hopes/dooms du jour, March/2002
[Commentary] ©2002 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

3/31-4/01/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe: • 8 TIMEsizing stories   • 1 UPsizing  
vs. doom of the week:
• 11 downsizings totaling over 14,282 lost jobs   • 1 bankruptcy   • 3 homelessness items   • 1 prison story  
‹‹YTD: 128 timsiz +34 upsz (21864+=7%) vs. 217 dnsz (313,154+ jbcts)+50 bkrp ($17.69B+)+22 homlss+26 jail+5 suic››
- hope of the weekend - weekend timesizing news:
• big German automaking & electronics union has 35-hr week & 6 wks vacation
• Japan's jobless young people are triggering overtime conversion & work sharing
• 3 main teachers' unions in Britain plan to vote in the fall re unilateral 35-hour workweek
+ glimmers of vaguer hope: • 1 weekend upsizing - 800 new Indiana jobs at TJX over 5 years
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • experts say 2-month 'grieving cycle' follows layoff  
+ 1 weekend bankruptcy story: • Nissan Construction, Japan's 2d in a month, with $863m debt
+ makework rampant: • US mideast pitbull starts looking like the Milosevic of Israel, to arms makers' delight
- mini report: completed indexing Appx.C, 'Quick Runthru of History & Prehistory' & Appx.D, 'Reasons for Failure of Previous Outlines of History' - bkgd goal: indexing 1 chap/day of (book) 'Football of History' -

3/30/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- slow news day due to American easter holiday weekend -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• (3/08) South Korean labor minister wants intro shorter workweek ASAP
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Holland implements euthanasia law on Monday
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Japan has weak factory production rise & continued high joblessness at 5.3%
• 2 big Japanese banks cut interest to 0.001%, one twentieth of before
+ 2 homelessness items: • Mass. state budget cuts may 'force' evictions of 400
• panhandlers slow traffic in affluent fast-growing Douglas County, Colo. - trigger ejective backlash
- background goal: indexing a chapter a day of (book) 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching Appx.B, 'Measures of Social Evolution' -

3/29/2002 fri
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japanese gov't gets more involved in labor-mgmt negotiations re worksharing
• United Steel Workers helped Minn. nurses ban overtime & now applaud ban
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Calif.'s Gov. Gray Davis orders HMOs to cover morning-after pill  
• Italy moves to destroy rusty tubs used by illegal-immigration profiteers
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • people traveling on business work longer hours, sometimes double
• just 62% of NY garment workers paid overtime as req'd by law   • avg workweek has increased to 47.1 hrs
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 4400 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 3300 jobcuts by Federated Department Stores at Fingerhut subsidiary next week unless sold fast
• 17% workforce cut (1150 Minn. jobcuts) as American Power Conversion (surge protectors) merges factories
overseas 'to cut costs' (& winds up cutting its own markets & throat), instead of just trimming its workweek
17%  (to five 6hr38min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & buying 83% as many surge protectors as usual
• 100 jobs up in the air as Lucent sells out North Andover plant to Solectron  

3/28/2002 thu
- bkgd goal: indexing a chap. a day of (book) 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching ch.7 'Overall Summary' -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• (3/20) Minn. House sets up nurse overtime ban for Ventura to sign
(but, 3/22, Bush wants to boost workfare from 30 to 40 hrs/wk and,
3/15, double-edged minimum-wage/living-wage approach goes on and on)
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• world over-population explosion is slowing  
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • the Web is rotting, not ripening
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 6040 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 6000 UK jobcuts by BT Group telecoms   • 40 US cuts by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles
- bkgd goal: indexing a chap. a day of (book) 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching chapter 7 'Grand Summary' -

3/27/2002 wed
- bkgd goal: indexing a chap. a day of (bk) 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching ch.6 'Ecological Age' -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japanese government to include financial aid in work-sharing agreement
• Advanced Glassfiber Yarns uses furloughs & temporary shutdowns to lessen layoffs
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing totaling ?? new jobs - Hertz opens 8 locations in China
vs.  doom du jourtm  
4 downsizings, totaling 2140 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 11% workforce cut (1150 Minn. jobcuts) as St. Paul Cos. insurance gets railroaded to the chopping block
by yet another "big"??-thinking CEO, instead of just trimming its workweek 11%  (to five 7hr7min days
for whole company including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted
training, & keeping everyone together earning & buying 89% as much insurance as usual
• 650 Maryld. jobcuts by Ciena fiber optics   • 240 US cuts by Jones Apparel  
• 100 Mass. cuts by American Superconductor
+ 1 bankruptcy, mentioned in NYT & BG: • Polymer Group, with $30m bond debt  
+ 1 prison story: • more towns turn to cheap prison labor for odd jobs

