hopes/dooms du jour, Sept.2-30, 2003
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

9/30/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 648 files, # visitors yesterday 9/29/mon: 908 (9/30/2002/mon: 808) -
headlines from hell (tm)  • 43.6m Americans now lack health insurance, biggest jump in decade
+ 5 DOWNsizings, totaling 5010 lost jobs reported in Wall St Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 6% of workforce cut (1700 jobs lost) as Ford's German division overreacts to a large loss, instead of just trimming its workweek by 6% (29 minutes a day for whole division, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 94% as many cars as usual  
• 1500 jobcuts by Daewoo-FSO Motor Polska   • 1110 cuts by 3Com   • 500  by Safeco   • 200  by Norstan  
+ 3 bankruptcies in WSJ or NYT:  • Impath in Chap. 11 owing $126.3m   • James River Coal  • APP China Group
+ 1 prison story: • 8 states are cutting inmates' food to save money, fewer calories a day & weekend meals
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • now Bush insiders set up consultancy to help others leach onto 'unprecented' opportunity to win taxpayer megabucks in Iraq
vs.  glimmers of hope
Phil Hyde, economic designer & Timesizing.com news guy, speaks at Time Day event on Thu, Oct. 9
in Davis Square at Somerville Library/West Branch, 40 College Ave at 7 pm (7-8:30) in Somerville, Mass.
timesizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• Michigan proposes shorter workweek for state workers to save jobs
• Guam Recreation Dept. considered 32-hour workweek to avoid layoffs
• 2001 timesizer, AirTran, doing well
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random wisdom:
• reader turns Tom Friedman's name-calling of UN members back on US - if anyone's a ‘free rider,’ it's Bush, who wants to be bailed out of self-created mess without sharing control

9/27-29/2003 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, any of our 648 files, F Sa Su: 801,574,637, wk's daily avg 818 )
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 12 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 12 jobcuts by Louisville Salvation Army   • unspecified cuts by Interpublic Group ad agency
+ 1 work-linked suicide story: • one in 10 Belgian males in prime working years attempt suicide
+ 2 big takeovers: • Canuck insurer Manulife Financial buys John Hancock Financial for $10.3B  
• Air France forms sweeping alliance with Dutch KLM   • but UK blocks any big Safeway takeover
+ homelessness in the news: • Louisville Sally Ann, in $crunch, charges families $5/night after 1 free week
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • more Americans in poverty   • top 1% lost income but also paid less taxes 
• contrary to some conservatives, Friedman & Bennett say it's largely an accident of birth
+ 1 FLUFFsizing = makework rampant: • 10,000 new 'jobs' as Bushies drag more National Guard troops to Iraq
vs.  hope du jourtm - the only thing we haven't tried lately -  
TIMEsizing = strategic hope in the news - a record-breaking weekend thanks to GoogleNews:
• Schwarzenegger opposes overtime   • TVA in 1930s had 35-hour workweek
  • observations from Orlando on worksaving tech but longer hours   • retiring Minn. state trooper held to 8-hr day vs. relatives' long hours   • Guam phone co. has been on 32-hour workweek
  • trend-forecaster cites extended workweeks, rampant unemployment, collapsing middle class, shrinking dollar, mounting debt & bankruptcies   • Fla. teen murderer had been working megahrs
  • San Diego survey shows deepest benefit cuts in work-time options   • UK shipyard has been on reduced hours all summer to forestall layoffs   • UK shipping industry kvetches re skills shortage ahead of EU workhour controls   • UK pkg firm cut hours, not jobs, in 1997
  • Edinburgh childcare workers plan strike for 35-hour workweek   • Scottish teachers protest 50-hour workweeks   • English parents' child neglect due to long hours leads to couch kids
  • Aussies' long hours clobber love life   • multinational firms attack long Mediterranean lunch
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 75
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 3075 jobcuts   • 3 bankruptcies   • 1 homelessness story   • 1 work-linked suicide story
vs.  hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 31 TIMEsizing items (?? jobs saved)   • 7 UPsizings (3120+ new jobs)     + clouded hope: • 2 makework cases (10000+ new 'jobs')
{{ ytd: 475 timsizngs (20270+ new or sav'd jobs) + 75 upsizngs (24983+ new jobs) + 51 makwrk (196400+ 'jobs') =
total 241659 = 24% of cuts VERSUS 546 dnsz (1009695+ cuts) + 238 bkrp ($23.0B+) +22 homlss +65 prisn +37 suic }}

