hopes/dooms du jour, June, 2003, + May 31
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

4 fiscal-year roll-ups to june 30/2003
- taking us from a period of liquidity-driven 'boom' alias stock bubble (cf. 1920s), to an admitted, narrowly defined recession, to a 'stumbling' or 'jobless' recovery - actually a time of denied but ongoing and deepening depression characterized by over-capacity and under-consumption, due to our prolonged misunderstanding of the impact of our own relentlessly improving robotics etc. and failure to design & deploy improved technologies of sharing instead of kneejerk downsizing -
our 4th year of tracking, july/2002-june/2003, 12-mon roll-up based on NYT & WSJ:
500 timsizngs (95320+ new or sav'd jobs) + 113 upsizngs (84494+ new jobs) + 30 makwrk (242400+ 'jobs')
total 422214 = 38% of cuts VERSUS 829 dnsz (1104731+ cuts) + 271 bkrp ($76B+) + 52 homlss + 74 prisn + 51 kills
3rd year of tracking, july/2001-june/2002, 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG:
512 timsizngs (440+ new or sav'd jobs) + 171 upsizngs (197440+ new jobs) + 8 makwrk (?? 'jobs')
total 197880 = 11% of cuts VERSUS 1112 dnsz (1720954+ cuts) + 160 bkrp ($43B+) + 62 homlss + 68 prisn + 27 kills
2nd year of tracking, july/2000-july 1/2001, 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG:
172 timsizngs + 131 upsizngs (68125+ new jobs) + 7 makwrk (100,000 new 'jobs'), total 168125 = 15% of cuts
VERSUS 1061 dnsz (1098218+ cuts) + 1835 takovr ($1377B) + 257 bkrp + 19 homlss + 51 prisn + 22 suic
1st year of tracking, july/1999-july 2/2000, 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG:
12 timsizngs(?? new or sav'd jobs) +133 upsizngs(104944+ new jobs) +152 untak(>$110B), total 104944 = 14% of cuts
VERSUS 559 dnsz (733534+ jobcuts) + 2524 takv ($2616B) + 136 bkrp + 7 homlss + 24 prisn + 11 suic
Of course, the 4 years of figures are skewed by the tastes of the editors of the newspapers involved, and by our own gradually growing experience and slowly developing research interests.

