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

week ending 6/30-7/01/2002
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & various regional papers:
• 13 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)   • 7 UPsizings (568+ new jobs) reported
• 2 makework items (?? new 'jobs')
vs. doom of the week:
• 9 downsizings, totaling over 38,696 lost jobs 
• 2 bankruptcies, totaling over $258m in debt     • 1 prison story
year-to-date = 6-mon roll-up, jan-jun/2002, from NYT & BG:
267 tmsz(440+ new or sav'd jobs)+74 upsz(28637+ new jobs=5%) + 7 makwrk (??+ new 'jobs')
total 29077 = 5% of dnsz VERSUS 366 dnsz(566878+)+90 bkrp($48.3B+)+36 hmls+42 jail+19 suic
+ 6-mon roll-up, jul-dec/2001, based on NYT & BG:
245 timsizngs/sharework (?? new or sav'd jobs) + 95 upsizngs (89,803+ new jobs)
+ 3 job-creation/makework episode (79,000 new 'jobs'), totaling 168,803 = 33% of cuts,
vs. 746 dnsz/cutwork (1,154,076+ cuts) + 70 bnkrp +26 hmls+26! jail+8 suic
fiscal-year roll-up
= 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG, jul/2001-jun/2002, our 3rd year of tracking:
512 timsizng (440+ new or sav'd jobs) + 169 upsizngs (118440+ new jobs) + 10 makwrk (79,000 'jobs')
total 197880 = 11% of cuts VERSUS 1112 dnsz (1720954+ cuts) + 160 bkrp ($43.3B+) + 62 homlss + 68 prisn + 27 kills
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing news: • French pols like the one who chopped the workweek want
the French 'Dems' to appeal to French 'Dems' & quit trying to appeal to the French 'GOP'
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • worried cheerleader asks if capitalists could bring down capitalism
• Wall Street worries of the rich   • Dick Cheney's desire for coverup spurs gov't tail-chasing
• this yr's grads have big debt & few prospects   • Bush has us racing the Russkies as to who can poison themselves first
+ 2 prison stories:  • Russia only has 1m prison inmates, so US with 2m is the world 'leader'
• Japan still has secret executions, 4-5 a year

6/29/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • good news - Hungary plans to cut from 40 to 38 working hours a week
• bad news - American steelworkers as clueless as ever about the critical worktime lever
• more bad news - American PR types are assuming 50 and 60 hour workweeks
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • prosperity lives - in India
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • now Xerox triples its admitted accounting error to over $6 billion
• spastic WorldCom rewards 'top employees' with $435-10,000/night hotel rooms in Hawaii
while starting layoffs at HQ & admitting to nearly $4 billion in improper expense acctg
• US consumer confidence & spending down in June
+ 1 downsizing, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Arizona Republic (AR): • 5000 jobcuts by Los Angeles County's health care system
+ 2 cases of makework: • Central American presidents meet in Mexico on $5.5B plan for job creation
• Yucatan State seeks higher-level maquiladoras

6/28/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • (6/17) pioneer of 35-hr week in France, Martine Aubry, lost parl't seat by 1.1% of vote
• (6/17) Friday, French ER doctors cut their own workweek to from 70 to 48 hours
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • 3 UPsizings, totaling 3 +?? new jobs
- 3 new jobs at Newquist Ault Commercial Properties in Phoenix AZ
- unspecified new jobs at Lifetime, & - Mercedes Benz of Chandler
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • 'conservatives' raise our national debt to $6.4 trillion
• 558 'needed' WorldCom execs 'need' retention incentives while pushing 17,000 employees out the door
• more WorldCom unraveling   • more Enron unraveling - in Britain yet   • more unraveling in Brazil
+ 4 downsizings, totaling 16,590 jobs, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Arizona Republic (AR):
• 7% workforce cut (7,000 jobcuts) as Motorola cuts costs (& its own best customers) instead of just trimming its workweek 7%  (34 mins. a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 93% as much stuff as usual
• 5500 jobcuts by Cap Gemini   • 4000 cuts by Deutsche Bank   • 90 cuts by Modem Media  
+ 1 prison story: • US Supreme Court bans Alabama's 1995-98 practice of shackling unruly
inmates to outdoor ‘hitching posts’, clearing the way for inmate lawsuits

