dooms du jour, March/2001
[Commentary] ©2001 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080

3/31/2001 sat (re fri news)
4 takeovers reported, worth $2.76B + $undisclosed
+ 6 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 2,280 jobcuts:
• 1000 cuts at Falcon Gold Zimbabwe  • 830 cuts at Ford's SUV plant in Wayne MI 
• 20% workforce cut (370 jobs lost) as PRI Automation blindly follows the chip industry
in its reduction of expenses - and markets - instead of just trimming its workweek by 20%
(to four 8-hour days for whole firm including top executives) and keeping everyone
employed, earning & maintaining their purchases at 80% of normal
• 35 Burlington Ma. cuts (5%) at HomeRuns.com online grocery
• 25 Calif. cuts at Unitek consulting  • 20 Billerica Ma. cuts at Sipex
+ 1 homeless story: • readers blast Bush for defunding homeless kids
vs. glimmers of intelligence: • prototype fuel-cell vehicle
• 1 industry UPsizing - 2009 new job recruiting firms in last 6 mos. (but what about last 3 mos.?) 
• columnist senses coup d'état, unmasks "conservative" Bush admin. as most radical in living memory
• 2 timesizing items: Mirotone coating systems in Australia preserves 35-hr week thru labor turbulence,
& unemployment rate in 35-hour-workweek France falls from 9.0% to 8.8%, lowest in over a decade

3/30/2001 fri
2 takeovers reported, worth $434m + $undisclosed
+ 7 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 27,860 jobcuts:
• 5.5% workforce cut (11,500 mostly US jobs lost) as Delphi autoparts finally drops
primitive week-on week-off timesizing & goes for conventional self-amputation, instead of
merely trimming its workweek by 5.5% (26 mins/day for whole firm including top execu-
tives) and keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 94.5% of their usual autoparts
• 7000 cuts at Korea Telecom  • 4390 cuts at Marks & Spencer in UK  • 3103 cuts at
Venator  • 1200 cuts at Danone cookies  • 620 cuts at Kellogg's Keebler unit
• 47 cuts worldwide at Avid Technology
vs. glimmers of intelligence: • Hooker Furniture of Va. trims to 35-hr week to avoid layoffs
• world's 2 biggest carmakers do some more week-at-a-time timesizing to avoid downsizing
- over 10,200 to lose next week's work but keep their jobs

3/29/2001 thu
9 takeovers reported, worth $1.46B + $undisclosed
+ 7 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 24,245 jobcuts + ??:
• 14% workforce cut (9,500 jobs lost worldwide) as Mitsubishi squeezes
costs by squeezing its own people - and markets - instead of just trimming
its workweek by 14% (to 34½ hours for whole firm including top executives)
and keeping everyone employed, earning & buying cars at 86% of normal rate
• 8000 US cuts at ADC Telecoms chipmaker  • 6000 jobcuts at Sanyo in Japan 
• 600 cuts at Lockheed satellite launching  • 125 cuts at PC Connection direct mktrs 
• 20 cuts at HomePortfolio home design  • unspecified US cuts at Gateway cptr mfr 
• unspecified Massachusetts cuts at Adoptions with Love
+ omens: • most firms plan slower hiring
vs. glimmers of hope: • House committee acts to squelch e-mail spam
• 1 timesizing item: AVX electronics mfr is doing 1500 one-week furlough's instead of layoffs in S.C.

