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Dow Jones is reporting that a bankruptcy judge is urging mediation to save Hostess from liquidation. WSJ will have more to come as it comes out of the courtroom. Here’s an update from bankruptcy reporters Jacqueline Palank and Rachel Feintzeig A bankruptcy judge Monday asked whether he should preside over mediation between Hostess Brands Inc. and its striking union to avoid pulling the plug on the baker of Ho Hos, Twinkies and Wonder Bread.

Hostess Brands, the maker of the iconic Twinkies snack cakes, may find a buyer when it heads to bankruptcy court today to liquidate the 82-year-old company, the company’s CEO says. “I think we’ll find buyers,” CEO Gregory F. Rayburn told ABC News on Sunday. ”A few have surfaced already since Friday expressing interest in the brand to acquire them.” Con Agra and Flowers Foods are among the companies that have expressed interest in Hostess, but Mexican company El Grupo Bimbo may have an edge, the Christian Science Monitor reported Saturday. Grupo Bimbo, headed by Mexican billionaire Daniel Servitje Montull, is...

Could Mitt Romney save Hostess? Like him or not, if you have ever shopped at a Staples and/or Sports Authority, you have Mitt Romney and his Bain Capital buddies to thank. And now that Mr. Romney is not running — well anything, maybe he can shift his energy towards an endeavor greater than saving the nation from the “looming fiscal cliff” … and rescue my favorite cakes from extinction. Sure President Obama may have saved the auto-industry, but bring back Ho Ho’s, Sno-Balls and Wonder Bread and Virginia, Minnesota & Michigan become easy wins in the next presidential election. Wanna...

It is said that people get the government they deserve. As the election of 2012 proves, this is woefully inaccurate in politics, because even if those who consciously voted for the destructive Democratic Party do deserve it, those who wisely voted against it certainly do not. The same saying is often said of the economy, particularly when something disastrous happens – a large-scale layoff, a manufacturer fleeing burdensome taxes or regulations for the welcoming shores of China or India, a company collapsing under the weight of an unreasonable union. But there too, the saying is inaccurate. Even if some deserve...

A Sarasota company may be to thank for saving Twinkies. Hurst Capital, LLLP on Monday filed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Hostess Brands Inc. with the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York becoming the latest company to step forward to save Twinkies from extinction. "Hostess has over the past 80 years created several of the most recognizable and powerful brands in the United States,” said Hurst Capital, LLLP Managing General Partner Austin Hurst in a statement. "They have undeniable value and when combined with the other existing assets of the company...

This morning’s news that Hostess Brands, Inc. was shutting its doors after 82 years of operation (originally under the name International Bakeries Corporation) has elicited a lot of commentary from various sources. Culturally, I’m seeing a lot of people lament the fact that some of their favorite brands of snack food or bread — from Twinkies to Ho-Hos to Wonder Bread to Beefsteak Rye Bread — will no longer be available. Politically, there’s been a definite theme on the right blaming the Baker’s Union for the company’s collapse since they would not agree to a modification of their contract notwithstanding...

The demise of Hostess and Twinkies is not a national emergency, but it is certainly sad when a major business goes under and thousands of people lose their jobs. If federal and state policymakers want to play a useful role here, they should study why Hostess couldn’t make a go of it. Were there tax or regulatory factors that stood in the way of the company earning a decent rate of return?Unions were an important factor that pushed up the firm’s costs and reduced its operational efficiency. The policy reform here is obvious for people who appreciate market economics: repeal America’s coercive union laws. If policymakers don’t kill so-called collective bargaining,...

The news about the bankruptcy of Hostess, maker of the Twinkie and other legendary junk foods, touched off some memories of growing up in a mid-sized Midwestern town in the 1970s and '80s. No, not that kind of memory, though come to think of it, the 1980s was the last time I actually ate a Hostess snack. What I'm recalling has a lot less nostalgic charm: the whole phenomenon of a kamikaze labor union that keeps demanding more for workers--who end up getting nothing when their employer goes belly-up. That's pretty much what the unions did, or tried to do,...

