renting-beats-owning/

Gloomy Fed pulls trigger on more economic stimulus

The Federal Reserve unleashed a fresh wave of economic stimulus Wednesday as it predicted subpar US growth would be even worse this year than thought.

After a two-day meeting the Fed doubled down on a program to lower long-term borrowing costs, as it sharply revised down 2012 growth projections to between 1.9 and 2.4 percent.
That was a half point cut from predictions made as recently as April this year, when cautious optimism reigned.

With Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke also pointing to slower progress in reducing unemployment and to spillovers from Europe's economic crisis, that optimism has been put to bed.

READ MORE:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/fed-pulls-trigger-more-economic-stimulus-170328858.html

All Work, No Pay for Some Small Business Owners: Survey

A new survey by Citibank finds that 23 percent of small business owners have gone without pay for at least a year as they work to keep their businesses afloat in a tough economy.

“Business owners are wearing more hats, working more hours and taking less profit” to keep their businesses going, said Maria Veltre, Citi's managing director of small business. “They don’t sit idle, they’re asking, ‘What do I need to do to make my business grow?’ There is a level of sacrifice small business owners take for their businesses.” 

The nationwide survey of 750 small business owners found that despite financial challenges, one-third of respondents say their business is better than it was a year ago, up from 26 percent in January. Another 33 percent expect their business will grow by more than 10 percent in 2012. 

READ MORE:   http://www.cnbc.com/id/47723383http://www.cnbc.com/id/47723383

Study: State pension shortfall ballooned in 2010

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Recession-plagued states diverted scarce money away from pensions to pay for more immediate concerns, leaving a $757 billion hole in the retirement funds covering millions of public employees, according to a study released Monday.

The Pew Center on the States found 34 states failed to maintain safe levels of money in the pension funds, which most experts agree is about 80 percent of long-term obligations. Four states — Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky and Rhode Island — didn't even have 55 percent of the money they'll need in the long run.

The total gap between the money states had available and what they'll have to pay out in the decades ahead reached $757 billion in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available. That was up 9 percent from the year before, according to the study entitled "The Widening Gap Update."

READ MORE: http://news.yahoo.com/study-state-pension-shortfall-ballooned-2010-210813413.html

G20 summit: Barroso blames eurozone crisis on US banks

EC president says European leaders have not come to Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economy
 
The opening day of the G20 summit was threatening to deteriorate into a fractious row between eurozone countries and other non-European members of the G20, notably the US, as EU commission president José Manuel Barroso insisted the origins of the eurozone crisis lay in the unorthodox policies of American capitalism.

As Europe's leaders came under intense pressure to act decisively to cure the euro's ills, and a campaign gathered pace to relax some of the austerity programmes laying waste to countries with unsustainable debt levels, Barroso said Europe had not come to the G20 summit in Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economy. Asked by a Canadian journalist: "Why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" he replied: "Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.

READ MORE:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/18/g20-summit-barroso-eurozone-crisis

Per Capita Gov't Workers Declined as Perry's Texas Created 1M New Jobs, Says BLS Data

(CNSNews.com) - Since Rick Perry became governor of Texas, the number of government workers per capita has marginally declined in the state as private-sector employers created 73.5 percent of the more than 1 million additional jobs now found in the state, according to data published by the Census Bureau and Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Between December 2000 when Perry became governor (replacing George W. Bush who had been elected president) and July 2011, the latest month on record, the number of nonfarm civilian employees in Texas grew from approximately 9,563,500 to 10,619,800, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

READ MORE:  http://cnsnews.com/news/article/capita-govt-workers-declined-perrys-texas-created-1m-new-jobs-says-bls-data

Dread and Uncertainty Pervade Life in a Diminished Greece

Anyplace else, they might be signs of progress: Traffic moves faster on once clogged streets. Cigarette smoking has dropped sharply. Far less garbage heads for landfills each day.

But this is Athens, and the statistics are grim reminders of a middle-class society in rapid decline. Many fear that elections, including voting scheduled for Sunday, offer no clear route out of a deepening political and economic crisis. From its wealthy northern suburbs to the concrete blocks of downtown, there is a sense of an endgame in Athens.

“It’s the last days of Pompeii,” said Aris Chatzistefanou, a co-director of “Debtocracy,” a provocative 2011 documentary about the Greek crisis, as he stood, drink in hand, outside a cafe in Exarchia, a thrumming graffiti-filled neighborhood whose night life remains a rare pocket of defiant joy amid the unremitting gloom. 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47813158

More than seven in 10 US teens jobless this summer

Once a rite of passage to adulthood, summer jobs for teens are disappearing.

Fewer than three in 10 American teenagers now hold jobs such as running cash registers, mowing lawns or busing restaurant tables from June to August. The decline has been particularly sharp since 2000, with employment for 16-to-19-year olds falling to the lowest level since World War II.

And teen employment may never return to pre-recession levels, suggests a projection by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The drop in teen employment, steeper than for other age groups, is partly a cultural shift. More youths are spending summer months in school, at music or learning camps or in other activities geared for college. But the decline is especially troubling for teens for whom college may be out of reach, leaving them increasingly idle and with few options to earn wages and job experience.