3/28/2001 wed
- The stock markets answer the question - How can we use a limited number of
jobs to absorb an unlimited amount of money, while buying a limited amount
of the productivity in which that money is supposedly invested? -
6 takeovers reported, worth $6.06B + $undisclosed
+ 7 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 8961 jobcuts:
• 3% workforce cut (4000 jobs lost) as Disney sips hemlock in response
to sputtering economy & slowing ad sales, instead of just trimming work
week by 3% (24 mins/day for whole firm including top execs) & keeping
everyone employed, earning & spending to provide 97% of normal markets
• 2600 jobcuts at Ericsson cellphones  • 1500 cuts at American Greetings  • 400 cuts
at Chinadotcom Corp.  • 250 cuts at Palm Inc. despite beating estimates  • 211
cuts at Viant e-consulting  • unspecified cuts at Trinity Industries railcars
+ omens: • more women becoming lawyers but staying low in foodchain because not
working 50 hrs/wk  • Americans, like Brits, getting too sleep-deprived to have sex
• Indonesia thinks less-than-35 is underemployment same as Hong Kong
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• Dutch allowing shorter week in food sector, but only because forced by foot&mouth

3/27/2001 tue
- Crummy job picture? Crummy stock picture! Stocks are based on jobs, not v.v.
because jobs translate into wages & spending & markets, while stocks
(with luck) mainly translate into income & saving & more stocks -
6 takeovers reported, worth $12.84B + $undisclosed
+ 6 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 10,551 jobcuts:
• 50% workforce cut (5000 jobs lost) as Aiwa revamps in precisely the way that
put Japan's economy in the toilet & is taking the rest of the world, instead of trimming
its workweek by 50% (to 20 hrs for whole firm including top execs) & keeping
everyone employed, earning & spending to provide 50% of normal markets
• 3500 jobcuts at MarchFirst e-consulting  • 1625 cuts at Conexant com chips 
• 230 cuts at PMC-Sierra com chips  • 116 cuts at SciQuest.com e-marketplace 
• 80 at Robertson Stephens investments
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned: • Network Connection Inc. broadband & e-commerce 
+ omens: • 'boom' did little for typical families - so in our book, it was fizzle, not boom
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• the great economic experiment - French 35-hour week
gives preview of human problems we too will run into when we finally get smart

3/25-26/2001
weekend roundup per the NY Times and the Boston Globe:
• 20 downsizings reported, costing over 37,289 lost jobs
• 30 takeovers reported this week, worth over $7.56B
• 2 prison stories   • 3 bankruptcies, with over $550m debt
vs. 5 TIMEsizing stories + 2 UPsizings (?? new jobs) + 1 UNtakeover reported ($230.2m)
< YTD: 295 dnsz (391182 jobcuts) +353 takov($238B) +78 bkrp vs. 67 timsz +32 upsz (24708+=6%) +18 untak ($4B+)>
1 weekend takeover reported, worth $8.55B
+ weekend omens: • a liberal on Dubya  • a conservative on Japan
+ 1 prison item: • "gulag USA" has 5% of world's population, 25% of world's prisoners
vs. weekend glimmers: • time off is still best burnout cure  • conservative boosts McCain-Feingold

3/24/2001 sat (re fri biz)
- Can the world escape recession? = cover story on this wk's Economist of London -
cover shows Houdini chained to blocks inscribed 'made in USA' & 'made in Japan'
(our answer: not with ongoing takeovers, downsizings & funnelling of spending power) -
2 takeovers reported, worth $258m
+ 3 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 4227 US jobcuts:
• 3.1% workforce cut (4000 jobs lost) as Motorola does it again, shooting itself
in the foot & further & further up the leg, instead of trimming its workweek
by 3.1% (15 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs) & keeping
everyone employed, earning & making 96.9% of normal purchases
• 227 jobcuts at Proxicom e-consulting  • unspecified cuts by Fleet in NJ
vs. glimmers of hope: • 1 UNtakeover - American Skiing & MeriStar halt merger
• US farmers, kicked by Europe & Japan & led by ND, wake up about frankenfoods
• Ecuador is informally cutting hours after Xmas season as alternative to layoffs & mass emigrations

3/23/2001 fri
- Day after day, week after week, the same consumer confidence-bashing corporate
'strategies.' 100s & 1000s of different firms & situations. Here are today's, -
4 takeovers reported, worth $740m + $undisclosed
+ 3 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 13,485 US jobcuts:
• 9% workforce cut (9600 jobs lost) as Procter & Gamble consumer products reacts to our
diminishing consumer markets by deactivating some of its own best customers, instead of
having a 9% workweek cut (43 mins/day for whole firm incl. top execs) & keeping
everyone employed, earning & buying consumer products at 91% normal rate
• 3400 jobcuts by Charles Schwab  • 485 cuts at LTV Steel
vs. glimmers of hope: • 2 UPsizings - Ocean Spray plans China biz
- NYC's Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy opens office in Palo Alto, Calif.
• 2 timesizing items - French workweek cut has been blocking inflation, not spurring it
- French express-mail company blames shorter workweek for part of falling profits, but...

3/22/2001 thu
10 takeovers reported, worth $1.36B + $$undisclosed
+ 3 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 792 jobcuts:
• 399 US jobcuts by Sunoco  • 200 US cuts at Cypress Communications
• 10% workforce cut (193 US jobs lost) as DoubleClick web advertising re-
orgs itself & fuels the recession, instead of just doing a 10% workweek
cut (48 mins/day for whole firm incl. top execs) & keeping everyone
employed, earning & webshopping at 90% normal rate
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned: • Holt Group marine transport  
vs. glimmers of hope: • the truth about frankenfoods finally dawns on agrobiz

3/21/2001 wed
5 takeovers reported, worth $2.46B + $$undisclosed
+ 7 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 4,085 jobcuts + unspecified:
• 20% workforce cut (2050 jobs lost worldwide) as Teradyne chip-testing spooks over
falling demand, instead of doing a 20% workweek cut (to four 8-hour days for whole firm
incl. top execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & spending 80% as much as usual
• 1300 Swiss cuts by Clariant  • 300 US & Canadian cuts by Milacron
• 300 US cuts by Xpedior  • 100 US cuts by Putnam  • 35 Denver cuts
by eCollege  • unspecified US cuts at Champion Enterprises
+ 1 bankruptcy/closure mentioned: • Speak magazine  
+ omens: • 'lethal consequences of overwork' dept. -
trucker drove 30 hrs before 3/99 Amtrak crash that killed 11, hurt 122
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• German mega-union back on issue demanding more pay & shorter workweek

3/20/2001 tue
8 takeovers reported, worth $2.74B + $$undisclosed
+ 3 downsizings, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 14,700 jobcuts + undisclosed:
• 10% staffcut (8200 jobs lost) as Solectron electronics panics over falling demand &
thereby kicks it lower, vs. having a 10% hours&pay cut (48 mins. a day for whole firm
incl. top execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 90% as much electronics
• 6500 global cuts by Daewoo Motor  • covert & camouflaged cuts at Cptr Assocs.
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Imperial Home Decor Group, with $550 million debt 
+ omens: • Hong Kong reverses France - 35 hrs defines 'underemployed'
• Japan demoes impotence of rate fiddling & next up, money printing
vs. glimmers of intelligence: • soft-money speaks too loud
• even Les Thurow's superficial analysis forecasts deeper gloom

3/18-19/2001
weekend roundup per the NY Times and the Boston Globe:
• 21 downsizings reported, costing over 30,909 lost jobs
• 34 takeovers reported this week, worth over $43.12B
• 2 prison stories (1 bad, 1 good)  • 4 bankruptcies, with unreported debt
vs. 5 TIMEsizing stories + 5 UPsizings (?? new jobs) + 0 UNtakeovers reported ($0)
< YTD: 275 dnsz (353893 jobcuts) +323 takov($230B) +75 bkrp vs. 62 timsz +30 upsz (24708=7%) +17 untak ($4B)>
1 weekend merger reported, 58-42% ownership settlement
+ 1 weekend downsizing: • gay bookstore closes in Manhattan
+ 2 prison items: • lack of support systems for released prisoners
• nearly as many prisoners in on drug charges as whole US prison population in 1980
vs. weekend glimmers of hope: • Hawken calls for end to oil age  • hybrid cars out in 2 yrs
• email flooding Congress pressures for dawn of electronic referendums

