America’s Most Hated Companies

By Alexander E.M. Hess and Douglas A. McIntyre January 14, 2015 6:35 am EST

CUSTOMER SERVICE, EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND SHARE PRICE PERFORMANCE CONSIDERED

To be truly hated, a company must alienate a large number of people. It may irritate consumers with bad customer service, upset employees by paying low wages, and disappoint Wall Street with underwhelming returns. For a small number of companies, such failures are intertwined. These companies managed to antagonize more than just one group and have become widely disliked.

The most hated companies have millions of customers. With such a large customer base, it is critical to keep employees happy in order to promote high-quality customer service. Poor job satisfaction among employees can lead to unsatisfied customers. McDonald’s and Walmart have risked alienating workers, and therefore also customers, by not adequately addressing protests against their employees’ low wages. While pay may be low enough to put some workers below the poverty line, executives at these companies often make millions. The total compensation of McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson, for example, was nearly $9.5 million in 2013 and nearly $13.8 million in 2012.

Layoffs, or even the prospect of layoffs, can also contribute to low employee morale. Sprint announced it would cut 2,000 jobs late last year. Workers at Comcast can reasonably expect layoffs should its planned merger with Time Warner Cable receives government approval.

Many of the most hated companies angered the public because of quality issues with their products.. Comcast has long been one of the worst companies in America in terms of customer service and satisfaction. Another example is the General Motors recall scandal. GM announced a recall in early 2014 due to faulty ignition switches in a number of its cars, now believed to have cost 42 people their lives. The company’s problems were compounded by the realization that it had known about the defect for over a decade.

Nothing harms the long-term reputation of a company in the eyes of investors more than a steep drop in its share price. In the past 12 months, shares of Sprint have fallen by more than 50%, as hopes for a tie-up with rival T-Mobile were dashed while the company had little success in retaining customers.

It is worth noting that some of the companies on the list may have performed very poorly by some measures but relatively well by others. A few of the most hated companies have had good stock performances. Others have relatively satisfied customers. All of these factors were taken into account in compiling the final list.

Several companies from last year list have improved their public perceptions enough to be removed from this year’s list. For example, J.C. Penney is in the midst of a modest turnaround. Abercrombie & Fitch’s controversial long-time CEO Michael Jeffries resigned last December. However, the retailer still has problems attracting teenage customers.

To identify the most hated companies in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a variety of metrics on customer service, employee satisfaction, and share price performance. We considered consumer surveys from a number of sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Zogby Analytics. We also included employee satisfaction based on worker opinion scores recorded by Glassdoor.com. Finally, we reviewed management decisions and company policies that hurt a company’s public perception.

Click ahead for America’s five most hated companies, and then visit 24/7 Wall St. for the complete list.

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Welcome to Mitt 3.0: The Mitt who cares

REINVENTION

01.17.15

Mitt Flips On The Very Poor

Mitt 3.0 is now calling for helping the very poor after writing off 47 percent of the country as government moochers in 2012.

Nearly three years after he famously said he was “not concerned about the very poor,” former presidential nominee Mitt Romney told Republicans in a speech Friday night the party must focus on helping “lift people out of poverty.”

Welcome to Mitt 3.0: The Mitt who cares.

His comments on the very poor—not to mention the 47 percent—may have played a major role in his 2012 loss, but don’t tell that to Romney. The issue is now among the hottest debates in politics—and he seems determined to be part of that conversation.

Of the three topics the Romney stressed in his brief address to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting—during which he also confirmed he was thinking about a third campaign for president—two had to do with the less fortunate.

“First, we have to make the world safer,” Romney said. “Second, we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in. And finally, we have to lift people out of poverty. If we communicate those three things effectively, the American people are going to be with us—be with our nominee and with our candidates across the country.”

But why the change of tone?

Over the past three years, the issue has changed in ways that favor a more progressive approach. The poverty rate has actually gone down since Mitt 2.0—the economy fixer—lost the race in 2012.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the official poverty rate went from 15 percent in 2012 to 14.5 percent in 2013. The last time the poverty rate dipped below 15 percent was in 2006. That’s not to say things have gotten markedly better, the number of people in poverty—45.3 million—has remained statistically the same.

