The 16 Biggest Mass Layoff Announcements Of The Past Year

We're expecting the March jobs report Friday, and expectations are that nonfarm payroll employment will increase by 193,000.

The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 7.7 percent.

While the labor market has been trudging along slowly, mass layoffs in the past year have weighed on employment.

We drew on Bloomberg data to highlight the 16 biggest layoff announcements since April of last year.

16. First Solar: 2,000

Percent of Employees Cut:
28.57 percent

Number of Employees After Cuts:
7,000

First Solar announced that it would layoff almost a third of its workforce early last year and shut down its factory in Germany. This comes as the European market for green energy has deteriorated.

Source: Business Insider, Bloomberg

15: JC Penney: 2,200

Percent of Employees Cut:
1.90 percent

Number of Employees After Cuts:
116,000

JC Penney employees were told earlier this year that they have to get ready to "work harder with less" in 2013. "Service Leaders, administrative assistants, and office/cash room associates" were being cut, though some of these were being reabsorbed and offered sales positions. 

CEO Ron Johnson has been trying to transform the retailer. 19,000 employees have been laid off since he took over.

Source: Business Insider, Bloomberg

14. Colgate-Palmolive Co: 2,316

Percent of Employees Cut:
6.00 percent

Number of Employees After Cuts:
38,600

Colgate-Palmolive, which makes a variety of consumer products like shampoo and toothpaste, announced that it would be laying off 2,316 employees by 2016. The layoffs are expected to save the company more than $365 million annually. 

Source: The Motley Fool, Bloomberg

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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We Asked 9 Real Guys Their Biggest Financial Deal Breakers

Money is never a more sensitive subject than when it comes up in relationships. In fact, fighting about money is one of the biggest predictors of divorce.

But it doesn’t have to be: Here we explain how to have the money talk—and why it’s so important.

And—newsflash—not only can knowing how to talk about money make your relationship more peaceable, knowing that you know how to handle it makes you more attractive to your significant other.

Don’t believe us? We asked nine guys ages 28 to 40—some married, some about to be, some on the market, some straight, some gay—to reflect on the financial issues they take into account before getting serious with someone.

Hear how they really feel about everything from the “wallet reach” and cheap tippers to settling down with someone who has a lot of debt.

LearnVest: What do you think of ‘the reach’—when your date reaches for his or her wallet when the check comes?

“It’s appreciated and the polite thing to do. Within the first three dates, the guy should politely say ‘I got it,’ but the woman should offer. It shows she isn’t being a user.”
Kevin, Westfield, NJ

“‘The reach’ is a bit awkward—it’s like, ‘I’m going to make a very obvious, slow-motioned movement just to be considerate, but I’m expecting you to pay.’ The gesture is nice in a way, but honestly, I just want a woman to give a sincere ‘thank you’ afterward. I’d prefer she say something like, ‘Would you like me to help pay?’ It acknowledges the elephant in the room in a direct, but polite way.”
Greg, Houston, TX 

“Depends on when it happens in the relationship. A girl can’t go wrong doing the reach early. It’s the safe play. If there was no reach after date number two—or an offer to pay the tip or, ‘At least let me treat next time’ – then that’s a problem and would give me a little pause.”
Brian W., New York, NY

At what stage of the relationship should a significant other start picking up the tab?

“I’m very old-fashioned, and I still think the person who asks someone out should pick up the check. At least on the first date. I think it starts pretty naturally from the beginning of a relationship and gets easier over time.”
Pat, Pittsburgh, PA

“I think the bigger deal is kind of the opposite—I’d know I’m close to ‘something real’ if we stop thinking so much about who gets what and we started thinking more like we’re making decisions like a pair and less like two individuals.”
Dan, New York, NY

“I think after three or four dates, or once it has become an exclusive relationship, it is probably time to start sharing the cost.”
Brian W., New York, NY

How do you feel about dating an over-spender?

“Won’t do it. Not interested.”
Dave, Philadelphia, PA

“If a girl is an over-spender with a ton of credit card debt and a closet full of stuff she never wears or uses, I think it demonstrates an undisciplined ‘live for the day’ type of attitude. I would be fine dating someone like that but that is as far as it would go—dating.”
Kevin

How do you feel about dating a spendthrift?

“HATE IT. Perhaps I don’t have much willpower, but having money for the sake of having money isn’t something that works for me.”
Pat

“Would not enjoy that.”
Brian S., Covington, KY

“I have never dated one, but would not like to. YOLO, and you can’t take it with you.”
Chad, Richmond, VA

How do you feel about dating someone who makes more money than you?

“Totally fine, as long as it isn’t used as a weapon for leverage in other aspects of the relationship.”
Frank, New York, NY

“No problem. I think I’d like it, actually. Ego is not important to me, but what is important is understanding the consequences of that high salary. Making good salaries typically means more responsibility, working more and sacrificing other parts of your personal life. If that negatively affects the relationship, that’s not good. If kids are involved, it becomes more complicated. How does it impact the family? Plenty of dual-income families are successful, but it’s important to have a good, strong understanding of the true costs and benefits.”
Greg

“I don’t really care, as long as it’s not too much more. If the other person was making $1 million a year, that may be a problem.”
Dave M.

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Kim Jong-Un Has Already Hit His Biggest Target

No one in Austin, Texas seems to be worried about being targeted in the US Mainland Strike Plan that was pictured in the background of a recent Kim Jong-un photo op.

After all, it has been well-established that North Korean [DPRK] missiles can't make it to middle America — and we've learned over the years to ignore the crazy threats from the hermit kingdom.

But Kim's photo op may have been a hit with its real target: his own people.

