J.R. Simplot and Once Mighty Micron

As we chronicle all the dire problems of Micron, including a recent quarterly loss of $777 million less than a year after 7/7/07 when it laid off more than 1000 Boise workers (and can someone please tell me what it is with bad news from Micron and the number 7?) ... I can't help but think back to the days of Micron and J.R. Simplot.  Simplot is 99 now, a billionaire Idaho business legend whose once brilliant mind is probably incapable now of fathoming what is happening to the innovative company he helped put on the map.

I wish I could have met J.R. in his prime, but we all know of his legend.  The shrewdest of the shrewd.  A man who truly understood business and was a big believer in the American capitalist system.  An odd but effective choice to come to Micron's rescue when it needed seed money to survive, Simplot's investment would help propel Micron into becoming one of the most remarkable corporate success stories of its time.  Simplot would continue to be the company's biggest cheerleader, urging anyone within earshot to buy Micron stock.

But in the business world, things change fast.  Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey wrote of Micron's changes last year in an article entitled, "Longing for the nimble Micron board of old."  Here's the link:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/popkey/story/115989.html

Popkey's article documents how business legacies are made, but how they are not made to last.  A company like Micron can live off the past success brought on by men like Simplot, Alan Noble and the Parkinson brothers for a time, but new management must continue to innovate and manage to build new successes if a company is to thrive or even survive.

And so I wonder how J.R. would rate Micron's leadership today.  How would he feel about a company that, as Shane Johnson's recent investigation detailed, was so brazen in its willingness to break the law to make a buck?  What would his view be of a 'homegrown' Idaho company that has outsourced so many jobs not only to China and Singapore but to Utah and Virginia?  What would J.R. say about the business acumen of company executives presiding over mounting losses that are approaching $2 billion over the past two years?  What would he say to a company President collecting millions in compensation while leading Micron to jaw-dropping losses, a man who some believe was clueless to the corruption within his own company?

Of course, I don't know the answers.  Maybe J.R. would endorse the company's current money-bleeding course and tolerate some of the company's past illegal excesses that threaten to cost it hundreds of millions more in civil lawsuits.    Maybe, but I doubt it.

Now, when people talk about the fate of Idaho's largest private employer, it is usually with a sense of resignation that Micron is a company that has lost its way.  Not only does its business strategy appeared flawed but its moral compass appears off kilter too.  Micron's faced hard times before.  I can never remember a time when the company itself has been held in such low regard by so many in our community.  Talk to anyone about Micron these days and the mood instantly turns somber.

It makes many yearn for the days when J.R. had his hand in Micron.  Of course, there is and will always be only one J.R. Simplot.  It's too bad.  Micron could really use him right now.

Comments

[Andre]

7/7/07 was a Saturday stupid. They didn't lay off any people on SATURDAY. The layoffs started on 7/6/07... Aka Black Friday. In this case it was the number 6 that bit me and many of my former do workers.

Also, that quarterly loss was $772.

I pretty much stopped reading their because it's clear you have no clue what you're talking about.

[Chritopher Lynn Skinner]

The biggest lie ever told is that Simplot was naive and clueless to the corruption within his own company.He was a major contributor,player and participant to all the radical WRONG-wing conservative arrogance and corruption of Boise,Idaho.Simplot and the Mormon Church were involved in big time organized crime of the Mafia and Illuminati,as well as extreme arrogance and corruption at every level of the government,including the F.B.I. and phony Injustice Department in Washington.
Among the major crimes commited was organized Federal Racketeering,obstruction of justice,radical right-wing extremist discrimination and harassment,unethical psychiatric slander,bugging and wire-tapping personal phone calls,black-balling harassed victims from gainful employment,civil complaints not upheld by corrupt government officials.
The biggest lie that corrupt officials(including Federal Judge Mikel H.Williams) ever told is that they don't owe anybody anything or have to be held accountable for completely destroying other people's lives with organized criminal harassment.
But the most notorious scandal and conspiracy of all is the Clinton Sex Scandal:that's right,it was masterminded by Simplot and all of his arrogant conservative criminal thugs.Those two women,Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp,were also partners in organized crime and corruption with Simplot and all his cronies.They deliberately set Bill Clinton up,and he fell for the "Monica Bait".
Even to this day,the closed-minded arrogance and ignorance of this conservative society continues to make a big deal out of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky,while all those abysmally ignorant and corrupt conservative hypocrites continue to get away with everything.Furthermore,all those phony Sigmund Freudian quacks who commit slander and malpractice and pretend to be legitimate scientific medical doctors at places like Region 4 Mental Health in Boise,Idaho continue to malpractice...... without ever having their malpractice licence revoked and thrown in jail with the rest of Simplot's criminal thugs.
As for all you arrogant criminal thugs who run the F.B.I.and other branches of criminal government,psychiatric libel and slander is no excuse for such arrogant hypocrites not to uphold justice the way it should be upheld.And for so many dumb and stupid conservative airheads out there to think that a criminal thug like Simplot was naive about it all is pure hogwash.There's absolutely no excuse for the closed-minded arrogance and ignorance of this backward and corrupt conservative American society these days.

[Christopher Lynn Skinner]

Everything is made all the more frustrating by the following:

#1.In about the past 25 years that I've been subjected to discrimination,harassment,and slander (and to destroy my life and everything I could have accomplished with it),I have not been able to get a single lawyer to take-up my case and help me,or be able to get any legal help anywhere.

#2.All the corrupt government officials and crooked cops who run the system in this country consistently take sides with the bad guys instead of upholding justice.The only two people who tried to do justice was Bill Clinton and Bill Lee.This resulted in sex scandal retaliation against Bill Clinton for his unsuccessful attempt to uphold justice for the underdog.

