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

7/31/2003  th/Þursðay
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 627 files, # visitors yesterday 7/30/w: 823 (4/30/w:835, 1/29/w:852) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Hyundai union dilutes fight for shorter hours with rigid wage demands, gov't threatens to step in
• Japanese overtime rose in June for 12th straight week, but # OT workers fell 1st time in 8 yrs
• Episcopal Diocese of NY urges priests to cap their workweek at 40 hrs to avoid burnout
• US parents want more time with kids but work schedules intrude
• unions at British Airways settle silly strike vs. time accountability
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 takeover downside: • GAO warns on future problems from audit-industry mergers
+ 6 DOWNsizings, totaling 17,944 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): 
• 23% cut (7785 jobs lost) as Siemens mobile-comms unit struggles with market slump by slumping it further, instead of just trimming its workweek 23% (to five 6hr-10min days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 77% as many as before     • 6450 jobcuts by Pillowtex   • 3700 cuts by May Dept Stores   • 5 by Sun Microsystems   • 4 by Singapore Airlines   • unspecified cuts by Matsushita Electric Industrial
+ 1 bankruptcy cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):  • Friede Goldman Halter Inc. et al.
+ 2 prison items: • one Wa. State county had to drop 119 of 450 jail beds & release non-violent inmates early
• 14-yr-old special-ed student unjustly (DNA) convicted of murder, freed after 15 yrs, given $1.5m by Chicago
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • UN warns of world governance crisis   • deflation worries Fed, despite impotence to influence   • weak corporate earnings ensure continued Japanese slump, & they're demo'ing our future

7/30/2003 wed
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Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 627 files, # visitors yesterday 7/29/t: 874 (4/29/t:856, 1/28/t:816) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• US employees gave back $21B to employers last year in untaken vacation
& US is the only industrialized nation that doesn't require employers to provide vacation
• 71% of Americans say they work more than 40 hrs/wk, but only 53%
say they're overworked, though 83% are dissatisfied with their job
• people work 10-hour days in Mauritius, 55-hour workweeks
• 1.2m children a year enter 168-hour workweek of slavery
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
6 DOWNsizings, totaling 50,530 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 28% cut (38,838 mainly Swiss jobs lost) as ABB engineering continues its death spiral, instead of just trimming its workweek 28% (to four 28.8-hr days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & spending 72% as much as usual    
• 5000 cuts by Verizon   • 4192 by Providian   • 1800 by VF Jeanswear   • 400 by Andrew Corp.  • 300 by Milacron  
+ eroding retirement: • GAO says soc sec benefits need to be cut by a third by 2039 else insolvent  
• BP one of few firms pumping up pension fund - to tune of $2B
+ 2 prison items: • one Wa. State county had to drop 119 of 450 jail beds & release non-violent inmates early
• 14-yr-old special-ed student unjustly (DNA) convicted of murder, freed after 15 yrs & given $1½m by Chicago
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • consumer confidence falls nearly 7 points (8%) June-July to 76.6

7/29/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 626 files, # visitors yesterday 7/28/m: 819 (4/27/m:910, 1/26/m:789) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• intermittent Hyundai strikes for shorter workweek are starting triggering parts-shortages
• cartoon questions why, if we're twice as productive, we shouldn't work half as long
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing - ?? new Chinese jobs as CNOOC puts $700m into gasfields & pipelines  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 DOWNsizing, totaling 884 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 13% cut (884 jobs lost) as BMC Software gets hysterical over its first loss in 5 quarters, instead of just trimming its workweek 13% (to five 6hr58min days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & shopping 87% as much as usual
+ eroding retirement: • latest fad = firms offer fewer 401k fund choices to lure more participants  

