hopes/dooms du jour, August, 2003 + Sep.1
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

8/30-9/01/2003 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 638 files: 658,451,406, wk's daily avg 643 )
eroding retirement: • Tobias does usual ignore-tech scare re how few workers for how many retirees
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 373 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT): • RadioShack
+ 1 prison item: • with 1000 inmates on waitlist despite expansion, Ark. eases crowding with 860 early-releases
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • labor has gone from basic to ephemeral   • Puritan-brained lottery winners are still hogging vanishing market-demanded employment, or maybe it's gov't makework   • cars outnumber drivers in America & we complain re gas prices   • Canadian economy interrupts its star performance due to SARS & mad cow   • SARS hits Hong Kong's performance too
vs.  hope du jourtm - the only thing we haven't tried lately -  
TIMEsizing = strategic hope in the news:
• South Korea enacts 40-hour workweek nationwide
• big IG Metall union in Germany ratifies tough 35-hour workweek advocate as chief
• France, Belgium & Norway have highest productivity (per hour) - US fragged by long hours
• many feel pressure not to ask for OT pay  • labor leaders unhappy re proposed OT changes
• Dickies' Louisiana Worker of the Year is a throwback to the era of the 80-hour workweek
+ random hope/headlines from heaven:
• 1 UPsizing - 250 jobs restored as Delta recalls 250 pilots laid off during war
• Alasdair Campbell forced to resign - Tony Blair next? (hope hope)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 49
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 7908 jobcuts   • 3 bankruptcies  
• 4 eroding-retirement stories   • 2 prison stories   • 1 work-linked suicide
vs.  hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 22 TIMEsizing items (?? jobs saved)   • 3 UPsizings (340+ new jobs)   + clouded hope: • 2 makework cases
{{ ytd: 404 timsizngs (17670+ new or sav'd jobs) + 61 upsizngs (21863+ new jobs) + 36 makwrk (126400+ 'jobs') =
total 165939 = 22% of cuts VERSUS 490 dnsz (770362+ cuts) + 218 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +21 homlss +59 prisn +33 suic }}

8/29/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 637 files, # visitors yesterday 8/28/th: 746 (5/29/th:818, 2/27/th:1055) -
1 banking takeover:  • FleetBoston Financial to buy Progress Financial for $211m
+ eroding retirement: • it's now economically irrational for middle-class person to retire
in NYC   • Singapore cuts employer contributions to employee pension funds by 3%
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 5100 +?? lost jobs reported in Wall St. Journal or NY Times:
• 12% workforce cut (4600 Japan jobs lost) as Konica Minolta tries doubling profit by chopping some of its best markets, its own employees & their dependents, instead of just trimming its workweek 12% (to five 7-hour days for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 88% as many copiers & cameras as usual  
• 500 US jobs cut by Goodyear     • unspecified cuts by Sears Roebuck
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • why do polluters get a break?   • investors rush back to stock funds   • gee, Iraq war is expensive   • but Bush can just declare it cheap like he declares CO2 & greenhouse gases No Problem
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• Fox News' petition that Feds reconsider new limit on truckers' hours is denied
• hospital shrink says US medicos so weighed with paperwork, no time for patients
• U.S. colleges start kicking back against students' predilection for three-day weekend
• in 1st §, WSJ portrays US employees as loving their jobs - no mention of lengthening hours
• in last §, WSJ portrays most blue-collar employees as hating their jobs despite aim to leave them & 'civilized hours'
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, 90 new AZ jobs at Abbott Labs prompted by training subsidies from state
• Oklahoma Atty Gen. Drew Edmondson goes after Bernie Ebbers since the Feds aren't