Union plague devours another company and more jobs. Wait until the kids and single women who re-elected our would-be despot experience how the misery of Marxism actually affects their lifestyles... (video linked)

Politics: Union intransigence and unrealistic expectations at Hostess Brands have forced the bakery to shut its doors permanently and throw 18,500 people out of work. So much for Big Labor caring about the little guy. A down economy and two restructurings in three years left Hostess, maker of Twinkies and Sno Balls, in dire fiscal straits. The company warned its workers, union and nonunion, to make concessions or everyone would go down in a liquidation. Instead, one union, the AFL-CIO-affiliated Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International (BCTGM), imagined the company was bluffing and went on strike.

RADIO TRANSCRIPT. Joe Label has bakers' union boss Frank Hurt on the show HOST: "Welcome back to Union Talk Radio, I'm your host Joe Label, our guest this hour is Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union President Frank Hurt. First I want to congratulate you guys are a major victory this week, taking down Hostess all the way to liqudation! Brilliant job" FRANK HURT: "Thank you Joe, yes, it was a magnificient victory indeed for the workers of this country. A great victory for organized labor! A god day for America and our future." HOST: "What does the demise...

The Recipe is at the site. Also a link for the Twinkie cake recipe. If you got to have your Twinkie fix, this link is dedicated to you. Don't Panic! 2 Teaspoons very hot water Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups marshmallow cream (1 7-oz jar) 1/2 cup shortening 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

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...

Labor leaders in Maine say the resilience of the Hostess workers on the picket line at the company’s Biddeford plant, which is in the process of being shut down after the company on Friday said it would liquidate the business, gives them inspiration in the face of what they believe have been ongoing efforts — by politicians, including Gov. Paul LePage, and corporate investors — to reduce union influence. Bakers’ union officials and their supporters say also that the demise of Hostess Brands Inc., which failed to convince striking workers to return to their jobs, is a warning sign for...

Top Secret Recipes Version of the Hostess Twinkie The Twinkie was invented in 1930 by the late James A. Dewar, then the Chicago-area regional manager of Continental Baking Company, the parent corporation behind the Hostess trademark. At the time, Continental made "Little Short Cake Fingers" only during the six-week strawberry season, and Dewar realized that the aluminum pans in which the cakes were baked sat idle the rest of the year. He came up with the idea of injecting the little cakes with a creamy filling to make them a year-round product and decided to charge a nickel for a...

The news is bad:it’s not just Twinkies.It’s the whole line of Hostess bread and treats. (snip)Let’s review:a few years back the Health Police declared Wonder bread,while basically nutritious,not healthy enough(snip)Hostess felt compelled to mix it up a bit. What else can you do when Health Police edicts give preference to other breads that aren’t as white?(snip) (snip)They began offering everything from plain old white to 100% Whole Wheat and every shade in between. (snip)What started out on the bread line moved quickly into every other division of Hostess. First to be “improved” in the delicious snacks division was the...

I guess there was a time when unions did some good. I know my great grandfather was a big supporter of them, but frankly I can't see where they do anything good at all anymore. From the time I was a kid, all I've ever understood about them was that they're associated with organized crime, and they're physically violent and proud of it. But over the last couple of years I've learned a little bit more, and I have to say I'm not at all enthusiastic about what I've seen. First it was SEIU union thugs tossing beatdowns at...

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As the Twinkie Crumbles...Tim Collins of Ripplewood, a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters' long-term heartthrob Dick Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess). In other words, the traditional republican-cum-PE scapegoating strategy here will be a tough one to pull off since the narrative collapses when considering that it was a Democrat who rescued the firm, only to see it implode in a trainwreck that has resulted in the liquidation of a legendary...

What unions are doing in America today, not only to the companies but to the workers they supposedly represent, is unconscionable. It’s sad that a majority of their own members can’t or refuse to see that these unions are not truly on their side and in fact have done much to destroy capitalism. Unions have become the people they were originally formed to oppose. Unions are a socialist concept. The whole concept of unions pits management against the workers. The assumption is that management is an evil force whose sole purpose is the abuse of the worker. While this may...