As I’m want to do, I wandered over to Fire On The Mountain and noticed that my favorite retail Behemoth has decided to file for copyright over the term “staycation”, no, I’m not kidding!
From Fire on The Mountain:

I know, I know, the last thing you need is another reason to hate Wal-Mart. But check this out.

Last month Wal-Mart management filed with the US patent office to scarf up the trademark rights to a neologism (one they had nothing to do with coining, incidentally): "staycation."

The idea is pretty clear--what with layoffs, inflation, a recession and $4 a gallon gas, many of us aren't going to be doing much vacation traveling this summer, so let's hang around the crib and Have Fun! It's a "Staycation"!

Rand McNally, the map people, did some polling in April: 57% of American families are trimming their vacation plans this summer, with only 15 % intending to travel for more than five days. One in ten are canceling their plans altogether.

With the trademark application still pending (track it here), Wal-Mart went ahead yesterday and rolled out a widget you can install on your home computer so that every day you can see a nifty new suggestion for Big Fun on your stay-at-home vacation. Most of them, oddly enough, involve the purchase of a barbecue grill, an "inflatable outdoor movie screen" or some other piece of crap from Wal-Mart. (See the press release at this business site --I'm not linking to the swine.)

I wonder what they'll come up with if millions of us find ourselves on permanent "staycation" as the economy continues to go pear-shaped. Waterproof cardboard box liners to keep your new residence dry? Lightweight plastic trays to sell apples and pencils from? 2 for 1 squeegees for the entrepeneurially-minded?

Have a nice "staycation"...

Okay, so Wal-Mart is going to claim the newly coined phrase “staycation” and not let anyone else use it? Seriously? This is a good thing? Wal-Mart wants to be associated with a declining economy (and continuing to sink to new lows, thanks mortgage brokers, thanks for subprime loans) and high fuel prices? Wow, that’s pretty gutsy of them. To be associated with failed business and economic policies, just excellent.

But this wasn’t enough for me, I wanted to see more, so I went to the business site Fire on the Mountain noted and I swear, my eyes bled, but I also got a laugh I especially loved was the stuff from the press release (and no, I won’t be pulling it from Wally-world, I don’t go there, ever):

Additionally, Wal-Mart announced it will help Americans make up for lost dollars at the gas pump as it continues to roll back prices on items that will help customers stretch their summer dollars even further. Many rollbacks are based on anticipated changes in consumer behavior this summer, as one in three Americans say they plan to pare back their vacation or travel plans due to the rising cost of gas. Whether for shorter weekend trips or backyard "staycations", Wal-Mart will lower prices on brand name items for the patio, the backyard, the cookout, and at-home entertainment.

Okay, so, this got me to thinking about costs for shipping items and shrinkage of those items (meaning the loss of items lost at sea) and how those costs are passed on to us, consumers. In Wally’s case, it means increased fuel costs, or rather, increased shipping costs as they continue to try to avoid US ports and ship via Mexico. The fuel costs that they say they're helping to keep down can only be helped to be raised when manufacturers are forced to move off shore to compete in the coffee makers and crock pot categories with the Wally vendors producing them with near slave labor.

Lowering the price on baked beans and backyard cookout foods won't make things easier or better on any Americans, and I doubt the geniuses in the Wal-Mart headquarters really care that Americans aren't scraping by in a lot of places. Wal-Mart has shown time and time again that it's out for one thing, High Profits, Always. That's the Wal-Mart motto.

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So, I've been reading and talking to Joe about the news of the lock out in Van Wert county, Ohio (my home state).

I decided to do a little digging into Kongsberg. Norway is a trade unionist country with very strong ties to the international trade unions among European countries. So, I decided to look at their 4th quarter annual report to see what they had to say.

Apparently, they had a loss of revenue (they lost money) when they closed their Amotfors seat heating system plant.

Norwegian vehicle components maker Kongsberg Automotive Holding ASA announced on Friday (28 September) that it has initiated employee negotiations regarding a possible closure of its seat heating systems plant in Amotfors, Sweden.

Kongsberg Automotive said that it plans to transfer the operations to its existing production facilities in Poland in order to reduce costs.

The reorganisation reflects persistent margin pressure in the European automotive industry, Kongsberg Automotive said.

"We are one of the world's leading suppliers of seat heating systems for cars. To maintain this position we must adapt our production costs to a level which yield acceptable earnings also in future," said Olav Volldal, CEO of Kongsberg Automotive.

"The potential closure is not because our employees have not performed. It is due to the significant cost gap between high cost and low cost countries," Volldal added.

The restructuring of the operations will affect 90 employees in Amotfors.

So, that had me thinking. They were willing to close a profitable plant on the hopes that they'll be even more profitable when they pay lower wages and move out of high environmental standard Sweden and into low environmental standard Polland. But best of all is probably the line form their Fourth Quarter 2005 annual report where they noted:

The Group is reporting a tax cost percentage of 26 % in 2005. The tax cost is around 28 % for all the countries where Kongsberg Automotive operates, except for Poland where the tax rate is 19 % and the USA where the tax rate is around 33 %. There are no taxes payable for the Norwegian operations due to significant tax loss carryforward related to the Raufoss acquisition.

Do you see the tax base numbers? 33% for the US and 19% when they do business in Poland. So, how long will it be before they move the Van Wert Teleflex operations to Poland?

Sure seems as if this is their kind of business model...acquire patent technologies and then burn the communities where these items are made as they move to less taxing, less environmental standard countries. I really doubt this lock out has anything to do with the workers and everything to do with the way Kongsberg sees the US, as 33% tax. Looks as if they just want to lower the tax rate, costs for doing business and of course labor costs to that of Poland. Come on Poland, what happened to Solidarity?

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