6/28-30/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
( # different visitors F Sa Su, any of our 616 pages or files: 617,401,505, wk's daily avg 681 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• Dilbert's Alice comes to appreciate 'casual brilliance' of Wally's shorter-hours strategy  
• Seattle Post cartoonist pillories dumb sniping at Europe's free time   • Norwegians average(?) 26.5 hours a week   • Accreditation Council limits young US doctors to 80-hour workweeks   • over 20% US employers offer job sharing   • strikers in S. Korea call for shorter hours for RR workers   • east German strikers give up shorter-hr strike for the nonce   • big steel's 12 hr day, dropped in 1923, is ba-a-ack
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
makework rampant: • 300% more US lawyers in 2002 than in 1992
+ 2 takeover stories: • NY Community to buy Roslyn Bancorp for $1.6B   • US firms scan Europe for prey
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 375 lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and/or New York Times (NYT):
• 375 Hungarian jobs lost as BMC Industries (lenses & TV parts) moves work from Tatabanya to New York
+ 1 bankruptcy & 1 compound liquidation mentioned in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• Acterna   • Great Western 'Marine' & Sun/Pacific/Orient/Union/NY/Commercial/Mercantile Mutual Insurance
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • 'grim' 'pessimism' pervades fund managers' meeting in Chicago  
• profit-taking pushes Dow back below 9000   • top execs straitjacket their paymasters
weekend roll-up - 5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 61
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 22 TIMEsizing items   • 4 UPsizings (10+ new jobs)   + clouded hope: • 2 makework cases
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 24 DOWNsizings, over 24,419 jobcuts   • 8 bankruptcies/liquidations   • 1 eroded-retirement story  
ytd = 6-mon roll-up, jan-jun/2003, based on WSJ & NYT:
245 timsizngs (12530+ new or sav'd jobs) + 46 upsizngs (11473+ new jobs) + 8 makwrk (23000+ 'jobs')
total 47003 = 8% of cuts VERSUS 391 dnsz (595283+ cuts) + 140 bnkrp ($20.7B+) + 19 homlss + 36 prisn + 23 kills
+ 6-mon roll-up, jul-dec/2002, based on WSJ & NYT:
255 timsizngs (82790+ new or sav'd jobs) + 67 upsizngs (73021+ new jobs) + 22 makwrk (219400+ new 'jobs')
total 375211 = 74% of cuts VERSUS 438 dnsz (509448+ cuts) + 131 bnkrp ($55.6B+) + 33 homlss + 38 prisn + 28 kills
fiscal-year roll-ups
= 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & WSJ, jul/2002-jun/2003, our 4th year of tracking:
500 timsizngs (95320+ new or sav'd jobs) + 113 upsizngs (84494+ new jobs) + 30 makwrk (242400+ 'jobs')
total 422214 = 38% of cuts VERSUS 829 dnsz (1104731+ cuts) + 271 bkrp ($76.3B+) + 52 homlss + 74 prisn + 51 kills
cf. 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG, jul/2001-jun/2002, our 3rd year of tracking:
512 timsizngs (440+ new or sav'd jobs) + 171 upsizngs (197440+ new jobs) + 8 makwrk (?? 'jobs')
total 197880 = 11% of cuts VERSUS 1112 dnsz (1720954+ cuts) + 160 bkrp ($43.3B+) + 62 homlss + 68 prisn + 27 kills
cf. 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG, jul/2000-jul.1/2001, our 2nd year of tracking:
172 timsizngs + 131 upsizngs (68125+ new jobs) + 7 makwrk (100,000 new 'jobs'), total 168125 = 15% of cuts
VERSUS 1061 dnsz (1098218+ cuts) + 1835 takovr ($1377B) + 257 bkrp + 19 homlss + 51 prisn + 22 suic
cf. 12-mon roll-up, based on NYT & BG, jul/1999-jul.2/2000, our 1st year of tracking:
12 timsizngs(?? new or sav'd jobs) +133 upsizngs(104944+ new jobs) +152 untak(>$110B), total 104944 = 14% of cuts
VERSUS 559 dnsz (733534+ jobcuts) + 2524 takv ($2616B) + 136 bkrp + 7 homlss + 24 prisn + 11 suic

6/27/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 616 files: 795 (Þ:3/27:820,Þ:12/26:415) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• 38-hr/wk east German strikers are sick of being 2d class to 35-hr/wk west Germans
• prelim talks fail to produce basis for Fri's talks (car inventories aren't that low right now)
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 1 UPsizing - unspecified new jobs at 'Mother'/NY
• popular car commercial dramatizes jobs lost to robotics  
• Maine becomes first state to pass comprehensive law vs. global warming  
• CEO-curbing victories on stock compensation & pension-based bottom-line puffing  
• privacy victories - telemktg squelch starts today & high court affirms gays' right to home privacy
+ 1 blocked takeover: • richest LatAm's bid for Circuit City gets dissed
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 1,000 lost jobs, noted in WSJ &/or NYT:
• 1000 German jobcuts by RWE   • unspecified Euro cuts as Nasdaq Europe closes
+ 2 bankruptcies, reported in WSJ &/or NYT: • Globe Metallurgical   • Cybervest Securities
+ headlines from hell_tm  • capital spending fell nearly 5%/yr during Q1   • bonds' 2-day fall is sharpest in 2003   • Bush gets petty about renting Labor auditorium & wants more skidoos in, & industry around, Yellowstone

6/26/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 613 files: 824 (w:3/26:781,w:12/25:294) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• east German strike for 35-hr workweek parity with west goes on
• Mayor Bloomberg asked for workweek cut for sake of NYC budget
• Hong Kong CEOs(?) work longest at 45 hours/week, UK 43.5, US 40
• another economist distracts with another article on the sidelines of the hours issue
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 2 UPsizings - unspecified new or decriminalized jobs as Nissan expands a plant in Tenn. & • New Zealand eases on prostitition   • Canada approves safe-injection site to curb AIDS   • US birthrate in 2002 dips 0.2 to record low of 13.9 per 1000
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 big takeovers: • Nestle eats Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream for $2.8B  
• AIG engulfs General Electric's life insurance unit in Japan for $2.6B
+ eroding retirement: • retirees disdain Congress's thin Medicare drug benefit
• Labor Dept. sues 20 Enron officials to reclaim $1B in lost retirement savings
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 4,000 lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 7% workforce cut (2500 lost jobs) as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines overreacts to SARS etc. by cutting humans instead of just things, people instead of just working hours, in which a 7% cut would mean merely a 34-minute-a-day loss for the whole airline including top execs, re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & flying & spending 93% as much as usual
• 1500 jobcuts by May Department Stores  
+ 1 liquidation, reported in WSJ &/or NYT: • Home Insurance Co. cum US International Reinsurance  
+ headlines from hell_tm  • incomes of top 400 US taxpayers (<1%) increased 15 times as fast as bottom 90%   • signs surface: we're nearing burst of another stock bubble   • stodgy U.S. is weighing down frisky Canada