READ MORE:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/12/more-than-seven-in-10-us-teens-jobless-in-summer/?test=latestnews

Memo To Obama: It's Government That Is Doing Fine

President Obama's claim Friday that "the private sector is doing fine" sparked a firestorm of attacks from Republicans and prompted a quick retraction, of sorts, from Obama, who later said "it is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine."

But what has gone largely unnoticed was Obama's complaint that it's the government that's hurting these days. "Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy," he said Friday, "have to do with state and local government."

Even when he tried to walk back his comment later that day, Obama said that the private sector is showing "some good momentum" but the bigger problem is state and local government cutbacks.

READ MORE:  http://news.investors.com/article/614516/201206120801/state-and-local-governments-growing.htm

Home Stock Research eIBD News IBD Editorials Education Community Leaderboard Store Private Jobs Down 4.6 Million From January 2008; Federal Jobs Up 11.4%

President Obama’s statement Friday that the private sector is “doing fine” drew so much ridicule that he was forced to backtrack hours later. But it’s clear that Obama and many other Democrats see job problems — and solutions — starting and stopping with government employment.

A quick look at payroll stats shows that’s not the case.

Private-sector jobs are still down by 4.6 million, or 4%, from January 2008, when overall employment peaked. Meanwhile government jobs are down just 407,000, or 1.8%. Federal employment actually is 225,000 jobs above its January 2008 level, an 11.4% increase. That’s right, up 11.4%.

READ MORE:   http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3814089687891528629#editor/src=dashboard

The Heart of the Matter

Over the past 13 years, the S&P 500 has underperformed even the depressed return on risk-free Treasury bills. Real U.S. gross domestic investment has not grown at all since 1999, and even as a share of GDP, real investment remains weak.

The ongoing debate about the economy continues along largely partisan lines, with conservatives arguing that taxes just aren't low enough, and the economy should be freed of regulations, while liberals argue that the economy needs larger government programs and grand stimulus initiatives. 

Lost in this debate is any recognition of the problem that lies at the heart of the matter: a warped financial system, both in the U.S. and globally, that directs scarce capital to speculative and unproductive uses, and refuses to restructure debt once that debt has gone bad. 

Specifically, over the past 15 years, the global financial system - encouraged by misguided policy and short-sighted monetary interventions - has lost its function of directing scarce capital toward projects that enhance the world's standard of living. Instead, the financial system has been transformed into a self-serving, grotesque casino that misallocates scarce savings, begs for and encourages speculative bubbles, refuses to restructure bad debt, and demands that the most reckless stewards of capital should be rewarded through bailouts that transfer bad debt from private balance sheets to the public balance sheet. 

READ MORE:  http://hussman.net/wmc/wmc120611.htm

Hey Brother, Can You Spare $500 Billion for America's Banks?

It may be spring in much of the country, but the air in the financial world carries a definite chill reminiscent of the fall of 2008.

So we have to ask again: is the world's banking system  strong enough to withstand the forces of a global recession? A number of prominent people - more on them below - are dubious that the banking system is as strong as it should be. They believe that "systemic risk" - defined as the risk that most of the financial system will fail together - is on the upswing again.

If you forgot the term "systemic risk" from your 2009-vintage financial crisis dictionary, it refers to the state of affairs when the financial system as a whole is "undercapitalized" - which means that banks don't have enough money to continue doing business. The whole system becomes at risk - thus, "systemic risk." Systemic risk could be prompted when something -- usually a shock like the fall of Lehman Brothers - causes banks to stop lending to each other and investors like money market funds to pull their money out of the banking system. Right now, Europe's financial crisis is seen as a potential systemic risk that could wound the banking system.

READ MORE:  http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/easy-street/hey-brother-can-you-spare-500-billion-americas-banks

Greek unemployment hits 21.9 pct in March

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's unemployment shot up to 21.9 percent in March, rising sharply from the 15.7 percent rate in the same month last year and up from 21.4 percent in February, the country's statistics agency said Thursday.

Greece has been struggling through a financial crisis for the past two years, and has been relying on billions of euros in international rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In return, it has made deep spending cuts and imposed major tax hikes, leaving the country mired in a deep recession.

The statistics agency said Thursday that unemployment was up 37.8 percent in March compared with the same month last year. Compared with February 2012, there were 21,625 more people unemployed this March, a 2.1 percent increase.

Young people have been the most affected by the job losses, with more than half — 52.8 percent — of those in the 15-24 age group out of work in March, compared to 42 percent in the same month last year.

READ MORE:   http://finance.yahoo.com/news/greek-unemployment-hits-21-9-093038028.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CTQjtBPNScAxjvQtDMD

David Goldman: ‘Extreme Risk’ of Deflation Ahead

Weak gold prices, softening oil prices and a lackluster stock market while the euro zone crisis could increase demand for U.S. dollars — but is deflation the next stop?