8/28/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 637 files, # visitors yesterday 8/27/w: 769 (5/28/w:883, 2/26/w:992) -
4 DOWNsizings, totaling 1,835 lost jobs reported in Wall St. Journal or NY Times:
• 0.4% workforce cut (1100 early retirements) as Matsushita Electric Industrial closes 2 Japan factories & moves mfg to China, instead of trimming its workweek 0.4% (2 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 99.6% as much as before    
• 600 US jobs cut (17%) by Silicon Graphics    
• 100 cut by Oneida     • 35 by National Bank of Canada's Putnam Lovell NBF Securities unit
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • unspecified new 'jobs' as Halliburton gets $1.7B in
Iraq business & millions more dumped in its lap via no-bid Corps-of-Engineers contract
+ 1 work-linked multiple murder: • fired Chicago warehouse worker comes
ba-a-ack & blows away 6 coworkers before cops bring him down
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• council decertifies Johns Hopkins for sleep-depriving trainee shifts
• class action nails Finagle A Bagle for 75-hour, no-OT workweeks
• French right seizes on national disaster to push holiday-cancelling, forced-labor agenda
• S.Korean analysts don’t 'get' productivity-enhancing effect of workweek reduction
• fall in Mexican mfg jobs makes workweek reduction, as at VW, more important

8/27/2003 wed
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Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 636 files, # visitors yesterday 8/26/t: 741 (5/27/t:929, 2/25/t:992) -
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 450 lost jobs reported in Wall St. Journal or NY Times:
• 300 US jobs cut by Sweden's SKF     • 150 by Computer Network Technology
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • unspecified 'jobs' perpetuated
as agribiz extorts $10B/yr in corn subsidies from US taxpayers
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ or NYT:  • Anchor Glass Container bought out of bankruptcy  
+ 1 prison item: • Ma. prison isolates 2 other child-abusing priests in hospital wing after Geoghan's violent end
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • UK gov't has no intention of slowing immigration, legal or otherwise, even tho 53% of the public think it's out of control & 74% disagree that UK needs immigrants to fill jobs 'citizens don’t want'
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• Kia union achieved a 4-hour workweek cut without any pay cuts in S.Korea
• traditional Australian Aborigine workweek was only 20 hours long
• with so much time spent at the office, nearly 1/3 of US workforce
admits to skipping breakfast &/or lunch almost every workday
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, unspecified new jobs as Izod sportswear plans 155 stores in China

8/26/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 636 files, # visitors yesterday 8/25/m: 732 (5/26/m:617, 2/24/m:987) -
1 banking takeover:  • Fulton Financial to buy Resource Bancshares for $195.6m
+ eroding retirement: • China foolishly follows Calif's lead in pumping pension-fund $$ into stocks - & losing
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 150 +?? lost jobs reported in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT): Pfizer
+ 2 bankruptcies in WSJ or NYT:  • DVI Corp.   • Aerovias Nacionales de Colombia in Chapter 11  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • deficit this year up over halfa trillion   • GAO confirms stakeholders swarmed Cheney's energy taskforce = conflicts of interest galore   • campaign-spending regulation has broken down   • another US diplomat quits = Jack Pritchard   • bank 'product tying' surfaces, gets regulated - but elsewhere??
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • ?? new temporary Calif. 'jobs' as Tetra Tech
gets $65m US military contract for checking and destroying munitions
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = successful full-employment strategy ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• Kia Motors on Monday joins Hyundai in switching from 5½ & 44 to 5-day, 40-hr workweek
• Philly Labor Day parade co-chairs tout labor's accomplishments, #1 = the 5-day workweek
• drowsiness from driving overtime is primary cause of 100,000 crashes each year = 1500 deaths