3/17/2001 sat (re fri biz)
- St. Patrick "rid Ireland of snakes" - bring him back to rid
America of workaholic automators spreading poverty -
4 takeovers reported, worth $1.043B + $undisclosed
+ 4 downsizings as well, picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 3040 cuts:
• 6% staffcut (2000 Tex. jobs lost) as Cooper Industries abreacts to reduced Web trading
by closing call ctr, vs. doing 6% hours&pay cut (29 mins. a day for whole firm incl. top
execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & shopping 94% as much as usual
• 800 global jobcuts at Computer Sciences  • 160 NY cuts at Primedia after
taking over About.com  • 80 Ma. cuts + unspecified at Lids Corp.
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Lids Corp. sports-cap chain
+ omens: • The Economist of London bemoans churning at the top
and wails 'why is it proving so hard to find good leaders these days?'
vs. glimmers of hope: • 1 UPsizing - Zale jewelry chain to open 40 stores in 2002
• greed was 'good' & look what happened - NYT reader takes us thru a little common sense

3/16/2001 fri
- we're doing it anyway - why not quit denying it & fighting it,
and instead, go with the flow and design it to work real well -
uncoordinated timesizing is currently widespread in America
to cope with downturn & coordinated in France to build recovery:
• American Bankers Assoc. puts 2 types of timesizing before layoffs
• Technitrol avoids layoffs with shorter workweeks and workmonths
• Flexsteel rewards & retains good employees with reduced work hours
• French firms of over 20 people trimmed workweek by 4 hrs
& created or saved 251,000 jobs as of Nov.
+ 3 UPsizings: Shaw & Ames in Midwest & Baxter in Switzerland
vs. doom du jour - 2 takeovers reported, worth $$undisclosed
+ 5 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 8310 global cuts:
• 7% staffcut (5000 US jobs lost) as Compaq's Michael Capellas panics over "future
deterioration in US mkts" & responds by driving the deterioration deeper, instead of just
trimming Compaq's workweek by 7% (34 mins. a day for whole firm incl. him) & keeping
everyone employed, earning & buying 93% as many Compaq PCs & everything else
• 1900 global jobcuts at Heinz  • 1000 US cuts at Applied Materials 
• 350 Ohio cuts at Steris  • 60 US cuts at Leapnet

3/15/2001 thu
omens: • Dow below 10,000 - investors fear global meltdown
- fragmentation dramatic, but CEOs are still pumping up recession &
economic monoculture with mergers & mass layoffs of their own consumers -
5 takeovers reported, worth $132.5m + $$undisclosed
+ 5 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 2902 cuts:
• 1400 Dublin jobcuts at Intel  • 600 Ind. cuts at Kimball Int'l 
• 600 Cal. cuts at Texas Instruments  • 152 US cuts at Britannica.com 
• 10% staffcut (150 NJ jobs lost) as CSFBdirect online brokerage abreacts to reduced Web
trading by closing call ctr, vs. doing 10% hours&pay cut (48 mins. a day for whole firm
incl. top execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 90% as much stock
+ 2 prison stories: • released prisoners worsen much-denied US labor glut, flood job mar-
ket, further clobber wages  • sister springs big bro from murder wrap via DNA evidence
+ omens: • a roundup of headlines on the market plunge
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• Kimball Int'l enacts shorter workweeks to avoid layoffs (but not enuf - see today's downsizings)
• France drags itself, kicking & screaming, into the future - struggles hard to accept the many
side-benefits of its shorter (35-hr) workweek - fastest economic growth in 30 yrs, boom in leisure
industries, no danger of Japan-style deflation...as heaven dawns, gotta find something to complain about!