6/27/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • lawfirm raises questions about overtime, with employers' interests at heart
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Argentina's corruption spurs food & jobs demonstrations, 2 deaths
• latest corruption in US shakes markets - WorldCom whacks US biz reputation
• Tyco Intl's takeover-crazed ex-CEO faces two new charges (evidence tampering)
• General Mills' profits plunge 60% post-Pillsbury-takeover despite doubling of sales
• spam spreads & email chokes
+ 1 downsizing, costing 17,000 jobs, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Arizona Republic (AR):
• 20% workforce cut as WorldCom abreacts to fraud charges & debt by cutting costs & markets, instead of just trimming its workweek 20%  (to four 8-hour days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & buying 80% as many long-distance & Internet services as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Neon Communications & its Neon Optica unit file with $258m debt

6/26/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • 35-hr/wk France, though tinkering with minimum wage
instead of fixing its reduced-workweek design, still has the shortest workweek in the world
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • from dot-com bubble to real estate bubble
• all our worst paranoid nightmares of the 1960s have come true, because we deactivated
+ 1 downsizing, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Arizona Republic (AR): • 29 Calif. jobcuts by Yahoo!
+ 1 bankruptcy: • discounter Hokkaido International Airlines alias "Air Do" in northern Japan

6/25/2002 tue
- late late edition -
timesizing in the news: • NYT bashes Wal-Mart for encouraging
slavery (unpaid off-the-clock overtime) to stay world's largest retailer
• Abbott Labs of Abbott Pk, Ill., offers job sharing, if not true work sharing
• Supreme Court accepts employee suit vs. Nevada's take on federal Leave Act
• worklife reduction is occurring as fewer teens worked or sought work last summer
• in France, the uniformity of the minimum wage was sacrificed for workweek reduction
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • 2 UPsizings, totaling 550 new jobs
- 450 at Microsoft wherever & 100 at Compass Bank in Phoenix
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • payraises lowest in 9 yrs
• shredding spreads from Enron to Global Crossing
• pols quibble about $200m for Amtrak while United Airlines demands $2 billion
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 77 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 37% workforce cut (73 mostly Seattle jobcuts) as Loudeye web audio & video software saves money while bleeding markets over business decline, instead of just trimming its workweek 37%  (to five 5hr2min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 63% as much software as usual
• 4 NYC jobs cut by Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

week ending 6/23-24/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & various regional papers:
• 11 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)   • 5 UPsizings (55+ new jobs) reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 10 downsizings, totaling over 4,017 lost jobs  • 1 makework story
• 3 bankruptcies, totaling over $8.2B debt     • 3 homelessness items
‹‹YTD: 254 tmsz(440+ jobs)+67 upsz(28069+=5%) vs. 357 dnsz(528181+)+88 bkrp($48.0B+)+36 hmls+41 jail+19 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing news: • readers squawk re US student-doctors' megahours
+ headlines from heaven: • 2 UPsizings - 15 new jobs at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett in Zurich  
- unspecified new jobs at Creature ad agency in Seattle
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • ready for recovery but not ready to spend
• income gap growing again   • globalization and its discontents
• Bush & Congress ineffective   • Bush worsens greenhouse effect
• FEC undermines campaign finance reform  • serious crime growing again
• how about privatizing unemployment insurance while stocks keep sinking with no bottom in sight?