7/26-28/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscription check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  ( # diff. visitors F Sa Su, any of our 626 files: 713,435,462, wk's daily avg 708 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• IBM/Vermont switches to from avg 42-hr wks to 36-hours to avoid layoffs
• timesizing Nucor's profit cut by higher costs & takeover indigestion
• Italy provides example of fluid shareable hours vs. rigid 40-hr jobs
• 24-7 operations have a considerable & costly downside
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • Doonesbury nails Fox News
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 takeover downsides: • Pfizer posts $3.59B loss due to April
takeover of Pharmacia   • supermarket oligopoly keeps up milk prices
+ eroding retirement: • Treasury Secy says pension meltdown similar to S&L collapse abrewing
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 250 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 250 US jobs cut as Goldman Sachs moves admin & tech jobs to India  
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • HQ Global  
+ 1 prison item: • US prison population grew 2.6% last year to 2,166,260
+ 1 work-linked suicide: • looks like Navy Secy nominee shot self dead
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • states' red ink hurts recovery   • workers' comp in crisis   • wealthy Americans, out of touch, grow bullish   • FCC & FEC, the 'federal F*Ces', sprout loopholes   • 28-page deletion in 9/11 report indicted Saudis & still, Koizumi wants to replay Blair   • spam, 'bane of Internet' , costs US estimated $10-87B/yr   • some firms now targeting certain customers with bad service   • Mexico's jobless rate only up to 3.2% but that's out of 'economically active' 38% of population   • we've slaughtered a lot more whales than we thought  
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 57
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 18 TIMEsizing items
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 12,497 jobcuts   • 5 bankruptcies  
• 1 eroding-retirement story   • 1 prison story   • 1 work-linked suicide
{{ ytd: 311 timsizngs (15070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 52 upsizngs (20523+ new jobs) + 18 makwrk (26400+ 'jobs') =
total 61993 = 9% of cuts VERSUS 429 dnsz (665184+ cuts) + 195 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +40 prisn +30 suic }}

7/25/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 626 files, # visitors yesterday 7/24/th: 767 (4/23/Þ:800, 1/22/Þ:754) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• AP releases 3 more fotos of Hyundai employees striking for cut from 5½- to 5-day workweek
• downsizing has led Verizon to costly overtime & customer-base shrinkage
• Dem candidate John Edwards attacks mandatory overtime in nursing
• pilots sometimes asked to work on day off in exchange for 2 days off
• French pension 'reform' is a mixed bag of worktime pluses & minuses
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope:
• George Soros buys full-page ad vs. Bush in Sunday Times
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 takeovers: • Roche Holding buys Igen Int'l for $1.42B  
• J.P. Morgan buys Bank One trust business for $720m  
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 2300 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 21% cut (6000 jobs lost) as JDS Uniphase fiber optics continues its death spiral, instead of just trimming its workweek 21% (to five 6hr19min days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & spending 79% as much as usual    
• 640 cuts by Spiegel   • 160 by A.T. Cross  
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ or NYT: 
• James Cable Partners/Finance   • SK Global (South Korean Global)
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • 9/11 report describes 5 of the 9/11 terrorists' test runs   • Boston Globe calls case of Uday & Qusay (oy vay!) political assassination   • Greenpeace warns of pollutants from nanotechnology  

7/24/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 626 files, # visitors yesterday 7/23/w: 855 (4/23/w:1068, 1/22/w:846) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• AP releases 4 fotos of Hyundai Motor employees striking for cut from 5½- to 5-day workweek
• shorter-hrs movement wins a victory in defeat of wimpy German union leader by tough timesizer
• news reports on Cambodian election lump overwork with torture & starvation in nation's history
• overwork is triggering a flurry of nervous breakdowns & suicides ('karoshis') in Onomichi, Japan
• Imperial Oil provides latest sample of frequent industrial boasting about total safe hours worked, i.e., fluid, reshareable worktime, not rigid 40-hour "jobs"
+ headlines from heaven from WSJ/NYT = random hope: • in blow to FCC, House votes 400-21 to reverse media consolidation   • new duties on computer chips & catfish add to those on steel as 'free' trade simplism fades   • Japan's population future looks a lot better than ours  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 7101 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 9% cut (6000 jobs lost) as Eastman Kodak cuts costs (& mkts), instead of just trimming its workweek 9% (¾-hour a day for whole firm, including execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 91% as much camera gear as usual    
• 1100 cuts by Schwab   • 1 top job eliminated by Wal-Mart/Europe  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • media's coverage of gov't, generally negative, has declined   • 9/11 committee's report raises stink around Bush/Cheney to high heaven   • now a conservative! in WSJ! slams Bush's taxcuts! & Bush claims Gore quote from campaign!   • Brazil jobless up to 13%, interest rates "down" to 24½%  

