Category Archives: Business

Wonder why GEO Group canceled VT’s prison contract?

Business, National, , , ,

In December (after the election, of course) GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corporation) unexpectedly opted not to renew a multi-year contract to house State of Vermont prisoners. Their North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan was housing less than 300 Vermont inmates (the only occupants in the facility) but has a potential capacity of 1,748.

Private for-profit prison companies just got a belated Valentine’s Day  love letter from new Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. The Valentine came in the form of a memo that reverses acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ directives aimed to slow and ultimately end the Bureau of Prisons’ use of privately run for-profit prisons. The Obama Justice Department had acted on data (see here and here )suggesting that private prisons are less well run than those managed by the Bureau of Prisons, and since overall prison population wasn’t growing, they were no longer be needed.

However, Attorney General Sessions shifted — well actually reversed — the policy in his memo Thursday by declaring that curtailing private prison use “impaired the Bureau’s [Bureau of Prisons’] ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system.”  cell door Think about what that says about the future Session envisions.

The new Attorney General may not have been the only one anticipating that Trump’s aggressive immigration sweeps will be supplying new detainees to occupy private prison beds. And  since they opted out of the next one-year extension of Vermont’s contract in Dec. 2016, GEO Group will have emptied one of its facilities by June. So, maybe look for the future announcement that GEO’s North Lake will re-open to house the overflow of ICE detainees from Trump’s sweeps awaiting deportation hearings.

GEO Group is the largest (CoreCivic formerly Corrections Corporation of America is second) contract provider of detention services for ICE, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. Marshals Service. With recent acquisitions Geo Corrections & Detention and Geo Care will own or manage about 98,000 beds worldwide including about 7,000 community reentry beds.prisonprofitper

And GEO’s political action committee spends lavishly on politicians. In 2016 alone they gave $300,000 to Trump’s presidential campaign and almost that much in Senate and Congressional races — overwhelmingly to Republican candidates — all that in addition to heavy lobby spending on state legislators and governors.  [the following was added 2/26 :  Phil Scott got his bit:a $2,000.00 donation from GEO in March 2016].  GEO Group (and earlier Wackenhut) has helped fund and is listed as a member of ALEC (the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council).

So, it’s probably no accident GEO Group knew which way the wind was going to blow regarding immigrant detention when Trump said he’d deport ‘em all. There are estimated to be up to 8 million people in the country illegally that could be considered priorities for deportation. Sessions’ memo  just monetized them. And GEO stock is at an all time peak.     

Van lines survey: VT second highest number of people moving in

Business, National,

For the third year in a row a survey by United Van Lines [Ed. updated link 3/17] suggests Vermont is a desirable location for people wishing to relocate. movinvtUnited is one of the nation’s largest moving companies and has tracked customer state-to-state migration for the past 40 years.  In the 2016 national study Vermont moved up from third to the second of the top states with increases of inbound moves.

Moving In: The top inbound states of 2016 were:

  1. South Dakota
  2. Vermont
  3. Oregon
  4. Idaho
  5. South Carolina
  6. Washington
  7. District of Columbia
  8. North Carolina
  9. Nevada
  10. Arizona 

Vermont’s jump continues our state’s trend up, which runs counter to other states’ trends in the Northeast. New Jersey tops outbound states with New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania continuing to have substantial outbound moves according to the United Van lines survey.

Despite certain demographic challenges to population growth (aging population, people leaving, and a low birth rate) Vermont is, at least according United’s survey, going against a trend toward outbound growth in Northeastern states. Although our population is staying the same or slightly declining we are doing something right regarding this positive trend.

Monday Trump administration fun-facts!

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Donald Trump’s buildings are always (he says) the tallest, but according to the Washington Post  his cabinet really will, by far and away be the richest one ever! Biggestly!

When George W. Bush assembled his first Cabinet in 2001, news reports dubbed them a team of millionaires, and government watchdogs questioned whether they were out of touch with most Americans’ problems. Combined, that group had an inflation-adjusted net worth of about $250 million — which is roughly one-tenth the wealth of Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary alone.

Commerce Department Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, Jr., is a longtime Trump acquaintance (he managed one of Trump’s bankruptcies). Forbes rates him the 232nd wealthiest person in the US, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Ross has worldwide interests according to the maritime news publication gcaptain.com: fatcatrowboat5[Ross] built his fortune investing in troubled companies, including the oil and gas, steel and financial industries. He has a large ownership stake in Navigator Holdings, and his Diamond S Shipping is one of the world’s biggest owners of medium-range products tankers.