8/23-25/2003 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 636 files: 613,407,403, wk's daily avg 602 )
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 2220 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 1440 jobcuts by Boeing   • 630 by Dan River Inc.   • 150 by Akzo Nobel
+ 1 prison item: • tho' most crimes declined in 2002, murders rose
+ 9 PUFFsizings = makework rampant: • Sen. Byron Dorgan wants to subsidize population in rural America   • US health insurance has become a makework monster, taming doctors with discounts & malpractice premiums   • PCs have gone beyond most people's needs, but not need of companies for revenues   • Japan aircraft makers want gov't funding   • Indian infrastructure projects have gov't funding   • answer columnist highlites irony of labor-intensive worksaving devices   • new viruses & new virus protection = private-sector efficiency or makework?   • French computer firm, Bull, has been on taxpayer life-support for decades   • senior senators of both parties say Iraq needs more U.S. troops & money  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • virus onslaught   • US farces in Iraq   • US has turned Iraq into a black hole, another Vietnam   • Bush defies everyone but business to repeal key part of Clean Air Act  
vs.  hope du jourtm - the only thing we haven't tried lately -  
TIMEsizing = strategic hope in the news:
• German union chief opines that IG Metall has put its failed strike for shorter hours behind it
• Maryland doctor (MD MD) supported long hours for future reward now hollowing out
• alleged futurist ignores worktime & predicts labor shortage later this year
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 53
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 8 DOWNsizings, over 3,290 jobcuts   • 3 bankruptcies   • 2 eroding-retirement stories  
vs.  hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 20 TIMEsizing items (600 jobs saved)   • 1 UPsizing (?? new jobs)   + clouded hope: • 11 makework cases (?? new 'jobs')
{{ ytd: 382 timsizngs (17670+ new or sav'd jobs) + 58 upsizngs (21523+ new jobs) + 34 makwrk (126400+ 'jobs') =
total 165593 = 22% of cuts VERSUS 479 dnsz (762454+ cuts) + 215 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +21 homlss +57 prisn +32 suic }}

8/22/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 636 files, # visitors yesterday 8/21/th: 640 (5/22/th:902, 2/20/th:855) -
1 mega takeover:  • Ripplewood Holdings to buy Japan Telecom's fixed-
line business from Vodafone for $2.2B in one of Japan's largest LBOs
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ or NYT:  • LTWC Corp. in Chapter 11  
+ PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • ?? new 'jobs' as HealthNet, Humana & TriWest
split $6.5B from taxpayers to manage healthcare benefits for members of US military
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = successful & central strategy ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• some workaholic health workers are now blaming France's 35-hr week for heatwave deaths
• Lufthansa modulates workweek not workforce, valves 12000 ground staff from 35 to 37½
• stricter welfare workhour requirements in certain U.S. states reduce breast feeding
• diffusion index for average Pa. workweek stayed positive for 2nd month (huh?)
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, unspecified new jobs as Yum Brands plans to invest nearly
$50m in 590 Mexican restaurant openings in next 4 years

8/21/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 635 files, # visitors yesterday 8/20/w: 684 (5/21/w:960, 2/19/w:826) -
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 130 lost jobs) reported in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 0.8% workforce cut (130 jobs lost) as Sonoco Products packaging continues closing factories, instead of trimming its workweek 0.8% (4 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 99.2% as much as before     • unspecified cuts by Dillard's   • unspecified cuts by ACES (Air Colombia)
+ 1 liquidation in WSJ or NYT:  • Colombia's #2 airline ACES  SA  
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = the successful strategy we've ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• VW/Mexico mgmt takes 8% paycut to share the pain of employees' workweek reduction
• S.Korean analysts try to use 'discourages investment!' argument against 'short' 40-hr workweek
• overtime fight heats up in US Congress   • some truckers keep 2 hours-logs, real & for-troopers
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• Harvard study finds U.S. wastes 3 times as much money processing health-insurance
paperwork as Canada & could cover all 41 million uninsured Americans if changed
• remarkable TV series is energizing Japan's aging salarymen