7/23/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 625 files, # visitors yesterday 7/22/t: 902 (4/22/t:1102, 1/21/t:781) -
worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Japanese expatriates in Silicon Valley worked 24/7 but napped all the time,
American top brass can nap but no one else, despite nap found best (+34%) productivity tool
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
2 takeovers & 1 overview: • Lehman Brothers to buy Neuberger Berman for $2.63B  
• First National Banks of Ariz. & Nev. to buy Access Anytime Bancorp of New Mexico for $22m  
• Euro CEOs, bored with slow advance of economic armageddon, are getting into big private buyouts
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 2136 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 30% cut as Siebel Systems mgmt software continues self-immolation, instead of just slimming its workweek 30% (to four 7-hour days for whole firm, including execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & purchasing 70% as much software as usual    
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):  • Seitel Inc.   • Prime Succession
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • mall vacancies climb as retail starts to fold   • many investors still see layoffs as a Good Thing   • your credit cards are getting higher late fees & shorter grace periods   • over-population forecast for 2050 - US 422m, Africa up 1B  

7/22/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 625 files, # visitors yesterday 7/21/m: 824 (4/21/m:810, 1/20/m:674) -
primitive TIMEsizing & TIMEsizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• IG Metall's fingerpointing chief quits 3 months early 'in protest'
• IG's second-in-command wins top job, will be ratified in August
• La-Z-Boy takes more plant shutdown time than usual to pare inventories
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • Detroit Medical Center cancels 1000 pink slips
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 710 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 36% cut (353 jobs lost) as Pinnoak Resources coal mining amputates its workforce, instead of just amputating its workweek 36% (to five 5hr5min days for whole company, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 64% as much as usual     • 182 cuts by Singapore Airlines   • 175 by Millennium Chemicals  
+ other headlines from hell (tm)  • after a year, corporate reform has gone nowhere   • Iraq will devastate future recruiting by the reserves - sign in windshield of military truck in Iraq, "One weekend a month, my ass"

7/19-21/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscription check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  ( # diff. visitors F Sa Su, any of our 623 files: 704,468,496, wk's daily avg 727 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• 39,000 Hyundai union members continue pressure for shorter workweek in S. Korea
• Japan Labor Ministry finally lets widow have her karoshi'd husband's worker's comp
• currently too few on-the-job training options for too many laid-off mfg workers that
Timesizing's overtime- & overwork-to-training phases are needed to correct
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • World Bank finally suspects its favorite
remedy, privatization, was just rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
3 takeover overviews: • China looking to merge ± privatize 104 state-owned firms
• 3 big Canuck banks troll for takeover targets - in 'the States'   • takeover-target stocks may be risky
+ eroding retirement: • another Texas-like incident but now, in DC - GOP tries bait&switch pension bills, Dems walk out, GOP calls cops & steamrolls   • result: another mkt-bashing GOP bill that favors deceptive CEOs
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 4250 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 16% workforce cut (4000 jobs lost) as Volkswagen/Brazil moves jobs (and markets) to China, instead of just trimming its workweek 16% (to five 6¾-hour days for whole division, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 84% as many VW bugs as usual     • 250 cuts by Vicor   • unspecified cuts by Trinity Industries
+ 1 bankruptcy (Magnatrax) & 2 scary backgrounders: • 2002 bankruptcies a record 1.57m, & illness
a perennial reason   • April's 3,610 German corporate bankruptcies hit all-time record
+ 1 prison item: • inmate's wife sneaks in a gun, jail switches to video visits only
+ 1 work-linked suicide: • the Iraq-invasion stink spreads - Brit weapons
inspector pressured to take the fall for Tony Blair slashes his wrists
+ headline from hell (tm)  • redneck nails Bush as biggest spender since LBJ  
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 67
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 13 TIMEsizing items   • 1 UPsizing (150 new jobs)   • 7 makework cases (1100+ new 'jobs')
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 6 DOWNsizings, over 10,809 jobcuts   • 7 bankruptcies/collapses  
• 7 eroding-retirement stories   • 2 prison stories   • 3 work-linked suicides
{{ ytd: 293 timsizngs (15070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 52 upsizngs (20523+ new jobs) + 18 makwrk (26400+ 'jobs') =
total 61993 = 9% of cuts VERSUS 418 dnsz (652687+ cuts) + 190 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +39 prisn +29 suic }}