As the agency’s name suggests The Department of Commerce is charged with promoting American business in the US and overseas.This  includes gathering economic data, enforcing international trade agreements, and issuing trademarks and patents. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is part of the Commerce Department. NOAA (which includes the National Weather Service) manages scientific data on weather, oceans, and climate conditions to assess the health of the world’s oceans. I recall recent efforts by Congressional Republicans to privatize the U S Weather Service.

So fat-cat Wilbur Ross, Jr., as Commerce Secretary may soon oversee NOAA — but under President Trump I doubt he needs a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.

“Minimum” good news from Election Day

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In four states, voters approved increases  in their minimum wage this past Election Day. Arizona, Colorado, and Maine voters approved phased–in minimum wage  increases to at least $12.00 per hour by 2020. In Washington the increase will be $13.50 by 2020. Seventeen other states (including Vermont) and many cities have already raised minimum wage requirements in recent years. However the Federal minimum wage remains low at $7.25 per hour.

wageworldCommenting on the passage of minimum wage hikes Holly Sklar, CEO of an organization called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage says: “This really reinforces what we know—that there’s very strong support among the general public for raising the minimum wage, and there’s also strong support in the business community for raising the minimum wage. And you can see it across the country and across the political spectrum.”

There’s a clear business case for supporting the increase. “To put it in the most basic terms, workers are also customers,” says Sklar. “Some of the political opposition against raising the minimum wage often acts like workers and customers are like two different species of people.”

Here in Vermont the Democrats and Progressives in the legislature passed and Governor Shumlin (D) signed an incremental minimum wage bill increase to $10.00 per hour in January 2017 and $10.50 by 2018.wageslaves1 Governor-elect Phil Scott(R) opposed this move. He said then and now that he prefers not to “burden” businesses and that wages should be left alone to grow “organically.”

Good news has been in short supply since Election Day but that shouldn’t diminish the fact that thanks to the voters roughly two million low-wage workers wages will benefit from these increases — a good small step, long in coming.

Phil Scott to meet with Koch Brothers

Business, local/regional, National,

Well, not precisely with the Koch Brothers but close enough (and besides, the “evil Koch Brothers” are proven bi-partisan click bait in Vermont). Governor-elect Phil Scott will be flying to Florida this week to attend the Republican Governors Association’s two-day post-election conference.rga201620 At two million dollars the Kochs were the largest contributors to the Republican Governors Association(RGA) in 2016 according to opensecrets.org.

The RGA then, in turn coughed up big bucks – almost $3 million dollars – to support Scott’s campaign win here in Vermont. It is worth noting that with Trump’s ascendance in the national GOP, the Kochs have been channeling more and more resources – reportedly $750 million – to extend their influence to state GOP office holders at all levels.

A theme of this week’s RGA gathering is “leading the change,” and featured speakers include public employee union-busting Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, climate change denier Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, and Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. Of the three only Haley has been critical of Trump, but she also accepted contributions from him.

Phil Scott’s first national excursion as governor-elect is to go racing off, following the money to schmooze at the RGA conference with union busters and climate change deniers. And the man who spoke so often about “hitting the pause button” will spend time hearing about “leading the change.” Who is this “authentic Vermonter?” Looks pretty different on the road from his campaign image when he’s at home.

And the winner is…cable news networks

Business, National,

Recent polls show only 19% of US adults approved of the media. The press did better with 32 % trust .But those low approval numbers don’t prevent viewers from tuning in-and cable news profits are soaring.

“Look at this mask. Look at this mask. Oh wow. Wow, that’s beautiful. Look at that. Looks just like me.” said Donald Trump
“Look at this mask. Look at this mask. Oh wow. Wow, that’s beautiful. Look at that. Looks just like me.” said Donald Trump

[…] according to sources familiar with CNN’s finances, “the network and its related media businesses will approach $1 billion in gross profit in 2016

And of course as much as one might try, you can’t ignore Fox News:  Fox, which hosted the first GOP debate in 2015, generated $2.3 billion in ad sales and $1.6 billion in operating profit for its parent company, 21st Century Fox, in 2015, according to research firm SNL Kagan. That number will undoubtedly be higher in 2016 given the bigger audiences and higher ad rates in the election year. 

MSNBC is also having an exceptional year. In October alone, viewership was up 168 percent overall and 261 percent in the 18–54 demographic.

It would be interesting to find out how much of a role Trump,the GOP’s buffoon bigot showman had in generating viewership.There is a good chance the Trump show will  get canceled today, but could he show up in his own sequel. You know, Trump TV ?