6/22/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • Maine cuts 3 workdays off next fiscal year to avoid layoffs under state budget shortfall
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • 4 Arizona UPsizings - 55 new jobs at SkyWest Airlines in Tucson
- ?? new jobs at 99 Cents Only & - Albertsons/Osco in Chandler, & - Lowe's in Goodyear
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Japan,   • Poland, &   • Brazil all in economic toilet
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 199 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 16% workforce cut (139 Houston, Tulsa & London jobcuts) as Williams Cos. pipelines spooks over business decline instead of just trimming its workweek 16%  (to four 8hr24min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 84% as much gas as usual
• 60 US jobs cut by Idacorp energy trading
+ 1 homelessness story: • Canadian Member of Parliament praises NYC's homeless system

6/21/2002 fri
- late edition
timesizing in the news: • HP timesizes its contract employees with 3-week leaves (tho' more jobcuts mulled)
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • 'Latin contagion' spreads in South America - now it's reached Uruguay 
• European 'right' still fails to connect employees & consumers   • US summer rentals provide microcosm of connection  
• despite careful crafting, US economic indicators contradict themselves & fail to conceal deeper problem
• US brokerage CEO 'motivates' lieutenants with hypnotic hype - Hilliard humilates in Louisville
• more sloppy talk re 'labor shortage'   • American employees' reaction? - escapism
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 990 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 3.8% workforce cut (650 more UK jobcuts) as Reuters Group continues its self-destructive over-reaction to 'challenging market conditions,' instead of just trimming its workweek 3.8%  (20 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 96.2% as many newspapers as usual
• 340 Houston jobs cut by Dynegy energy trading
+ 1 bankruptcy: • profitable Manulife Indonesia declared bankrupt by puppet court of slimeball local biz boss

6/20/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• USA Today clucks about short vacation time, now even for US teachers
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • acctg slime slops from firms to individuals  • GOP (& Dems) scurry to beat campaign finance reform
• Jesse Ventura's decision not to run for re-election weakens 3rd parties  • Bush's toxic touch moves onto Amtrak
+ 1 downsizing, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG): • 1000 jobcuts by Parker Hannifin
+ 1 bankruptcy story: • Adelphia Communications to file Monday with $3.1B

6/19/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• American medical establishment attempts to counter 'threat'
to training young doctors posed by limiting their workweek to 80 hours
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling 1500 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 48% workforce cut (1400 jobcuts) as Peregrine Systems software over-reacts to weak demand, instead of just trimming its workweek 48%  (to five 4¼-hr days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 52% as much software as usual
• 100 cuts by Champion Enterprises  
+ 1 homelessness story: • Bloomberg administration fights to evict uncooperative homeless families

6/18/2002 tue
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• timesizing Nucor is now USA's leading steelmaker
• Martine Aubry pushed France's 35-hour workweek into being
• 35-hour workweek is popular with employees, OK with big business
• but small & medium caps supposedly to benefit by 'softening' shorter workweek
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - ?? new jobs at Poggenpohl kitchens & baths in Boston
vs.  doom du jourtm  
1 downsizing, totaling 300 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 7% workforce cut (300 jobcuts) as Deere & Co. closes 2 plants & curtails a 3rd to cut costs (& its own markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 7%  (to five 7189;hr days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 93% as much farm equipment as usual
+ 1 case of makework: • Trent Lott brought home the pork to his dad's Miss. shipyard
+ 2 homelessness stories: • chairperson of homeless coalition thinks she'll solve NYC's
homelessness without mentioning jobs   • Bloomberg administration ditto