7/18/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 623 files, # visitors yesterday 7/17/Þurs: 814 (4/17/Þ:860, 1/16/Þ:738) -
primitive TIMEsizing & TIMEsizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Swiss Int'l Air cuts working hours to help save jobs
• Iraqi women given shorter working hours to get to & from work without harm
• Reuters 'analyst' goes on about how IG Metall must change (from sustainable work-spreading hours-reductions to faster descent to Third World?!)
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • Dems finally whisper 'impeach Bush'
• conservative Judicial Watch finally pries two energy-taskforce documents out of Bush&Cheney ('coincidentally' they’re focused on Iraqi oilfields & pipelines, 6 months before 9/11 and 2 years before their hardsellfrighteous Iraqattaq)
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
PUFFsizing = makework rampant: • Dept. of Education's $270m cut in nation's
largest grant program will not stop gov't spending of education from continuing to rise
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 5000 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 11% workforce cut (5000 jobs lost) as Boeing's commercial airlines unit self-mutilates in response to postponed orders, instead of just trimming its workweek 11% (to five 7hr7min days for whole division, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & flying 89% as much as usual
+ eroding retirement: • will Congress let accounting fiction obscure pension reality?  
• lawmakers dilute Brazilian pension changes
+ 4 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • Earthcare Co.   • Vanderveer Estates Holding  
• Lisanti Foods   • Kleinert's Inc.
+ other headlines from hell (tm)  • Europe is drawing MBA students away from the U.S.   • NBER at last announces end of irrelevantly defined 'recession'   • House gerrymandering has disenfranchised 95% of voters

7/17/2003 thurs/Þurs
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 623 files, # visitors yesterday 7/16/wed: 830 (4/16/w:947, 1/15/w:764) -
primitive TIMEsizing & TIMEsizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• 1-day strike tomorrow at Hyundai Motor/S.Korea for shorter workweek (40 hrs instead of 44)
• US businessfolks cut own job satisfaction by spending 1/3 more time at work than 5 years ago
• sleep-deprived resident (trainee) physicians in US cause 5,000-15,000 patient deaths a year
+ headlines from heaven = random hope from WSJ or NY Times: • Dean has three times as many donors as war-duped Dem cands   • House panel roughens road for media consolidators  
• EU cuts one outrageous sales tax
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
PUFFsizing = makework rampant: • Oakland finally pays $2m to settle case of wrongly arrested enviros after wasting twice that on lawyers   • spooked by 50% cuts at Ericsson, Swedish gov't wades into map software biz
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 550 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 10% workforce cut (550 Dutch jobs lost) as ASML Holding chip-eqpmt lowers operating costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 10% (48 minutes a day for whole company, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & buying 90% as many computers as usual
+ 1 mega-takeover: • British American Tobacco to buy Tabacchi Italiano for $2.6B  
+ eroding retirement: • GAO recently found serious deficiencies or harm to residents at 1 in 5 nursing homes  
• employers have made big pension promises to employees but many don't set a$ide enough dough to deliver
+ other headlines from hell (tm)  • US commander in Iraq admits it's a guerilla war vs. organized enemy  
• 9/11 widow rakes WSJ for dissing 9/11 commission   • Bush wants to force Puerto Rico to obey a higher court (his own) while trying to stop Colombia from obeying one (World Court)  
• new 'arms' race = scanning technology reassembles shredded documents