3/26/2002 tue
- bkgd goal: indexing a chap. a day of bk 2 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching ch.5 'Economic Age' -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Minn. governor Jesse Ventura signs ban on mandatory overtime for nurses
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling 1702 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 8% workforce cut (1152 Hong Kong jobcuts) as Pacific Century CyberWorks phone company flounders
after doing $28B takeover, instead of just trimming its workweek 8%  (38-mins/day for whole company
including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping
everyone together working, earning & buying 92% as many phone services as usual
• 550 jobcuts as ABN Amro quits 2 areas that don't meet its profit targets
+ 1 homelessness item: • Dr. Roseanna Means bridges the gap between wealthy suburb of Wellesley and
Boston streets to bring healthcare to homeless women

3/24-25/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 13 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 4 UPsizings (100+ new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 10 downsizings totaling over 9,362 lost jobs  
• 4 bankruptcies, totaling $0.3B in debt   • 1 homelessness item   • 2 prison stories   • 1 suicide stories  
‹‹YTD: 120 timsiz +33 upsz (21864+=7%) vs. 206 dnsz (298,872+ jbcts)+49 bkrp ($17.69B+)+19 homlss+25 jail+5 suic››
- hope of the weekend - weekend timesizing news:
• 2 Japan morning papers on Sat. headline 3-way agreement on work-sharing system

3/23/2002 sat (re fri biz)
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Penn. Auditor General warns of acute nursing-home staffing crisis due to forced overtime...
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing totaling 2200 jobs - United Airlines recalls 1300 from furlough & hires 900 more
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling 22+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 22 Boston Mass. part-time job cuts as Beth Israel Deaconess slashes board
• unspecified US cuts as 800 Travel Systems shrinks after 9/11 & files Ch.11
+ 1 bankruptcy, mentioned in NYT & BG: • 800 Travel Systems files Ch.11 reorg in Fla.  
+ 1 work-related suicide: • fearing jobloss, aging shipper kills 5 coworkers & self in South Bend, Ind.

3/22/2002 fri
- late edition -
- bkgd goal: indexing a chap. a day of bk 2 'Football of History' -
- mini report: completed indexing/patching ch.4 'Political Age' -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• long-shot candidate for French presidency advocates a 4-day (32-hr?) workweek
• US Labor Dept. wins back overtime(?)-wages for chicken catchers at Sanderson Farms
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• US Senate finally pushing renewable energy   • Eskimos get birth control in
traditional-animal wrappers   • gay pol in Holland calls for slowdown on immigration  
• full-page NYT ad slams Israel's policy of occupation   • Ireland fines cellphoning drivers
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Dems break records with $12m softmoney
despite impending cutoff   • Ukraine has TB epidemic with 700,000 cases
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 320+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 320 UK jobcuts as Coors closes brewery   • unspecified US cuts as Suprema Specialties moves to liquidate
+ 2 bankruptcies, mentioned in NYT & BG: • Philipp Holzmann with $200m debt  
• Suprema Specialties with $130m debt

3/21/2002 thu
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japan's ruling political party wants subsidize firms that workshare to boost jobs
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm aka glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - SEC will hire 100 professionals
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • GE, & everyone else, buys 'growth' instead of growing it   • Wall St giants get taxpayer handouts whether stay or leave = charity for rich   • UN sites world poverty conference in middle of Exhibit A
3 downsizings, totaling 4191 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 20% workforce cut (2200 Euro jobcuts) as EMI Group music biz cuts costs (& stars & markets), instead of
just trimming its workweek 20%  (to four 8-hr days for whole company including top executives),
re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone
together working, earning & buying 80% as much music as usual
• 1400 jobcuts by Acterna Corp.   • 591 cuts by Janus Capital
+ 1 bankruptcy, mentioned in NYT & BG: • Malan Realty Investors

