Free Republic

Saks Global Enterprises, the parent company of luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue, is considering a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as a last-resort option to address mounting liquidity constraints and near-term debt obligations, according to a Bloomberg report. The publication reported that Saks is evaluating bankruptcy as part of a broader effort to manage its balance sheet rather than as an imminent filing. The company faces a debt payment of more than $100 million due by the end of December, limiting its financial flexibility. According to the report, which cited people with knowledge of the matter, Saks has...

iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, saying that it would go private after being bought by Picea Robotics, its primary manufacturer.The company, which raised concerns about staying in business in March, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court as it grapples with increased competition from lower-priced rivals and new U.S. tariffs. iRobot generated about $682 million in total revenue in 2024, but its profits have been eroded by competition from Chinese rivals like Ecovacs Robotics. iRobot remains dominant in key markets like the U.S. and Japan, but competition forced it...

"Hansen-Mueller Co., a major Nebraska grain dealer operating nine elevators and four port terminals across the Midwest, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 17, 2025, leaving farmers, cooperatives, and agribusinesses across 34 states facing unpaid claims totaling millions of dollars. CEO Josh Hansen stated the court-supervised process would facilitate "an orderly sale of our assets for the benefit of our creditors, employees, and all stakeholders." The filing exposed vulnerabilities in rural supply chains and raised urgent questions about recovery prospects for thousands of Creditors." (Full story at link)

Here’s the bottom line: America’s farmers need help — now. In my home state of Arkansas, for instance, our farmers are set to lose hundreds of dollars per acre on their soybean, corn, cotton and long-grain rice crops this year alone. The situation has gotten so bad that Arkansas cash crop receipts are now projected to fall by $617 million in 2025. Adding to these challenges...the contrast between the steep cost of inputs (such as seed, fertilizer and diesel) and the commodity prices that farmers receive for their crops is at its highest level in 25 years. Put differently, input...

There was a thread earlier entitled "Too Many Americans Want a Civil War." Referring to the Kirk assassination, the author warned "how close the country had come to a 'potential' civil war." I've got news for him, and everyone else. Technically speaking, we're not "potentially" in Civil War II, it's already begun. Anyone involved with or familiar with various factions of the intel community, which geek-out on societal analysis, will tell you it's here. The 3 phases of civil war are, technically, classified as follows: 1. Routine Peaceful Competition Remember, not too long ago, when we could argue vociferously, especially...

The maximum weekly unemployment insurance (UI) benefit has increased for unemployed workers across the state. As part of the 2026 State Budget, the State invested nearly $7 billion to pay off the federal UI Trust Fund loan, and bring the fund to solvency and increase the maximum weekly benefit from $504 to $869. Governor Kathy Hochul said the increase in UI benefits comes at the same time as the GOP federal shutdown impacts 115,000 federal employees in New York, leaving them without paychecks. New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said, “Increasing the maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit...

Mutha Trucker, a YouTube news source covering the trucking industry has reported that Montgomery Transport LLC, a Birmingham, Alabama-based trucking company, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations effective immediately. 1000 employees out of work as trucker files for bankruptcy The sudden shutdown has left hundreds of drivers stranded across America as the company’s leadership instructed them to halt operations. This abrupt closure represents a significant disruption in the trucking industry and has created immediate challenges for both drivers and clients dependent on Montgomery’s freight services. Details of the Bankruptcy Filing The company officially announced its Chapter 7 bankruptcy...

Since it filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 29, auto-parts supplier First Brands has come under intense scrutiny for alleged accounting malpractice, opaque financing agreements, and late payments to suppliers. In an effort to shed light into the company’s murky finances, one of First Brands’ largest creditors filed an emergency motion in bankruptcy court on Wednesday calling for an independent investigation into the beleaguered firm’s books. As much as $2.3 billion in short-term financing has “simply vanished,” wrote Richard Jacobsen, counsel for Raistone, a fund that is partly owned by O’Connor, a UBS hedge fund. Raistone said it was owed at...

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid closed all of its locations after filing for bankruptcy twice in less than two years. The retailer posted a brief announcement on its website. “All Rite Aid stores have now closed,” the site states. “We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support.” The website offers former customers their pharmacy and immunization history, as well as assistance with finding pharmacies that their prescriptions were transferred to. The drugstore chain operated in the U.S. for more than 60 years. The company had opportunities to merge with Walgreens in 2017 and Albertsons in 2018, but rejected...

