hopes/dooms du jour, February/2003
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

2/28/2003 fri
keep timesizing comin’ with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140
$50 gets new 'time trilogy' - # visitors yesterday, all 585 files/pp: 862 (nov 469, aug 659)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• maybe we're getting tired of running away from ourselves,
& gettin interested in the 'sin' of slowing down - 4 new films
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• Globe reader fronts Ike's anti-war wisdom   • labor bashes Bush on Iraq   • gutsy MD takes out full-page ad vs. war   • young Utah women finally kicking over traces of polygamy   • Times reader recalls immigration laws   • Energy Dept. finally thinks, gee, maybe we can clean up coal
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 facilitation for downsizing: • EU tries to ease takeover of Volkswagen
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 1006 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 0.3% workforce cut (1000 lost jobs) as IBM 'balances skills' & unbalances morale, instead of just cutting its workweek by 0.3% (1½ minutes a day for the whole corporation including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 99.7% as much as computer stuff as before
• 6 jobcuts by Goldman Sachs   • unspecified cuts by Midwest Express
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Focal Communications   • Doman Industries et al.
+ 1 prison item:   • minimum sentencing for drug 'offenses' starts falling apart - Michigan leads
+ headlines from hell_tm • another Bush reversal - replaced original econ team with dissenters   • defense secy disagrees with general, self & Philippine 'beneficiaries'   • spooked companies scramble for backup suppliers

2/27/2003 thu
keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140
$50 gets new 'time trilogy' - # visitors yesterday, all 585 files/pp: 1055 (nov 861, aug 623)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• (2/12) Reliability Inc. circuit-testing equipment in Houston & Singapore cushions downturn with hours cuts & extended holiday plant-shutdowns
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• 1 UPsizing with 24 new jobs - Dentsu Vietnam ad agency opens in Ho Chi Minh City
• solar energy grew more than 20% a year over the past decade
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 1800 lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 11% workforce cut (1400 lost jobs) as Gov. Romney takes the axe to the Univ. of Massachusetts, instead of just cutting its already 35-hr workweek by 11% (to five 6¼-hr days for whole university including top administrators), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & contributing 89% as much as before to the state's vital consumer demand
• 400 Buzz Airline jobcuts in Holland by new Irish owner Ryanair
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Huis Ten Bosch in Japan, owing $1.8B, &   • Globalstar Capital
+ headlines from hell_tm • financial markets continue turmoil   • Bush administration continues camouflaged meltdown - 3rd economic adviser & a career diplomat

2/26/2003 wed
keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140
$50 gets new 'time trilogy' - # visitors yesterday, all 584 files/pp: 992 (nov 932, aug 400)
strategic hope = pressures for TIMEsizing in the news:
• (12/22/1985) apparently Keynes foresaw a time when the
'problem' would be to spread as widely as possible what little work there was
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
6 DOWNsizings, totaling 21,150 lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 16,000 jobcuts by Petroleos de Venezuela
• 15% workforce cut (1800 lost jobs) as Fleming groceries gets hysterical about an acctg investigation by the SEC, instead of just cutting its workweek by 15% (to five 6½-hr days for whole company including top execs),
re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone
together working, earning & doing 85% as much food shopping as before
• 1250 jobcuts by Credit Suisse   • 1200 by Sara Lee Intimate Apparel  
• 700 by Swiss International Air Lines   • 200 by Autodesk
+ eroding retirement: • some good news - Bush's gutting of Social Security is on the back burner
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Regus Business Centre   • Kenny Industrial Services
+ homelessness in the news: • NY City attempts a homeless census with too much media overhead
+ work-related suicide & violence: • Michelin Guide cuts overworked 3-star chef to 2, so he ends it all
• jobseekers in Alabama ridicule giant companion over CDs, so he pulls gun & blows away 4 of them
+ headlines from hell_tm • consumer confidence finally really dives (economy to follow)   • few foresee sustained stock advance   • we've reached the limits in another realm of tech innovation (& makework) = computer speed