3/20/2002 wed
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• VW keeps trying - offers timesizing, not downsizing to Mexican workers
• NYC has had a crime drop even as New York Police Dept. cuts overtime
• IMPAC Medical's mgmt system cut staff overtime 27% at one oncology center
• Calif. has stricter overtime legislation than most states - lodging operators claim it adds costs
• Minn. House sets up nurse overtime ban for Ventura to sign
(but, 3/22, Bush wants to boost workfare from 30 to 40 hrs/wk and,
3/15, double-edged minimum-wage/living-wage approach goes on and on)
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Hampton Hotels plans to build 4 new hotels in NYC
• good stopgap - Bush wants let small biz band together for cheaper health insurance
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • CIA has been putting cookies on visitors' PCs   • Bush whacks Zimbabwe elections regardless of Floriduh, & • Israeli aggressiveness regardless of nuke-rattling   • Norman Mailer pegs Bush as intellectual stripling   • Carly declares victory, hopefully premature   • Bush jacks up charity for foreign rich aka 'foreign aid' while • squeezing our own endangered species (too expensive for our developers)   • most of Russia's 1200 teeny banks just hide sleaze & facilitate capital flight
+ 1 downsizing, totaling 350 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 350 SC jobcuts as Kemet Corp. phone components reduces expenses (& markets)  
+ 2 bankruptcies, in NYT & BG: • Buddy USA & • AbovePeer file Ch.11 to protect Madster file-sharing
+ 1 homelessness item: • NYC neglecting responsibility to chronically homeless inmates
+ 2 prison stories: • Justice Department resists lower jail terms for crack
• 25,000 mentally ill inmates cycle through NYC jail system annually

3/19/2002 tue
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Chirac still wants to flex the effectiveness out of French 35-hr workweek
• German prostitutes get 'regular' 40-hour workweek & profit-sharing
• fatal crash heats up resistance to long hours for truckers in Europe
• NaviCare Systems advises reduced overtime (OT) to client hospitals
• employers' survey finds 49% of S.E. Mich. firms costcut with OT cuts
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Petco plans to open 60 stores this year but some are just relocations
• re plagiarizing, Ben Franklin would rather hear good sermons even if borrowed
• UN progresses at a crawl in ensuring aid gets to the people who need it
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • diseases in poor countries
• weakening of Medicare   • still legal to sexually harass workfare women
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 4480 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 9% workforce cut (3820 jobcuts) as Avon Products cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its
workweek 9%  (¾-hr/day for whole company including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in
overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, earning & buying 91% as many cosmetics as usual
• 660 Minn. jobcuts as Potlatch Corp. shuts papermill  

3/17-18/2002
- late edition -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 7 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 3 UPsizings (220+ new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 13 downsizings totaling over 17,240 lost jobs  
• 2 bankruptcies   • 3 homelessness items  • 6 prison stories   • 2 suicide stories  
‹‹YTD: 107 timsiz +29 upsz (21764+=8%) vs. 196 dnsz (289,510+ jbcts) +45 bkrp ($17.6B+)+18 homlss+23 jail+4 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news: • US surgeons' out-of-control hours repel applicants
• EuroDisney hopes for biz from shorter French workweek but poor kids want reality
• Britain street crime up 13% but hooked on overtime instead of sharing the vanishing work
+ glimmers of vaguer hope: • Tesco supermkt gives free morning-after pills to under-20s in UK
• new coated stents are 100% effective in keeping arteries open & avoiding heart bypasses
• world leaders rethinking strategy on aiding poor - but still in Chesterton's trap
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • Polaroid executives get a fortune, even when they're there for a short time & the firm
caves, while 20-year employees get the shaft   • Portugal the basketcase of Europe, with no ideas in sight
• Ohio moves into past with 'intelligent design' while even Tunisia moves into present with evolution
+ 4 letters on homelessness: • Henry Shenkin gives good qikwrap of why current record homelessness
• Arnold Cohen runs thru lame liberal laundrylist of 'solutions'   • Heather Barr just wants housing
• Vivian Ehrlich highlights 'invisible homeless'

3/16/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japan's PM suggests cut in workyear via more holidays to cure chronic recession
• Nagoya court dismisses attempt to avoid paying pension to widow of karoshi victim
vs.  doom du jourtm  
1 bankruptcy, in NYT & BG: • AremisSoft goes Ch. 11 & decides to dissolve
+ 5 downsizings, totaling 180 +?? jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 15% workforce cut (75 jobcuts) as Miramax Films worsens the problem of insufficient markets for
the flood of film releases, instead of just trimming its workweek 15% (to five 6¾-hr days for whole
company including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
& keeping everyone together working, earning & going to the movies 85% as much as usual
• 65 jobcuts by United Industrial flight simulators   • 40 jobs by Martha Stewart Living  
• unspecified cuts as AremisSoft decides to dissolve - see bankruptcy above  
• unspecified cuts as Japan's KDDI shuts part of its cellular network
+ 1 prison story: • Calif. moves to de-privatize its prisons as too costly
+ 2 work-related suicides: • small-town Illinois mayor self-destructs after negative media
• EgyptAir co-pilot probably took whole plane down with him after mid-flight demotion