This problem is hardly a new issue. The poverty rate was on the rise in 2007, when Romney first ran for president as Mitt 1.0—the Conservative. But even though it spiked from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 13.2 percent in 2008, only then-Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) chose to make the issue a centerpiece of his campaign.

“First, we have to make the world safer. Second, we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in. And finally, we have to lift people out of poverty.”

But one thing that has changed is public opinion on the issue. Recent polling shows a more compassionate country when it comes to the poor. A June 2014 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed fewer people blamed the poor for their financial situation. When asked “which is the bigger cause of poverty today?”, 46 percent of those polled attributed poverty to “circumstances beyond people’s control” as opposed to 44 percent who blamed “people not doing enough.” In 1995, 60 percent blamed “people not doing enough” for their poverty, while 30 percent blamed “circumstances beyond people’s control.”

Back in 2012, it wasn’t as if the Romney campaign completely ignored the poor—poverty was a key issue for his then-running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Romney, himself, routinely talked of the rising number of people on food stamps and other government programs as evidence President Obama’s economic policies weren’t working.

But it was what he said behind closed-doors that caused any poverty message he tried to ring hollow. His campaign was never able to shake his comments about the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income tax made during a Florida fundraiser.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them,” Romney told a group of donors during a closed door meeting. “These are people who pay no income tax. ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

When a recording of his remarks leaked, it became a public relations disaster for Romney, solidifying the image of him as an out of touch millionaire in the minds of voters. Even after he lost the 2012 race, Romney doubled down during a call with donors, blaming the Obama administration for giving special interest groups—like African Americans, Hispanics and young people—“gifts” to get their vote,according to the New York Times.

“In each case, they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Romney said, according to the Times.

He blamed the so-called gifts for overshadowing his campaign about “big issues for the whole country: military strategy, foreign policy, a strong economy, creating jobs and so forth.”

With wages stuck in neutral for many, poverty and income inequality will likely be a major issue of the 2016 campaign. But Republicans have to think—is Mitt the guy they want talking about it?

The Daily Digg Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Daily Digg Thursday, January 15, 2015 THEY AIN'T HEAVY Marco Rubio Wants To Carry Republicans Into The 21st Century newrepublic.com Will they let him? MIND THE INTELLIGENCE GAP Prominent Scientists Sign Letter Of Warning About Artificial Intelligence Risks io9.com Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and many other prominent figures have signed an open letter pushing for responsible AI oversight in order to mitigate risks and ensure the "societal benefit" of the technology. STARTUPS WE DIGG SPONSORED The Algorithm That Calculates Your Shirt Size In Seconds propercloth.com Shirtsleeves too long? Neck a little tight? Pattern not perfect? Why are you putting up with mediocre off-the-rack stuff when getting custom shirts is easier than ever? Get the perfect fit and the perfect look. A GROHLING PRACTICE SESSION 2-Year-Old Kid Does His Best To Drum Through The Foo Fighters' 'Pretender' digg.com This little boy's name is Jaxon. Give him 10 years and he'll probably be behind the kit of your favorite band. TERROR BY THE NUMBERS Are All Terrorists Muslims? It’s Not Even Close thedailybeast.com What percentage of terror attacks in the United States and Europe are committed by Muslims? Guess. Nope. Guess again. And again... PLEASE EXCUSE THE SUBTITLES De Niro And DiCaprio Face Off In The Trailer For 'The Audition' digg.com A movie directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, about Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Nero both trying to get the same part in a Martin Scorsese movie. Sure, ok.

The Power To Kill - When Police Records are not kept in America

MEMPHIS TN (IFS) --

Congressman Cohen Bill Would Prevent Police Abuses from Being Swept Under the Rug

Without adequate, comprehensive national data on fatal police interactions exists, abuses are difficult to identify and fix

Jan 13, 2015

Congressman will also introduce legislation requiring police shootings to be prosecuted by independent agency

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today reintroduced his National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act, which would close a loophole in federal law that prevents adequate collection of comprehensive national data regarding justified and unjustified fatal interactions with police. Without accurate and comprehensive data, racial disparities, abuses, and instances of excessive use of force are difficult to identify and unlikely to be fixed.