2/25/2003 tue
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 987)
strategic hope = pressures for TIMEsizing in the news:
• WSJ distorts Bucky Fuller's doing-more-with-less concept
• NYT talks relaxation but describes only pressure, isolation & fear
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• spam's got so bad, even the junkmail association wants regulation!
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 preliminary to downsizing = 1 mega-merger: • Devon Energy to buy Ocean Energy for $3.5B
+ 5 DOWNsizings, totaling 3010 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 1400 jobcuts by Axel Springer   • 1200 by All Nippon Airways   • 350 by Bank of Ireland
• 60 by Hampel/Stefanides   • unspecified cuts by HDC
+ eroding retirement: • more unspendable excess to top retirees
while • the rest of us worry about qualifying for eldercare from Medicaid
+ headlines from hell_tm • fewer companies plan to hire in Q2   • industrials fall 160 pts on war chatter
• ACLU nails excesses in 'Patriot' Act   • war in Iraq would damage birthplace of history (ie: writing)

2/22-24/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any page: 740 512 653, wk's avg 748;  website costs: $84/mon excl. labor; wks since 1st $ appeal: 19; rec'd so far: still just $50)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing awareness in the news:
• we're getting shorter hours anyway, but not under the best conditions
+ random hope: • 2 UPsizings - 625 new jobs at Gentex & - ?? on Turkey-Greece pipeline
• even some US soldiers 40 mi. from Iraq don't 'get' war right now   • DNC winter powwow yields tufftalk but no calls to impeach   • playwright Arthur Miller wonders why we never learn
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 big takeover - Benetton family buys control of Autostrade for $7B
+ 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 4,139 lost jobs, reported in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 11% workforce cut (4000 more lost jobs) as Agilent Technologies makes the recovery even more uncertain, instead of merely trimming its workweek by 11% - with prorated paycuts - to five 7h7m days for the whole company including top executives, re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & spending 89% as much as usual
• 79 jobcuts by Ralcorp   • 40 by San Francisco Examiner   • 20 by Genelabs Technologies
+ eroding retirement: • US Air fails to make debt payment, proposes dropping fixed-bennie pension plan
+ 5 bankruptcies in WSJ &/or NYT: • AirGate PCS's iPCS unit   • Med Diversified Inc, Chartwell Caregivers/(Diversified/Community Services), Resource Pharmacy, Trestle   • Aterforsakring   • Imperium Bank & Imperial Consolidated   • Metro Affiliates
+ headlines from hell_tm • cost of jitters - business isn't spending   • short interest on stocks is rising   • Bush wants radically change Medicare & Medicaid   • Bush has split GOP   • anger ratchets up at stockholders' mtgs
weekend roll-up from the WSJ & the NYT
** 5 issues/wk - avg homepage hits per issue this week: 65 **
**  we offer free consulting to novelists or playwrights interested in
spinning tales in timesizing or beyond-timesizing future-worlds**
hope of the weektm
• 6 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)   • 2 UPsizings (625+ new jobs)
vs.  doom of the weektm
• 14 DOWNsizings, over 23815 jobcuts   • 1 makework case (?? new 'jobs')
• 3 eroded-retirement items   • 7 bankruptcies, owing over ??   • 1 workplace-suicide story
{{ Year-To-Date: 52 timesizings (1400+ new or saved jobs) + 8 upsizings (4625+ new jobs) + 2 makwrk (10000+ "jobs")
total 16025 = 8% of dnsz VERSUS 133 dnsz (207300+ cuts) + 42 bankrp ($430m+) + 5 homlss + 10 prisn + 9 suicid }}

2/21/2003 fri
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 855)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• 'weenies' of the world, unite - spend your snow days with your family
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• Greenspan's recent flirtation with Bushline heresy may indicate he won't seek reappointment
• 7 states sue Bush EPA for letting clean-air standards slide
• huge Calif. pension fund takes labor leader as prez
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 1,084 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 584 jobcuts as Ethan Allen furniture manufacturing & sales closes 3 smaller plants in MA, NY, & PA
• 5% workforce cut (500 lost jobs) as National Semiconductor tries to improve profits by cutting the consumer base, instead of just cutting its workweek by 5% (24 minutes a day for whole company including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 95% as much as before
• unspecified jobcuts by Ingram Micro
+ eroding retirement: • with one of best surviving pension plans in America, GM retirees still grouse
+ work-related suicide & violence: • private in Russia's Strategic Missile Forces
shoots 4 of his fellow servicemen, then himself
+ headlines from hell_tm • 4 downer econ reports   • NH GOP took election day to dirtier lows
• South Korean economy gloomy   • biotech booms in Asia

2/20/2003 thu
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 826)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• Star of David Nursing Ctr in Mass. cuts from 40 to
37.5 hrs/wk, but evokes employee resistance by failure to consult
• the root problem of 24/7 is not speed, but duration, & the fact that the
real 24/7 workers are now robots, who don't buy stuff 'n' keep up consumer demand
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 10,150 lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 7000 by Fleetwood Enterprises, manufacturer of mobile homes  
• 4% workforce cut (2900 lost jobs) as the State of Wisconsin avoids raising taxes in the face of a $3.2B shortfall, instead of just cutting its workweek by 4% (19 minutes a day for all state civil servants including top officials), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 96% as much as before
• 250 by Mapics Inc.
+ makework rampant: • subsidies for the arts - some states trim them, some propose to cut them altogether
+ a big banking UNtakeover for a change, that reveals the clay feet of our corporate godlings
& the marshy underpinnings of their chest-thumping takeover frenzy
+ eroding retirement: • Bush proposals to gut Social Security
dismantle yet another centrifuge on the nation's income
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT: 
• Thermodyne   • AT&T Canada
+ headlines from hell_tm
• early (& recent!) Fed worsened trends
• we're bumping the debt ceiling again - now $6.4T
• media consolidation damages systemic national feedback
• insulin-revving, bodyrepair-slowing sugar is now added to damn near everything

2/19/2003 wed
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 903)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• (2/18)  long hours are driving Japanese women 'around the bend'
+ random hope - headlines from heaven - human story pushed back 50k yrs,
Japan questions 30k-yr nuke pollution, Intel chief thinks Moore's Law good for 30 more yrs ...
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
4 DOWNsizings, totaling 8442 lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 28% workforce cut (5150 lost jobs) as Reuters makes a gloomy revenue outlook gloomier, instead of just cutting its workweek by 28% (to four 7hr12min days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & presenting 72% as much of a news market as before
• 1800 by Micron Technology   • 970 by Waste Management   • 522 by Fidelity Investments
+ headlines from hell_tm - Bush disses war protests, Muslims say war = Pandora's box,
friendly Iraqi nails drift to postwar occupation plan...

2/18/2003 tue
- slow newsday due to US media assumption that US holidays are universal -
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 745)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• (2/15) Southwest Airlines proposes longer working hours, gets picketed
+ random hope - headlines from heaven - WSJ slams Web taxes,
markets like avoiding war, new uses for duct tape...
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 preliminary to downsizing = 1 mega-merger: • Great-West Lifeco set to engulf Canada Life for $4.72B
+ headlines from hell_tm - rising personal insecurity for wealthy, flat wages for the rest, storm flattens sales...

2/15-17/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any page: 661 492 562, wk's avg 747;  website costs: $84/mon excl. labor; wks since 1st $ appeal: 18; rec'd so far: still just $50)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing awareness in the news:
• Japan logs 11-hour reduction in average yearly working hours per person
+ random hope: M/F pay gap shrinks, war unravels, other Bush reversals...
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 DOWNsizing, totaling 1,296 lost jobs, reported in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 1.7% workforce cut (1296 lost jobs) as United Airlines guarantees smaller markets by further downsizing, instead of merely trimming its workweek by 1.7% - with prorated paycuts - or 8 minutes a day for the whole corporation including top executives, re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & flying 98.3% as much as before
+ 1 general bankruptcy story & 1 specific case in WSJ &/or NYT: • 2002 breaks records again   • Dice Inc.
+ 1 prison story: • Correctional Services Corp's courtship of NY state & city officials verges on (or =) bribery
+ 1 work-related suicide story: • some workers in "People's" China have to threaten to jump to get their pay
+ headlines from hell_tm • duct tape, crying wolf, Preppie murderer loose, Boston anthrax, Long Is. oilspill...
weekend roll-up from the WSJ & the NYT
** 5 issues/wk - avg homepage hits per issue this week: 73 **
**  we offer free consulting to novelists or playwrights interested in
spinning tales in timesizing or beyond-timesizing future-worlds**
hope of the weektm
• 6 TIMEsizing stories (?? jobs saved)   • 1 UPsizing (?? new jobs)
vs.  doom of the weektm
• 29 DOWNsizings, over 26520 jobcuts   • 1 eroded-retirement item
• 5 bankruptcies, owing over $400m   • 3 prison stories   • 1 workplace-suicide story
{{ Year-To-Date: 46 timesizings (1400+ new or saved jobs) + 6 upsizings (4000+ new jobs) + 1 makewrk (10000 "jobs")
total 15400 = 8% of dnsz VERSUS 119 dnsz (183485+ cuts) + 35 bankrp ($430m+) + 5 homlss + 10 prisn + 8 suicid }}

2/14/2003 fri
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all 580 files/pp: 796)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• Atlanta avoids deeper jobcuts with 5 days of unpaid furloughs
+ a merger called off: • AOL veers off merging CNN with ABC News
+ random hope - headlines from heaven - including 2 valentines at the end
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
8 DOWNsizings, totaling 5821 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 36% workforce cut (4000 lost jobs) as Bethlehem Steel goes into post-takeover shrinkage, instead of just cutting its workweek by 36% (to four 6hr24mn days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & buying 64% as many steel appliances, tools & cars as before
• 846 jobcuts by City of Atlanta   • 500 by State Street   • 190 by Corning   • 175 by ConocoPhillips   • 110 by Bank of America in Tokyo   • unspecified cuts by KPMG, &  • Ernst & Young
+ 1 bankruptcy reported in WSJ & NYT:  • GenTek & Noma filing jointly
+ headlines from hell_tm - including stocks, bankers, Enron...

2/13/2003 thu
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 875)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• unique Valentine shows Canuck community-services sentences based on 35-hour workweek
+ random hope - headlines from heaven - too numerous to list
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
5 DOWNsizings, totaling 6000 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 21% workforce cut (4450 lost jobs in Japan) as Resona Holdings bank reacts exacerbatingly to deeper losses, instead of just cutting its workweek by 21% (to four 7hr36mn days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & banking 79% as much as before
• 1000 jobcuts by State Street   • 550 jobcuts by Nokia   • unspecified cuts by Shell Oil &  • Brocade Communications
+ eroding retirement: • shareholders ally with unions to clobber jumbo executive-retirement bennies
+ 1 prison item: • prisons in 4 states have taxpayer-subsidized religious-right programs - lawsuit ensues
• in contrast, twisted fans of religion in Guatemala decapitate bishop-killer during prison uprising
+ headlines from hell_tm - again, too numerous to list

2/12/2003 wed
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 910)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• (2/06)  Buzz Hargrove tells Air Canada he's open to
worksharing but not layoffs = timesizing but not downsizing
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• 1 UPsizing - Borgata casino-hotel opens this summer, 'Vegas in Atlantic City'
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 500 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 8% workforce cut (500 lost jobs) as Goodrich takes over & diminishes aircraft-control unit, instead of just trimming its workweek by 8% (38 mins/day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & flying 92% as much as before
• unspecified cuts by VF Corp. &  • Noranda
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Rand McNally (owing $400m) &  • First ECA
+ headlines from hell_tm • after decades of administrations that calmed the world from international violence to subnational violence, America, led by a 'lunatic fringe,' wants return to international violence   • arms manufacturers drool over India   • Wall Street Journal hypes its own op-ed as front-page 'news'

2/11/2003 tue
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 931)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• US Labor Dept. has webpage showing 18 states that have worksharing programs
• Staten Island Historical Soc'y is holding out vs. layoffs/shutdown with 20% pay&timesizing
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• economists finally slam Bush's 'preposterous' taxcuts for the rich
• 3 NATO members stand up to the Bush-Blair first-strike provocation & aggression
• a whole coalition of big rivals stands up to Bill Gates' monopoly in Europe
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
12 DOWNsizings, totaling 12,903 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 10,000 vacant positions cut by Calif.  • 1350 jobcuts by Conn.  • 400 by Springfield Ma  • 400 by America West
• 26% workforce cut (286 lost jobs) as Oregon State Police self-amputates, instead of just trimming its workweek 26% (to four 7hr24min days for whole force including captain & commissioner), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning & shopping 74% as much as before
• 200 jobcuts by American Museum of Natural History   • 198 by State of Iowa   • 40 by Metropolitan Museum of Art   • 24 by NY Botanical Garden   • 4 by Bronx Museum of the Arts   • 1 by Brooklyn Academy of Music   • unspecified cuts by Cablevision Systems
+ 1 bankruptcy reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Advanced Tissue Sciences et al. jointly
+ headlines from hell_tm • more Bush ideas to plunge US into 3rd world = rich churches should help poor ones  
• Bush budget would turn a cap into a floor & make renters on government aid pay more
• clueless Wall Street Journal asks 'who will do the work' in aging (but robotized) Japan

2/08-10/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any page: 705 476 596, wk's avg 767;  website costs: $84/mon excl. labor; wks since 1st $ appeal: 17; rec'd so far: still just $50)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing awareness in the news:
• avg. 200 firms use Ma. state WorkSharing program, which saved 1400 jobs after 9/11 alone
• federal leave law under attack from both sides
+ random hope: • Europe leads the world in windpower   • US unemployment drops from 6 to 5.7% but stat quirk's afoot   • Rangel & Conyers call Bush' bluff on war; if serious, institute draft!   • Canada's antitrust function, at least in banking, has worked better than U.S.'s - click & scan down to dated cases
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
5 DOWNsizings, totaling 12,394 lost jobs, reported in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 4% workforce cut (8090 lost jobs) as Deutsche Bank guarantees deeper recession by downsizing despite doubling its profit, instead of merely trimming its workweek - without trimming pay - by 19 minutes a day for whole firm including top executives, re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & banking 96% as much as usual
• 3900 jobcuts by Cigna  • 260 by Agrilink Foods, soon to be 'Birds Eye'  • 100 by UPS  • 44 by Goldman Sachs
+ eroding retirement: • Bethlehem Steel, in bankruptcy & takeover, wants drop health & life insurance benefits of all its retirees & their dependents = 95,000 people     • S&P finally quits closing its eyes to pension liabilities & slams 7 big Euro companies, meaning pension deterioration has essentially gone global
+ headlines from hell_tm • GAO gives up on trying to jimmy energy-panel disclosure out of Cheney   • nuclear industry presumes to impact next 12,000 years with its waste     • USA shafts Africa by denying it inexpensive AIDS etc. drugs, while painting Europe as starving Africa by rejecting US Frankenfoods
weekend roll-up from the WSJ & the NYT
** 5 issues/wk - avg homepage hits per issue this week: 81 **
**  we offer free consulting to novelists or playwrights interested in
setting stories in timesizing or beyond-timesizing future-worlds**
hope of the weektm
• 7 TIMEsizing stories (1400+ jobs saved)   • 1 UPsizing (2000 new jobs)
vs.  doom of the weektm
• 21 DOWNsizings, over 41122 jobcuts   • 4 eroded-retirement items   • 4 bankruptcies, owing over $30m
{{ Year-To-Date: 40 timesizings (1400+ new or saved jobs) + 5 upsizings (4000+ new jobs) + 1 makewrk (10000 "jobs")
totaling 15400 = 10% of dnsz VERSUS 90 dnsz (156965+ cuts) + 30 bankrup ($30m+) + 5 homlss + 7 prisn + 7 suicid }}

2/07/2003 fri
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 913)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• Michoud Assembly Facility for NASA is asking some of the
200 employees working in foam production to take some vacation
• major U.S. timesizing company is doing well in recession - Nucor Steel
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• Adlai Stevenson's son says his dad, unlike Powell, was working for peace
• Generals Norman Schwarzkopf & Anthony Zinni want containment, not war
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
headlines from hell_tm • world-diss 1 - Bush wants 54 'pro-biz' exemptions to ozone treaty that has 160 signers   • world-diss 2 - Texass ignores World Court   • blue chips drop & productivity falters   • Krugman reveals Greenspan (& 'incidentally' Bush) as needing to be 'hung out to dry' & alerts us to major drama next week
+ 5 DOWNsizings, totaling 4,873 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 3200 jobcuts by Air Lib   • 1200 by Robert Bosch   • 326 by Kentucky Electric Steel
• 147 by Terra Networks   • unspecified cuts by Newell Rubbermaid
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • Kentucky Electric Steel (owing $30m)   • NextCard

2/06/2003 thu
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 859)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• Labor Dept. requires avg. 25 hrs/wk for over a year to
qualify for leaves under Family & Medical Leave Act
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• artists mobilize vs. not letting 'sleeping dogs lie'
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 10,338 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 6% workforce cut (8338 lost jobs) as Bank of America continues its death spiral, instead of just trimming its workweek 6% (29 mins a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together employed, earning & banking 94% as much as before
• 2000 jobcuts by Circuit City   • unspecified cuts by Netreon
+ headlines from hell_tm • 'Small Govt' Bush to beg Congress to up national debt cap over $6.4 trillion c.2/20
• 'conservative' Bush wants upend tax code - tax earned income, not unearned, & tax poor, not rich
• More Death! - Ashcroft wants more death on death row (to match more death in military & Iraq?)
• & for something completely different - Germany rises to 11%, highest jobless rate in 5 years

2/05/2003 wed
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 929)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• union warns Japanese 'Wal-marts' against requiring unpaid overtime
+ random hope - headlines from heaven:
• 1 UPsizing with 2,000 new jobs - Toyota sites new Tundra plant in Texas
• Wall Street Journal says home builders are embracing green goals
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 367 lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 7% workforce cut (300 lost jobs) as L. L. Bean seeks market-denting competitiveness, 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 employed, earning & buying 93% as much outdoor apparel as usual
• 67 jobcuts as Skjerven Morrill law office folds
+ 2 bankruptcies reported in WSJ & NYT:  • USA Biomass
• Horsehead Industries, dba Zinc Corp of America, Horsehead Resource Dev., ZCA Mines, & Stoney Ridge
+ eroding retirement: • AARP sees Bush changing rules just as employees come close to getting golden ring

2/04/2003  tue
- keep timesizing comin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622,
Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new 'time trilogy' (# visitors yesterday, all pages: 890)
strategic hope = primitive TIMEsizing in the news:
• political party in Quebec wants 4-day workweek option for parents
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
6 DOWNsizings, totaling 13,150 +?? lost jobs, cited in Wall St Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 12% workforce cut (8000 lost jobs) as Ericsson mobile phones battles reluctant consumers by creating 8000 more reluctant consumers, instead of just trimming its workweek by 12% (to five 7-hour days for whole company including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together employed, earning & buying 88% as many phones as usual
• 5000 jobcuts by WorldCom     • 150 by Goldman Sachs Group
• unspecified cuts by Gottschalks,  • Cosi,  • Rancho Esmeralda
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ & NYT:  • JPM of Delaware
+ eroding retirement: • small but significant changes in Bush proposal waft more
$$ from poor to rich & curtail the consumer base just another teensy bit further
+ headlines from hell_tm • assuming Iraq war is about the economy & not oil, WSJ now says it won't work  
• Bush administration talks states' rights & squelches California's referendum-decreed medical marijuana

2/01-03/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $50 gets new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any page: 764 464 602, wk's avg 728;  website costs: $84/mon excl. labor; wks since 1st $ appeal: 16; rec'd so far: $50 ; ad revenue: no ads)
strategic hope = TIMEsizing awareness in the news:
• 'conservative' Bush aims to weaken remains of 40-hr wk by gutting American overtime laws
• 'conservative' Raffarin aims to weaken 35-hr workweek by gutting French overtime laws
• Japanese government is dragging its feet on implementation of work-sharing systems
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
1 DOWNsizing, reported in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT): • 180 jobcuts by Dell
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ &/or NYT: • Key3Media, Comdex producer, files for Chapter 11 protection on Mon.
+ 1 prison story: • Oprah guest writer Wally Lamb holds writing workshop in Connecticut's prison for women
+ headlines from hell_tm • employers beam as key employee-reservists leave for war & the cynical war $centrifuge begins to work its economic magic, but this time, pouring in to replace cannon fodder...
• illegal immigrants increased 14% in 4 years to 7m in Y2K
weekend roll-up from the WSJ & the NYT
** 5 issues/wk - avg homepage hits per issue this week: 84 **
**  we offer free consulting to novelists or playwrights interested in
setting stories in timesizing or beyond-timesizing future-worlds**
hope of the weektm
• 10 TIMEsizing stories  • 1 UPsizing (2000 new jobs)
vs.  doom of the weektm
• 14 DOWNsizings, over 16,178 jobcuts   • 2 eroded-retirement items
• 8 bankruptcies   • 2 prison stories   • 2 workplace-suicide stories
{{ Year-To-Date: 33 timesizings (?? new or saved jobs) + 4 upsizings (2000 new jobs) + 1 makework (10000 "jobs")
totaling 12000 = 10% of dnsz VERSUS 69 dnsz (115843+ cuts) + 26 bankrup ($??) + 5 homeless + 7 prison + 7 suicid }}

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