3/15/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• utility & union team to help employees in tight finances post-
9/11, including some on shortened workweeks & prorated pay
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Washington Mutual S&L plans to build 50 new branches  
• long resistant, police finally start getting behind the nation's immigration laws
• Compaq CEO says firms should not be able to patent genetic info re living things
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Oracle & lotsa other firms still need the recession - to blame  
• Wal-Mart oozes into position to infect Japanese economy   • Delta cuts travel agent commissions to zero  
• UAW teams with Bush league to look macho, clobber fuel efficiency
+ 1 downsizing, totaling 490 jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 0.6% workforce cut (490 Ma. jobcuts) as Raytheon betrays Massachusetts taxpayers
yet again, instead of just trimming its workweek 0.6% (3 minutes a day for whole company
including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
& keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 99.4% as much as usual

3/14/2002 thu
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• (2/18) Phil "Mr. Timesizing" Hyde gets last third of long article in Gainesville Sun
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - new ad agency Laird & Partners opens in NY
with 20 employees   • reader whacks 'intelligent design'
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • with 20,000 troops in action, Israel's currently engaged in biggest military
offensive since '67 war   • France moronically sites refugee camp near Chunnel to hamper traffic
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 10,670 jobs + unspecified, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• at least 10,000 jobcuts by Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau oilfield in China  
• 670 Kansas jobs canned as Spiegel shuts callcenter in tech displacement  
• unspecified cuts as Albertson's plans more store closings, esp. in Tenn.

3/13/2002 wed
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• NYT has big page-3 article on France, mentioning the 35-hour workweek & France's 'boom'
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - UGN auto products to build Tenn. plant & hire 200 in 3 yrs   • UN tells Israel to
quit illegal occupation   • Congress tries tighten up on derivatives, again   • House votes to protect
aborted fetuses nevertheless born alive   • Dems want more backup support if stricter workfare  
• Greenpeace pressures Shaw's to drop frankenfood
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • tonight on Fox - battling sluts!   • 'pump & dump' to fleece investors  
• 13% of world's population starving, 11m in 'developed' world   • immigration policy set by Mexico & illegals
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 2,000 jobs + unspecified, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 4.7% workforce cut (2000 US jobs lost this year) as Verizon Wireless spooks over 10% fewer customers &
reduces costs (& customers, further), instead of just trimming its workweek 4.7% (23 mins./day for whole
company including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping
everyone together working, earning & buying 95.3% as much wireless service etc. as usual
• unspecified cuts as Buzzy's Roast Beef finally falls to Mass. General Hospital
expansion & another boring hotel - nugget of local Boston color gone forever
+ 2 homelessness items: • Times editorial trots out same ol' liberal micromgmt "solution"
• Texas driver on drugs mangles homeless man & drives home with him stuck thru her windshield!?!

3/12/2002 tue
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• French trucking unions somehow get the idea that shorter hours
mean longer hours & start blocking gasoline distribution in the south
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• NYT op ed tells 'secret' of peace that everyone knows - pull back, O Israel!
• Letterman steps above network sleaze, backs Koppel   • US & UK cooperate
to shut down spam artists peddling bogus URLs   • Andersen told to split audits & consulting
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • America as nuclear rogue   • closing on retirement age but
deep in debt   • US healthcare gets even more pathological - patient violence
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 3900 jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 2000 Tennessee jobcuts by Carrier Corp. heating & air conditioning
• 8.7% workforce cut (1900 lost NJ jobs) as Avaya phone equipment
frets over lack of profit and cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming
its workweek 8.7% (to four 9hr-8min days for whole company including top execs),
re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together
working, earning & buying 91.3% as much phone equipment as normally