Santa Monica city leaders are being asked to declare a fiscal emergency due to the city’s ongoing budget crisis, according to a city agenda. A staff report for Tuesday’s City Council agenda cites several challenges, including legal payouts related to a notorious alleged sexual abuser who worked for the city. The city has paid out more than $229 million in settlements relating to sexual abuse by Eric Uller, a former Santa Monica police dispatcher. The city faces additional abuse claims from over 180 claimants, according to the report. Uller worked with boys and girls at a police nonprofit’s after-school program....

After 133 years, a bankruptcy, and multiple reinventions, Kodak’s latest snapshot is grim: The company says there’s “substantial doubt” it can stay in business. In a quarterly filing released Monday alongside its second-quarter earnings report, Kodak’s management raised serious concerns about its ability to continue operating over the next year. The warning stems from roughly $500 million in debt maturing within 12 months and the lack of committed financing to cover those obligations. Without new funding or successful refinancing, the company could default, they said. The note’s stark language sent Kodak’s shares tumbling, sliding 21% to $5.43 as of Wednesday...

nearly all of Rite Aid's Connecticut stores will be closed by Labor Day ... The only store that doesn't have a definitive closing is the Stratford store, which is located at 3680 Main St. A female employee there on Friday said workers haven't been told yet when that location will shutdown. When questioned about the closing date, she agreed to answer the question if she could remain anonymous, because of concerns of potential retribution by Rite Aid officials. Company officials did not respond to a request for comment about the remainder of its Connecticut closings on Friday. Rite Aid announced...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was ripped on social media after she called President Trump “a rapist” online — with many suggesting a tweet from the Congresswoman was grounds for a defamation lawsuit from the commander in chief. Ocasio-Cortez sparked outrage when she tweeted Friday about Trump and the release of files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. “Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, apparently referring to Trump and the 2023 civil trial where he was found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll....

Monster and CareerBuilder, once two of the most popular websites for job seekers at the height of the dot-com era, have filed for bankruptcy. The two sites, which merged last year to become one entity named Monster + CareerBuilder, voluntary filed for Chapter 11 Tuesday, announcing that the company is selling various parts of its businesses to several buyers as part of a court-supervised process, a press release said. Monster and CareerBuilder were some of the biggest companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the former brand so popular that it often bought Super Bowl commercials promoting its...

Medicare and Social Security funds are now expected to drain out earlier than previous estimates, according to two new reports released on Wednesday. Social security is made up of two trust funds—old-age and survivors insurance (OASI) and disability insurance (DI). The two are combined for analyzing the overall status of social security funds, referred to as the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. The 2025 OASDI trustees report, published on June 18, said the total cost of the social security program started exceeding its total income in 2021. Currently, the fund is projected to be depleted by 2034, a...

New York CNN — At Home, a popular home goods retailer with 260 stores across 40 US states, has filed for bankruptcy, citing the backdrop of tariff increases and a slowdown in consumer spending. The Dallas-based company announced Monday that it had entered an agreement with its lenders that “will eliminate substantially all” of its roughly $2 billion in debt and provide $200 million in fresh funding to keep At Home operating while it navigates the Chapter 11 process. Brad Weston, At Home’s CEO who joined the company last year, said in a statement that the company is “operating against...

Today my latest book, How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle , is being released. This note is to share what it says in a nutshell. To me, what matters most is conveying understanding at this critically important moment, so I want to pass the key ideas in extreme brevity in this note, as well as comprehensively in the book, and leave it to you decide how deep you want to go. Where I'm Coming FromI have been a global macro investor for over 50 years, have bet on government debt markets for nearly as long, and have done very...

They burned Elon’s businesses to the ground. They vandalized Teslas across the country. They assaulted Tesla employees and Tesla drivers… …all because Elon found waste and fraud in government …and the GOP won’t even vote on the cuts I can’t wrap my head around this.

As Shilo Sanders' federal bankruptcy case heats up, the judge made a key ruling in the case this week. Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Romero granted a request for subpoenas, saying that the court found “good cause” for them before trial. This will allow Sanders' creditor, John Darjean, a former security guard at Shilo’s former high school in Dallas, the ability to obtain records from third-party sources related to an incident between him and Sanders in 2015. Shilo was 15 years old when the incident with Darjean occurred. Sanders, who is now 25, was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with...

WW International, formerly known as WeightWatchers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in a bid to cut its debt after Ozempic and other hugely popular obesity drugs upended its business model. Shares of the company, which once boasted of media mogul Oprah Winfrey as one of its top shareholders, slumped 40% in extended trading after announcing plans to file for bankruptcy as part of a reorganization plan with a group of its lenders. WeightWatchers began as weekly weight-loss support group meeting with 400 attendees, and quickly turned into a worldwide phenomena with millions of members across the...