“It’s an extreme risk, though I don’t think it’s an inevitable outcome,” David Goldman of financial research firm Macrostrategy said Wednesday on CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report.” 

Goldman, the former global head of fixed income research for Bank of America, pointed to substantial risk — and a possible domino effect across the Atlantic. 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47623254

Europe’s Fade Becomes Drag on Sales for U.S. Companies

As the European crisis intensifies, a growing number of companies in the United States are warning investors that sales in the region are slowing and could get much worse.

In the technology industry, one of the most exposed to Europe and an engine of the American recovery, Cisco, Dell and NetApp [NTAP  30.45    -0.86  (-2.75%)   ] have all recently pointed to unexpected weakness in European sales. Other areas with major exposure to the Continent, including automakers and industrial companies, are beginning to voice similar cautions. 

Just a few months ago, market watchers were optimistic that the American economy had decoupled from Europe’s problems, able to grow even as the Continent faltered. 

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/47690983

Gold and Dow Flash the Same Warning Signal

By Greg hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
 
On Friday, both gold and the Dow flashed the same warning signal—the economy is in deep trouble.  The Dow plunged nearly 275 points on the news of a weak jobs report, and gold rocketed higher by $66 on speculation global bankers are going to print money to resuscitate a dying financial system.  You do not get this kind of tandem move in opposite directions by coincident.  Last week, both the stock and gold markets appeared to stop pretending and acknowledged the vortex of debt and insolvency that could suck us all into a black hole.
Renowned gold expert Jim Sinclair of JSMineset.com said Friday, “Those popular gold writers calling for much lower gold prices are simply out of their mind and disconnected from reality.”

... READ MORE:  http://usawatchdog.com/gold-and-dow-flash-the-same-warning-signal/

The Only Thing That Will Save Us Now Is Fear Itself

On March 4, 1933, millions of Americans sat beside their radios listening to Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivering his first inaugural address, in which he famously declared that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  (Joe Biden thinks he watched the speech on television, but that's the subject for an essay in Current Psychiatry, and this is American Thinker.)  FDR gave Americans the confidence and courage to cope with the Great Depression, which is among the reasons he's one of our very greatest presidents.

I hate to say this, but right now the only thing that can save our country is -- fear itself.  Our government is bankrupt, its deficit is insurmountable, and at both the federal and state levels, we've run up more debt than can possibly be repaid.  This isn't a political thing; it's a numbers thing.  Either everything I've ever learned about math and economics is wrong, or we're on the verge of going down.  The only possible way to come through safely -- and even so, the odds are against us -- will be to frighten ourselves so badly that we'll be willing to do things that in normal times we simply could not imagine doing.

READ MORE: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/the_only_thing_that_will_save.html 

The week that Europe stopped pretending

The euro has essentially broken down as a viable economic and political undertaking. The latest rush of events reeks of impending denouement.

Switzerland is threatening capital controls to repel bank flight from Euroland. The Swiss two-year note has fallen to -0.32pc, not that it seems to make any difference.

Denmark’s central bank said it was battening down the hatches for a "splintering" of EMU. It has cut interest rates twice in a matter or days and pledged to do whatever it takes to stop euros flooding into the country. Contingency plans are on the lips of officials in every capital in Europe, and beyond.

CONTINUE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9309669/The-week-that-Europe-stopped-pretending.html

An Economics Lecture No Student Will Ever Hear

Good morning. Take your seats, turn off your cell phones, and keep them off for the duration of this lecture.  

Today's subject is jobs. As even the dimmest among you are aware, we're in a jobless recovery, which means that economic activity is picking up, but businesses just aren't hiring enough workers to bring down the unemployment rate to an acceptable level.

 

Between now and the November elections, Republicans will blame Democrats for this mess, and Democrats will say that it's all the Republicans' fault. The decibel level will be excruciating. If you're among those who would rather argue than understand, don't waste your time or my energy; get up now and leave through the side door. But if you really want to understand why we're not creating new jobs fast enough, put aside your politics and let me teach you the one thing about economics you should have learned in high school.

READ MORE : http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/an_economics_lecture_no_studen.html

‘Human barcode’ could make society more organized, but invades privacy, civil liberties

Would you barcode your baby?

Microchip implants have become standard practice for our pets, but have been a tougher sell when it comes to the idea of putting them in people.

Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it's a good idea to "barcode" infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program.

“I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features "a global thinking" discussing a "radical, inspiring or controversial idea" for 60 seconds .

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/human-barcode-society-organized-invades-privacy-civil-liberties-article-1.1088129#ixzz1wmtxXyBm

Vlasic closing hits workers, farmers

The closing of the Vlasic pickle plant in Millsboro in August will mean lay-offs for nearly 400 workers and will curtail pickling cucumber production for local farmers.

Pinnacle Foods, parent company for Vlasic, announced just before Memorial Day weekend the Millsboro plant will lay off about 200 full-time workers and nearly 200 part-time workers.

Millsboro Town Manager Faye Lingo said it is difficult to see Vlasic leave.

CONTINUE:  http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/business/story/vlasic-closing-hits-workers-farmers/831670