“Before we can truly address the problem of excessive force used by law enforcement we have to understand the nature of the problem and that begins with accurate data,”said Congressman Cohen. “I am introducing this bill so that our country can do a better job of honestly assessing racial disparities and other problems in our justice system and begin to fix them. It is a step in the right direction and a critical component of the healing process.”

The 1994 Crime Bill requires the Attorney General to collect statistics on the use of excessive force, but the law does not provide any enforcement mechanism nor does it adequately define what “excessive force” is. As a result, the federal government has been unable to gather data from many local police departments and there are no reliable statistics on how often law enforcement uses deadly force. Congressman Cohen’s legislation would incentivize states to require local law enforcement agencies to provide data to the Attorney General on:

• The date of each instance when deadly force was used;
• The identifying characteristics of the victim and officer involved, including the race, gender, ethnicity, religion and approximate age of the victim;
• Any alleged criminal behavior by the victim;
• An explanation, if any, by the relevant law enforcement agency of why deadly force was used;
• A copy of any use of deadly force guidelines in effect at the time at the law enforcement agency;
• The nature of the deadly force used, including whether it involved a firearm; and
• A description of any non-lethal efforts that were taken before deadly force was used.

This data would be made publicly available, but would not disclose any personally identifying information. Congressman Cohen also plans to introduce legislation this year that would require incidents of deadly force used by police to be investigated and, if need be, prosecuted, by an independent actor. Currently, these cases are rarely prosecuted effectively due to an obvious conflict of interest between local police and the prosecuting District Attorney, who relies on a close working relationship with those same police officers to carry out other prosecutorial duties.

The most wanted men in France

2 brothers now the most wanted men in France, sought in lethal attack on Paris newspaper

• Article by: JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG , Associated Press 
• Updated: January 8, 2015 - 2:26 PM

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PARIS — A lover of rap music turned aspiring Muslim holy warrior and his older brother are suddenly the most wanted men in France, suspected of the armed onslaught on a newspaper office that claimed a dozen lives and horrified most of the world.

Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, were the targets of a mammoth manhunt following Wednesday's slayings at the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

The younger Kouachi, a former pizza deliveryman, had been sentenced to 18 months of prison in 2008 after trying to leave France to join Islamist fighters battling in Iraq.

After he was released he worked in the fish market of a supermarket in the Paris suburbs for six months beginning in October 2009, but supervisors said he gave no cause for concern.

Two years after the conviction, police again detained him, but later released him without charge, in a probe of an alleged plot to free from prison a man who was convicted of bombing a Paris train line in 1995, a French judicial official said.

Associated Press reporters who covered the 2008 trial, which exposed a recruiting pipeline for Muslim holy war in a rough multiethnic and working-class neighborhood of northeastern Paris, recalled a skinny young defendant who appeared very nervous in court.

Cherif Kouachi's lawyer said at the time his client had gotten in over his head with the wrong crowd.

During the trial, Kouachi was said to have undergone only minimal training for combat — going jogging in a Paris park to shape up and learning how a Kalashnikov automatic rifle works by studying a sketch. He was described at the time as a reluctant holy warrior, relieved to have been stopped by French counterespionage officials from taking a Syria-bound flight that was ultimately supposed to lead him into the battlefields of Iraq.

But imprisonment changed his former client, attorney Vincent Ollivier told Le Parisien newspaper in a story published Thursday. Cherif Kouachi became closed-off and unresponsive and started growing a beard, the lawyer said, adding that he wondered whether time in prison may have turned his client into a ticking time bomb.

However, a French television documentary that portrayed Kouachi's abortive attempt to fight in Iraq suggested his radicalization may have occurred well before he was locked up behind bars. Many French Muslims were infuriated by the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the program said, and by the negative consequences for Iraqis, ranging from the death of civilians to the abuse of detainees by American captors.