8/20/2003 wed
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Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 635 files, # visitors yesterday 8/19/t: 732 (5/20/t:994, 2/18/t:903) -
mergers: 1 down & 1 up:  • Medco spins off from Merck but HBOS swallows Bank of W. Australia for $1.6B
+ eroding retirement: • Italy highlights worldwide need to switch worktime caps from worklife to workweek
+ 1 DOWNsizing overview (totaling 160k lost jobs) reported in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 36% workforce/consumerbase cut (160,000 jobs lost) in last 4 years as North Carolina textile, apparel & furniture-making industries close factories, instead of trimming their workweek 36% (to five 5hr7min days for whole industries, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 64% as much as before    
+ 1 liquidation in WSJ or NYT:  • Ideal Mutual Insurance  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • America has taken a country that was not a terrorist threat & turned it into one  
• B-school prof confirms most mgmt faculty take decidedly 'pro-employer' stance on labor issues
vs.  hope du jourtm - the successful strategy we've ignored since Pearl Harbor -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Nissan/Mexico cuts output goal 7% in wake of VW/Mexico's 23% cut & shorter workweek
• South Korea umbrella unions battle against 5-day week while Kia Motors union battles for it
• Americans only have to work avg. 10 mins. to buy a Big Mac while Nairobians over 3 hrs
• little soccer players in WSJ last-page cartoon look forward to 'unstructured time' as adults
• medical case-study series will cover house-staff work-hour limits

8/19/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 635 files, # visitors yesterday 8/18/m: 736 (5/19/m:914, 2/17/m:745) -
1 merger down but 4 up:  • shareholders cancel sale of Transportes Ferroviarios Mexicanos
to Kansas City Southern, but Company News column follows with 4 takeovers still on course
+ eroding retirement: • Bush lets Northwest stuff pensions with hard-to-value stock instead of cash
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 940 lost jobs reported in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 0.2% workforce cut (600 jobs lost) as IBM gets hysterical about a loss in one business despite profit overall, instead of just trimming its workweek 0.2% (1 minute a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping & buying 99.8% as much computer & other stuff as usual    
• 340 jobcuts by Sonoco Products
+ bankruptcy overview in WSJ or NYT:  • U.S. bankruptcy filings break 2 records...again  
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • Hong Kong jobless up to 8.7%   • Hong Kong, tho' desperate for sales, mulls sales tax   • America, tho' desperate for higher wages, hammers down wages by welcoming 400,000 Hispanic immigrants per year, regardless of legality
vs.  hope du jourtm - the successful strategy we've ignored since Pearl Harbor
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• estimated 600 jobs saved at IBM/Vermont by one-week unpaid leave for 3000 in September
• people with vacation broadband access report working longer hours than vacation dialup users
• Hyundai union won 5-day wk & Kia wants too, but now gov't wants enact, unions don't want
• who's blaming heatwave deaths in France on the 35-hour workweek? - Chirac
• power outage triggered worktime reduction in Canada too
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope:
• 1 surprising CEO - ex-chief of Alstom gives back $4.6m severance
+ PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • Japan flushed $17B down its 5th-biggest bank

8/16-18/2003 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 633 files: 530,415,438, wk's daily avg 645 )
3 general DOWNsizing stories cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• finally, a scope on the hidden unemployment of the 'self-employed' - est. 470,000 dropped out of the labor market in July alone - &   • on technological displacement at car companies - avg. 24,000 UAW jobs lost every year for past 25 years - &   • on outsourcing's effect on US consumer
+ 3 bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • Clift Hotel   • Horizon PCS & 2 units   • Petroleum Geo-Services
+ homelessness in the news: • (7/27) for yuppies derailed, here's a howto on being a Web-savvy homeless
+ 2 prison items: • cartoon hits fraud artists like Waksal of Imclone   • 1 in 37 Americans now jailbirds
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • insiders aren't buying into 'rally' - they're dumping at Y2K level prior to sharp market drop   • make-or-break time for economy now that bandaids used up   • WSJ hints we should hang onto our panic control instinct
vs.  hope du jourtm - the only thing we haven't tried -  
TIMEsizing = strategic hope in the news:
• what does it take to get US businesses to shorten their workweek? - a big power outage
• but monthly average workweek in NY lengthened 'from -6.28 to -2.48', whatever that means
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 49
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 15 DOWNsizings, over 13,511 jobcuts   • 9 bankruptcies  
• 5 eroding-retirement stories   • 1 homelessness story   • 4 prison stories  
vs.  hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 12 TIMEsizing items   • 3 UPsizings (1000+ new jobs)   + clouded hope: • 1 makework case
{{ ytd: 362 timsizngs (17070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 57 upsizngs (21523+ new jobs) + 23 makwrk (126400+ 'jobs') =
total 164993 = 22% of cuts VERSUS 471 dnsz (759164+ cuts) + 212 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +21 homlss +57 prisn +32 suic }}

