coloyan.com

File under take this job and shove it.

Apparently Bank of America is having a difficult time finding anyone who wants to be their new CEO. Hmmm, I couldn’t imagine why? I mean who wouldn’t want to be the CEO of a multi billion dollar bank teetering on the edge of bankruptcy due to greed and fraud? Sounds like a barrel of laughs.

Bank of America should have been put out of its misery a long time ago. No wonder anyone with a clue wouldn’t touch this company with 10 foot pole.

It is going to be a tough Christmas this year as many retailers have been delaying the inevitable in hopes of the holiday shopping season saving them from the abyss. Newsflash; it’s not going to happen.

In recognition of this fact, let’s play a game of Retail Musical Chairs, of more appropriately Retail (Russian) Roulette.

Here we have a list of the Top 20 Retailers in the United States based on 2008 revenue. The chart is courtesy of Planet Retail.

My question is this; after the retail disappointment that will undoubtedly be this holiday season, which of these companies many not be around this time next year? Might there be some that won’t even make it to 2010? I’m not giving my picks away, but I can spot a few that I think have one foot in the retail grave and another on a banana peel.

So who is not come down for dinner in 2010?

01. Walmart
02. Kroger
03. Costco
04. Home Depot
05. Target
06. Walgreens
07. CVS
08. Lowes
09. Sears
10. Best Buy
11. Supervalu
12. Safeway
13. Rite Aid
14. Macy’s
15. Publix
16. McDonalds
17. Abold USA (supermarkets)
18. Delhaize America (supermarkets)
19. Amazon.com
20. TJ Maxx

Mish Shedlock posted an interesting report from three CPA’s who have assessed the financial situation of the City of Houston, Texas. Apparently like many other cities and states in the United States right now, Houston is flat out broke. The CPA’s, Bob Lemer, Aubrey M. Farb and Tom Roberts concluded that the only solution available to the city would be to declare bankruptcy. You can read Mish’s full post here. The full report is also available for download from scribd.

Some of the highlights, or lowlights if you will:

The City of Houston is financially broke and it appears that the mayor who takes office in January 2010 may have to captain the City through bankruptcy procedures…..

The City is in this dangerous financial position because its total spending since fiscal year 2003 has greatly outstripped its total revenues in that period…..

It appears to us that there may be no viable alternative to bankruptcy proceedings and thereby positioning the City to regain control over its overspending, through addressing structural spending problems such as overstaffing and overly generous employee benefits.

Many municipal and state governments are in dire situations which are only going to get worse unless they make drastic cuts to services. While the cheerleaders on TV are babbling about green shoots, this country is slowly going down in flames, piece by piece, town by town. It is not going to get better and instead will only get worse until elected officials and voters pull their heads out of the sand and face these problems head on.