Footage included in the 2005 documentary, part of a prestigious French public television series titled "Evidence for the Prosecution," showed Kouachi in 2004, when, according to the narrator, the young man in a black T-shirt with extremely close-cropped hair and a chunky wristwatch was more interested in pretty girls than going to the mosque. He appears relaxed and smiling as he pals around with friends.

At one point, with a baseball cap turned backward on his head, Kouachi belts out some rap music and breaks into a joyful dance.

It was the teachings of a radical Muslim preacher in his Paris neighborhood, Kouachi is quoted as saying in the documentary, that put him on the path to jihad.

The cleric "told me that (holy) texts prove the benefits of suicide attacks," Kouachi is quoted as saying. "It's written in the texts that it's good to die as a martyr."

Less is known publicly about Said Kouachi, the older brother, but French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French radio Thursday that both were known to intelligence services and were likely being followed before the Charlie Hebdo attack.

A third suspect identified by French authorities in the Paris newspaper attack that killed 12 people and wounded 11 others has turned himself in. Mourad Hamyd, 18, surrendered at a police station after learning his name was linked to the attacks in the news, Paris prosecutor spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said, but she did not specify his relationship to the Kouachi brothers.

Game on? Jeb Bush jabs Hillary Clinton

Jeb Bush is wasting no time taking on Hillary Clinton, even though neither party’s potential 2016 standard-bearer has officially committed to a presidential bid.

Speaking at a closed-press fundraiser in Connecticut on Wednesday night, Bush suggested to potential donors that the former secretary of state would have to explain President Barack Obama’s foreign policy mistakes, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Thursday.

Story Continued Below.

The outlet, anonymously citing attendees who heard Bush’s remarks, reported that the former Florida governor took another not-so-subtle jab at Clinton.

“He said, ‘If someone wants to run a campaign about '90s nostalgia, it’s not going to be very successful,’” Hearst Connecticut Media reported, citing another person present at the event.

Bush spoke to the crowd of 175 people for about 30 minutes, and spent another 30 minutes taking questions. The event, a fundraiser for his new Right to Rise PAC, was held at the home of former Goldman Sachs executive Charles Davis.

Bush also dismissed broad comparisons to his famous family, according to an attendee.

“He said, ‘Do you have a father? Do you have a brother? Are you the same person?’” the unnamed source told Hearst.

A Bush spokesperson declined to comment, citing the closed-press nature of the event.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-jabs-hillary-clinton-114073.html#ixzz3OGQmJxzt

Why Air Disasters Keep Happening in Southeast Asia

By Joshua Kurlantzick December 29, 2014

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Photographer: Juni Kriswanto/AFP via Getty Images

Indonesian army personnel during a search and rescue operation for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 over the Java Sea on Dec. 29.

(The original version of this story said that three Malaysia-based airlines had gone down this year. Two of the airlines were based in Malaysia; the third was an Indonesian affiliate of a Malaysia-based group. )

In the past year, Southeast Asia’s aviation industry has suffered an unprecedented number of tragedies. Although the odds of any person boarding a flight dying in a plane crash are about 1 in 11 million, three planes—two based in Malaysia, the third an Indonesian affiliate of a Malaysia-based group—have apparently gone down, with no survivors. The latest, AirAsia Flight QZ8501, had been traveling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore when it vanished over the Java Sea.

To some extent, the three Malaysian air disasters are just brutal bad luck. Still, they point to several disturbing trends that raise the question of whether flying in peninsular Southeast Asia is completely safe. The air market in the region has embraced low-cost carriers, leading to a proliferation of flights throughout Southeast Asia, stretching air traffic controllers, and possibly allowing some airlines to expand too rapidly. Indonesian carriers, air traffic controllers, and Indonesian airspace in general have become notorious for weak safety regulations. AirAsia has responded to this crisis much more rapidly than state carrier Malaysian Airline(MAS:MK) did after the disappearance of Flight MH370 last March, but the opaque, authoritarian politics of Malaysia—which are common in Southeast Asia—will likely make the search and rescue operation, and any inquiry into why the flight crashed, more difficult than necessary.