8/15/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 633 files, # visitors yesterday 8/14/th: 700 (5/15/th:944, 2/13/th:796) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• media try blaming high French heat deaths on 35-hour workweek
• high US productivity a mere mirage resulting from gov't undercount of spreading working hours
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • General Dynamics & Northrop won $9B Navy contract for 6 subs
+ eroding retirement: • congressional analysis says 1/3 of retirees would lose better benefits under
new Medicare drug 'benefit'   • Labor Dept. subpoenas records on Tyco's retirement plans
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 6825 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): • 4700 jobcuts by Dresdner Bank     • 9% workforce cut (1850 jobs lost) as Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken over-reacts to 4% revenue decline by slashing payroll (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 9% (43 mins. a day for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 91% as much as usual    
• 275 jobcuts by BearingPoint
+ 2 bankruptcies/liquidations cited in WSJ or NYT:  • Crystalane et al.   • Legion & Villanova Insurance
+ 1 prison story: • Justice Kennedy opposes, Ashcroft supports, mandatory minimum sentencing
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • big power failure reveals 3rd-world electrical grid   • jobless recovery just means things getting worse slightly slower   • more advanced but still time-blind Germany & Italy enter recession

8/14/2003 Þursðay
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 632 files, # visitors yesterday 8/13/w: 807 (5/14/w:1038, 2/12/w:875) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Lufthansa shrank staffing costs 3.3% by reducing work hours
• biz' drive for more technology tends to shift from more free time to same time, more productivity
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope:
• 1 UPsizing, 1000 new jobs as Cptr Sciences doubles hi-tech lo-wage workforce in India
• DVD-audio format hasn't caught on - makework avoided
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 DOWNsizing cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): • 600 jobcuts by Tyson Foods
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • recent reports reveal weak Q2 sales&earnings’ 'strength' due only to falling dollar
• another pretext exploded - CIA told Bush & Cheney before they invaded that democracy impossible in Iraq
+ 1 takeover:  • Synthes-Stratec bought Mathys Medizinaltechnik for $1.1B
+ eroding retirement: • pension plans face risk of bankruptcy thru 'bank' runs
+ 1 bankruptcy cited in WSJ or NYT:  • RSL Com Primecall & RSL Com USA  

8/13/2003 wed
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TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Kia/Korea jeopardizes shorter workweek demand with 11% wage-hike demand
• VW/Mexico union jeopardizes recent hourscut cum layoff-block with 13.6% wage-hike demand
• Illinois jeopardizes casino cashcows with graduated business tax - casinos cut hours to avoid
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope: • universal single-payer health plan is endorsed by thousands of US doctors in medical journal
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
6 DOWNsizings, totaling 4544 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 5% workforce cut (2344 jobs lost) as Interpublic ad agency cuts expenses (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 5% (24 mins. a day for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 95% as much as usual     • 1000 jobcuts by Entergy     • 650 by Reliant Resources     • 300 by Dendrite     • 250 by Schwab     • unspecified cuts by Nasdaq Deutschland
+ 3 bankruptcies cited in WSJ or NYT:  • General Media   • Epic Capital   • Actrade Financial Technologies
+ 1 prison story: • Equip for Equality group accuses Cook County IL of denying services to mentally ill inmates