7/16/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 621 files, # visitors yesterday 7/15/tue: 896 (4/15/t:946, 1/14/t:843) -
timesizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Hooker Furniture, on reduced workweek, joins other mfrs to seek anti-dumping laws
• southern Algeria to cut from 8 to 5-hour workday due to lethal heatwave with temps to 135F
+ headlines from heaven = random hope from WSJ or NY Times:
• 1 UPsizing - 150 new jobs at Toyota/Alabama  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • Verizon is running scared - reinstates 1100 'jobs'
• now the federal government's in the weight-loss biz - unspecified prolonged gov't 'jobs'
+ 2 takeover items: • Citigroup to buy Sears creditcard portfolio for $3B  
• Johnson & Johnson's $2.4B purchase of Scios drops its profit 27% on a 14% sales gain
+ eroding retirement: • on pensions, both Bush & Congress are more worried about companies than pensioners
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 9 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 5% workforce cut (9 people terminated) as Honeywell aviation products closes a plant, instead of just trimming its workweek 5% (24 minutes a day for the whole plant, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & moving everyone to keep them together, working, earning & shopping 95% as much as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • Loral Space & Communications  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • White House admits $455 BILLION deficit, up 50% in 5 months of irrelevant war  
• oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen - Bush has new war ally = Romania  
• U.S. generates 1/3 of all spam worldwide & wants a toothless antipam law

7/15/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 621 files, # visitors yesterday 7/14/mon: 881 (4/14/m:833, 1/13/m:790) -
timesizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• special convention to resolve fingerpointing in big German union over failure of shorter-hrs strike
• to solve benefit-fund shortfall, rightist French gov't plans make artists work more hrs to qualify
+ headlines from heaven = random hope from WSJ or NY Times:
• EU tariff-list targets states Bush needs for re-election   • CEOs see own health suffer with firms' in troubled economy   • proving ground tries to save bald eagles, 29 states get $70m to save endangered species (but road building reopened in national forests)
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • Bush hands 2 million bucks to North Korea to find remains from Korean War 50 yrs ago
• 40% of population works for government on 2 French islands north of Maine & Nova Scotia, St-P & Miq
+ 2 takeover items: • Yahoo to buy Overture for $1.63B   • so-called 'boom' only 10 deals ahead of last yr
+ eroding retirement: • United Airlines discloses at least $1B wider pension deficit
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): • Mirant  
+ 1 prison item: • Indianapolis jail for 1135 inmates had more than 1600 in January = 41% extra
+ 2 work-linked suicides: • school principal in Japan hangs self in early March after weeks of overwork
• member of school board that denied sick-leave to principal kills himself four months later, on July Fourth
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • with half our troops tied up in security-irrelevant Iraq, America's defenses are down  
• thorough review of intelligence picture shows panoramic dishonesty & deception by White House - Cheney's resignation demanded   • Bush even opposes labeling for frankenfoods

7/12-14/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscription check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  ( # diff. visitors F Sa Su, any of our 621 files: 709,487,510, wk's daily avg 703 )
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• cash crisis forces some NYC tourist draws to cut hours & presumably employee hours too
• cash crisis forces Action for Prisoners' Families in Britain to cut hours & ditto ditto ditto ditto
• WSJ spins FLSA overtime section as 'outdated' - same as Glass Steagall & bankruptcy law
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • 1 UPsizing - 2800 new jobs at Oracle/India  
• Tyco caps executive severance pay   • Dem candidates finally attach Bush's credibility  
• Canada's lookin' better 'n better  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
makework rampant: • union put rigid featherbedding into contract instead of flexible
timesizing - now Verizon has to hire back 2300 unnecessary 40-hour-workweek employees
+ 5 DOWNsizing, totaling 31,800 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal or New York Times:
• 30,000 lost jobs as Czech Republic Army cut in half   • 1000 jobcuts at United Nations in NYC
• 15% workforce cut (450 Dutch jobs lost) as Aegon insurance responds to weak financial markets by weakening them further, instead of just trimming its workweek 15% (to five 6hr48min days for the whole company, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & buying 85% as much insurance as usual
• 350 St. Louis jobs cut by Autoliv   • unspecified Salt Lake cuts by Franklin Covey
+ 2 takeover stories: • Boise Cascade is to buy OfficeMax for $1.1B  
• Ellison can't compete, so he goes around trying to buy, & shutdown, rivals
+ eroding retirement: • another happy WSJ article on The Gutting of Medicare  
• another gloomy Boston Globe contrib on the doom of boomers' mass retirement
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 70
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 16 TIMEsizing items   • 3 UPsizings (6700 new jobs)  
+ clouded hope: • 3 makework cases (2300+ new 'jobs')
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 34,215 jobcuts   • 2 job-linked suicides
• 8 eroding-retirement stories   • 8 bankruptcies/liquidations  
{{ ytd: 280 timsizngs (15070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 51 upsizngs (20373+ new jobs) + 11 makwrk (25300+ 'jobs') =
total 60743 = 9% of cuts VERSUS 412 dnsz (641878+ cuts) + 183 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +37 prisn +26 kills }}