week ending 6/16-17/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 14 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)   • no UPsizings reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 7 downsizings, totaling over 30,266 lost jobs   • 7 bankruptcies ($?? debt)
• 3 homelessness items         • 1 prison story         • 2 work-linked suicides
‹‹YTD: 243 tmsz(440+ jobs)+62 upsz(28014+=5%) vs. 347 dnsz(524164+)+85 bkrp($39.8B+)+33 hmls+41 jail+19 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing news - glimmers of strategic hope:
• French business owner calls 35-hr workweek 'complete nonsense'
• regressive reporter calls unraveling shorter workweek a reform
• progressive reporter calls shortening the workweek a reform
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • 90's was a boom for small fraction of Americans already exceptionally well off
• small-town case - Sullivan, Indiana - where layoffs meant less civic involvement
• disabled being pushed to get jobs but...what jobs?
+2 downsizings, totaling 28 jobcuts:
• 17 jobcuts as Arnold closes San Francisco office  
• 11 cuts as Grey Worldwide closes Fort Worth office
+ 1 bankruptcy: • XO Communications with $5.1B debt

6/15/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• female pioneer of 35-hour workweek is under consideration to lead the French left
• Le Pen's people think Chirac's boys borrowed 35-hr dilution from them
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • 2 reports show a faltering economy
• both the Dow & the S&P500 are at their lowest since the 9/21 bottom after 9/11
+ 1 downsizing, totaling 390 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 10.3% workforce cut (390 Conn. jobcuts) as Kaman helicopters closes a plant in Moosup(!), instead of just trimming its workweek 10.3%  (to five 7hr10min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & flying 89.7% as often as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy story: • Japan bankruptcies blip down 1.6% in May from yr prev. but leftover debt jumps 6.2%
+ 1 homelessness story: • NYC's homeless population rose 26% last year to 34,000, 41% kids

6/14/2002 fri
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• Manugistics supply-chain S/W reduces some Maryland layoffs with 1-week shutdown
• 'only' 70 firms inquire about Japan's work-sharing subsidies in first week
• another mention of Chirac's promise to 'ease' French 35-hr workwk
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • ABM Treaty dies
• Krugman slams astronomic concentration of wealth
• retail sales slump in May   • 'Argentine disease' spreads to Brazil
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 29,115 jobs, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 29,000 UK cuts by Consignia PLC, soon to be re-renamed Royal Mail   • 115 cuts by Tyco
+ 1 homelessness story: • NY Appeals Court rules for homeless' sleeping on steps of 5th Ave. Presby
+ 1 prison story: • Boston Globe slams Mass. for trying to bar media from state prisons, & US House for trying to have inmates' ‘jail rent’ arrears follow them even after they've paid their debt to society

6/13/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• US med trainees' new 80-hour workweek max makes NYT front page
• UAW stumbles across key power issue as item buried in disordered kvetch list
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• cynical attempt to enrich the rich further - at our expense - flops
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Fed calls 'recovery' modest, uneven
• child poverty is set to rise again as joblessness flares
• US litigiousness + abuse of med trainees = no doctors in W.Va.
1 downsizing, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG): • 500 jobcuts by Credit Suisse Group
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Kirch Group's umbrella company in Germany, Taurus Holding, follows all its units
+ 1 homelessness story: • NYC now has 34,000 homeless, 41% of them children

6/12/2002 wed
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• France's 35-hr workweek law now targeted by the right, probably now to be 'nibbled to death'
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • US Senate raises our deadbeat capacity another $½ billion
• Yale management-school assoc. dean says, 'Quit merging and start managing!'
+ 1 downsizing, costing 132 jobs, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 16% workforce cut (49 'global' jobcuts) as Celera Genomics metamorphoses from gene sequencing to drug development, instead of just trimming its workweek 16%  (to five 6¾-hour days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & shopping 84% as much as usual
+ 3-in-1 bankruptcies: • Enron-creature "NewPower Holdings"  
& 2 of its "subsidiaries": • "TNPC Holdings" & • the "New Power Co."