9/26/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 646 files, # visitors yesterday 9/25/thu: 873 (9/26/2002/thu: 773) -
headlines from hell (tm)  • the worse the company, the better the stock
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 2950 lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 1980 jobcuts by Levi Strauss   • 570 cuts by Northwest Airlines  
• 1% of S/W divison cut (400 jobs lost) as IBM reduces costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek by 1% (5 minutes a day for whole division, including executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 99% as many computers as usual  
vs.  glimmers of hope
Phil Hyde, economic designer & worktime news guy, speaks at Time Day event on Thu, Oct. 9
in Davis Square at Somerville Library/West Branch, 40 College Ave at 7 pm (7-8:30) in Somerville, Mass.
timesizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• S.Korea's Ssangyong Motors' labor/mgmt agree on 5-day workweek but creditor squawks
• France looks backwards at longer workweek • PM scapegoats shorter week with deficit blame
• Puerto Rico stirs to talk of 35-hour workweek as unemployment solution
• Penn. county argues over longer weeks vs. hiring   • sloppy talk in Col. jail yields 12-day 'week'
• Ithaca NY living wage coalition mixes concepts & priority of worktime- over income-balancing
• British tutor touts 47-hour workweek
• Salt Lake prof touts output-jumping (= hours-cutting!) ability of new software
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• 3 UPsizings, totaling 2800 +?? new jobs as Mercedes doubles a plant in Tuscaloosa to 4,000,
and • Avon builds 800-employee plant near Moscow, and • Starbucks hires ?? in Paris

9/25/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 646 files, # visitors yesterday 9/24/wed: 892 (9/25/2002/wed: 756) -
headlines from hell (tm) - an orgy of Outrages du Jour today: 
• rich/poor gap widens   • and Pentagon wants 1000s more reservists   • duh, maybe Rummy should have a special force to guard&repair Iraq oilfields 6 mos. after he invaded   • finally the real(?) reason for the war - to defend the U.N!   • no wonder no protesters are allowed near duh pRez   • fear naught - US leads in arms sales, especially to poor nations where terror breeds   • education chief calls US minority schooling a 'system of apartheid'   • investors suddenly flee stocks like roaches when lights turned on
+ 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 130 +?? lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 15% workforce cut (130 jobs lost) as McDonald's Holding/Japan clutches for more profit by chopping jobs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 15% (to 6¾ hours a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 85% as many burgers as before   • unspecified cuts by Sabre Holdings (Travelocity parent) and • Lawson Software
+ eroding retirement: • 100s of large employers have adopted cash-balance plans, which save them money by cutting older workers' pensions & inflate earnings by cutting pension liabilities
vs.  glimmers of hope
Jimmy Tingle, political satirist, entertains at Take Back Your Time Day benefit on Sun. (9/28)
in Davis Square at JT's theater, 255 Elm St at 7 pm (7-8:30) in Somerville, Mass., N/Boston
timesizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• some parents turn against overscheduling their kids & programing little workaholics
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• Bush approval down to 49%, economy 43%   • 27 Israeli airforce reservists refuse to bomb civilians   • Chirac dresses down Bush at UN, wins big on applause   • Dems finally rev up attacks on war, 'uncivil' Ted Kennedy opens fire   • Microsoft's monopoly menaces US national security say 7 experts   • finally a CEO brought to trial: Tyco's Kozlowski   • CalPERS runs full-page ad for giving more say to long-term investors over director selection   • EU excludes Amazon-type patents on 'breathing' like 1-click shopping   • new IMF chief tells big boys (up for election) to quit pressuring others on currency controls

9/24/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 646 files, # visitors yesterday 9/23/tue: 979 (9/24/2002/tue: 696) -
headlines from hell (tm) - your Outrage du Jour: 
• $87B is more than all states' deficits combined, but only 5% of Bush's taxcuts for the rich
• Treasury Secy tells whopper - 'deficit will be halved by 2008'   • Ashcroft elicits pushback from Rehnquist
+ 1 DOWNsizing reported in WSJ or NYT: • 103 jobcuts by Disney/Japan after Heffalump Movie finished 
+ 2 bankruptcies:  • Botanicals International Extracts, Hauser, et al. in Chap. 11   • Kingdom Group in Chap. 7
vs.  glimmers of hope
Jimmy Tingle, political satirist, entertains at Take Back Your Time Day benefit on Sun. (9/28)
in Davis Square at JT's theater, 3 Elm St at 7 pm (7-8:30) in Somerville, Mass., N/Boston
timesizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• 93% of 100 best firms for working mothers offer job-sharing (vs. only 22% nationwide)
• subtle index of demand for free time? - demand grows for properties requiring little mgmt
• Times reader squawks re imposition of telemarketers on his time, if not his money
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• 4 UPsizings, totaling 320 +?? new jobs as Gojo Industries plans at least 300 in N.C.,
• 20 + ?? in new Systems Biology Dept. at Harvard Meds, and • unspecified as McDonald's opens 25 in Russia and • Home Depot opens a mini in Manhattan