3/14/2001 wed
13 takeovers reported, worth $13.8B + $$undisclosed
+ 4 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 15,257 jobcuts:
• 5% staffcut (7000 jobs lost) as Motorola over-reacts to industrywide slowdown in
cellphone sales, vs. doing a 5% hours&pay cut (24 mins. a day for whole firm incl. top
execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 95% as many cellphones
• 4200 jobcuts as Japan Airlines cuts half its ground staff 
• 4000 British jobcuts at Cable & Wireless 
• 57 Tex. cuts as Bozell Group closes 2 offices
+ 3 bankruptcy stories: • Star Telecommunications  • LogoAthletic
• Bush bankruptcy bill cuts fresh start
vs. glimmers of hope:
• 1 UPsizing - ex-Bain partner starts buyout firm in San Francisco
• all major indexes rise (but this happened repeatedly before Oct. 29, 1929 too)

3/13/2001 tue
- as 1929 beckons, question again arises, 'how centrifuge income into consumer markets?' -
10 takeovers reported, worth $28.14B + $$undisclosed
+ 3 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 1400 jobcuts + unspecified:
• 1200 US & German jobcuts as IMI moves drink-dispenser production to cheaper climes
• 6% staffcut (200 global jobs lost) as ADL consulting misreacts to slowdown in con-
sulting, vs. doing a 6% hours&pay cut (48 mins. a day for whole firm incl. top
execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & spending at 94% usual rate
• unspecified cuts as Peapod quits San Francisco
+ omens: • markets plunge in wide selloff, Nasdaq down 6% in day,
62% in yr from peak, DOW & S&P500 both down 4% - & so It begins?
vs. nuggets from history:
• biggest liberal newspaper in Kennedy country tries to explain away Jack's taxcut

3/11-12/2001
- you can't keep making work-saving machinery and taking your savings
in layoffs instead of leisure without laying off your own markets -
weekend roundup per the NY Times and the Boston Globe:
• 12 downsizings reported, costing over 14,616 lost jobs
• 28 takeovers reported this week, worth over $5.67B
• 2 prison stories (one of them positive)
• 9 bankruptcy mentions, with over $492m debt
vs. 6 TIMEsizings + 7 UPsizings (?? new jobs) + 1 UNtakeover reported ($?)
< YTD: 254 dnsz (322984 jobcuts) +289 takov($187B) +71 bkrp vs. 57 timsz +25 upsz (24708=8%) +17 untak ($4B)>
+ weekend omens:
• Japan has laid off its own domestic markets, but don't anybody say the D-word
vs. weekend glimmers of intelligence: • 2 readers flash insights, 1 vs. overly detailed approach to
curing poverty & • 1 vs. distributing temporary SocSec surplus to wealthy campaign donors via taxcuts

3/10/2001 sat (re fri biz)
- CEOs view their consumer base as polluters view the ocean -
"oh it can take any amount of abuse" (dba downsizing)
3 takeovers reported, worth $142m + $undisclosed
+ 5 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 8398 jobcuts + unspecified:
• 17% staffcut (8000 Calif. jobs lost) as Cisco Systems over-reacts to (& speeds
up) slowdown, vs. doing a 17% hours&pay cut (to five 6h40m-day workweek
for whole firm incl. top execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & continu-
ing 83% of the usual markets they provide to computer firms, including their own
• 340 Minn. jobcuts at C-bridge Internet Solutions in Waltham  • 58 CA & NY cuts at
Work.com  • unspecified cuts at USFreightways in Chicago &  • at FleetBoston in Conn.
+ 2 bankruptcies: • Fas Mart Convenience Stores in Va.
• Dong Ah Construction Co. in South Korea
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• USS-POSCO steel is having a voluntary reduced workweek for admin. employees 
• avg workweek figures show many US manufacturers are timesizing, not downsizing 
• proposed Swiss 36-hr workweek is getting media exposure (but this time, negative)