7/11/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 621 files, # visitors yesterday 7/10/Þurs: 784 (4/10/Þ:817, 1/09/Þ:802) -
timesizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• S.Korean unions have been stepping up pressure for shorter workweek
• zero-net-gain overtime changes pass US House of Representatives 213 to 210
•S/W Airlines turns Jeckyll-Hyde, asking longer hours, & slave labor while planes parked
•cash-starved US museums cut hours
+ headlines from heaven = random hope from WSJ or NY Times:
• a few words of wisdom from the highest-quality candidate of last 12 years, Ralph Nader
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • Labor Dpt hands $4m to religious orgs to place challenged workers & $1m to AFL-CIO
+ eroding retirement: • Bush may sweeten pension rules for businesses, yet again - 3rd World, here we come!
+ 4 bankruptcies & 1 liquidation mentioned in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): • NOW
Communicat'ns   • Eagle Food   • InterBank Funding (IBF)   • Maxxim Medical   • Weatherly Securities liquidates
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • US unemployed hit 20-yr high at 3.82m   • Bush response? - joins EU to fight 'Buy American' requirement for Pentagon!   • US employers get tougher vs. unions   • Italy - illegals from Africa   • S/E Asia - interest rates down & jobless up

7/10/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 621 files, # visitors yesterday 7/09/wed: 814 (4/09/w:859, 1/08/w:744) -
timesizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Business Week Online has a distillation of common sense re work time
• nursing groups ask US to exclude them from rule changes barring them from overtime pay
+ headlines from heaven = random hope from WSJ or NY Times: • de-demonizing eugenics  
• Canada set to dispense medical marijuana   • FDA requires labeling of transfatty acids in 2006  
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant: • NYT columnist still wants strain of gov't economic stimulus & indirect job creation
+ eroding retirement: • WSJ admits firms created their own pension shortfall, now want governm't handout
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 250 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 250 pilots on indefinite 'furlough' at Delta   • unspecified cuts by BPO Solvay Polyethylene North America
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • Americans wonder when recovery will dawn   • specialists insist on 'direct evidence' for jobloss-crime connection   • Rummy doubles cost estimate for Iraq to nearly $4 billion A MONTH

7/09/2003 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 621 files: 815 (t:4/08:824,t:1/07:707) -
primitive timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Hyundai Motor union battles on for 40-hour workweek
• Toyota employee's widow wins karoshi compensation suit
• Japan wants shorter hours for employees with preschool children
• German shorter-hrs strike-defeat conjures analyst dreams of total union power-slip
• US welfare law requires 30-hr workweek incl. training, Bush wants 40, now Grassley 34
• Philly actress portrays Mother Jones who helped prep ground for FLSA's workweek cap
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 2 UPsizings - 3000 new jobs at Samsung/Slovakia  
- 900 new jobs at BMW/South Africa   • court blocks Cheney coverup  
• open-source software strengthens   • 2d Mars rover sets off just in time  
• Magna International to unmerge (= do a spinoff)
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 takeover overview: • merger activity is ba-a-ack
+ eroding retirement: • Congress feathers its own retirement nest regardless of rest of America  
• civil servants in Brazil, as in France, fear pension 'reforms' are misnamed
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 500 lost jobs cited in WSJ or NYT:
• 2.5% workforce cut (500 voluntarily severed) as State Street bank keeps cutting costs (& its own markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 2.5% (12 minutes a day for the whole company, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & doing 97.5% as much banking business as usual
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • PG&E National Energy Group  
+ 2 work-linked suicides: • at Lockheed Martin/Miss. worker kills 5 coworkers, then self
• widow of Toyota employee who karoshi'd finally wins workmen's comp 15 years afterward
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • US consumer debt reached $1.76 trillion in May   • 9/11 commission getting sandbagged by Bush   • airport screeners barred from unionizing   • poor nations saw living standards decline