6/25/2003 wed
- late edition -
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 613 files: 772 (t:3/25:788,t:12/24:308) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• German employers & IG Metall union to resume talks on cutting the workweek on Friday
• Hyundai employees are striking for a 4-hr cut to a 40-hr workweek in S. Korea
• Atlantic Coast Airlines pilots have to fly more hours for lower wages
• meanwhile, US lawmakers have 3-day congressional workweek
• long hrs in 2003 AD sometimes mean fibbing to get a day off
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 1 UPsizing - 10 new jobs as Deco-Glas restructures in Germany   • EU & 13 nations, including US, sign charter to cut carbon-based fuel pollutants
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • tax-backed Pension Ben. Guaranty Corp. went from $7.7B surplus to $5.4B deficit in 1 yr
+ 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 18,630 lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 37% workforce cut (15000 lost jobs) as Telefonica de Espana cuts nearly double the percentage of workforce as its 20% market drop, thus guaranteeing further market weakening, instead of just trimming its workweek 37% (to five 5-hour days for whole corporation including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 63% as many phones & phone services as usual
• 3050 jobcuts by Swiss Int'l Air   • 500 cuts by Sony Ericsson Mobile Comms   • 80 by Comedy Central  
+ 1 bankruptcy, reported in WSJ &/or NYT: • Aoki Urban Development in Japan  

6/24/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 613 files: 850 (m:3/24:794,m:12/23:446) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• big German union estimates shorter workweek in east would create 15,000 jobs
• new Boston lawfirm wants try hold hours to 1600 a year max
• Journal wants keep vacation the break it should be
• survey sees phased hourscuts for older workers
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • high court formula-free student diversity will require hiring more admissions staff
+ 2 merger stories: • Canada puts hold on bank mergers   • Biogen meshes with Idec in $6.8B stock swap
+ eroding retirement: • Labor Dept. lets firms pass along more admin costs to defined-benefit pensioners
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 414 lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 1.5% workforce cut (414 lost jobs) as Singapore Airlines overreacts to SARS, instead of just trimming its workweek 1.5% (7 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & flying 98.5% as much as usual
+ 2 liquidations, reported in WSJ &/or NYT: • Long Island Insurance   • Consolidated Mutual Insurance

6/21-23/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $80 buys new Time Trilogy ( # different visitors F Sa Su, any of our 613 pages or files: 735,493,575, wk's daily avg 737 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• Hooker Furniture of Virginia sees 35-hour weeks for its foreseeable future
• Germany's deflating for lack of consumers, but gov't wants longer hours, fewer consumers
• not even VW has sense to back hours cuts, despite saving HQ town 9 yrs ago with 6-hr cut
• another survey indicating long working hours are cutting Americans' sex lives, once/mon. enuf?
• long hours have made 'stress' (Japanese 'sutoresu') most often-used foreign word in Japan
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • jobless Germany finally moves to slow immigration
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 takeover stories: • bad: there M&As go agaaain   • good: PeopleSoft board stomps another cynical Oracle bid
+ eroding retirement: • now GM wants to sell bonds etc. solely to bail out its $19B underfunded pension plan
+ 6 DOWNsizings, totaling 14,464 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or NY Times (NYT):
• 12,000 jobcuts by Fiat mainly outside Italy   • 1250 by Mitsubishi in Mexico
• 14% workforce cut (750 lost jobs) as Fortis insurance responds to declining domestic demand by reducing it further, instead of just trimming its workweek 14% (to five 6hr53min days for the whole company, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & buying 86% as much insurance as usual
• 450 German jobcuts by Alno AG   • 14 by city of Pfullendorf   • unspecified by Geberit AG
+ 4 bankruptcies mentioned in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and/or the NY Times (NYT):
• Amerco (U-Haul's parent)   • Touch America Holdings   • Worth Media   • Fleming Pkg - fp Label - fp Estate
+ headlines from hell_tm • Massachusetts "reps" repeal voter-mandated campaign finance reform
• Canadian fishermen have tantrums while prissy gov't shafts them to favor natives
weekend roll-up
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 60
hope of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 15 TIMEsizing items ({3m in '80s} jobs saved)   • 3 UPsizings (276+ new jobs)  
vs.  doom of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 17 DOWNsizings, over 45,038 jobcuts   • 7 bankruptcies  
• 4 eroded-retirement stories   • 1 homelessness story   • 1 prison story  
{{Year-To-Date: 223 timsizng (12530+ new or sav'd jobs) + 42 upsizngs (11463+ new jobs) + 7 makwrk (23000+ 'jobs')
total 46993 = 8% of dnsz VERSUS 384 dnsz (571328+ cuts) + 133 bnkrp ($20.7B+) + 19 homlss + 36 prisn + 23 kills}}

