The “good news”: in spite of Boeing being effectively bankrupt, for several years now, with Billions in negative equity, and a pile of debt, people are still willing to give the company more money to burn.
** Where’s the good news? **
Capitalism is brutal. If you can’t compete you go out of business. So where is the good news?
I can see why if you do not live in the United States that you might think things are bad. Especially after your Brexit move.
Here is a list of the best companies in the world. Go to the bottom and you should find your country. 
Go out of business? In Shiny-land? Chrysler was bailed out twice, and is heading into the dirt again. GM was bailed out. Boeing will be bailed out. JPM has been a criminal enterprise, for years, but keeps chugging along, and it’s CEO keeps pulling in 8 figure paychecks.
Steve
We are not doing too badly:
Mr Hunt said that “the UK economy will grow faster over the next six years than in France, Germany, Italy or Japan", according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The USA leads the table for projected GDP but given the USA deficit that’s not surprising.
Au contraire. There is plenty of good news. E.g., the IMF expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, significantly more than the UK, France and Germany or the US. Russia to grow faster than all advanced economies says IMF
And the fourth dam has come down on the Klamath. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/01/climate/klamath-dam-salmon/index.html
Some context. There are slightly over 1 M retail stores in US and even including these kind of massive store closures, bankruptcies, still the closures and new openings even out.
True Value
$HD, $LOW, $WMT, $TSCO are very big powerful players. You have to match their game to compete with them. If you cannot…
Boeing is cutting these jobs because of the strike. These jobs will come back once the strike is over. Only in a very strong resilient economy workers will strike for a month. Think about that.
Retail is still adapting to the rise in online internet sales and the slowing of the big box trend. A major shift in consumer preferences giving too much retail capacity.
True Value is an anacronism. They serve small local hardware stores. They are hard to find after strong competition from big box competitors. No surprise that their time is ending.
Boeing’s story is completely different. Union reacting to inflation while company suffers from a string of mgt blunders and even quality issues.
I don’t think I have set foot in a Walgreens store in several years. I do go into CVS once in a while.
I think the drug store retail chains (Walgreens, CVS) partially did it to themselves. How many of the Walgreens, CVS stores in your area have drive-up windows? I suggest that the stores with drive-up windows have killed part of their retail business by offering the “convenience” of picking up one’s Rx order from an outside window. I mean, I have been in my local CVS store and sometimes I am one of only two shoppers in the store. Those stores have tons of impulse buys available - snacks, chocolates, cosmetics, etc. Now decades ago, but there used to be a time when, many Walgreen’s stores had a dedicated person in the cosmetics section most hours. I am guessing that’s no longer the case.
CVS has their own captive pharmacy benefit manager, while Walgreen’s doesn’t. This allows CVS to keep the PBM’s skim, which makes it tough for Walgreen’s to compete on price.
@ syke6 - Yes, CVS does have that advantage. But, think how much additional sales the chain could be making if they could sell - candy bars, soda, chap stick, snacks, etc to that same customer. Or some of the Over-the-Counter (OTC) meds to the same customer
Not allowed for some. Some Medicare Advantage insurers (ok, scammers) issue cards with a credit balance of (say) $40/quarter. BUT, you can NOT use those funds online–unless you buy directly from the company issuing the card. Their prices are stupidly high. Want to buy OTC items in store? Walmart is ok, as is CVS and Walgreens. But you can only buy “in person”–no mail order from any of them. So, if item not sold in store, you cannot buy it using the OTC card. No Amazon, etc.
Got my card and bought “stuff that looked interesting that I might use” every quarter just to use it up. The OTC card is changing next year. I wonder why…
Because of Labour’s industrial policies.
Ace has managed to find a path between the big box and local. With 13,000 employees and consistently rising revenues they’re doing OK, I think. Around here they have taken over several older, vacated storefronts (Trusty Hardware, etc.) and revitalized them and made them prosper with a mix of well staff and well merchandised location in strip malls near population centers.
I have an Ace not 3 miles from my house. It’s 15 miles to a Lowe’s or Home Depot. The big projects go to the big boys, but I am at the Ace far more often. It’s an extra 50¢ to a buck for each item, but it’s also the difference between a 10 minute run and an hour, so…
Where’s the good news? The Economist has found it several times this year. Look at these recent headlines…
The American Economy: The Envy of the World
The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust. Expect that to continue
American productivity still leads the world
DB2
I too have several Ace hardware stores nearby (and one True Value). They tend to be smaller with helpful staff. And much less walking than big box stores that might have everything–if you can find it.
Is Ace publicly traded? I think they are a distribution system that buys in bulk and distributes to member stores from regional warehouses. I doubt that they own stores. Locally owned businesses join as members and maybe franchise. Maybe share in advertising and promotions.
Re: OTC coverage
The United Healthcare Medicare Advantage HMO seems to work ok. They give you $70 each quarter. You can order on line or by phone and have it delivered. Or you have card that covers OTC items when you shop at Walmart.
Scan card when paying at checkout. Covered items are deducted by card (as long as you have a balance). Then you pay rest of bill.
They have been DROPPED by a variety of insurers due to the high rate of rejected claims by UHC. So it makes no sense to get $70 when they will stiff you with $7+K in bills (as often as they wish to deny your claims).
Not touching UHC.
Privately held. Yes, I believe that’s how it works, but then I thought that’s how True Value and Trusty Hardware and Do It Best and the rest were handled. The parent buys in bulk and runs distribution centers. The franchisees pay a royalty for integrated systems, floor planning, payroll, etc. and are mostly limited to selling what the parent sells them. We have one Ace that has a “home” section which I have not seen elsewhere, and none of the merchandise is “Ace” labeled. It’s stuff like signs “Live, Love, Laugh” and that sort of stuff. Aprons, potholders, picture frames, etc. I got to know the manager of that one (it’s the closest to me) and she said the rental space came with “extra space” which was outside the usual floor plan, so they filled it with this stuff. It didn’t occur to me to ask how that works with corporate.
It might not be helping CVS all that much: