Topic: SHR: CSX To Eliminate 121 Huntington Jobs

[elginherd]

I'm one of those that's had to leave.  I'm now 3+ hours away from my wife and children trying to salvage my railroad career, all while trying to find a suitable job back near Huntington that'll pay close to what I earn with CSX.  I'm not a 6-figure guy, but there's very little that I've found within a 50 mile radius.

I feel for you Bleed Kelley. I had to move my wife & then infant daughter away in 1982 to earn a decent living. Even as a physics/chemistry teacher also certified in instrumental music (and one of the few at the time who could teach improv) there were absolutely no local prospects. I missed the Herd & family & friends, but at least I moved to a place where my abilities were appreciated & utilized.

[kjh]

Or you can hold out hope that yet another Democrat President (this time the worst of the lot in Hillary)  will be the answer...... The Federal Government can only promise and give away so much before there is nothing left to give away........at some point businesses MUST be allowed to thrive and invest in growth to generate jobs............the highest corporate tax in the world and the increasing costs of benefits (read ObamaCare) do little to create jobs.............We need a business friendly President and Congress to swing the pendulum back in the direction of economic growth.

Yeah Dan, a little more than seven years ago banks were failing, the auto industry was on the brink of disaster, almost 10% unemployment, housing industry in disrepair and 300,000 of our best locked in a disaster in Iraq for a phony reason. Add to that a congress that can't pass even gas. What we need is more of the same some of you shout. I'm sorry for these folks but coal is dirty and pollutes our air and the hand writing has long been on the wall. It's too bad but it is reality

[The E-Man]

Sorry, one party is to blame.  The one who was in power in West Virginia for 82 of the last 84 years and whose President said "If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them" under his plan laid out in 2008.

I'll say this in all fairness, Obama's policy has hurt the coal mining industry. natural gas is another huge cause of the coal industry's downturn.
 
As svherd said,

When as state builds it's entire economic base on one industry, it's bound to come back and bite them on many fronts. Barry's attack has sped up the process.

I have to totally agree with him. The coal industry would have went down, because of natural gas being cheaper and it has exploded on the market.

[ed swain]

Not only has the coal industry been destroyed,but the oil industry has gone the same way and older people are losing what little they have in the stock market. what we need is a third term for Obama to finish the job of getting more people dependent on the government with their votes assured for the future.

[Johnnyherd]

CSX hired me in 2010, sent me to Atlanta, GA to Railroad training for months, I graduated at the top of my class....My family and I were so excited I had gotten a very good job.....I worked for them for 3 years, I was furloughed (laid off) more than I worked most years....Then they invited us all to embassy suites and told us that they were permanently laying off 300 of us  in WV, OH and KY....I didn't cry about it...I almost lost my house....I worked 2 jobs and still didn't make near the money...I put myself through RN school...Damm near lost my house again....Graduated at the top of my class and passed the boards and now CSX is nothing more than a distant nightmare to me....I understand business decisions made by companies, but these are peoples lives and they won't hesitate to build up people and destroy them....

[The E-Man]

Not only has the coal industry been destroyed,but the oil industry has gone the same way and older people are losing what little they have in the stock market. what we need is a third term for Obama to finish the job of getting more people dependent on the government with their votes assured for the future.

Ed are you complaining about the price of oil being as low as it's been in year's. Also, about gas prices being way way down! Amazing!

[elginherd]

CSX hired me in 2010, sent me to Atlanta, GA to Railroad training for months, I graduated at the top of my class....My family and I were so excited I had gotten a very good job.....I worked for them for 3 years, I was furloughed (laid off) more than I worked most years....Then they invited us all to embassy suites and told us that they were permanently laying off 300 of us  in WV, OH and KY....I didn't cry about it...I almost lost my house....I worked 2 jobs and still didn't make near the money...I put myself through RN school...Damm near lost my house again....Graduated at the top of my class and passed the boards and now CSX is nothing more than a distant nightmare to me....I understand business decisions made by companies, but these are peoples lives and they won't hesitate to build up people and destroy them....

All I can say is WAY-TO-GO Johnny.

My biggest concern has not been addressed either party, though the repubs have been more destructive in this regard: Where are the middle class jobs for those who are not as academically talented as Johnnyherd? Both the Germans & Canadians have been better in this regard. There are many people who are extremely talented/intelligent in other regards who have a very difficult time in this era.

[elginherd]

Ed are you complaining about the price of oil being as low as it's been in year's. Also, about gas prices being way way down! Amazing!

To Ed: "W" did much, much more harm than Obama.

To E-Man: The low oil prices are a double-edged sword; the Saudis realized that the new Canadian/US production technologies poises a threat to their dominant status in the supply of crude. They are making a conscience effort to drive our North American producers out of business. States like Kansas, Oklahoma & North Dakota are in real trouble both in tax revenue shortfall & in falling employment rates. Like I stated...extraction industry of any sort is boom-bust.

[Johnnyherd]

Sadly, some of the guys I hired with left good jobs to go to work at CSX....A couple guys lost their homes and had their lives ruined.....again I don't blame CSX for reacting to market changes....but they were hiring when we got laid off and since we got laid off...they had guys retiring left and right....they could have shrank through retirement and attrition....but they just rip and shred and hire more....

but like a old railroader told me on my first day....There is a reason for the phrase "getting railroaded" and if you stick around long enough you'll find that out for yourself.....

[HaveUherd]

Not only has the coal industry been destroyed,but the oil industry has gone the same way and older people are losing what little they have in the stock market. what we need is a third term for Obama to finish the job of getting more people dependent on the government with their votes assured for the future.

Wow...I have to call (bleep) here.

Where was the Dow Jones when Obama took office compared to now?

[coalherd]

Wow...I have to call bull%^&* here.

Where was the Dow Jones when Obama took office compared to now?

Yeah, and check the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the unemployment rate in Dec. 2008, Bush's last full month in office. Rate was 5.9%.  After first couple of years, and his ballyhooed "Stimulus" package, under Obama, unemployment rose to around 9%, and stayed well above the rates at end of Bush era for some time.  Program in reality was just another leftist "Shamulus" package. You can blame another bleeding heart program, the so-called Dodd-Frank law, which essentially made banks give home loans to people who had no collateral, sufficient down payment, etc., to purchase a home.  So when loans failed, banks, and ultimately the government (i.e., taxpayers) ended up holding a lot of worthless paper.  Another instance of where the liberal do-gooders, ended up listening to the whiners, "its not fair. . ." crowd.  Result:  a failed, expensive, wasteful program enacted because a bunch of gullible people thought the government should do EVERYTHING for them, including wiping their rear ends!!

[Buffalo Bop]

[herdpulse]

Well, I guess everything will be solved by you f*cking Tea Party morons...or the biblical "expertise" of Forrest Trump...

Don't worry, the IRS is dealing with those constitution leaning tea party folks. Trump is a carnival act. And the only thing "biblical" is we have to live this "obamanation".

[Johnnyherd]

Sadly most people don't realize that Huntington is named after Collis Huntington one of the "big four".  The four men that built the US Transcontinental railroad.  We have a railroad signal called the big four in their honor.  Huntington was built by the Railroad and the river industries.  Another dagger closing the Kremlin.

[2xBison]

Well, I guess everything will be solved by you f*cking Tea Party morons...or the biblical "expertise" of Forrest Trump...

do we really have to read idiot liberal babble on herdfans now?

[kjh]

do we really have to read idiot liberal babble on herdfans now?

Seriously, it's  all only liberal babble?

[ThunderValley]

The real blame goes to the Oil Companies...they own the majority of West Virginia Coal. They want to move to Natural Gas because it is cheaper to produce and cleaner...but let's make it political and as usual blame Obama for everything.

[Johnnyherd]

The real blame goes to the Oil Companies...they own the majority of West Virginia Coal. They want to move to Natural Gas because it is cheaper to produce and cleaner...

It's a money game, ran by pure greed...The natural gas provided a trillion dollar industry for the gobbling up...Plus it's a way to bilk money...they show you a cheaper per unit cost of NG then hand out behind closed doors billion dollar contacts left and right to make NG work for energy, well that gets passed on to every American and every business in the nation and is a chief contributor to inflation.

If it's such a great financial move to, kill coal and go to natural gas, why has the cost of electric went up so much?  Why is AEP petitioning for more money every few months?

[ThunderValley]

It's a money game, ran by pure greed..

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elginherd]

It's a money game, ran by pure greed...The natural gas provided a trillion dollar industry for the gobbling up...Plus it's a way to bilk money...they show you a cheaper per unit cost of NG then hand out behind closed doors billion dollar contacts left and right to make NG work for energy, well that gets passed on to every American and every business in the nation and is a chief contributor to inflation.

If it's such a great financial move to, kill coal and go to natural gas, why has the cost of electric went up so much?  Why is AEP petitioning for more money every few months?

Lots of complicated reasons for your electric bill, which is regulated.

In general, publicly held energy companies have higher rates than municipal utilities. The PS commissions (at least in theory) set rates such that the utilities make a guarantied profit, which means that rate hikes are approved for new equipment, new power plants, etc. It also means that those companies have relatively stable dividend paying stocks, and their bonds tend to be highly graded. On occasion, rates are cut.

NG does not have as much energy density as coal; however, it does burn much cleaner and does not leave mountains of ash. (Ash IS a serious, but underrated problem.) Despite the occasional spectacular explosion, NG is safer to transport, and after the initial expense, pipelines are cheaper than shipping coal by any method.

[breckjimison]

Whoa, Nellie... someone on here just gave me a bad bad karma for saying all parties need to work together.. hummmm lmao.. ;D, Everyone is right, and no one is wrong go figure!

Hey now!
+1
I just evened you up

[luvherd]

WV acts like a guy standing on a train track with a train barreling towards it. You can get off the track and reinvent oneself or hold onto coal and get ran over. Either way the train will not stop. Coal was great for decades but like Pittsburgh did with the steel industry it is time to have a make over.

[HaveUherd]

WV acts like a guy standing on a train track with a train barreling towards it. You can get off the track and reinvent oneself or hold onto coal and get ran over. Either way the train will not stop. Coal was great for decades but like Pittsburgh did with the steel industry it is time to have a make over.

The state has had decades to see this happening and try to diversify but they haven't done real well. It's almost totally flipped red so I don't expect to hear any political excuses here on out.

If anyone wants to criticize Obama but gloss over not so smart who started a BS war and almost drove us into a depression, I just have to sit back and laugh.

[The E-Man]

WV acts like a guy standing on a train track with a train barreling towards it. You can get off the track and reinvent oneself or hold onto coal and get ran over. Either way the train will not stop. Coal was great for decades but like Pittsburgh did with the steel industry it is time to have a make over.

So true! I almost forgot about the steel industry and how hard it was hit. Nothing stays the same as the world turns. If you ever get a chance and take a drive on rt 2 along the Ohio river, you will see a lot of closed steel plants in Steubenville, Weirton, and many more. Youngstown, Ohio lossed half of it's population do to steel closings. West Virginia is going to have to reinvent the wheel. We have an abundance of natural gas and timber we need to take a serious look at. I really feel for our coal industry the miners and their families, it's been a way of life for many over the decades. Hell, I just read where Alaskan's are no longer getting royalty checks, because of oil prices being so low. In fact, the Governor is now talking about raising taxes to offset slumping oil prices.

[elginherd]

WV acts like a guy standing on a train track with a train barreling towards it. You can get off the track and reinvent oneself or hold onto coal and get ran over. Either way the train will not stop. Coal was great for decades but like Pittsburgh did with the steel industry it is time to have a make over.

Love the analogy luvherd, though to be fair, it did take Pittsburgh years (really decades) to grieve, recover & reinvent itself.