7/08/2003 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 621 files: 803 (m:4/07:830,m:1/06:688) -
primitive timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• more plotting against the only IG Metall leader with any vision or
guts in fight to align E. Germany's 38-hr workweek with W. Germany's 35-hr week
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • reader rebuts 'conservative' view that all I 'earn' is mine, however much in modern world, & owe no taxes   • our troops may want gratitude & support, but need open & thorough debates without name-calling, & total accountability if war decision is faulty   • a new, easier method of permanent birth control appears, called Essure
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 takeover: • EMC to buy Legato Systems for $1.3B
+ eroding retirement: • retirement plan investing, accounting for 85% of all mutual fund buying last year, is merely self-buoying   • Howard Dean wants to push full Soc Sec & Medicare benefits back to age 68, thus trimming domestic demand   • Bush wants save corporations billions in pension liabilities over next 2 years, further trimming domestic demand
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 1665 lost jobs cited in WSJ or NYT:
• 700 jobcuts by PinkRoccade NV   • 525 by Royal Numico NV
• 2% workforce cut (440 lost jobs) as Longs Drug Stores responds to sinking sales by reducing sales by its own workforce, instead of just trimming its workweek 2% (10 minutes a day for the whole company, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together confident, working, earning & buying 98% as many pharmaceuticals as usual
+ 2 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • General Datacomm Industries   • Argus Systems
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • omen - symbol of America, bald eagle, dies at National Zoo in US capital on US Independence Day   • White House actually admits flaw in one of urgent justifications for first-strike Iraq attack

7/05-07/2003 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscription check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  ( # diff. visitors F Sa Su, any of our 621 files: 507,425,440, wk's daily avg 667 )
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• labor leaders at VW/Mexico will propose 32-hr workweek to save 2000 jobs
• Hyundai union members vote to continue short hit&run strikes for 40-hr week  
• pathetic east Germans are scapegoating leader of cut-short strike for 35-hr week
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • 1 UPsizing - 1200 new Ma. jobs at Boston Scientific   • convincing arguments for federal estate tax   • support for enforcement of our immigration laws
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
eroding retirement: • French pension 'reform' passes General Assembly - oh oh!
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling ?? lost jobs cited in Wall Street Journal or New York Times:
• unspecified jobs lost as HIH Insurance Ltd collapses in Australia due to mismanagement
+ 4 bankruptcies & 1 corporate collapse mentioned in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• Biotransplant & Eligix   • Headway Corporate Resources   • Insite Services   • Ogden-New York Services
• HIH Insurance collapses 'down under' due to mismgmt, non-response to internat'l markets or future needs
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • multi-front economic deterioration continues in USA   • and Europe  
• war-gorged Wall Street Journal itself finally applies Q word to Iraq (quagmire)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 57
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 19 TIMEsizing items (2540+ jobs saved)   • 2 UPsizings (2200+ new jobs)  
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 10 DOWNsizings, over 12,380 jobcuts   • 15 bankruptcies/collapses, owing over $400m  
• 3 eroding-retirement stories   • 1 homelessness story   • 1 prison story   • 1 work-linked murder-suicide  
{{ ytd: 264 timsizngs (15070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 48 upsizngs (13673+ new jobs) + 8 makwrk (23000+ 'jobs') =
total 51743 = 8.5% of cuts VERSUS 401 dnsz (607663+ cuts) + 155 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +37 prisn +24 kills }}

7/04/2003 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 618 files: 795 (Þ:4/03:782,Þ:1/02:585) -
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
primitive timesizing & timesizing consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• good: 10,000s of S.Korean auto & metal workers strike 2d time this week for 4-hour cut
• bad: senior Japanese union leaders join mgmt push for blank check on employees' lives
• worse: in U.S., longer workweeks still hailed as positive indicator
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • July 4th gift from the sky? - Constellation Puppis yields most-promising setting for Earth-like planet   • US may be clamping down on merger accounting
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
headlines from hell_tm  • U.S. jobless rate up to 6.4% in June, highest in 9 years - 30,000 jobs lost - & May adjusted from 17, to 70,000 joblosses   • US general says US still at war in Iraq   • troops' families getting fed up
+ 2 big takeovers: • Liberty Media buys majority stake in QVC for $7.9B from Comcast  
• CMS & Xcel Energy sell Loy Yang Power to Aussie Gas Light, Tokyo Electric... for $2.4B
+ prison item: • unexpectedly naughty Dell Computer has been using cheap prison labor