3/10-11/2002
- late edition -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 15 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 3 UPsizings (1575 new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 13 downsizings totaling over 24,629 lost jobs  
• 8 bankruptcies totaling over $5.0B in debt   • 2 homelessness items  • 5 prison stories   • 1 suicide story  
‹‹YTD: 100 timsiz +26 upsz (21544+=8%) vs. 183 dnsz (272,270+ jbcts) +43 bkrp ($17.6B+)+15 homlss+17 jail+2 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news: • (2/28) Chirac calls 35-hr wk 'authoritarian' but would flex, not scrap
+ glimmers of vaguer hope: • Warren buffetts exec stock ops   • 2 metro-Boston gals
spotlight glaring omission in Bushkin's looney wed-fare pronouncement
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • US nuclear sabre rattling restores insecurity of '50s, sparks qik damage-control attempt
• Floriduh's legislature tries to cut access to public records, sparks massive outcry
• Wall Street is reality-averse   • Clinton's uncontrolled immigration today
+ 1 weekend bankruptcy story: • foreclosures declined gradually from '91
to 28-year low in 1Q00, but then climbed driven by layoffs & bankruptcies
+ 1 weekend homelessness story: • NYC in budget crunch pushes to document
long-term homeless & qualify them to leave city shelters for state or federal housing
+ record 5 weekend prison stories:   • Mass. court upholds inmate's plea that 'solitary' for men only
is sexist   • US court upholds inmates' contention that denial of eucharist wine unconstitutional  
• sex offender in Kansas first to seek castration   • new Mass. sentencing toughness will add
over 3600 inmates during budget cutting   • 1824 prison in Thomaston, Maine, finally closes

3/09/2002 sat (re fri biz)
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• OT slam 1 - AT Plastics of Brampton, Ont., cuts overtime to cut costs
• OT slam 2 - Minn. nurses squawk re excessive overtime, reject state's contract offer
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing, ?? new jobs - 15 new Johnny Rockets '50s burger&malt joints to open in NY
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • let us prey...
• Canada joblessness sticks at 7.9% Jan-Feb
+ 1 bankruptcy in NYT/BG: • Chubu Bank in Japan  
+ 1 downsizing totaling 22,000 lost jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 9% workforce cut (22,000 lost jobs - we are not making this up) as Kmart offers its throat to Wal-Mart & Target
& closes 284 stores, instead of just trimming its workweek by 9% (43 mins/day for the whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping
everybody together working, earning & shopping 91% as much as usual
+ 1 prison story: • Danish firm buys Wackenhut for $halfa bill.

3/08/2002 fri
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• GM idles 2 plants next week with 1-week leave for 5700 employees
• JPS Apparel Fabrics timesized via alternating workweeks last year in Va.
• Jospin, in city of ally in 35-hr week launch, nails Chirac with 'France abuse'
• Koizumi still not focused on work sharing but his Labor Minister is getting close
• South Korea still converging on cut from 44- to 40-hour workweek (Saturday halfdays)
• South Korean labor minister wants intro shorter workweek ASAP
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Cleveland-Cliffs rehires 360 November layoffees
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • in jobless recession, what good is temporary unemployment insurance?
• in jobless 'recovery', what good is workfare that depends on plentiful jobs?
+ 1 bankruptcy in NYT/BG: • Worldtex is just emerging from $185m debt 
+ 2 downsizings totaling 560 lost jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 2300 jobcuts as Vanity Fair Imagewear closes in Va.   • 700 Va. cuts by Russell Stover  
• 360 Nov. cuts by Cleveland-Cliffs &  • 346 Aug. cuts by JPS Apparel Fabrics just reported   • 200 cuts by Exide
+ 1 economywide suicide story: • suicide is biggest cause of death among young Chinese, esp. F, esp. rural

3/07/2002 thu
- "late edition" -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• work sharing is spreading in city & county govts in Japan
• no overtime a weapon in UK rail, but mgmt's weapon or labor's?
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Wm. Safire blasts mergers   • alternative to oilspilling over
our national parks   • hybrid cars make headway
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • biggest eCon - US Treasury Dept. has its own little secret protection racket going
• 2d biggest - Japan capital spending & profits down   • 3d biggest - Germany jobless at 3-yr high
• biggest's pitbull - Israel smashes into teeming Gaza Strip (but Powell tugs the leash)
+ 1 bankruptcy in NYT/BG: • National Steel, $310m debt  (tariffs too late?)
+ 4 downsizings, costing 1222 jobs + unspecified, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 49% divisional workforce cut (750 lost jobs) as P&G consolidates Clairol takeover with plant closings,
instead of just trimming divisional workweek 49% (to five 4-hour days for the whole division
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and
keeping everybody together earning & buying 51% as much shampoo as usual
• 450 jobcuts by Canon   • 22 cuts by McCann-Erickson Worldwide  
• ?? cuts as Reader's Digest closes "New Choices" mag

