How Many Businesses Have Announced Closings or Layoffs Since Obama Won A Second Term?

Editor's note: We'll be discussing this story and all the day's political news on our live BlazeCast at 1:30pm ET:

Do elections have consequences? If you have been paying attention to the financial markets, you might think so. Wall Street has had two horrible days since President Obama won a second term.

However, stock prices are not the only thing taking a hit. It appears that the job market is also suffering. In the last 48 hours, the following major corporations have announced layoffs in America (links take you to news stories about the layoffs - with details from the companies):

• Energizer -

The St. Louis-based company said Thursday that it expects to shed about 1,500 employees. When finished, the restructuring should lead to $200 million in pretax yearly savings, Energizer said. It aims to have most of its restructuring steps finished by the end of September 2014.

• Exide Technologies -

Exide Technologies announced Thursday that it will be idling its lead-recycling operations in Laureldale and laying off 150 workers, effective no later than March 31.

• Westinghouse -

Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor responsible for shutting down Anniston’s chemical weapons incinerator, has reduced its workforce by another 50 employees.

• Research in Motion Limited -

Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, laid off about 200 people at its U.S. headquarters in Irving on Wednesday, according to a source close to the company who did not want to be named.

• Lightyear Network Solutions -

More than one dozen employees at a Pikeville company lost their jobs this week. Officials with Lightyear Network Solutions said they are consolidating offices in Louisville and Pikeville to save money.

• Providence Journal -

The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees.

• Hawker Beechcraft -

The company says 240 employees will lose their jobs with the closing of Hawker Beechcraft Services facilities in Little Rock, Ark.; Mesa, Ariz.; and San Antonio, Texas.

• Boeing (30% of their management staff) -

Boeing Co. said Wednesday it plans to employ 30% fewer executives at its Boeing Defense, Space & Security unit by the end of 2012 compared to 2010 levels.

• CVPH Medical Center -

CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees. The layoffs — nine in management and eight hourly staffers — are part of an effort to "help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond," a press release said.

• US Cellular -

The move will result in 980 job cuts at U.S. Cellular, with 640 in the Chicago area, according to a spokeswoman. The cuts are slightly under 12 percent of the approximately 8,400 total employees U.S. Cellular had at the end of the third quarter.

• Momentive Performance Materials -

About 150 workers at Sistersville's Momentive Performance Materials plant will be temporarily laid off later this month, officials said this week.

• Rocketdyne -

About 100 employees at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, most of whom work in the San Fernando Valley, were laid off Wednesday in response to dwindling government spending on space exploration, the company said. The layoffs were effective immediately, and 75 percent of them came at the facilities on Canoga and De Soto avenues, which employ about 1,100 people. The company has six sites across the Valley.

• Brake Parts -

The leader of an automotive parts plant in Lincoln County has told state officials that there are plans to lay off 75 workers starting in late December...The layoffs are expected to start Dec. 28 and continue in the first quarter of 2013

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) is seeking to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent and said it’s reducing headcount by 3,000 to raise the staff cuts by the biggest wind turbine maker to almost a third over two years.

• Husqvarna -

Husqvarna AB (HUSQB), the world’s biggest maker of powered garden tools, plans to cut about 600 jobs in a move that will save 220 million kronor ($33 million) a year by 2014.

• Center for Hospice New York -

The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care plans to temporarily lay off as many as 40 employees next year as it embarks on a major renovation of the inpatient unit at its Cheektowaga campus.

• Bristol-Meyers -

Bristol-Myers Squibb is following up its lackluster third-quarter results with almost 480 layoffs. As Pharmalot reports, the company notified the New Jersey government that it would scale back in Plainsboro, which means the cuts will hit its sales operations.

• OCE North America -

Trumbull printer- and scanning-equipment provider Oce North America, Inc. will lay off 135 workers in three Connecticut communities, including East Hartford, according to its notice with the state Labor Department.

• Darden Restaurants -

The company, which was among those who had received an Obamacare waiver in the past, is looking to limit workers to 28 hours per week. A full time employee that is required to have health insurance (lest the employer pay a fine) works 30 hours per week, as defined by the Obamacare law.

• West Ridge Mine -

In its statement, UtahAmerican Energy blames the Obama administration for instituting policies that will close down "204 American coal-fired power plants by 2014" and for drastically reducing the market for coal.

• United Blood Services Gulf -

United Blood Services Gulf South region, the non-profit blood service provider for much of south Louisiana and Mississippi, will lay off approximately 10 percent of its workforce. It was a hard decision to make according to Susan Begnaud, Regional Center Director for the Gulf South region.

A layoff is tough enough for employees to deal with, imagine hearing the crushing news that your office is shutting down just before Thanksgiving and Christmas...  Here are some of the business closings that were announced in just the past two days:

• Caterpillar Inc. will close its plant in Owatonna Minn.
• Mount Pleasant’s Albrecht Sentry Foods
• The Target store at Manassas Mall Va.
• Millennium Academy in Wake Forest NC
• Target Closing Kissimmee FL Location
• The Andover Gift Shop in Andover MA
• Grand Union Family Markets Closing Storrs Location CT
• Movie Scene Milford Location NH
• Update: TE Connectivity Closing Greensboro Plant - 620 Layoffs Expected
• Gomer’s Fried Chicken in South Kansas City
• Kmart in Homer Glen
• Fresh Market on Pine Street in Burlington
• AGC Glass North America to permanently close its Blue Ridge Plant in Kingsport Tenn.
• The Target store at Platte and Academy in Colorado Springs
• The Roses store on Reynold Road in Winston-Salem NC
• Bost Harley-Davidson at 46th Avenue North and Delaware Ave. in West Nashville TN
• Townsend Booksellers in Oakland
• The Kmart store in Parkway Plaza off University Drive in Durham NC - 79 Jobs Lost

To see even more companies that announced layoffs since the election, visit the Daily Job Cuts page.

This story has been updated.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated: Meanders Kitchen losing its West Seattle location at 6032 California Ave. While the West Seattle location is closing, there is more to this story. TheBlaze has heard from the restaurant's owner who told us:

 "we've expanded into a much larger space with more than double the seating capacity."