6/11/2002 tue
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• France's 35-hr workweek law 'far more difficult to implement than expected'
• re-elected President Jacques Chirac aiming to flex 35-hour workweek for business
• Chirac's center-right pals win on promise to ease 35-hr wk when left sulks & stays home
• even so, Chirac is still planning to leave 35-hour workweek 'intact,' whatever that means
• analyst claims French small & mid-cap stocks could gain from easing 35-hr workweek
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 'free' trade erodes as Europe matches US tariff for tariff
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Tom Oliphant sees 'economic train wreck' looming
• Globe's Chuck Stein sees one big reason - the huge rewards for cheating
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 129 cuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 80 jobcuts by Waltham, Mass.-based pharmaceutical firm, Essential Therapies Inc.
• 41% workforce cut (49 'global' jobcuts) as Tenor Networks (optical telecom switches) shrivels without sales, instead of trimming its workweek 41%  (to four 6-hour days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 59% as much computerphanalia as usual
+ 2 bankruptcies: • Desa International of Ky.   • Century Communications unit of Adelphia

week ending 6/09-10/2002
- late edition -
- meeting to plan for shorter workweek, this Tues, 6 pm, 33 Harrison Ave, 4th fl, Boston, Ma;   phone for info 617-469-5343 -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 10 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 7 downsizings, totaling over 69,527 lost jobs  
• 1 eroded-retirement story   • 2 bankruptcies, totaling over $307m debt
• 1 homelessness item         • 2 prison stories         • 1 work-linked suicide
‹‹YTD: 229 tmsz(440+ jobs)+62 upsz(28014+=5%) vs. 340 dnsz(593898+)+78 bkrp($39.8B+)+30 hmls+40 jail+17 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing news - glimmers of strategic hope:
• two feminists argue for shorter working hours (we think)
+ glimmers of vaguer hope:
• North Dakotans hold referendum on bank privacy - electronic democracy spreads
• court reporters make comeback in New Jersey - technological unemployment stanched
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • Brazil's rich lock themselves further away, sinking nation deeper into 3rd world
• 100,300 New Yorkers soon to run out of even extended unemployment benefits
• reader adds a few names to the list of fallen-idol CEOs
• job desperation deepens as job hunters try extreme measures
• Dems desperation deepens, unable to fight or even agree on what for
+ 1 homelessness story: • 'saints' running Boston's Pine St Inn shelter are threatening deep cuts in services
to dredge more $$$ from taxpayers while pulling salaries up to $134K & hoarding cash reserves of $15 Million
+ 2 work-related suicides reported: • takeover sours culture at Providence Journal - one employee on medical
leave ends it all - 3 yrs later another, targeted for abuse by stressed co-workers, walks in with a gun...

6/08/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- if you've seen an article we missed, email us -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• prime candidate for Timesizing = Argentina
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • big:  German unemployment hits 2-yr high of 9.7%
• bigger:  Japan set for 1-time liquidation of assets to postpone inevitable restructuring
• biggest:  3-yr $40m probe in US after prez has sex with intern, only 3-wk $5m after terrorists strike
+ 1 downsizing, costing  50 jobs, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 20% workforce cut (50 N.H. jobcuts) as Presstek digital imaging & printing cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 20%  (to four 8-hour days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 80% as many printing services as usual

6/07/2002 fri
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• French left either stands tall on the shorter workweek or fizzles
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Japan reports 1.4% growth (but vulnerably export-dependent - or is it?)
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • post-Enron momentum to clean up
corporate debt-coverup sidetracked by corporations & their 'auditors'
+ 1 downsizing, totaling  47,000 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 10% workforce cut (47,000 jobcuts) as The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China to recover from $96B in bad loans, instead of just trimming its workweek 10%  (to five 7hr12min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & banking 90% as much as usual
- book status report on "Defining Time" & "Football of Time": checked covers & ordered ISBN stickers -

6/6/2002 thu
- late edition -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• French left was too fashionable - in Turner&Murdoch media terms - to win
• French analysts are back to yakking up prosperity without employment
• France is still growing "despite" (or because of) its shorter workweek
• Germany isn't doing so well, has not yet gone to 35-hr week nationally
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Anita Hill praises Coleen Rowley of the FBI & Sherron Watkins of Enron
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Goldman's CEO can't remember when business has been held in such low repute
• Boston Globe collects list of CEOs' contemptible acts
• foreign investment in US drops 60%
+ 2 downsizings, totaling  18,922 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 22% workforce cut (18,322 jobcuts) as WorldCom phone co. aligns 'costs' with revenues (& will now see revenues responding with further decline), instead of just trimming its workweek 22%  (to four 7¾-hour days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together, working, earning & buying 78% as many phone services as usual
• 600 Dutch jobcuts by KPNQwest

6/05/2002 wed
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• Bush thinks work is 40-hour weeks by definition, & so do most other Americans & Brits
vs.  doom du jourtm  
1 bankruptcy: • Harbison-Walker Refractories
+ 1 downsizing, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG): • 3095 net jobcuts by IBM
- book status report on "Defining Time" & "Football of Time": corrected cover & replaced marked-up pp -

6/04/2002 tue
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• (5/07) Airbus has been avoiding layoffs by working fewer hours
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling  460 jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 13% workforce cut (260 jobcuts) as DDi circuit boards lowers their cost structure (& their own markets),
instead of just trimming its workweek 13%  (to five 7-hour days for whole firm including top execs),
re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together,
working, earning & buying 87% as much computer stuff as usual
• 200 California jobcuts by Oracle
+ 2 bankruptcies, totaling $307.4m debt: • Birmingham Steel, $206.4m debt  • Napster, $101m debt
+ 1 work-related suicide: • Charles Dana Rice, El Paso Energy's treasurer, found with fatal gunshot to the head
- book status report on "Defining Time" & "Football of Time": galleys at printer, decompression at home

week ending 6/02-03/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 12 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)  • 3 UPsizings (?? new jobs)  
vs. doom of the week:
• 10 downsizings, totaling over 28,679 lost jobs  
• 1 eroded-retirement story   • 3 bankruptcies, totaling over $800m debt   • 1 prison story
‹‹YTD: 219 tmsz(440+ jobs)+62 upsz(28014+=5%) vs. 333 dnsz(524371+)+76 bkrp($39.5B+)+29 hmls+38 jail+16 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing news - glimmers of strategic hope:
• work-sharing important enough in Japan to regret it's non-implementation in prisons
+ glimmers of vaguer hope: • Swiss update reproductive choice
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • those who most need flexible work have least of it
+ retirement omens: • early retirement offers peaked in early 90s (& probably pensions overall as well)
+ 1 homelessness story: • NY mentally ill situation a disaster - 1 patient palmed off to a shelter
+ 2 prison stories:  • US convicts released in 1994 were 5% more likely to re-offend than a
decade before the prison-building binge & the doubling of inmate population
• 51,000 Japanese inmates help pay their upkeep by working
- bk status report on "Defining Time" & "Football of Time": got galleys to printer -

6/01/2002 sat (re fri biz)
timesizing in the news, aka glimmers of strategic hope:
• 16-hour cap on US pilots' workday despite unavoidable
flight delays unanimously upheld by US Court of Appeals in DC
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 3 UPsizings - ?? new jobs at Panera Bread & • Saks Inc. in USA, & • Starbucks...in Vienna
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling  ?? jobcuts, cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG):
• 20% workforce cut (?? jobcuts) as J. Crew fashion retailer panics over sales slump & slumps it
a little more, instead of just trimming its workweek 20%  (four 8-hr days for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping
everyone together, working, earning & buying 80% as many 'fashions' as usual
• unspecified cuts as nation's biggest farm co-op, Farmland Industries, goes broke
+ 2 bankruptcies & 1 bankruptcy allusion: • World Kitchen with $800m debt  • Farmland Industries
• sentiment rising to let poor countries 'declare bankruptcy' & receive debt forgiveness
- book status report on Defining Time: completed 1st draft
& printed out ready for 1st small printing, small-source sales & © application