3/09/2001 fri
8 takeovers reported, worth $2.43B + $$undisclosed
+ 2 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 5105 jobcuts:
• 6% staffcut (5000 US jobs lost) as Intel freaks over weaker demand by cutting costs (&
markets), vs. having a 6% hours&pay cut (29 mins/day for whole firm incl. top execs)
& keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 94% their usual computer stuff
• 105 Massachusetts jobcuts at C-bridge Internet Solutions in Waltham
+ 1 bankruptcy story: • tough bankruptcy bill triggers preëmptive-filing advice
+ 1 prison story (positive): • BU prof Ma Barker turned thugs at Norfolk into
poetry-reciting, thinking human beings
+ omens: • finance minister calls Japan's finances catastrophic • more naive US
deregulation - electronic markets • Amerka cares more for guns than kids so freedom of
speech caves to teen ratting & we turn 'stoolie nation' • thinner want ads & fewer rentals
vs. glimmers of intelligence:
• columnist roasts Bush taxcut  • reader racks carpal safeguard repeal  • jobless numbers fall (but not far)
• 1 timesizing item - Swiss parliament mulls drop from 42 to 36-hr workweek (but lower house rejects)

3/08/2001 thu
- "we've mortgaged the economy to the finance markets anyway" (Australian) -
3 takeovers reported, worth $$undisclosed
+ 5 downsizings picked up by NYT & BG, totaling 1113 jobcuts + unspecified:
• 1% staffcut (1000 US jobs lost) as TRW auto airbags over-reacts to slide in demand by
cutting costs (& markets), instead of having a 1% hours&pay cut (5 mins/day for whole
firm incl. top execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & 99% as likely to buy a car
• 113 US jobcuts at Copper Mtn Networks  • ?? Chinese cuts at Shanghai Tyre & Rubber 
• unspecified addtn'l global cuts at Daiwoo Electronics  • ?? addtn'l Calif. cuts at Idealab
+ 3 bankruptcy stories: • Finova files • EToys too • Senate keeps medical bills under tough new bankruptcy law - hence Dave Barry's defn: "white male millionaires working for you"
+ omens - a qik tour: • US growth keeps slowing • Australia joins the slump • top luxury firm doin' fine • Greenspan begs bankers to lend • consumers had no trouble borrowing in Jan. • Ag Dept. covers biotech's mistakes with $20m of our dough
vs. glimmers of intelligence:
• 5 UPsizings - Landstar System, Baxter International,
Friedman Billings Ramsey, iBasis, Clarendon Photonics
• 1 UNtakeover - Mercury Air Group spins off fuel sales & services unit
• economist breaks ranks & slams sales taxes  • Ford ponies up $¾m for profit-sharing
• 1 timesizing item - young North American women rebel against supermoms' megahours

3/07/2001 wed
6 takeovers reported, worth $2.37B + $undisclosed
+ 1 downsizing picked up by NYT & BG, totaling unspecified jobcuts
• undetermined Calif. jobs lost as San Jose Mercury News maximizes uncertainty &
anxiety by announcing jobcuts for an unknown few instead of a small hours&pay cut for
everyone, thus incentivating its best & brightest to do a pre-emptive job search
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Abe Gosman, nursing home king, over $11.9m debt
vs. glimmers of hope:
• 1 UPsizing (or UNdownsizing) - 'dozens' of layoffs of P-T teachers reversed in NYC schools
• reporter has lots of little topdown ways to help poor kids in school - we have 1 big grassroots way
• recall those rumors of Big Oil squelching development of perpetual motion? - the squelch slipped
• 1 timesizing item - 35-hr workweek France showed up UK yesterday, Germany today

3/06/2001 tue
7 takeovers reported, worth $430m + $undisclosed
+ no downsizings picked up by NYT & BG {but Reuters reported US jobcuts
in Feb. tripled from last year, & AP reported 2 downsizings totaling 277 jobcuts, e.g.:
• 6% staffcut (400 Ind. jobs lost) as Hill-Rom hospital beds reduces expenses (& domestic
spending), instead of doing a 6% hours&pay cut (30 mins/day for whole co. incl. top
execs) & keeping everyone employed, earning & shopping at 94% of normal}
+ 1 bankruptcy: • U.S. Office Products
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• 35-hr workweek France is showing up 33% of Brits, who are
working such long hours they're neglecting their families & even their sex lives