8/12/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 632 files, # visitors yesterday 8/11/m: 873 (5/12/m:1186, 2/10/m:931) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Rexnord power transmissions of Milwaukee has
reduced jobcuts with less overtime & spot workweek-reductions
• Scandinavian Airlines of Sweden, by contrast, has lengthened working hours
• reminder of Europe's usual enlightenment - France has 38 days of vacation & holidays
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope: • 2 UPsizings, unspecified new jobs - HSBC of HongKong plans global expansion for its consumer lending & creditcards  
• Reins International of Tokyo plans 1000 Japanese BBQs across USA in next 10 years
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
eroding retirement: • GM whines because it now has 2 retirees for every worker, never mind how
many robots for every retiree   • Delta finally lets go of its bankruptcy-proof executive pension plan
+ 5 DOWNsizings, totaling 1542 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
• 5% workforce cut (500 jobs lost) as Avnet computer-parts distributor cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 5% (24 mins. a day for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & shopping 95% as much as usual     • 500 jobcuts by AT&T Wireless     • 427 by Warnaco     • 115 by Cooper Tire     • unspecified cuts by Sysco

8/09-11/2003 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 631 files: 659,436,483, wk's daily avg 639 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• VW Mexico cuts workweek from 5 to 4 days to save 2,000 jobs
• Kia employees want 5-day workweek like Hyundai employees in South Korea
• Singapore is trying to regain its vitality but 'more free time' is buried in a list of 100 suggestions
• US practice of sacrificing worker-consumers (instead of working hours)
on the altar of output gains is clobbering the US dollar in Tokyo currency trading
• management trainer thinks boomers live to work & GenXers work to live; - if only!
+ random hope/headlines from heaven: • Jim Hightower unloads on Dubya & plutocracy   • conservative Clyde Prestowitz follows suit   • Soros backs coordinated anti-Bush campaign, Dean gains   • French 'Woodstock' vs. globalization   • Navy auctions unpopular postings
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
eroding retirement: • more support for death of retirement & 2 hand-holding books
+ 4 prison items: • tough-on-crime Justice Kennedy slams minimum mandatory sentencing   • Borowitz writes a CEO's guide to surviving in prison   • if doing time makes you a better criminologist, • does being a warden make you a better prisoner?
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • the good news: this yr's deficit less; bad news: it's still over $400B   • so US financial security scrubbed, & job security   • & nuclear security   • Bush security-bashing wrap - burning a billion a week in Iraq   • Ashcroft wants to blacklist lenient judges   • Iraq is Halliburton's cash cow   • USA overthrew Iran's democratic gov't in 1953   • scion of Suez supervisor succumbs to Chesterton's pan-utopian trap
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 65
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 18 TIMEsizing items (2000 jobs saved)   • 1 UPsizing (?? new jobs)  
+ clouded hope: • 2 makework cases (100,000 new 'jobs')
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 8 DOWNsizings, over 4026 jobcuts   • 4 bankruptcies/liquidations  
• 6 eroding-retirement stories   • 6 prison stories   • 1 work-linked suicide
{{ ytd: 350 timsizngs (17070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 54 upsizngs (20523+ new jobs) + 22 makwrk (126400+ 'jobs') =
total 163993 = 22% of cuts VERSUS 456 dnsz (745653+ cuts) + 203 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +53 prisn +32 suic }}

8/8/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 630 files, # visitors yesterday 8/07/Þ: 734 (5/08/Þ:873, 2/06/Þ:913) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• summer weekends are creeping back into Friday and now forward into
Monday, or are Mondays just substituting for Fridays or regular weeklong vacations?
• NJ recently passed law making drowsy driving a criminal offense equivalent to drunken driving
• Oreg. Taco Bell employees win settlement of class action suit for overtime & mealtime breaches
• east Germany engineering sector still resonating from failure to win 35-hr week parity with west
+ headlines from heaven from WS Journal/NY Times = random hope: • 1 UPsizing - ?? new jobs as Church's Chicken opens 60 Texas Chickens in 10 Mideast countries in next 5 years  
• WSJ finally questions Bush's secrecy   • WSJ finally slams Greenspan's credibility
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • more on Halliburton's lock on Iraqi contracts, & 'jobs'
+ eroding retirement: • House-Senate differences cloud prospects for pension-plan legislation
- maybe just as well   • Delta execs' retention-pension scam has failed to retain 3 of 35 (9%)  
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 260 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT):
  • 170 jobcuts by Newell Rubbermaid     • 90 by Steinway     • unspecified cuts by Foster Wheeler
+ 1 bankruptcy cited in WSJ or NYT:  • Chart Industries  
+ 1 prison story: • 50% NY State female inmates are in for lifestyle 'offenses' (drugs), 69% for nonviolent
offenses - & the majority are mothers, forced by American 'justice' to neglect their kids
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • Italy's GDP shrinks 0.1% for 4th month, qualifying it for 1st recession in 11 years