7/03/2003 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 618 files: 788 (w:4/02:755,w:1/01:338) -
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
primitive timesizing in the news = strategic hope:
• South Korea's largest union group struck for shorter workweek yesterday
• Heidelberger Druckmaschinen's Sheetfed Div. cuts to 31½-hr workweek till 10/31 to save jobs
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • Europe moves to require labeling on frankenfoods, US big biz be damned   • antiwar Dem, Howard Dean, surges in fund raising   • Bill Dudley & team at Goldman Sachs cut thru the happytalk
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 big & 1 bank takeover: • Avio Holding buys FiatAvio for $1.7B  
• Provident Bancorp to buy E.N.B. [Bank] Holding for $73.5m
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 4900 lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal & NY Times:
• 5% workforce cut (2500 lost jobs) as Baxter International medical products improves profitability now by weakening markets later, instead of just cutting its workweek 5% (24 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, & confidently spending 95% as much on medical products as usual
• 1400 UK jobcuts by HSBC Bank   • 1000 cuts by Schneider Electric
+ 2 bankruptcies, mentioned in WSJ & NYT: • Aurora Foods with $400m in bond debt   • Pameco
+ 1 work-linked murder-suicide: • mfg worker near firing for absenteeism wounds 5 coworkers, kills 4 incl. self
+ headlines from hell_tm  • Bush's record on job creation? negative, like Hoover's   • problems with unemployment insurance of interstate telecommuters   • WSJ gears up explanations for why US mfg & jobs won't die - ohoh

7/02/2003 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 618 files: 834 (t:4/01:847,t:12/31:434) -
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• 90,000 South Korean metalworkers strike for 40-hour week (from 44)
• leaders intent on entering Germany in global Race to Bottom
• WSJ treats of overtime curb design
• US economic reports cheer longer avg workweeks = failure of technology to enhance output
• Disney timesizes for short downturns, downsizes for long ones, thus lengthening them
• less sweat, more tech rhetoric, but more tech, more sweat reality
+ 1 reversal for takeovers: • China moves toward banning cartels
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 big takeover: • Travel Transaction Processing buys Worldspan for $1B
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 4100 +?? lost jobs, noted in Wall Street Journal & NY Times:
• 3100 jobcuts by American Airlines     • 3% workforce cut (580 lost jobs) as AT&T Wireless cuts costs (& markets!), instead of just cutting its workweek 3% (less than 15 minutes a day for whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, & confidently spending 97% as much on wireless stuff as usual
• unspecified jobcuts by Black & Decker
+ homelessness in the news: • homeless families surge to 9000 in NYC this summer

7/01/2003 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 618 files: 877 (m:3/31:891,m:12/30:527) -
the volume of timesizing news has increased so much recently that after the big roundup of our
4 years of data last weekend, we're easing on the negative news to 'accentuate the positive' -
primitive timesizing & worktime consciousness in the news = strategic hope:
• Singapore Airlines does 2 days/mon. of unpaid leave to save over est. 540 jobs
• VW/Mexico did 1-week extension of Easter vacation to save jobs
• Dems & unions protest, biz groups support, Bush overtime proposals
• med students see holes in accrediters' workweek cap, still want legislation
• tax-starved states (MN, IL...) cut hours at all historic sites to avoid closing some
• WSJ makes maximum conclusions from minimum data on end of German shorter-hours strike
+ headlines from heaven = random hope: • 1 UPsizing - 1000 new TX jobs at new Texas Instruments plant   • Europes turns tougher on US frankenfoods   • M&A activity falls
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • most workers in dark on pension health   • GM profits from bond sale for pension boost
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 3380 lost jobs, noted in WSJ &/or NYT:
• 2000 jobcuts by Volkswagen   • 800 jobcuts by Waste Management
• 11% workforce cut (580 lost jobs) as LSI Logic overreacts to a loss, instead of just cutting its workweek 11% (to five 7hr7min days for the whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & spending 89% as much on computer stuff as usual
+ 8 bankruptcies, mentioned in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) & New York Times (NYT)