3/04-05/2001
weekend roundup per the NY Times and the Boston Globe:
• 19 downsizings reported, costing over 23,342 lost jobs
• 33 takeovers reported this week, worth $11.96B + $??
• 2 bankruptcy/failure mentions, with $?? debt
• 1 work-prep suicide story
vs. 8 TIMEsizings + 0 UPsizings (0 new jobs) + 1 UNtakeover reported ($?)
< YTD: 242 dnsz (308368 jobcuts) +261 takov($181B) +62 bkrp vs. 50 timsz +18 upsz (24708=8%) +16 untak ($4B)>
1 weekend takeover reported, totalling $300m
+ 1 weekend bankruptcy: • Korea Industrial Development Co, $480m debt
+ prisons: • à la mode Brazilienne - "The only thing
they're good for is to make people worse."
+ weekend omens: • Street Beat Sportswear in Brooklyn NY
works people 100-140 hrs/wk with no overtime pay
vs. weekend glimmers of intelligence:
• who does our mongo national debt belong to? Times reader confronts the truth

3/3/2001 sat (re fri biz)
9 takeovers reported, worth $430m + $$undisclosed
+ 2 downsizings reported in NYT & BG totaling 720 lost US jobs + unspecified:
• 20% staff cut (720 Cambridge-MA jobs lost) as Sapient e-consulting cuts costs
(& customers' customers), instead of having 20% hours&pay cut (to 32-hr
workweek for everyone including top executives) & keeping everyone
employed, earning & spending 80% as much as usual
• unspecified jobcuts at SBC Communications
vs. glimmers of intelligence:
• 1 common-sense senator bucks whirlwind of lies about budget "surplus" - Ernest Hollings
• 1 timesizing item - Swiss Parliament plans to discuss cutting average workweek to 36 hours

3/02/2001 fri
4 more takeovers reported, worth $1.23B + $undisclosed
+ 3 downsizings reported in NYT & BG totaling 925 lost US jobs:
• 10% staff cut (450 western-US jobs lost) as Good Guys Inc. consumer
electronics goes over to the Dark Side to cut costs (& inadvertently, mkts), instead
of just doing a 10% hours&pay cut (to a 36-hr workweek for everyone including top
executives) & keeping everyone employed, earning & buying 90% as much stuff as usual
• 292 SC jobcuts as WestPoint Stevens closes plant  • 183 Cambridge MA cuts at Lotus 
+ 2 bankruptcy stories: • US House approves tough bankruptcy bill
• Phoenix Resort in Japan files, despite big bogus beach
vs. glimmers of timesizing:
• another smart US exec - Herbert Kohler cuts overtime, not jobs
• more good employment news on French 35-hr workweek (but bad
inflation news because their implementation lacks overtime-to-training conversion)

3/01/2001 thu
4 takeovers reported, worth $1.84B + $$undisclosed
+ 4 downsizings reported in NYT & BG totaling 6449 lost US jobs:
• 7% staff cut (6000 US jobs lost) as WorldCom obsesses about streamlining,
instead of merely having a 7% hours&pay cut (34 mins/day for everyone including top
executives) & keeping everyone employed, earning & shopping 93% as much as usual
• 300 US jobcuts at Circuit City  • 125 US cuts at Buy.com  • 24 US cuts at Walmart.com
+ 1 suicide story: • the latest "cool move" in Massachusetts highschools?
vs. glimmers of intelligence:
• California's Republicans are turning Green of necessity
• 4 timesizing items re the only truly modern society on the planet at the dawn of the Third Millennium,
France, where you use technology to earn a good living in only 35 hours a week & HAVE A LIFE -
incl. 2 Fr. economists' comments, eg: "It's a happy situation to be in." [Americans, eat your hearts out!]