8/07/2003 Þursðay
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 629 files, # visitors yesterday 8/06/w: 728! (5/07/w:892, 2/05/w:859) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Hyundai employees' win probably just 2-hr shorter workweek, from 42 hrs/wk
• America's incredible shrinking vacation - 13% of US firms offer no paid vacation at all
• not just total jobs have fallen, but also overall hours worked - down 5.4% from Oct/2000 peak
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 bankruptcy cited in WSJ or NYT:  • Philip Services  
+ eroding retirement: • consultants' emails to IBM execs show how firm's pension changes clobber younger & kill older employees   • employers don't always make it easy for older workers to catch up on retirement savings   • protesters attacked Brazil's Congress after lower house passed deep cuts in nation's pension system
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 1,975 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): 
• 10% workforce cut (1900 jobs lost) as Exelon electricity distributor cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 10% (48 mins. a day for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & using 90% as many appliances as usual     • 55 cuts by AstroPower     • 20 by WTRF
+ 1 prison story: • NYC probation unit is now arming officers after shift from social work to law enforcement
+ 1 work-linked attempted murder: • Marine guilty of cutting lines on 13 parachutes - reserves saved jumpers
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • 2/3 (4B) world population live on less than what $2/day buys in America

8/06/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 628 files, # visitors yesterday 8/05/t: 728 (5/06/t:914, 2/04/t:929) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Hyundai employees' strike wins shorter workweek
• NY Public Library reduces hours to steward personnel resources
• Audi improves production efficiency without downsizing = timesizing?
+ PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • French taxpayers forced to bail out
Alstom to tune of $680m, to save 30,000 shaky French jobs & 70,000 elsewhere
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 bankruptcy cited in WSJ or NYT:  • SHC Inc.  
+ 3 takeover items:  • biggy - GE pay $5.4B for Aegon's finance units  
• untakeover - Merck to spin off Medco Health Solutions   • banks - Royal Bank of Scotland
did 6 takeovers Jan-Jun/2003, including Churchill insurance in UK and Commonwealth Bancorp in US
+ eroding retirement:  • General Mills' pension plans fall $224m short
• pension erosion spreads as insurance companies wriggle out of paying claims
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • WSJ columnist warns re forecasting problems based on experience of Roaring 20s

8/05/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 628 files, # visitors yesterday 8/04/m: 708 (5/05/m:902, 2/03/m:890) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Volkswagen de Mexico & union have agreed in principle to cut hours to save 2000 jobs
• Kerry launches Web overtime protest, Dean's manager calls him copycat
• long-workweek Brits have to take sick days to enjoy good weather
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
1 bankruptcy cited in WSJ or NYT:  • Superior TeleCom  
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 1,791 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): 
• 17% workforce cut (1000 jobs lost) as Lincoln National insurance saves costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 17% (to five 6hr-38min days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 83% as much insurance as usual     • 791 cuts by Fruit of the Loom    
+ 3 takeover items:  • untakeover - Fidelity spun off Geode Investors   • block - Dana Cp. fights takeover
by suing ArvinMeritor adviser   • banks - HSBC Holding bought Household International for $16B
+ eroding retirement:  • nursing home costs are rising fast, 8% in 15 mos. - homecare is cheaper & rose only 3%