6/20/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 613 files: 818 (Þ:3/20:743,Þ:12/19:609) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Honda to shut 16 factories & research ctrs on July 24   • Xerox offers job-sharing
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 1 UPsizing - 10 new jobs at Merrill Lynch   • leading econ indicators up 1% in May   • progress vs. telemktg & spam   • vs. tax shelters & shelterers   • vs. over-doctored food = antibiotic overkill & genetic modification
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 takeover blast: • merger from hell = bk revu of 'Stealing Time:...The Collapse of AOL Time Warner'
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 414 lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 1.5% workforce cut (414 lost jobs) as Singapore Airlines overreacts to SARS, instead of just trimming its workweek 1.5% (7 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & flying 98.5% as much as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy story, reported in Associated Press: • Divine Inc.
+ prison item: • faith-based prison programs twice as effective at preventing recidivism
+ headlines from hell_tm  • Krugman & WSJ concur - recent run-up's just another bubble   • despite recent spurt of orders, Boeing whines for more taxpayer charity   • now cheap software & carparts are coming from India

6/19/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 613 files/pp: 872 (w:3/19:863,w:12/18:667) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• strike in eastern Germany for 3-hour cut in workweek will bite into auto production next week
• even in Germany, there are people who think salvation lies in working harder, not smarter
• meanwhile, stateside, 58% say they'll skip summer vacation (or do they say that?)
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 2 UPsizings - est. 266 new jobs as AP moves to new HQ next year & - • unspecified new jobs as Starbucks opens stores in Peru, Puerto Rico, Mexico & Chile • European markets continue climb   • renewable energy finds start of growth ladder
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • GM., IBM & Navistar throw stocks at pension shortfalls
• GE labor pact sweetens pensions, but only by $820 per person per year
+ 7 DOWNsizings, totaling 5300 +?? lost jobs, noted in WSJ &/or NYT:
• 1.7% workforce cut (2200 lost jobs) as EDS hopes to halt deep slide in its outsourcing business, instead of just trimming its workweek 1.7% (8 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 98.3% as much info as usual
• 1330 jobs cut by British American Tobacco   • 820 cuts by Canadian Pacific Railway   • 500 by UBS
• 400 by Furniture Brands International   • 50 by Citigroup Inc.   • unspecified cuts by Morgan Stanley
+ 1 bankruptcy story, reported in Associated Press: • Germany had 9,747 Q1 bankruptcies, 2nd-highest ever
+ headlines from hell_tm  • 'revenge of the sociopaths' in 3 acts - I. House votes to repeal estate tax   • II. White House deletes data on global warming (so easy!)   • III. US puppeteer in Iraq squelches election,   & elsewhere - • recession gurus say too soon to declare recovery   • Germany in 10-year retail funk

6/18/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 612 files/pp: 824 (t:3/18:933,t:12/17:665) -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• cut to 35-hr week in W. German engineering in early 80s saved &/or created over 3m jobs
• GM cuts workyear of Saturn Ion production in Tenn. by additional two weeks to avoid layoffs
• NY teachers go into reverse - lengthen workday   • depression costs 5.6 hs of work each week
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • voting to cover all Americans with health insurance would save nearly half of nearly $100B the US economy loses annually to uninsured sickness & death   • Canada moves toward concept of gay marriage
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • pensions fall, but not CEOs' bonuses
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 9860 lost jobs, noted in WSJ &/or NYT:
• 9500 jobs lost over past year as Read-Rite moves toward & clinches liquidation
• 2% salaried workforce attrition not replaced (360 lost jobs) as Chrysler works to cut costs (& cuts markets as a side effect), instead of just trimming its workweek 2% (10 minutes a day for all white-collars), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 98% as many cars as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Read-Rite (tape heads) goes Chapter 7  
+ homelessness in the news: • homelessness in biggest economy, est. 600,000 (US); 2d-biggest, 25,000 (Japan)

6/17/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 612 files/pp: 845 (m:3/17:900,m:12/16:742) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• job program for teens in Boston uses 35-hour workweek
• Amex sponsors survey of small-biz owners' plans for personal workyear cut, aka vacation
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • European companies rush to delist & regain long-term
• Whaling Commission makes long-term conservation one of main functions
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 free takeover: • Sun Capital Partners takes over Best Buy's $700m Musicland unit for $zero
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 15,000 lost 'jobs', mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 30% workforce cut (15000 lost 'jobs') as AmeriCorps gets starved for funds, instead of just trimming its workweek 30% (to four 7-hour days for whole agency, including top officials), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 70% as much as before
+ headlines from hell_tm  • job outlook worst in 12 yrs   • small biz 'engine of recovery' crippled  
• Europe wants pact to ban corruption in gov't & biz, Bush just wants ban in gov't
- spring status report: posted on Amazon & rec'd copyrights for 2 new bkgd bks (see vols. I & II below), switched to 90% cheaper webhost, junked old car -

6/14-16/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $80 buys new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any of our 610 pp/files: 738,422,494, wk's daily avg 707 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• Tyson Foods' Lakeside Packers unit in Alta. saves 900 jobs with
$7.4m 26-wk UI-assisted worksharing program with 50% workweek reduction
• biggest motor home maker, Winnebago, saves untold jobs with 32-hour workweeks
• Delta plans talks on pilot hrs but postpones  • 1913 Ma. child labor law capped kids at 40 hrs
• NYT Mag editor Jas. Ryerson opens up workweek discussion in Boston Globe & hilites
Take Back Your Time Day (Oct. 24)
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
eroding retirement: • bill adding drug benefits to Medicare is illogical & • could backfire
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 1500 lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York
Times (NYT): • 1200 US jobcuts by France's Thomson electronics   • 300 by Tenet Healthcare
+ 1 compound bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Union Financial Services, Outsourcing
Solutions Inc [OSI], OSI Portfolio/Support/Collection/Outsourcing Services (International)... et al.
+ 1 homelessness item: • Take the Lead program helps Hopkinton MA teen Caitlin
Gorski pull together job fair for homeless people from 10 Boston area shelters
+ headlines from hell_tm • consumer confidence down again after postwar bounce
weekend roll-up
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 51
hope of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 15 TIMEsizing items (900+ jobs saved)   • 3 UPsizings (??+ new jobs)  
+ clouded hope: • 1 makework case (9000 new 'jobs')
vs.  doom of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT: • 6 bankruptcies  
• 14 DOWNsizings, over 8,703 jobcuts   • 2 eroded-retirement stories   • 2 homelessness stories  
{{Year-To-Date: 208 timsizng (12530+ new or sav'd jobs) + 39 upsizngs (11187+ new jobs) + 7 makwrk (23000+ 'jobs')
total 46717 = 9% of dnsz VERSUS 367 dnsz (526290+ cuts) + 126 bnkrp ($20.7B+) + 18 homlss + 35 prisn + 23 kills}}

6/13/2003 friday the 13th!
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 610 files/pp: 818 (Þ:3/13:1434,Þ:12/12:778) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• reader rebuts touted American supremacy - in long hours & race to the bottom
• Japan is still worksharing but tying it to overpopulation subsidies & putting it last
• German union chief is clear on connection between shorter hours, employment & mkt demand
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • Universal health coverage gains in Maine  
• Kerry pledges to make the U.S. independent of Mideast oil in 10 years
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • Whirlpool degrades its retiree healthcare from 100% to 80% company-paid
+ 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 3615 +?? lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 1.7% of workforce cut (3150 lost jobs) as Delphi autoparts over-reacts to weaker demand by weakening it further, instead of just trimming its workweek 1.7% (8 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning, confident, & buying 98.3% as many autoparts as usual
• 390 jobcuts by 3Com   • 75 by Weyerhaeuser   • unspecified technological displacements by Wal-Mart
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Orion Refining   • Mosaic Corp. (US), et al.

6/12/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 610 files/pp: 767 (w:3/12:1474,w:12/11:751) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• no-end-in-sight military deployment in senseless Iraq invasion
means overwork for those at home covering for called-up reservists
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • at last, a standard phrase for the string of stock bubbles in our future = 'liquidity-driven rallies'   • poor but articulate, 'lucky ducky' paying little or no income tax calls WSJ's bluff   • American Majority Institute to fight neo-con(-artist) message  
• 1 UPsizing, unspecified new jobs as RLM Public Relations opens offices in D.C. & L.A.
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
3 big takeovers & 1 block: • (-) Europe's biggest takeover - BC Partners, Permira, CVC Capital Partners, & Italy's Investitori Associati jointly bought Seat Pagine Gialle's phonebook unit for $6.6B   • (-) Royal Bank of Scotland to buy Churchill Insurance for $1.83B   • (-) United Technologies buys Chubb for $1.1B  
• (+) Bertelsmann backed off buying AOL's book-publishing unit for >$300m
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 130 lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 15% of workforce cut (130 lost jobs) as Cymer lasers over-reacts to 2 quarters of loss by cutting its own best markets (its own employees & their dependents), instead of just trimming its workweek by 15% (to five 6¾-hour days for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & buying 85% as many PCs as usual
+ headlines from hell_tm  • Fed finds few signs of postwar rebound  
• world's #3 & 4 economies flaccid - Germany weak output, UK high joblessness

6/11/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 610 files/pp: 796 (t:3/11:895,t:12/10:806) -
timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• east German engineering employees vote to spread shorter-workweek strike to another state
• working fathers work more overtime than working mothers, 65% over 40 hrs/wk, 25% over 50
• California drives out state nurses with low pay & then has to pay double via temp agencies
• French civil servants shut down transportation again to fight 2½-yr extension of worklife
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • Delaware tax shelter under pressure
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • est. 9000 new "jobs" as US occupation chief grabs $100m of Iraqi $$ for 'building fund'
+ 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 3050 lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 1500 jobcuts by Texas Instruments, 1250 in April, and now another 250 in Japan
• 13% of workforce cut (940 lost jobs) as Safeway struggles to compete with discounters by cutting its own best markets (its own employees & their dependents), instead of just trimming its workweek by 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, confident, & food-shopping 87% as much as usual
• 499 jobcuts by Sprint   • 111 by Vertex Pharmaceuticals  
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Essential Therapies  
+ homelessness in the news: • NYC given right to boot problem-homeless back out onto streets

6/10/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 610 files/pp: 913 (m:3/10:825,m:12/09:876) -
timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• shorter-workweek strike succeeds for east German steelworkers
- workweek to go down one hour every two years, from 38 to 35
• US Conference Board tries to paint long hours as road to recovery
+ headlines from heaven = random hope:
• 2 UPsizings, unspecified new jobs at Bechtel & • Starcom MediaVest
• Twin Rivers Technologies discovers one of its wasted pollutants can be used as clean fuel
• exporters hurt when currency weakens - but importers benefit, tho we never hear about it
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 408 +?? lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 60% of workforce left behind (408 lost jobs) as Philip Morris USA saves money (& dooms another slice of its markets) by moving its HQ from NYC to Richmond VA, instead of just trimming its workweek by 60% (to four 4-hour days for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & buying 60% as many ciggies as usual
• unspecified jobcuts by Amerada Hess & • IPO.com
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Remee Products   • Longview Aluminum
+ headlines from hell_tm  • 'nothing to fear' except mortgage market is main thing propping up US economy  
• manufacturers' association warns we're nearing loss of 'critical mass' of manufacturing sector
• Krugman concludes total deception got us into Iraq war & no one now held accountable

6/07-09/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $80 buys new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any of our 610 pp/files: 719,544,581, wk's daily avg 764; )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• Read-Rite extends 3-week furlough to 4 weeks to avoid layoffs under cash shortage
• med students applaud as Delaware joins NY & PR in limiting hours of apprentice doctors
• in supposedly positive development, manufacturing workweek rises 0.1 hour to 40.2 hours
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • Linux is catching on, but Torvalds continues modest
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 mongo takeovers: • Xstrata buys MIM for $2.29B   • Warburg Pincus to buy TransDigm Holding for $1.1B
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 50 lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) &/or New York Times (NYT):
• 4½% workforce cut (50 lost jobs) as Disney reduces animation costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 4½% (to 22 minutes a day for the whole company, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & buying 95½% as many Disney videos as usual    
+ headlines from hell_tm • joblessness up to 9-yr high of 6.1% in longest sustained period without job growth since the Great Depression   • firms among worst corporate-governed share common thread of hefty CEO pay
weekend roll-up
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 69
hope of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 17 TIMEsizing items (??+ jobs saved)   • 6 UPsizings (18+ new jobs)  
vs.  doom of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 12 DOWNsizings, over 8,909 jobcuts   • 3 bankruptcies   • 1 homelessness story   • 1 prison story  
{{Year-To-Date: 193 timsizng (11630+ new or sav'd jobs) + 36 upsizngs (11187+ new jobs) + 6 makwrk (14000+ 'jobs')
total 36817 = 7% of dnsz VERSUS 353 dnsz (517587+ cuts) + 120 bnkrp ($20.7B+) + 16 homlss + 35 prisn + 23 kills}}

6/6/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 610 files/pp: 851 (Þ:3/06:872,Þ:12/05:767) -
timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• argument for sanctity of vacation - Martha Stewart's fateful tip came from broker on vacation
• clueless German labor minister, unlike Japanese, fights workweek reduction
+ headlines from heaven = random hope:
• 2 UPsizings - 18 new jobs as Dentsu Plus ad agency opens in Bangkok
• ?? new jobs as Lucent pours $50m into expanding its R&D in China
• US Weather Service gets 6th fastest computer, Japan has fastest
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 800 lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 26% workforce cut (600 lost jobs) as Millennium Pharmaceuticals seeks to become profitable by sacrificing its own best markets & marketers, instead of just trimming its workweek by 26% (to five six-hour days for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & buying 74% as many drugs as usual
• 200 jobcuts by Compagnie Financier Richemont  
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • Centennial Healthcare, et al.   • Mobile Tool Int'l, et al.
+ homelessness in the news: • NYC cops & homeless outreach committee join
forces to get people off the streets without treating them like criminals
+ headlines from hell_tm  • retail blahs continue   • wage gap widens in area once known for narrower one

6/05/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 608 files/pp: 881 (w:3/05:995,w:12/04:835) -
timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• study indicates US employees still lukewarm on shorter hours, but younger
employees are warmer - survey itself isn't even covering technolological imperative
• union urges east German members to extend strike for parity with 35-hr week in west
+ headlines from heaven = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, with unspecified new jobs, as Norway builds new 450-bed prison
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
5 DOWNsizings, totaling 2758 +?? lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 1500 jobcuts by Cable & Wireless   • 1058 cuts as Waterford Wedgwood moves Johnson brand to China
• 9% workforce cut (200 lost jobs) as Akzo Nobel chemicals goes for efficiency at the cost of markets, instead of just trimming its workweek by 9% (43 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & buying 91% as many detergents & paints as usual
• unspecified Yank cuts by Pathmark Stores   • unspecified Manx cuts by MGM Mirage Online
+ prison item: • with loose immigration & tight drug laws, Norway is catching US disease = more prisons
+ headlines from hell_tm   • how jump-start a 12-nation economy?

6/04/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 607 files/pp: 911 (3/04/t 997,12/03/t 886) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• US unions still battling away without cutting the workweek & restoring labor scarcity & power
• Japanese worked up over terrible satisfaction of youth with working only 40 hrs/wk
• overview of strikes in Western Europe vs. attempts to lengthen worklife
• focus on eastern Germany, targeting workweek   • focus on France
• WSJ reverses its own data to blackball France for US investors
• today's rant from Fed chief in Dallas, & counter-rant
+ headlines from heaven = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, with unspecified new jobs, as Siemens builds 150m-euro power plant in Indonesia
• 10 major world banks sign up to follow World Bank's environmental 'Equator Principles'
• Toyota, Honda & Ford have built energy-efficient environmentally sensitive buildings
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 535 +?? lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 2.7% workforce cut (480 lost jobs) as La-Z-Boy furniture responds to declining demand by hammering its share of consumers & declining demand further, instead of just trimming its workweek by 2.7% (13 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & buying 97.3% as much furniture as usual
• 55 jobcuts as PipeVine 'donation processing' outprocesses donations & croaks
• unspecified cuts by the Korean War Project gratis PipeVine's 'processing'
+ headlines from hell_tm   • Berlin Wall down but Israeli Wall up
• British Energy, still messing with nuclear, takes $7B write-down