Updated: VT’s Black River Produce sold to giant food distributor

Business, local/regional, National, , , , , ,

Black River Produce joins the long line of Vermont grown companies (Vermont Castings, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and of course, Ben and Jerry’s) to sell out to much larger, out-of-state businesses.

Owners of the state’s most familiar food distributor announced that Chicago food distributor Reinhart Foodservice will purchase Black River Produce/Earth Brothers, Ltd.   of Springfield Vt.   Reinhart’s parent company Reyes Holdings (a beverage distribution conglomerate) is owned by M. Jude Reyes and  in 2010 was the 20th -largest private company in the United States.

The Rutland Herald/ Time-Argus reports Black River was started in 1978 by two friends who delivered fresh produce from Boston to Vermont restaurants and stores.  Black River Produce currently employees 200 people in North Springfield.

The company is one of the standouts in the Vermont economy: Sales have grown 25 percent in the past five years, Black River Produce co-founder Mark Curran said. The company has been recognized by Vermont Business Magazine for its strong growth, he said. The company reported $75.3 million in revenue for 2015.

And to add value to deal the sale will include the four-year-old Black River Meats.

[UPDATE 10/21: When Chicago based Reinhart Food Distributors purchase of Black River Produce is complete it will include Black River Meats label/brand. Black River Meats are processed by Vermont Packinghouse (which operates out of a building owned by Black River Meats-presumably that will now be owned by Reinhart of Chicago)

Since only the profitable label/brand are changing hands the ownership of the plant will not change as result of the sale to the Chicago company.]

This outgrowth is a state-of-the-art slaughterhouse for local Vermont meats that received start-up grants worth $50,000 from State of Vermont Working Lands Grant in 2013 and state funding assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Authority in 2016. It is no small irony that money spent recently by the state of Vermont to grow and support local businesses may have helped to sweeten the sale for the giant Chicago-based conglomerate.

 

Chicago-based Reinhart Foods has almost 30 distribution locations from Boston to New Orleans — and its clients include Burger King, Subway, and the Defense Logistics Agency. A quick Google search reveals that Reinhart of Chicago has a recent history of OSHA-imposed fines and job-related deaths, and that the business holds the lowest rating from Greenpeace for sustainable practices.

Seven employees were injured and one killed at a Reinhart Food Service facility in Virginia in March when a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-high food shelving unit tipped and collapsed onto workers. Workers had reportedly complained about the safety of the racks prior to the fatal accident.

Also in 2016 a Reinhart facility in Massachusetts was fined over $70,000 when a faulty alarm system failed to detect a leak of anhydrous ammonia from a refrigeration unit that uses 27,500 pounds of the substance. Kenneth Shedden, OSHA’s area director for Boston and Southeastern Massachusetts, said although the amount of the leak was small “An uncontrolled release can be lethal and catastrophic,”

And finally in a recent 2016 report on sustainability Greenpeace gives Reinhart a “worst sustainability” rating of 5 out of 100 total points. Says Greenpeace: “Worst of all, Reinhart sources bluefin tuna: a severely overfished species red-listed by Seafood Watch for every single stock in the world. This suggests Reinhart either does not prioritize sustainable, ethical seafood, or is not concerned with the implications of sourcing threatened species.”

It has long been true that Vermonters tend to admire their “little” home grown local businesses like Black River Produce. We do just love all our aging hippie entrepreneurs, don’t we!  But once again, one of those local, homegrown companies has been sold to a very large corporation — some might say a monopoly. This time around it is Black River Produce and Meats, “a key player in Vermont’s local foods movement and one of the brightest economic lights in southern Vermont” that has been swallowed up by what looks like a big ugly fish.

Some random Labor Day stuff with an old cartoon

Business, National, ,

strike
[Note: the guy is leading with a left] 1919: 150,000 coal miners strike for higher wages, better working conditions, and recognition of United Mine Workers of America.
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894. In Vermont, 1895 there were Labor Day parades and celebrations in Barre and Montpelier. After speeches in Montpelier the Barre baseball team defeated National Life, 11-7. The machinists defeated the stone cutters, 13-12.

 

Some misc. 2016 labor statistics:

16.4 million The number of wage and salary workers age 16 and over represented by a union in 2015. This group included both union members (14.8 million) and workers who reported no union affiliation but whose jobs were covered by a union contract (1.6 million). Among states, New York continued to have the highest union membership rate (24.7 percent), and South Carolina had the lowest rate (2.1 percent).