8/02-04/2003 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: 734,460,510, wk's daily avg 715 )
strategic hope = TIMEsizing in the news:
• the US continues its markets-minimizing worktime mismanagement
• some laid-off Americans have recalled fundamental value of free time
• some laid-off Hispanics in Calif. now have to work longer for less
• while some work longer for less $, some work shorter for less $
• employment overload & undersupply is spreading in Indonesia
• Hyundai union still battling for shorter hours in South Korea
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing  
2 sides of takeovers: • Peugeot has become most profitable by avoiding megamergers  
• Dow Jones is still pushing takeovers as good for investors
+ eroding retirement: • court decisions vs. IBM & Xerox will likely force Congress & Treasury to regulate new cash-balance pension plans   • retirees win Y2000 suit vs. Xerox over how it calculated payments to 25,000 of them   • nursing-home care averages $57,000 per person per year
+ 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 325 lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 325 jobs cut as Tellabs shuts plant & outsources mfg work  
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • First Consumers National Bank  
+ 1 prison item: • Maine's female inmate population nearly doubled in last 24 months
+ 1 work-linked suicide: • Hyundai heir, indicted in scandal, jumps from 12th floor of HQ
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 57
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 21 TIMEsizing items (?? jobs saved)   • 1 UPsizing (?? new jobs)  
+ clouded hope: • 2 makework cases (?? new 'jobs')
vs.  doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 19 DOWNsizings, over 76,443 jobcuts   • 4 bankruptcies/liquidations  
• 7 eroding-retirement stories   • 7 prison stories   • 1 work-linked suicide
{{ ytd: 332 timsizngs (15070+ new or sav'd jobs) + 53 upsizngs (20523+ new jobs) + 20 makwrk (26400+ 'jobs') =
total 61993 = 8% of cuts VERSUS 448 dnsz (741627+ cuts) + 199 bnkrp ($21.1B+) +20 homlss +47 prisn +31 suic }}

8/01/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 627 files, # visitors yesterday 7/31/Þ: 785 (5/01/Þ:847, 1/30/Þ:806) -
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope:
• Japan wants worksharing from overworked 30-40-yr-olds to under-employed youth & seniors
• Japan Justice wants shorter hours for inmates to keep guards' hours from rising with inmate ##
• east Germany seems to prefer flood-motivated makework to unification-motivated worksharing
• in US, employees battle Verizon's market-shrinking drive to substitute forced overtime for hiring
vs.  doom du jourtm - for lack of timesizing
makework rampant = PORKsizing:  • Bechtel, already into the US taxpayer for $680m, now estimates Iraq 'reconstruction' will take 23 times that (minimum $16B)   • Cheney's fiefdom, Halliburton, desperately needed an unnecessary Iraq invasion & consequent 'reconstruction' to reverse its half-billion-dollar loss last year
+ 1 takeover block:  • 30 state attorneys general go after Ellison to block his hostile-takeover nonsense
+ eroding retirement:  • court rules IBM discriminated vs. older employees in oozing away from defined benefits
+ 5 DOWNsizings, totaling 6,760 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or New York Times (NYT): 
• 5300 jobcuts as Comcast digests AT&T Broadband     • 860 cuts as Pep Boys shuts 33 stores
• 10.5% cut (400 jobs lost) as Anadarko Petroleum saves costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 10.5% (to five 7hr-10min days for the whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 89.5% as much gas as usual     • 200 by Gartner     • unspecified cuts by Philips Electronics
+ 2 bankruptcies/liquidations cited in WSJ or NYT:  • UPC Polska Inc.   • StorageNetworks
+ 3 prison stories: • NYT editorial calls plaintively for alternative to record numbers of inmates
• the downside of exporting inmates to out-of-state prisons (which should be simply stopped)
• anti-death-penalty Puerto Rico thumbs nose at Bush, who wanted death for 2 men on trial there