3/06/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• America's core regulatory agency, SEC, sloppy on worktime issue -
employees vote 2-to-1 to unionize vs. unpaid overtime due to post-Enron demands
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Australia poised to lead recovery due to $$deconcentration?  
• correlation between executive pay & 'compensation' after all?
vs.  doom du jourtm  
+ 2 bankruptcies in NYT/BG: • Guilford Mills, with $125m in senior debt
• Formica, another American icon (2nd in 2 days)
+ 2 downsizings, costing 250 jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 200 jobcuts by Deere & Co.   • 50 by RCN  
+ 1 homelessness item: • fire leaves 5000 homeless near India
+ 1 prison story: • UK prisons close to capacity

3/05/2002 tue
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email --->
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• 11 S. Korean RR workers arrested for organizing strike for shorter hours
• Japanese public schools are cutting from avg. 44- to 40-hour school week
• during the bubble years, unpaid sabbaticals dropped by 13%, paid ones by 1%
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Bush privatization of Social Security amounts to dropping
the commitment to support the older generation - or raising taxes to avoid doing so
+ 1 global & 2 corporate bankruptcy stories, ($4.4231 billion debt) in NYT/BG:
• generally - IMF wants to let countries declare bankruptcy to avoid collapse
• Sato Kogyo construction sacrificed to Japan status quo with $4.4B debt
• Florsheim Shoes goes for Ch. 11 with $3.1m debt
+ 4 downsizings, costing 597 +?? jobs, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 425 Ohio & Maryland jobcuts by papermaker MeadWestvaco after $3B takeover  
• 10% workforce cut (160 lost Irish jobs) as EMC data storage crumbles to competition,
instead of just trimming its workweek 10% (to four 9-hour days for the whole company
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and
keeping everybody together earning & buying 90% as much computer stuff as usual
• 12 clergymen cut as RC Archdiocese of L.A. reacts to child-abuse charges  
• unspecified AZ cuts as Twinlab closes Tempe plant & moves to Utah & NY
+ 1 prison story: • Ill. governor to review 163 deathrow cases after death penalty freeze due to 13 reversals

3/3-4/2002
- late edition -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 10 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 2 UPsizings (500 new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 11 downsizings totaling over 1,898 lost jobs  
• 2 bankruptcies totaling $5.7B in debt   • 1 homelessness story   • 1 prison story  
‹‹YTD: 85 timsiz +23 upsz (19949+=8%) vs. 174 dnsz (247,641+ jbcts) +37 bkrp($12.6B+) +13 homlss +12 jail +1 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news: • in '70, HP cut hours 10% rather than cut staff 10%
• in '02, family members join powerplant employees in S. Korea to demand shorter hours
+ weekend glimmer of vaguer hope: • 1 weekend upsizing story - 1215 new Ma. jobs at Kohl's
vs.  doom of the weekend -
1 weekend homelessness story: • NYC, San Francisco & Atlanta rated meanest by homeless coalition
+ 1 weekend prison story: • inmate wounds another at 'Walpole' (Mass.) & triggers 2-day lockdown

3/02/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news, alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Bahamas hotels ran reduced workweeks to avoid layoffs
during the drop in tourism following 9/11
vs.  doom du jourtm  
1 downsizing, reported in NY Times & Boston Globe -
• 500 jobcuts by scientific instrument maker PerkinElmer  
+ 1 prison story: • Mass. releases 20,000 inmates a year with no supervision & racks up 44% recidivism

3/01/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japan's slippage from lifetime employment to massive
early retirement has been a big factor in its ongoing depression
• GM will practice workmonth reduction next week to avoid layoffs
• Cable Design Technologies has used workday reduction for same purpose
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 2 UPsizings - FleetBoston to hire 500 tellers in New England, &
- Axcelis opened new technology center in Beverly, Massachusetts
• London-based BP will halt all political donations   • Treasury scrutinizes incorporation
in Bermuda to avoid US taxes   • ambivalence appears re Utter Goodness of immigration
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • IRS increases audits of working poor   • 83 fewer billionaires   • Enron rewarded
execs even into company meltdown   • more French jobless, but less than '97 & few enuf to let US &
Germany sink faster   • lower Brazil economy   • Bush STILL wants to privatise SocSec   • EPA official
quits to protest Bushwhacking of environment   • rich towns lag middle-income towns in school quality  
+ only 1 downsizing (Network Assocs.), costing ?? jobs, cited in New York Times or Boston Globe - but
7 corporate (at least 3038 jobcuts) and 4 general downsizings plucked off AOLNews from 1 word-search