I can’t remember a worse month.

First the election goes south and we somehow manage to elect Barack Obama AGAIN! Then it was announced that an entire food group, the cream-filled-cake group, was put out to pasture.  How does one overcome this stunning setback?

While it’s true that elections have consequences, nobody seems to have realized the various and sundry sacrifices we will be forced to make on account of your soft spot for Barack Obama. And I understand, so please don’t remind me. Hostess Bakeries, the makers of Twinkies, were in financial trouble BEFORE the election. I maintain, however, that the labor unions which broke the back of the baking giant in the first place are tucked snuggly into bed with Barry and Michelle every night and gain strength and purpose from the Democrat support of their coercive operations. The strike of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers which began last week has left the Hostess folks with no way out. Eighteen thousand people will lose their jobs.  It was, shall we say, the filling in the cake. Sigh.

Goodbye, oh golden, crème-filled friend. We’ve had some good times, n’est-ce pas?

Lest you imagine that this is an isolated event which has nothing to do with your election choices, I urge you to take good notes. Watch the news…any news report will do…and see how many companies are laying workers off. How many companies like Denny’s and Papa John’s with itty-bitty profit margins are cutting back employee hours and/or raising the price of their tasty temptations? What will be more difficult to see is the companies which will NOT be expanding their operations thanks to this administration’s business-toxic policies. One woman I watched on one of the morning news programs this week will NOT be building five more fast food places in the coming year. She may have mentioned how many jobs her new austerity program will negate, but that information didn’t register in my mind. I was just too overcome with sorrow. Expansion is forfeit in our new economic model and those of us with business backgrounds weep.

A manufacturer – the friend of a friend of mine - who has small factories in Mississippi, Tennessee and Florida and who employs about one hundred people will be closing his doors. He’s made his fortune. His children have other careers. There is not enough profit in his product to justify the burden Obamacare brings. His story will be repeated and repeated again all over this country in the coming months. Yes indeedy. Elections have consequences.

Meanwhile, for my part, I’m filling my Christmas list sooner rather than later. One never knows when the makers of those, techno toys, horrible ugly boots and personalized ipod mini cases will go by way of the Hostess Bakeries? It takes fuel to move even these little light-weights, and with new taxes upcoming we are sure to see prices soaring. Oh…and unlike those doomsday mongers I see on television these days, I’m not buying up all the bottled water I can find. I’m hoarding crème-filled cakes.