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I Went To Buy Some Ho Ho's, But They Were Gone.
Free Republic Original Content (Vanity) | 11/18/12 | jdsteel

Posted on 11/18/2012 7:51:43 AM PST by jdsteel

I went to buy some Ho Ho’s but they were gone, and so was a part of America.

When I heard that Hostess was declaring bankruptcy it made me sad. Probably not as sad at the 18,000 people that used to work for them but it did affect me.

Oh, I knew that I was partly to blame. When I was a child I would gobble down Ho Ho’s and chocolate cupcakes with abandon. I could burn through a half of a box of Ho Ho’s and a half gallon of Vitamin D milk in about 15 minutes. My elementary school lunches were almost always peanut butter sandwiches made with Wonder Bread. I was a happy repeat customer even if my mom was the one that did the buying. Now, like most baby boomers I try to keep sweets, fat and carbohydrates to a minimum. Pasta is a guilty pleasure and the snacks made by Hostess just aren’t worth the extra time on the treadmill to me. I am sure that I am not alone with these changes to my life and my diet.

Still, when I heard the last straws that broke the back of the once mighty Hostess were the deadly combination of unions and Obamacare I decided to buy one last box of Ho Ho’s for old time’s sake. So off I went to my local Giant Eagle, the largest supermarket in my suburb of Pittsburgh.

By the time I got to the grocery store the shelves that once held Hostess products were laid bare. All that were left were a few sad looking Sno Balls. Gone were the Ho Ho’s, the Ding Dongs, the Donettes. Gone were the Dolly Madison cakes and yes, gone were the Twinkies.

A woman standing beside me in the grocery aisle turned to me and said “I can’t understand the people that blame our current President for Hostess’s problems. Twinkies are so good I can’t believe some other company won’t start to make them”.

I looked at her and said “Hostess said that if they were to survive the costs of Obamacare the unions would have to renegotiate their contracts, and they wouldn’t do it. So they are shutting it down. For 10 years after the steel mills closed here in Pittsburgh I kept hearing about how the mills were coming back and so were all of those jobs. Guess what; they didn’t”.

I had gone to the store to buy some Ho Ho’s but they were gone, and so was a part of America.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: hostess; obamacare; unions; vanity
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To: jdsteel

apparently Little Debbie makes an identical snack cake.


41 posted on 11/18/2012 9:56:48 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: jdsteel

Don’t worry, I read somewhere a while back that Bimbo (a Mexican baking company) were looking to buy out Hostess and produce their line up of products.


42 posted on 11/18/2012 9:58:21 AM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: jdsteel

Our one and only grocery doesn’t sell Hostess. It’s all Little Debbie which just doesn’t cut it. The convenience stores only carry some off brand which also doesn’t cut it. Back in the day, my fav was Hostess French Pastry which was short lived. It was basically a giant chocolate cream filled cupcake with nuts on top.

About that treadmill, these days I gain just looking at a glass of water. Gone are the days I could wash a pizza down with a hot fudge shake and weighed in at 110.


43 posted on 11/18/2012 10:00:23 AM PST by bgill (We've passed the point of no return. Welcome to Al Amerika.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I had a similar experience fresh out of school when I worked in aerospace. I was always in trouble with the union stewards. I was not allowed to talk to the union machinists without a union steward present.

The factory made big missle parts and some of the machine tools were as big as a house. I would walk onto the fatory floor and the union steward would see me from afar and start heading my way. I would duck behind one of the big tools and then go the other way. For about 20 minutes we would play “cat and mouse”. Most of the machinists thought it was hillarious. I would then leave the factory without talking to anyone. It used to really pi$$ the union steward off because he never knew if I talked to one of the machinists our not.

After 3 years, I had enough of aerospace and moved on.


44 posted on 11/18/2012 10:00:33 AM PST by super7man
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To: chris37
Obama’s America deserves dirt.

Dirt is good. You can grow vegetables, beans, and maybe a few berries in it. Won't The First Lady be happy with that?