108.0% The projected percentage growth from 2014 to 2024 in the number of wind turbine service technicians (4,400 jobs in 2014), the projected fastest-growing occupation. Meanwhile, the occupation expected to add the greatest number of positions over this period is personal care aides (458,100).

6.3 millionThe number of commuters who left for work between midnight and 4:59 a.m. in 2014. They represented 4.5 percent of all commuters. The most common time was between 7 a.m. and 7:29 a.m. – with 20.6 million commuters.

26.0 minutes The average time it took workers in the U.S. to commute to work in 2014. New York (32.6 minutes) and Maryland (32.3 minutes) had the most time-consuming commutes.

And does anyone remember back when Labor Day was considered the traditional  start of the presidential campaign season?

Phil Scott’s key answer

Business, local/regional,

I’ve read and heard one of the keys to the Phil Scott vision for the state’s future is increasing the number of 25-45 year-olds who live in Vermont. Now Scott doesn’t supply many specifics for meeting his goal and enticing this age group to Vermont, but in comments to the Burlington Free Press he indicated he believes helping a company feel more confident by way of various tax incentives should be a big part of it – or maybe that’s the key to all his plans.

But there are other solutions to this puzzle. And here are samplings from a short list (lifted from here ) of policy suggestions that might realistically incentivize the desired demographic (and other age groups) Scott claims he wants to woo to the Green Mountain state:

a) Offer a higher wage. Yes, yes, wages are so 20th century, but The Kids Today have a strange affinity for them. Maybe it’s nostalgia. […]

b) Good health insurance. […] Silly Kids Today.

c) Retirement benefits. […] They’ve been told their whole lives that Social Security just won’t be there for them so they need an alternative. Blame whoever keeps telling them that (shhh!!!!).

d) On the job training. […]

e)Job Security. The Kids Today would like some assurances that their jobs might be around a few months hence. […]

Oh, but implementing any of those would take a bit of leadership, and Scott’s business buddies would squawk a lot. Philand the millennials

But let’s be fair to Scott’s key solution – business-friendly tax policy – it might be just the thing 25-45 year-olds are into.

And I am probably not alone in recalling those times long ago, when we were still young, meeting up with friends on a Saturday afternoon and making plans to head out on the town that evening, in search of a little “business certainty, a tax incentive” or if we got really lucky “a tax exemption.”

Entergy Vermont Yankee takes a leak into the future

Business, local/regional, , ,

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is shutdown, no longer generating power and starting the decommissioning process. And Entergy VY is still struggling with a persistent ground water intrusion problem (think very leaky basement) in and through the nuclear reactor turbine building.curleyleaks

Back when the plant was operating, there was, it seemed, always a steady drip, drip, drip of news coming out of the troubled plant — a high temperature electrical fire here, a decayed cooling tower collapse there, and forty mysterious underground pipes “discovered” as  the source of radioactive tritiated water leaks — just to name a few of the ‘highlights.’ So the current radioactive water intrusion is only the latest in a long history of mishaps.

Happily Vtdigger.com reports VY officials think they have gotten a handle on the rising tides: “Vermont Yankee administrators say they’re getting a stubborn groundwater intrusion problem under control and are no longer pursuing a proposal to discharge radioactive water into the Connecticut River.”

Early this spring Entergy bought homeowner-grade kiddie pools (the NRC actually approved their use for this purpose) to hold the overflow. The pools were then abandoned in favor of more durable rubber storage bladders; gallons of contaminated water were shipped out by tanker truck, an expensive task. And now reports suggest the company will no longer pursue state permission to dump its tainted water into the Connecticut River.

The aggressive flow of water, at its height in February, was as much as 3,000 gallons a day. Yet  officials maintain: “Simply sealing “a number of cracks” in the turbine building has helped.”

And the Entergy VY spokesflack brags: “We had a plan, we implemented the plan, and the plan worked.”FreeVYpoolz

Aw come on, “We had a plan!”  Bah! I think they are winging it –right from the time they rushed out to buy their first kiddie pool to capture overflows of radio-active water.

And now, what VY fails to mention and the reporter at Vtdigger.com definitely should have noted is that Vermont and most of the Northeast are in the midst of record-breaking drought!   Vermont has seen record low rainfall, with the drought  even more severe in Southern New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts.

Ground water levels are low throughout the region — therefore groundwater intrusion at VY’s turbine building would be record low. No water = no leaks!

But Entergy is decommissioning and headed out VY’s back door, pausing just long enough to patch a few cracks in the ‘basement,’ bless Mother Nature for the lack of rain, and cross their corporate fingers. I wonder if part of their plan includes setting up the kiddie pools again next spring?