6/03/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’,
Box 622 Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - # visitors yesterday,all 606 files/pp: 864 (3/03/m 953,12/02/m 913) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• USPS has been reducing working hours to slow pace of layoffs
• Illinois casinos are cutting hours of operation to avoid recent tax hike
• more debate on Biggert bill to have specific legislation re comp time for family emergencies
• workweek strike in east Germany, pension strikes in France, Italy, Austria
• Schroeder seems to be heading Germany into pension strikes too
+ headlines from heaven = random hope:
• 2 UPsizings, with unspecified new UK & Russian jobs, as - J Sainsbury opens 100 convenience stores at Shell stations in UK, & - Chiyoda-led group contracts to build plant on Sakhalin Is.
• 'EuroNASA' launches Mars Express via Russian Soyuz in Kazakhstan
• Sharon to pledge to scrap some settlements
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 big mergers: • PeopleSoft to buy J.D. Edwards for $1.58B
• Altadis buys 80% of Regie des Tabacs Marocains for $1.52B
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 4666 lost jobs, mentioned in Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times:
• 4% workforce cut (4666 lost jobs) as FedEx cuts more costs & markets, instead of just trimming its workweek by 4% (19 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident, & shipping 96% as much as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Slater Steel of Mississauga, Ont.  

5/31-6/02/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- readers pls. mail $25/yr subscrptn check to Timesizing.com, Box 622, Cambridge, MA 02140 - $80 buys new Time Trilogy (# different visitors F Sa Su, any of our 605 pp/files: 687,473,537, wk's daily avg 706; )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• rest of east German union members vote 80% to strike for 35-hour week = parity with west  
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • stock indexes up (but downsizing continues)  
• UK bank shareholders revolt vs. inflated US executive's pay package  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
eroding retirement: • Inco employees strike big nickel mine in Sudbury, Ont. over pensions
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 150 lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal &/or New York Times:
• 11% workforce cut (100 lost jobs) as E-Z-Em Inc. medical imaging reduces costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 11% (to five 7hr7min days for the whole company, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & buying 89% as much medical care as usual     • 50 jobcuts as UnumProvident closes 2 plants
+ 3 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ &/or NYT: • WestPoint Stevens, owing $1.8B   • Penn Traffic  
• Medlink Hospital, Capitol Hill Community Hospital/Healthcare Group/Nursing Center, and BHS Management
+ 2 work-related suicide stories: • official suicide rate in Japan up 50% in just last 5 years, reaching 30,000/year   • officials nearly relieved Tacoma police chief of his gun day before he used it on estranged wife & himself
+ headlines from hell_tm • consumer spending down in April   • Bush violates Constitution with attacks on separation of church & state   • Bush pushes USA toward Soviet-style news control with media dereg  
• neo-cons ridicule real conservatives who compare US today with slow erosion of rights in 1930s Germany  
• loose immigration laws of last 10 years are hurting longtime US black citizens in the job market  
• Japanese jobless at near-record 5.4%   • French jobless at 9.3% as Chirac dilutes 35-hr workweek  
weekend roll-up
5 issues/wk - avg homepage hits this week: 74
hope of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 13 TIMEsizing items (??+ jobs saved)   • 3 UPsizings (??+ new jobs)  
vs.  doom of the weektm  from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 14 DOWNsizings, over 15,548 jobcuts  
• 8 bankruptcies, owing over $1.8B   • 1 eroded-retirement story   • 5 work-linked murder/suicides  
{{Year-To-Date: 176 timsizngs (11630+ new or sav'd jobs) + 30 upsizngs (11169+ new jobs) + 6 makwrk (14000+ 'jobs')
total 36799 = 7% of dnsz VERSUS 341 dnsz (517587+ cuts) + 117 bnkrp ($20.7B+) + 15 homlss + 34 prisn + 23 kills}}

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