#3.Everybody is so ignorant and closed-minded,nobody ever believes anything.

#4.Nobody really seems to give a damn or care if all these ignorant and corrupt conservatives involved in crime and corruption have completely ruined my life.

I think that Rodney King and several thousand blacks had the right idea.Let's have a riot and burn the entire United States down to the ground.Only then will the stupid lame-brains of this country ever stand-up and take notice or take action on correcting all the injustice and crooked crimes they have committed.

I laughed my head off when corrupt Simplot crony Senator Larry Craig got busted for homosexual soliciting in a public restroom.At least Bill Clinton likes women......not other men,like all of Simplot's corrupt homosexual Mormon Church,Mafia,and Illuminati cronies of Idaho.

[Christopher Skinner]

All of this basically just goes to show that America is being run by criminals who are above the law and that there's no real justice to be found anywhere.The F.B.I. is run by arrogant crooks,the phony Injustice Department is run by crooks,and most of the cops these days are corrupt.Don't expect to get justice in any courtroom run by judges who are nothing but scoundrels,too.

The best kind of justice is still street justice like the L.A.riots.If all those phony crooks who wear a badge and uniform would all step aside....and let the American people go ahead and take the law into their own hands.... with vigilante justice like the old wild,wild West......thugs like Simplot and all their cronies would not survive very long,and all the corruption and organized crime would be cleaned-up in a heartbeat.Some hanging rope and a French guillotine would work just fine.As for secret society thugs like the Mafia and Illuminati,they should be torn apart from limb to limb.They should have the crap beat out of them until they turn black and blue and purple.Then they should be laid out in the street for a car or truck to come along and run over them.

[Christopher Lynn Skinner]

The ignorant redneck extremist criminal thug lives!!!

That's right. The false claim that Simplot died is a lie. At age 99, Simplot is still alive. He has been sighted on numerous occasions right here in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And all of his arrogant and ignorant criminal scum and crooked cronies have also followed me all the way here to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as well.

Simplot and the Mormon Church are involved in organized crime like the Illuminati and the Mafia. They are still following and stalking me. They have completely ruined and destroyed my entire life (and everything I could have accomplished with it)with discrimination, harassment, and unethical psychiatric libel, slander and character defamation. They continue to blacklist me from gainful employment and electronically eavesdrop on my private telephone conversations(spying).

And all of this has continued to go on for many years AFTER the arrogant and corrupt Federal Judge Mikel H. Williams had my complaints against them thrown out of court and justice NOT upheld. These ignorant and corrupt conservatives began their discrimination, harassment and slander campaigns against me way back during the early and mid-Eighties. I filed a complaint against Simplot and all his arrogant conservative criminals who run that extremely backward State of Idaho way back in the year of 1993. Not only did this arrogant criminal for a government official(Mikel H. Williams)NOT uphold any of my complaints, all the discrimination and harassment has continued to go on unabated for many years thereafter.

Furthermore, the arrogant criminals above the law who run the F.B.A.C.C.(Federal Bureau of Arrogant Crooks and Corruption......formerly known as the shamefully infamous F.B.I.)and the phony Injustice Department continue to take sides with the bad guys and their arrogance.

And crooked and corrupt cops in cahoots with Simplot continue to take sides with their harassment also. These days, some of the biggest, most arrogant criminals in the country are the ones who wear a uniform and a badge.

And the closed-minded arrogance and ignorance of this extremely conservative American society at large continues to take sides with the bad guys also. Everything is always considered too far-fetched to believe......so therefore, conservatives always take sides with the psychiatric libel and slander. Which alwaays means I'm just a nut, and therefore none of my so-called "hallucinations of persecution" are really happening.

Former U.S. President William J. Clinton and Bill Lan Lee of the Justice Department were the only two good guys in the entire government who unsucessfully tried to do justice for the underdog getting kicked and stepped-on by all these extremely arrogant radical WRONG - wing conservative criminals. This resulted in a vicious and nasty sex scandal reprisal of retaliation and attempts at impeachment by Simplot and all of his Mormon Church criminal thugs involved in the Illuminati,the Mafia, and the criminal underworld. Those two women, Monica Lewinsky and Linda tripp, are also criminal cronies of Simplot. He probably paid both of these women quite well for having the President of the U.S. set-up.

In addition to Simplot and all the rest of his arrogant criminal thugs following me all the way here to Gettysburg, his sex scandal crony Linda Tripp has also been sighted on numerous occasions here in Gettysburg.

And for many years after the Clinton Sex Scandal took place, all the ignorant conservative hypocrites of America have continued to make a big deal out of it(although it's not the first time it's happened with presidents and public officials and nobody made a big deal out of it then). And they continue to take sides with Simplot, the Illuminati, corrupt Mormons and other bad scoundrels instead of believing in such a thing as justice.

Furthermore, the radical WRONG - wing has continued to impose censorship against me for years......and prevent the American people from knowing the untold truth about the other side of the Clinton Sex Scandal. They only let the American people know the radical, extremist, brainwashing propaganda they want them to know. So if you're the kind of person who is open-minded(few people are these days), and have the patience to read all of this, please spread this information on to others who are open - minded and willing to learn (as opposed to making assumptions or being brainwashed).

[Christopherv Lynn Skinner]

It has often been a proven fact of history that when the people of a country allow evil ahd wicked people to run their country, that country almost always eventually gets spanked (cue: Nazi Germany).And time is long overdue for the United States to get spanked.