But dirt will be in short supply as well, and most who don't already have some will not be able to afford it. Then The Progressives will come up with "Dirt subsidies", and start redistributing the dirt, as they've done in so many other countries, dirt reform if you will.

45 posted on 11/18/2012 10:01:59 AM PST by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

I usually see Ho Hos down on Broad and Main Streets.


46 posted on 11/18/2012 10:04:14 AM PST by Americanexpat
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To: jdsteel

Tastykake is 1000% better anyway and they are just starting to go national. Good timing on their part. What’s with the inappropriate Hostess names anyway? Twinkies, Ho Hos and Ding Dongs. You don’t want to know what a twinkie is in the UK (although probably won’t matter much to guys on here).


47 posted on 11/18/2012 10:04:40 AM PST by conservaterian (NOW can we have a conservative candidate?????)
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To: CatherineofAragon
A Freeper posted that Little Debbie Cloud Cakes are that brand’s version of Twinkies.

I've had those..

NOT THE SAME.

Not too bad, but not the same.

48 posted on 11/18/2012 10:08:30 AM PST by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: jdsteel

When I was growing up there was a childrens song: “Twinkie, Twinkie little star...”


49 posted on 11/18/2012 10:08:47 AM PST by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: El Gato

They will not know what to do with dirt.

They ability to think clearly has been deactivated and replaced with something else.


50 posted on 11/18/2012 10:17:31 AM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: conservaterian
What’s with the inappropriate Hostess names anyway? Twinkies, Ho Hos and Ding Dongs. You don’t want to know what a twinkie is in the UK (although probably won’t matter much to guys on here).

The Hostess product names came first. Nobody called a whore a "Ho" until the last couple of decades. Ding Dong was a pre-school IIRC, but the Hostess name came even before that.

I'm quite aware of what a Twinkie or Twink is in the UK, and elsewhere. But again that's much more recent than the dear departed filled sponge cake.

51 posted on 11/18/2012 10:19:27 AM PST by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: jdsteel

Bought a box of Twinkies, Raspberry (things), and several bags of Donettes. Not a Twinkie fan, but husband is, knew they’d probably be the last ones that were real Hostess.
My grandmother, miss you Grandma, often had the powdered sugar Donettes for us when we were kids. So there are some Donettes in the freezer, but we’re at and end of a piece of America. Thanks alot, Barack. /sarc


52 posted on 11/18/2012 10:21:28 AM PST by madison10
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To: jdsteel

First, they came for the Ho-Ho’s.........


53 posted on 11/18/2012 10:36:41 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: Plumberman27

A surplus of natural gas is going to give the U.S. an advantage in steel and a lot of other things.

And, sadly, make Obama’s Marxist regime look good despite itself.


54 posted on 11/18/2012 10:43:45 AM PST by AZLiberty (No tag today.)
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To: Cuttnhorse
LOL...Well said!

LOL HO HO...

55 posted on 11/18/2012 1:17:13 PM PST by QT3.14 ( USA: Likely only country in world history to adopt policies and laws that ensure self-destruction)
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To: El Gato
The First Lady


< spit >

56 posted on 11/18/2012 1:31:08 PM PST by tomkat (a million tiny cuts .. add yours daily .. be creative)
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To: jdsteel
HoHo's are more generically known as "Swiss Rolls" - which are produced by multiple other companies, including Little Debbie and Mrs. Freshley's. You should have no trouble finding them.


57 posted on 11/18/2012 8:07:17 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: Secret Agent Man

Pretty much everything Hostess makes is made by other companies, in some cases multiple other companies - either Hostess copied them or they copied Hostess somewhere down the line, whatever the case may be. As for HoHos, see my post above.


58 posted on 11/18/2012 8:09:33 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: pepsionice
Little Debbie folks....using non-union labor and trucking....will turn millions in profit for 2013...bringing us their version of Ho-Hos’s.

They've been around for many, many years. :-)

http://www.littledebbie.com/products/swisscake.asp

See above - they aren't the only company, either.

59 posted on 11/18/2012 8:53:04 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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