Most DPRK experts seem to have come to this conclusion, including John Swenson-Wright, senior lecturer in East Asian International Relations at the University of Cambridge, in an interview with James Pearson of NK News.

“It seems reasonable to suppose that the target map is designed for home consumption and to create an impression of war-readiness for DPRK-citizens that is part of a wider policy of strengthening national resolve," says Swenson-Wright.

Consider also how the images were released in "widely distributed" and publicly displayed domestic workers newspapers.

Kim "needs to show he has the guts. The best way to do that is to use the military might that he commands," Lee Yoon-gyu, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University in Seoul told the BBC. "This paves the way for greater praise for him if North Korea makes a provocation later and claims victory."

Lee continued by saying that eventually Kim will have to perform a more provocative action in order to "make good on his threat" and retain credibility, so a tactical strike — a "skirmish" — is still a possibility.

Though all threats of preemptive nuclear strikes should be taken seriously, analysts say it's unlikely because it would effectively mean "suicide."

And lest there be any doubt that this was a photo op, the AP analyzed the photo and concluded that it was likely doctored.

Certainly this doctoring isn't for America's benefit, because the idea of North Korea reaching middle America (#whyaustin) with a missile is laughable.

“All the available technical evidence suggests that the North’s claims to be able to hit (let alone target precisely) geographical sites in the United States are highly implausible,” said Swenson-Wright.

The BBC backed up this assertion more than three months ago when researchers released an analysis of North Korea's most powerful missile, the Unha-3:

[Experts] acknowledge that there's no evidence that the North has the guidance systems or re-entry capability needed to mount an actual strike ... many more rocket and nuclear tests will be needed before North Korea can make a warhead small enough to fit its rockets and claim a credible nuclear delivery system.

While the West isn't scared, however, it's likely that the people of North Korea have no idea about doctored images or true missile capabilities.

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This Is America's Biggest Moment Ever For Gay Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear two huge gay marriage cases this week involving the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act and California's gay marriage ban Proposition 8. The court's decision even to consider same-sex marriage symbolizes just how much America has evolved on gay rights in an unbelievably short period of time. Back in 2004, my gay friends in Brooklyn, N.Y. used to have debates about whether it was the "right" time to fight for same-sex marriage. Massachusetts had become the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2003. The following year, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome became something of a gay hero when he ordered the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A few days after Newsome's bold move, Jason West, then mayor of the small town of New Paltz, N.Y. got cheers from gay New Yorkers when he started performing same-sex marriages in the Village Hall. It seemed like a backlash might be coming, though. I remember one lesbian friend pointing out that she obviously couldn't be "against" gay marriage. But she wondered why activists weren't focusing on what she believed were more attainable goals — like making sure gay teens didn't get beaten up in school. Her unease wasn't unfounded. A huge backlash did come in 2004, when 13 states amended their state Constitutions to officially ban same-sex marriage. That year, just 31 percent of Americans were in favor of gay marriage, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. America has changed dramatically since 2004. Now, less than a decade later, 58 percent of Americans support gay marriage, according to an ABC/Washington Post poll. Dozens of people and organizations have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the Supreme Court to support gay marriage — from prominent Republicans to two heterosexual NFL players to 70 major corporations to the Obama administration. It was just 1986 — in my lifetime — that the Supreme Court upheld a law in my home state of Georgia that criminalized consensual gay sex. So, what's changed? For one thing, it seems like more and more people feel comfortable coming out of the closet these days (including likeable celebrities like Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, and Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City"). The other thing that's changed is the push for marriage equality itself. The New York Times' Linda Greenhouse argues that the Proposition 8 case in particular has been "speeding and enhancing public understanding and support for marriage equality." That support for marriage equality, in turn, is a sign that anti-gay bias in America is finally starting to subside. Openly gay New York Times columnist Frank Bruni once wrote that people who oppose gay marriage do so because they see gays as "lesser people." "If how we love is suspect, then so is who we are," he wrote. The opposite is also true. The surge of public support for gay marriage is a sign that more Americans now see gays as equal. In 2013, I still know some unconventional gay couples who might choose not to get married. But every single gay person I know believes same-sex marriage is worth fighting for. That's because the battle to repeal the anti-gay laws DOMA and Proposition 8 is about more than marriage equality. It's about Americans seeing gays as equal human beings. Period.SEE ALSO:&There's Absolutely No Logical Argument Against Gay Marriage Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

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The Biggest Problem In Technology

PyCon is the largest annual conference dedicated to the open-source Python programming language; it counts among its sponsors Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Normally, it is exactly as boring and unremarkable as a gathering of twenty-five hundred programming-language enthusiasts sounds. But this year, on March 17th, two employees of PlayHaven, a company that develops tools for video-game marketing, made a couple of jokes while sitting in the tenth row of a “lightning talk.” One of the jokes was about “big dongles.” It was a dick joke. (Amy Poehler has made a similar joke on national television, at Best Buy’s behest.) The other joke, according to a commenter on Hacker News, who claimed to be one of the two employees, was a remark that “I would fork that guys [sic] repo.” It was, “mr-hank” claimed, a reference to the fact that taking a developer’s code repository and “forking” the code, creating a new development based on the original, is a new form of flattery—in other words, not sexual in nature. Adria Richards, a developer evangelist for SendGrid, was sitting in front of the pair, and overheard their conversation. She could, as she later wrote on her blog, “feel [her] face getting flustered.” Then she took the above picture of the men and tweeted it to thousands of followers, with the hashtag #PyCon. She captioned it, “Not cool. Jokes about forking repo’s in a sexual way and ‘big’ dongles.” PyCon organizers swooped in, talked to the PlayHaven employees, and declared the situation “dealt with” on Twitter. Click here to read more > Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

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