Ho Ho , Ding Dong and the Twinkie Defense.

Ho Ho, you say.

The “Twinkies bankruptcy” caused much hilarity over the weekend, with, late-night comedians and social-media clowns having fun with the demise of the junk-food giant Hostess Brands. A posting on eBay – one of almost 350 this morning – offers free delivery of a box of Twinkies for $10 million.

But while products such as Twinkies, Ho Ho's, and Ding Dongs make for good  joke material, there's really nothing funny about the demise of Hostess. The company's story is not only serious and sad – some 18,500 people stand to lose their jobs – but it also is emblematic of way too much of America's once-strong manufacturing sector.

The other sad thing is that in yesterdays headlines “KANSAS CITY, Mo./NEW YORK (Reuters) - Enough is enough, say bakery workers at Hostess Brands Inc.”

So,the union workers say that “They’re just taking from us” said Kenneth Johnson, 46, of Missouri. “I really can’t afford to not be working, but this is not worth it. I’d rather go work somewhere else or draw unemployment”, said Johnson, a worker at Hostess for 23 years.

With 18,500 workers, Hostess has 12 different unions including the BCTGM, which has about 5,600 members on the bread and snack item production lines, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 7,500 route sales representatives, drivers and other employees

Unlike some non-unionized rivals, the maker of Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes had to navigate more than 300 labor contracts, with terms that often strained efficiency and competitiveness, Hostess officials have said. In some extreme cases, contract provisions required different products to be delivered on different trucks even when headed to the same place.

Aside from those so-called onerous labor contracts, Hostess has grappled for some time with rising ingredient costs and a growing health consciousness that has made its sugary cakes less popular. It filed for bankruptcy in January, only three years after emerging from a prior bankruptcy.

So, what are we going to see next? Imported Twinkies made in China?

How about Ding Dongs from the Dingdong Province of China maybe?

While everyone is pointing fingers at why the company is experiencing this downfall, the fact is that the company has for years provided us with sweet memories, had turned financially sour long ago, and it was asking its employees to bear the burden of its management's mistakes.

Although I haven’t shoved one of those into my mouth for a real long time, now I have the craving for one more taste. I already know that the taste will be awful, spongy sweet cake with an artificial marshmallow filling that for some reason looks the same after sitting on the shelves for 5 years, not showing any degradation in appearance……must be the gazillions of preservatives and additives they have used.

Heck, maybe if they had eliminated those chemicals they would be more cost effective today and would not have to close the joint up?

I think, a package of Twinkies or Hostess cupcakes were about 20 cents if my memory serves me right, I don’t even know what the last price was, probably somewhere around a dollar for the privilege of eating something without a bit of nourishment.

So we will see another Americana item go away, probably picked up by some other company and head the way of once great manufactured US made items.

Emerson, Bell& Howell, Kodak, NewsWeek,  Hotpoint, Studebaker…..on and on…..

So we’’ll see what ultimately happens, 18500, workers entering the fast food behind the counter work force…..oh wait, they have unemployment which will last a couple of years and by that time there will be some other program they will be come eligible for.  I would have thought it would have been better to keep working while you look for a job…..but that’s the old common sense surfacing it’s ugly head from me…..

Good Luck, hope you all find a job and don’t bankrupt the unemployment system…..oxymoron.

Oh, for those of you who haven't heard of the "Twinkie Defense" this was the defense that Dan White's lawyer used in the trial in San Francisco.

The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan White, a former San Francisco, California (U.S.) police officer and firefighter, and until just before the crime, a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. At the trial, psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified that White had been depressed at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola.