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

8/31/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
primitive timesizing in the news:
• France already showing signs of deterioration due to workweek-lengthening platform of Chirac
+ today's headline from heaven^tm - 1 UPsizing: ?? new US jobs as Albertsons expands in Southwest
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • Phillips & Conoco merge into 3rd-biggest US oil dinosaur
• & another bank merger - Royal Bank of Canada unit to gobble Admiralty Bancorp of Florida
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 520+?? lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) &/or Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 2/3 workforce cut (500 lost jobs) as Paccar trucks spooks over decline in demand, instead of cutting its workweek by
2/3 (to three 4½-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 1/3 as many trucks as usual
• 20 Mexican jobcuts by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein   • unspecified cuts by Raytheon
+ bankruptcy in the news in NYT or WSJ: • ViaSystems Group plans late Sept. filing
+ homelessness in the news: • judge sets Sept. 25 for Bloomberg to get NYC families into non-jail shelters

8/30/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
primitive timesizing in the news:
• small biz in NJ cuts workweek from 80-100 to 40-50 hrs by increasing efficiency
• Reuters regurgitates French unions' threat to walk out if gov't dilutes 35-hour week
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 5 UPsizings, totaling 5700+?? new jobs: • 3000 at
McDonald's/Ukraine   • 2700 at Intel/India   • unspecified new jobs at Hapag-Lloyd
Express in Germany,  • My-Travel Group in UK, &  • Taiwan Semiconductor in China
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • half the economic 'canaries' are dying when put in the 'mine'   • if we keep on with factory
farms, we'll have catastrophic disease & starvation in USA   • State Dept. holds a secret conference on anti-U.S. trends
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 300+?? lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) &/or Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 7.3% workforce cuts (300 lost jobs) as TonenGeneral over-reacts to 1st-half loss, instead of cutting its workweek
7.3% (35 mins/day for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 92.7% as much as usual
• unspecified cuts by Kendle International

8/29/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
primitive timesizing in the news: • Mesaba furloughs 50 pilots for 4 mos. to avoid layoffs
• CareerBuilder's survey documents 'coincidence' of longer workdays, heavier workloads, lighter pay
• France's employers want return to long hours (...high unemployment & weak domestic markets)
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • reader says whole country wants war - six others contradict him
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headline from hell_tm • another huge banking takeover
+ 1 downsizing, reported in NY Times (NYT) &/or Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 47% workforce cuts & defections (12200 lost jobs) as Enron careens downward, instead of cutting its workweek
47% (to four 5.3-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 53% as much as usual
+ makework in the news: • our long 1940-era workweek plus high technology has created so many casualties, that our
Job Corps now needs Job Corps academies to teach the very basics of self-support thru workforce participation
+ homelessness in the news: • NYT's most liberal columnist weighs in on sheltering overflow families in jail

8/28/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
primitive timesizing in the news: • Computer Sciences tries to hold down
workforce cuts with worktime cuts, asks 60,000 employees to take 6-mon. leave with 20% pay
• big French union, CGT, threatens strike if Chirac gov't starts watering down 35-hour workweek
vs.  doom du jourtm  
- ‘you can't get economic recovery out of downsizing’ -
1 downsizing, totaling 12,200 lost jobs, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 17% workforce drop (7000 lost jobs) as Nortel phone equipment revs its death spiral, instead of cutting its workweek
17% (to five 6.6-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 83% as much fone gear as usual
+ homelessness in the news: • reader doesn't like the 'choice' of shelters or tiny apts. - how about birth control & OJT?!
+ 1 prison item: • 'land of the free' - there are now more American black men in prison (800,000) than college (600,000)
+ today's headline from hell_tm • Hewlett-Packard posts $2 billion loss due to Compaq acquisition

8/27/2002 tue
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news: • another US union gives up power, agrees
to increase NYC teachers' workweek by over 1½ hours - will rank&file revolt?
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 4 UPsizings, totaling 44,650+?? new jobs: • 40,000 at Home
Depot   • 4450 at Microsoft   • 200 at Varian   • unspecified new jobs at Red Robin burger chain
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • "democracies die behind closed doors" & we're getting more & more closed doors  
• Ashcroft's "Justice" Dept. is arguing for a Kafkaesque America   • American B-schools routinely teach The Enron Way
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 674 lost jobs, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal: • 462 jobcuts by Louisiana Pacific
• 23% workforce cut (122 lost jobs) as Alkermes abreacts to fed denial of new drug, instead of cutting its workweek
23% (to four 7.7-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 77% as many drugs as usual
• 455 jobcuts by UBS   • 90 by Weyerhaeuser
+ bankruptcy in the news in NYT or WSJ: • bankruptcy bill makes conflict of interest easier, despite Enron etc.
+ 2 prison items: • for spiteful crash that hurt 16 in Hamptons, wealthy Lizzie Grubman gets 2 month-sentence
• framed for murder, poor & mentally ill Eddie Joe Lloyd got life sentence (DNA just freed him after 17 years in lockup)

week ending 8/25-26/2002
/// six issues per week - average hits per issue last week = 50 ///
weekend roundup per the NY Times & the Wall Street Journal:
• 12 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved) & • 4 UPsizings (300+ new jobs) reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 25 downsizings, totaling over 19,838 lost jobs   • 1 makework item   • 4 bankruptcy items, totaling over $184m in debt  
• 1 eroded-retirement story   • 2 homelessness stories   • 1 prison stories   • 1 work-linked violence story
‹‹YTD: 344 tmsz(22480+ jobs)+109 upsz(33390+=8%) vs. 491 dnsz(706771+)+120 bkrp($71.7B+)+45 hmls+59 jail+25 vilc››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing in the news: • France's 2nd-biggest union prepares to block the coming
flood of exemptions from the 35-hour workweek & prevent a return to 13% unemployment
+ headline from heaven: • already, regret for repealing "old-fashioned" Glass-Steagall banking act
vs.   doom of the weekend -
headline from hell: • Dubya 'Warbush' doubles term for 15,000 reservists, longest since 'Nam
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 5013 jobcuts reported in New York Times (NYT) & Wall Street Journal (WSJ):
• 11% of workforce cut (5000 lost jobs) as Lucent resumes death spiral, instead of just trimming its workweek by
11% (to five 7-hr 7-min days for whole firm including top execs), implementing overtime-targeted training
and keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 89% as many telecom services as usual
• 13 Hong Kong jobcuts as SCMP Group's South China Morning Post cuts editorial staff
+ 1 prison story:  • 6,600,000 or 3% of U.S. adults are either behind bars or on parole or probation

8/24/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• of employees qualifying for overtime (OT) who take work home, more than half don't get paid
for OT work at home & 20% feel exploited & that makes for lawsuits that cost employers dearly
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • some Americans wake up, protest Dubya in Oregon
vs.  doom du jourtm  
10 downsizings, totaling 8225+?? lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT): • 4500 jobcuts by Credit Suisse First Boston
• 15% workforce cut (2050 lost jobs) as Navistar trucks reduces costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek
15% (to five 6½-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted
training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 85% as many trucks as before
• 455 jobcuts by UBS   • 400 by Paine Webber   • 350 by Union Bancaire Privee   • 300 by LODH   • 100 by Bank Sarazin
• 35 by PBS Private Band Switzerland   • 35 by W.K. Kellogg Cereals   • unspecified cuts by Julius Baer Bank
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in NYT: • Gadzoox Networks goes Ch.11, with $4m debt   • Brill Media broke

8/23/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• pilots report Ryanair flight schedules exceed international 900-hour limit on flying hours per pilot
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headline from hell_tm • America's central bank politicizes = argument for setting rates by regular referendum
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 143+?? lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 30% workforce cut (143 lost jobs) as Riverstone Networks reacts to eroding sales by cutting purchasers, instead of just trimming its workweek 30% (to four 7-hour days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & buying 70% as many network services as before
• unspecified cuts by US Treasury
+ 1 bankruptcy reported in NYT or WSJ: • CEMAR files in Brazil, with $180m in debt
+ homelessness in the news: • should shelter system be used as bid for independence?

8/22/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• Japan gov't to develop work-sharing guidelines
• Sanyo Electric to implement work-sharing system
• France's biz lobby wants flex up (weaken?) 35-hr workweek
• Chilean employees don't yet 'get' work-sharing due to initial pay-sharing
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 1 UPsizing:
• unspecified new jobs as Grupo Gigante store opening OK'ed in Anaheim
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • Japan still suffering weak domestic demand   • US fund managers can't find buys
+ retirement warnings: • median-income New Bedford MA couple asks if they can afford to retire in 10 yrs - A: No
+ 1 general story & 3 downsizings, totaling 6000+?? lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• permanent job loss is increasing in the U.S.   • 6000 jobcuts by Celestica  
• unspecified cuts by US Airways & • i2 Technologies

8/21/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• GE Aircraft Engines gets sued for making overtime exemption appear & disappear
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 1 UPsizing & 1 custody article:
• 300 new human jobs as Pirelli opens robotized tire plant in Ga.
• 13-yr-old given choice of which father to live with
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • Mexico's unemployment rises to highest since Jan., but still undercounted at 2.9%
• half of all U.S. employees disatisfied with their job & nearly half feeling more stressed
• Maureen Dowd whacks Dubya & his Whack-Iraq'ers - time to impeach the S.O.B.
+ 4 downsizings, totaling 4130 lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 7% workforce cut (3000 lost jobs) as Cingular Wireless reacts to slower growth by cutting consumers,
generating consumer unconfidence & guaranteeing even slower growth, instead of just trimming its workweek by
7% (five 7hr26min days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted
training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & demanding 93% as many wireless services as previously
• 700 jobcuts by Key Tronic   • 300 cuts by Caterpillar   • 130 by Cendant
+ 1 bankruptcy reported in NYT or WSJ: • Devon Mobile Communications

8/20/2002 tue
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• Australian Services Union wants Qantas to provide job security via 'job' sharing
• American leading economic indicators still regard shorter workweeks as negative
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 1 UPsizing & 2 population articles:
• unspecified new & restored jobs as Peabody Energy reopens W.Va. coalmine
• most population growth from now on will be in cities & therefore ease up on nature
• demographers' big fear of too few workers to support big retiree population ignores technology
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm
• France cut 4% off its unemployment (UE) by cutting 4 hours off its maximum workweek - now at 35 hrs,
but Hong Kong sets 35 hours as its minimum fulltime workweek & its UE has now grown to 7.8%
• can American plutocracy disguised as "democracy" abide real democracy in Third World?
• Krugman detects Bush in made-for-TV populism but actual behind-the-scenes elitism
+ 4 downsizings, totaling 990 lost jobs, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 680 US positions cut by Kmart   • 200 Ark & Ok cuts by Tyson Foods   • 85 net global cuts by Electroglas
• 11% workforce cut (25 lost jobs) as Commonfund NP money-mgmt middleman abreacts in the face of its own
dispensibility, instead of just trimming its workweek by 11% (five 7hr7min days for whole firm including top executives),
re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone earning & investing 89% as much as usual

week ending 8/18-19/2002
/// six issues per week - average hits per issue last week = 59 ///
weekend roundup per the NY Times & the Wall Street Journal:
• 8 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved) & • 10 UPsizings (1537+ new jobs) reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 19 downsizings, totaling over 45,896 lost jobs   • 10 bankruptcy items, totaling over $19.073B in debt
• 1 eroded-retirement story   • 5 homelessness stories   • 1 prison stories   • 1 work-linked murder-suicide
‹‹YTD: 332 tmsz(22480+ jobs)+105 upsz(33090+=8%) vs. 466 dnsz(686933+)+116 bkrp($71.5B+)+43 hmls+58 jail+24 vilc››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing in the news: • rural schools try out 4-day workweek
• other schools start earlier, but also end earlier   • NYT asks, could you use (longer) vacation?
+ headline from heaven: • 1 UPsizing - unspecified new jobs as Star Cruises plans 2-4 new ships
vs.  doom of the weekend -
weekend headlines from hell: • jobs scarce, so volunteerism instead of work-sharing   • the radical deconstructivism of this 'Supreme Court'   • America's friends are worried   • the hypocrisy of Dubya's version of 'free' trade
+ makework rampant: • Army Corps of Engineers - bipartisan senatorial effort to tame
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 350 jobcuts: • 200 jobcuts as Cold Metal Products goes Ch. 11
• 25% of workforce cut (150 lost jobs) as UBS Warburg's energy-trading business over-
reacts to industry downturn by worsening it, instead of just trimming company workweek by
25% (to five 6-hour days for whole firm including top execs), implementing overtime-targeted
training and keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 75% as much energy as usual
+ homelessness in the news: • food lines, crowding, no privacy - former homeless person found experience a lot like prison
+ work-related violence: • office rage mounts in Britain, but NYT censors its roots in overwork
+ 1 prison story:  • make sure your murder defendant gets tried in Vinton Co., Ohio!

8/17/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• another Anglo analyst strains to stem investment flow from
unsustainable US to more balanced eurozone by innuendo against shorter worktime
• Subaru-Isuzu Automotive furloughs 215 Indiana employees for two months, avoids firings
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 4 UPsizings & 2 misc: • 150 vacancies at Weirton Steel in W.Va,
• 130 new AZ jobs at Whole Foods & • ?? jobs at Tolleson Elementary School District & • Mika
• Treasury bans insurance scam whereby 1000s of richest Americans evaded $$billions in taxes
• Democrat finally asks how come no prosecutions in Enron Enron Enron
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm
• Dubya's big econo 'forum' fails to distract media from nation's problems
• more people are looking for home businesses - what choice do they have?
+ 5 downsizings, totaling 755+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Arizona Republic (AR):
• 6% workforce cut (2100 jobs lost) as Scientific-Atlanta cable TV consoles reduces costs & demand
because of already reduced demand, instead of just trimming its workweek by 6% (29 mins. a day for
whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
& keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 94% as many cable services as usual
• est. 300 cuts planned by Julius Baer bank of Switzerland   • 55 by Planar Systems in Or. & Wa.
• unspecified Phoenix cuts by Roy Edwards Warehouse & • Buzz Jensen's Sound Advice
+ some Prozac & 5 bankruptcies/liquidations in the news in NYT or AR: • bankruptcies not that bad, if ignore personal
• Atlantic Express Transportation, a fishy filing on Staten Is. with 64 affiliates & $18.2m in net "debt"
• Cold Metal Products in Pa. files for protection   • Monarch's Rest Brewpub in Yuma AZ - Ch.11
• Roy Edwards Warehouse - Ch.7   • Buzz Jensen's Sound Advice - Ch.7

8/16/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• Royal Caribbean cruise employees filing class action
to get overtime premium above their 70-hour workweeks near settlement
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm • 1 UPsizing, 500 new China jobs: National Semi builds factory
• more GOP leaders tell Dubya to lay off Iraq, but where's the Dem opposition?
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headline from hell_tm • Dubya's ‘diss of the week’ - snubs Fox & 16 others by shrugging off Mexican's Texecution
+ retirement warnings: • stock investment raises number of underfunded public pension plans from 31% to 51% in 2 yrs
• stock drop boosts old-fashioned pensions over 401k's, but so few old-fashioned pensions survive
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 2,100+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 1.2% workforce cut (2100 jobs lost) as Fujistu telecom equipment over-adjusts to slump in demand, instead of just trimming its workweek by 1.2% (6 mins. a day for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & buying 98.8% as many telecom services as usual
• unspecified cuts by Autodesk & • GE Aircraft Engines
+ homelessness in the news: • readers suggest islands or trailers
instead of jails for surplus homeless, emphasize damage down the generations

8/15/2002 thu
- you can't downsize your way to economic recovery -
timesizing consciousness in the news:
• WSJ tracks the death of retirement (making worksharing all the more urgent)
+ today's headlines from heaven ^tm
• Tasty Baking Co. of Philly picks the one new CEO in 16 who understands
their culture of cherishing employees & shunning layoffs
vs.  doom du jourtm  
3 downsizings, totaling 26,020 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 21,920 jobcuts as Ames Department Stores move from bankruptcy to liquidation
• 36% workforce cut (4000 jobs lost) as Agere Systems amputates its optoelectronics in response to shrunken demand, instead of just trimming its workweek by 36% (to 5.1 hours a day for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & shopping 64% as much as usual
• 100 cuts planned by Advanced Energy Industries Incorporated
+ bankruptcy in the news in New York Times or Wall St Journal:
• Ames Dept. Stores "graduates" from bankruptcy to liquidation with at least $1.053B in net debt

8/14/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness in the news: • Peter Roussel's new novel
explores theme of long working hours of White House aides & struggle for balance in their lives
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • Dubya's war lust & treaty dissing earn US "#1 Rogue Nation" in London  
• 8m Americans are vying for 3½m jobs - new index   • investors are fleeing to real estate, making yet another bubble
+ 1 downsizing, totaling 9613+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 3% workforce cut (9613 jobs lost) as world's biggest computer maker, IBM, shrinks itself
by worsening the decline in corporate tech spending, instead of just trimming its workweek by
3% (less than 15 minutes a day for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in
overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & spending 97% as much as usual
+ bankruptcy in the news in New York Times or Wall St Journal:
• more backwash from US Air filing - cheaper tickets but fewer flights & longer layovers
+ homelessness in the news: • NYT blames federal & state gov'ts for NYC's homeless crunch

8/13/2002 tue
- you can't downsize your way into economic growth -
timesizing in the news: • Sherwood Ross reviews overtime (OT) and 'OT exemption' criteria
• Policy Innovation Inst. thinks families could work less if we lost the 'marriage tax'
+ today's headlines from heaven ^tm - 5 UPsizings, totaling 757+?? new jobs:
• 600 at Electronic Arts  • 66 at Lucasfilms' game unit  • 51 at THQ  • 40 at Ubi
Soft Entertainment  • unspecified new jobs at Electronics Boutique Holdings
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 downsizings, totaling 7400 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 6% workforce cut (7000 jobs lost) as world's biggest airline, American, makes itself smaller by
aggravating the drop in air travel, instead of just trimming its workweek by 6% (less than half an
hour a day for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-
targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & flying 94% as much as usual
• 400 longshoremen cuts planned by Pacific Maritime Assoc.
+ 2 bankruptcy stories in New York Times or Wall St Journal: • big backwash from US Air filing
• cottage industry helps people fill out bankruptcy & other petitions - lawyers & judges try squelch
+ homelessness in the news: • multimillionaire mayor Bloomberg of NYC could see no other
option but to house homeless children in prison just beyond razor wire and among strangers

week ending 8/11-12/2002
/// six issues per week - average hits per issue last week = 55 ///
weekend roundup per the NY Times & the Wall Street Journal:
• 8 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved) & • 3 UPsizings (660+ new jobs) reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 11 downsizings, totaling over 6,614 lost jobs   • 2 makework items  
• 1 bankruptcy   • 1 homelessness item   • 2 prison stories   • 1 work-linked violent incidents
‹‹YTD: 324 tmsz(22480+ jobs)+95 upsz(31553+=8%) vs. 447 dnsz(641037+)+106 bkrp($52.4B+)+38 hmls+57 jail+23 vilc››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing in the news: • an unusual example of reshuffled work sharing between large corporations
+ headline from heaven: • WSJ trashes 'wealth effect' as significant contributor to consumer spending
vs.  doom of the weekend -
weekend headlines from hell: • wage stagnation finally admitted   • repeat - no authoritative administration voice on the economy   • uninsured Americans increasing   • young Black men face job crisis   • Calif. utilities fight solar energy
+ 5 downsizings, totaling 8+?? jobcuts:
• 8 jobs lost as Dagens Nyheter closes its Tokyo bureau  
• unspecified cuts as 5 other newspapers follow suit - Chicago Tribune  
• Christian Science Monitor   • London Independent   • Corriere della Sera of Italy
+ 1 bankruptcy story: • US Airways, with $20m net debt
+ 2 homelessness stories: • with 8400 families in shelters, NYC sleeps 100s on floor on intake unit & converts old jail
• homeless boy commits suicide in NYC shelter hotel - parson calls for housing, we call for work sharing
+ 1 prison story:  • finally, an article on just how white-collar criminals get tapped on the wrist
+ work-related violence: • murder-suicide at a Safeway store in Oakland 4 wks ago

8/10/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • (8/02) United Steelworkers vote to strike J&L Specialty in Oh. & Pa. over forced overtime
• (8/01) Graphic Pkg locks out 400 Paper, Allied-industrial, Chemical & Energy workers for rejecting forced overtime
+ today's headlines from heaven: ^tm
• 1 UPsizing - ?? new jobs as Home Depot opens 3 lawn&garden outlets in metro Atlanta
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell_tm • production flat but productivity rises slowly from quick layoffs   • corporate bad news still outweighs good   • Bush keeps up the beat - beating America backwards in medical privacy, environmental protection & respect for international law   • old lawmakers swarm Capitol Hill to block crackdown on offshore tax evasion
+ 1 downsizing, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal: • unspecified cuts as Dana Corp. closes plants in Ind. & Neb.

8/09/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• European Central Bank takes a swing back at the WSJ for its long-hours obsession & 3 English-speaking economies betray stress that the WSJ has not considered: • USA  • UK  • Australia
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headlines from hell: • employees have seen too much bad mgmt for too long to rescue stocks with more investment
• speaking of bad management, WorldCom doubles its 'newly discovered expenses' to $7B
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 3090 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 15% workforce cut (1500 jobs lost) as Champion Enterprises manufactured homes reacts self-destructively to slumping demand by closing plants and sales centers, instead of just trimming its workweek by 15%  (to five 6hr48 min days for whole firm including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping together working, earning & buying 85% as many prefab homes as before
• 1500 more jobcuts by CableVision   • 90 by RealNetworks
+ 1 bankruptcy story in New York Times or Wall St Journal:
• slimey Dem rep gets $½m loan from bank, then supports the pro-banks bankruptcy bill
+ homelessness in the news: • NYC experienced 32% increase in homeless families last year

8/8/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• WSJ attempts a frontpage hatchet job on the one approach that can restart
real progress = work-sharing
+ today's headlines from heaven(?):
• 1 UPsizing - ?? new jobs as work starts on $4½B powerplant but nuke & in No. Korea
vs.  doom du jourtm  
today's headline from hell_tm • WorldCom's takeover lust fueled its fall
+ 1 downsizing, totaling 900 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 9% workforce cut as Nokia Networks unit spooks over faltering demand, instead of just trimming its workweek by
9%  (43 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
& keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 91% as many network services as usual
+ makework in the news: • Taiwan is pumping $75B into public & private spending to goose economy, especially tourism

8/07/2002 wed
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• northern England trains & union agree on reduced workhours (but employer renegs)
• Australia's Secy of Dept of Employment, Peter Boxall, calls for shorter working days
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm
• 1 UPsizing - 660 new Neb. jobs as PayPal opens builds bigger cust. service & operations facility
vs.  doom du jourtm  
5 downsizings, totaling 2392 jobcuts +??, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 14% workforce cut (1050 jobs lost) as Aquila energy trading over-reacts to deflating energy prices, instead of doing
14% workweek cut  (to five 6hr53min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in
overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & using 86% as much energy as usual
• 1000 more jobcuts by Charles Schwab   • 286 cuts by Digex   • 56 by Tut Systems   • unspecified cuts by Quadrtech
+ 1 prison item: • Traficant gets 8 yrs for $100,000s in bribery & kickbacks but keeps his Congressional pension, while
ordinary citizens get permanently excluded from cash assistance or food stamps for possessing $5 worth of drugs

8/06/2002 tue
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• V-ONE Corp. has discovered how to cut costs without cutting
customer service, corporate skillset, employee morale or ambient consumer base
vs.  doom du jourtm  
makework in the news: • FCC moves to shove costly digital TV down America's throat, inflate jobs
in consumer electronics & grab $billions for gov't by auctioning off old analog-TV broadcast spectrum
+ 1 case of work-related suicide: • Alaska public safety commissioner (formerly head of state troopers) has affair
with 2nd-in-command at state Chamber of Commerce, then retires & dumps her - she comes back, shoots him & herself

week ending 8/04-05/2002
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & the Wall Street Journal:
• 9 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved) & • 3 UPsizings (1120+ new jobs) reported
vs. doom of the week:
• 14 downsizings, totaling over 15,267 lost jobs   • 2 eroded-retirement stories  
• 3 bankruptcies, totaling over $288m in debt   • 3 prison stories   • 2 work-linked violent incidents
‹‹YTD: 316 tmsz(22480+ jobs)+92 upsz(30893+=8%) vs. 436 dnsz(634423+)+105 bkrp($52.4B+)+37 hmls+55 jail+22 vilc››
- hope of the weekend -
timesizing in the news - limiting worklife this time, not workweek:
• one U.S. teenager dies on-the-job every 5 days, but is solution really for gov't to get longer list of
banned jobs for teens, or just raise lower age-limit on worklife (excepting only family businesses)
+ headlines from heaven: • Walter Wriston suggests simpler rules to counteract corporate scandals
vs.  doom of the weekend -
1 downsizing, totaling 232 jobcuts: • 8% of workforce cut (232 lost Ill. jobs)
as Granite City Steel fails to learn the secret of rival Nucor's flexibility, namely just trimming its workweek by
8% (only 38 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), implementing overtime-targeted training
and keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 92% as much steel stuff as usual
+ 1 prison story:  • NY State & Florida still use bread & water = 'the Loaf,' for discipline

8/03/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing consciousness slowly surfaces:
• workweek trimmings by many US employers are dropping the average
• another health center, Oakwood Healthcare, deploys software to curtail overtime
• Japan makes exception & adorns banknote with woman, who died in poverty & overwork
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm
• 1 UPsizing - unspecified new Ariz. jobs as Sprouts Farmers Mkt plans 17 new stores
• Bush does something good for a change = clamps down on truck emissions despite truckers
• Judge Emmet Sullivan ain't putting up with no 'executive privilege' excuse for Cheney's withholding of energy taskforce records
vs.  doom du jourtm /   today's headlines from hell_tm
• economy flabby but at last they're mentioning employment
• California, poster child for energy foul-up, scratches its fat head over the mess it made
+ 1 retirement-crisis story: • Arizona's biggest pension fund dropped 12% last fiscal year,
but dropped 5% this FY in its first month alone (still want to privatize social security?)
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 5220 jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal:
• 1.2% workforce cut (5000 jobs lost) as Siemens continues its self-meltdown, instead of doing a
1.2% workweek cut  (6 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings
in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 98.8% as much as usual
• 120 jobcuts by Gerling Global Reinsurance of America   • 100 US cuts by Sony Music Entertainment

8/02/2002 fri
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news:
• So. Korean auto sales up, aided by workweek reduction
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm
• NYT op ed looks at rescue of 9 Pa. miner & suggests key to safety is common interest
• Rabin's biographer fingers Sharon for sabotaging peace with Palestinians
• Nevada mulls decriminalizing pot & just taxing it for its costs
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Dubya's double dip & current symptoms   • Senate gives dummy Dubya more authority to damage us   • Senate gears up the usual dumb military solution @ $355B   • Fla.'s Kathie Harris screws up again - this time hurts herself, not us
+ 1 retirement-crisis spin-control story: • WSJ editorial tries to load old folks back into sinking Wall St 'Titanic'
+ 2 downsizings, totaling 3,450+?? jobcuts, reported in NY Times & Wall St Journal: • 3300 +?? jobcuts by ADC Telecoms
• 0.3% workforce cut (over 150 jobs lost) as Morgan Stanley continues its partly self-inflicted meltdown, instead of nicking its workweek by 0.3%  (1.4 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 99.7% as many financial services as before
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in New York Times & Wall St Journal:
• Dade Behring medical diagnostics goes Ch. 11
+ 1 case of work-related suicide:
• Calif. nurse documents elder abuse, then feels the only way she can get media & action is suicide

8/01/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's hope du jour? see Features below -
timesizing in the news: • (7/25) Aussie building union campaigns for 36-hr workweek
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm - 2 UPsizings: • 1000 at IBM in E. Fishkill, NY  
• 120 at Correctional Services Corp. in Tacoma, Wa.
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • consumer spending finally slows   • housing bubble loses air   • Senate kills drug benefits
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 3,858 jobcuts + unspecified, reported in NY Times (NYT) & Wall St Journal (WSJ):
• 2/3 workforce cut (3133 jobs lost) as Irish drug maker Elan Corp. gets caught in screwy acctg & flops with a senility drug, instead of slashing its workweek by 2/3  (to four 3hr20min days for whole company including execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 1/3 as many drugs as usual
• 377 jobcuts by Alcoa   • 348 cuts by Weyerhaeuser
+ 1 case of work-related violence:
• civil servant in Lebanon, mad about selling car to repay employer loan, wipes out loan office