AirAsia, modeled on carriers such as Ryanair (RYAAY:US) and Southwest Airlines, was the first low-cost airline to prosper in Southeast Asia, which had been dominated by state carriers until open-skies deals broke the market open in the past decade. AirAsia allowed the growing middle classes in Asia to use air travel for pleasure and business for the first time. The no-frills airline charged for food, bags of any significant size, choosing a specific seat, and many other services, but it also gained a reputation for solid customer service. In the wake of Flight QZ8501’s disappearance, AirAsia has continued to show its responsiveness. Through its website and emergency call centers, the airline has been providing families with up-to-the-minute and seemingly accurate information about the plane and the nascent search effort, a sharp contrast from Malaysia Airlines, which told families of passengers on MH370 virtually nothing for days after the plane vanished.

STORY: After Disasters, Job Losses Ahead at Malaysia Airlines

AirAsia has expanded rapidly in Indonesia, the most populous nation in Southeast Asia and an archipelago where cheap air travel is incredibly attractive to middle classes. Indonesia-based low-cost carrier Lion Air, meanwhile, placed a massive order in 2013 for 234 new Airbus planes and followed that up with an order last month for 40 more planes. Other low-cost carriers such as Citilink, Tigerair, Valuair, and many others have also built up their route networks across the archipelago.

But while air traffic has grown in the region, and while AirAsia had a mostly solid safety record, the increase in low-cost flights may have resulted in planes being operated by men and women with less experience than in the past. Southeast Asian airspace still has the same mountains, chaotic weather, and tough approach paths as it always did. The pilot on the AirAsia flight had about 6,000 hours of flight experience on the Airbus plane he was flying, but it is unclear whether he had experience flying at 34,000 feet or higher, where he was trying to take the plane to avoid bad weather. The higher the plane rises, the more difficult it can be to navigate tricky conditions such as thin air and ice crystals. Some low-cost carriers seem particularly strapped trying to find quality staff and allegedly push their pilots and crew to work too many hours in order to run so many flights. Indonesian carrier Lion Air has had at least three of its pilots arrested for crystal methamphetamine use since 2011; crystal meth is a stimulant that can be used to stay awake and alert.

This increase in flights seems to have particularly taxed air traffic controllers, pilots, and mechanics operating in Indonesia. The country has become infamous for poor management of planes in the air and coming in for landings, and for lax enforcement of airlines’ need to maintain planes. Pay for air traffic controllers, mechanics, and regulators of the aviation industry remains low by regional standards, and graft is endemic at all levels of regulatory agencies in Indonesia; the country ranks among the most corrupt in East Asia in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Yet the increase in flights into and through the country has required more air traffic controllers, mechanics, and pilots, whether Indonesia is capable of providing trained people to fill these jobs.

Merrell Fankhauser's "Calling From A Star" Selling 100 copies per day

MEMPHIS TN (IFS) --  Amazon.com reports that the new Merrell Fankhauser book is moving at a very brisk sells speed.  The creator of the most famous Surf song of all times, "Wipe Out"  and many other memorable songs is now a top selling author as his autobiography climbs the charts.

You can get your copy of this fabulous book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Calling-Star-Merrell-Fankhauser/dp/1908728388/ref=sr_1_1

Merrell Fankhauser has led one of the most diverse and interesting careers in music. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to California when he was 13 years old. Merrell went on to become one of the innovators of surf music and psychedelic folk rock. 

His travels from Hollywood to his 15-year jungle experience on the island of Maui have been documented in numerous music books and magazines in the United States and Europe. Merrell has gained legendary international status throughout the field of rock music; his credits include over 250 songs published and released. 

He is a multi-talented singer/songwriter and unique guitar player whose sound has delighted listeners for over 35 years. This extraordinary book tells a unique story of one of the founding fathers of surf rock, who went on to play in a succession of progressive and psychedelic bands and to meet some of the greatest names in the business, including Captain Beefheart, Randy California, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean.... and there is even a run in with the notorious Manson family.