9/23/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 646 files, # visitors yesterday 9/22/mon: 971 (9/23/2002/mon: 770) -
headlines from hell (tm) - your Outrage du Jour: 
• now Bush is sending $8½ billion of our tax money to Turkey
+ 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 880 lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 8% workforce cut (500 jobs lost) as TIAA-CREF overreacts to competition by chopping jobs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 8% (38 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone working, earning, confident & saving 92% as much for retirement as before   • 380 jobcuts by Toshiba   • 163 US cuts by Indian Motorcycle  
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ or NYT:  • MCSI Inc. in Chapter 11  
+ eroding retirement: • major major WSJ retirement story today = stats on "many
older workers to delay retirement till after 70"   • plus now Goodyear is ripping off its retirees
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • EU allows France to bail out
Alstom to the tune of nearly 3.1B euros, saving unspecified jobs
vs.  glimmers of hope
timesizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
Juliet Schor & others speak at the Take Back Your Time Day kickoff on Thurs. eve (9/25)
in Harvard Square at the Unitarian church, 3 Church St at 7 pm (7-8:30) in Cambridge, Mass.
• 16-hour shifts after Isabel at utilities that didn't prepare for crises by cross-training

9/20-22/2003 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 646 files: 803,548,602, wk's daily avg 803 )
6 DOWNsizings, totaling 11,000 +?? lost jobs cited in Wall St. Journal (WSJ) or NY Times (NYT):
• 14% workforce cut (3900 Japan jobs lost) as Mizuho Financial Group abreacts to continuing slump in banking & bump in bad loans, instead of trimming its workweek 14% (to five 6hr,53min days for whole company, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & banking 86% as much as before   • 3700 jobcuts by Commonwealth Bank of Australia   • 3000 by GM   • 400 as Pentagon shuts 2 Euro sites   • ?? cuts by Interstate Bakeries & • Samsung
+ 1 bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ or NYT: • Metro Affiliates et al. in Chapter 11 jointly 
+ 1 work-linked suicide: • one S. Korean farmer stabs self to death
to protest WTO talks in Mexico, & another tries to torch himself at the funeral
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • we let sales taxes & VATs drag down velocity of money  • & credit-card companies practice daylight robbery via usury & then we ask, ‘where'd all the customers go???’  • just the same, income-gorged top brackets start another stock bubble  • & 120m 'Mercans (43%) don't vote  • & ozone hole grows on
vs.  hope du jourtm - the only thing we haven't tried lately -  
TIMEsizing = strategic hope in the news:
• world film & TV directors declare against working hours injurious to their own or other's health
+ random hope/headlines from heaven/glimmers of intelligence:
• Times reader equates effect of Iraq war on Americans with terror attack
• Journal columnist slams Microsoft for 'wrapping self in flag of innovation'
• more companies are 'voting with their feet' and going private
• Denmark's windmills flourish as Cape Cod's meet resistance
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 53
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 21 DOWNsizings, over 20,433 jobcuts   • 6 eroding-retirement stories  
• 5 bankruptcies owing over $1.76B   • 3 prison stories   • 3 work-linked suicides
vs.  hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 6 TIMEsizing items (?? jobs saved)   + clouded hope: • 3 makework items (60000 new 'jobs')
{{ ytd: 444 timsizngs (20270+ new or sav'd jobs) + 68 upsizngs (21863+ new jobs) + 49 makwrk (186400+ 'jobs') =
total 228539 = 23% of cuts VERSUS 535 dnsz (1006620+ cuts) + 235 bkrp ($23.0B+) +21 homlss +65 prisn +36 suic }}

9/19/2003 fri
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 647 files, # visitors yesterday 9/18/thu: 923 (9/19/2002/thu: 704) -
headlines from hell (tm)  • Clark says he would have voted for the war
+ 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 1263 +?? lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 3% workforce cut (900 jobs lost) as Sun Microsystems overreacts to tech slump by chopping jobs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 3% (14 mins. a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 97% as much computer stuff as before   • 200 jobcuts by Toshiba   • 163 more cuts by Goodrich   • unspecified cuts by Ford
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ or NYT:  • Venture Holdings  
+ 1 prison story: • flesh-eating bacteria from cuffs claim mentally ill inmate in 'enlightened' Alabama
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • Chirac & Schroeder have list of spending projects to revive Europe, still not realizing shorter hours make more efficient, market-oriented substitute
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• 35-hour workweek is now getting scapegoated for French pension-funding crunch
+ headlines from heaven in Wall Street Journal & New York Times = random hope:
• Blix pegs Bush & Blair as witchhunters   • neo-cons start gettin' heat for Iraq fiasco

9/18/2003 thu
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 644 files, # visitors yesterday 9/17/wed: 893 (9/18/2002/wed: 748) -
4 DOWNsizings, totaling 7300 +?? lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 40% workforce cut (2600 jobs lost) as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco tries to compete with cheaper cigarettes, instead of just trimming its workweek 40% (to four 6-hour days for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 60% as many cancer sticks as before   • 2500 jobcuts by WestLB   • 2200 more cuts by HP  
• unspecified cuts by United Industrial spyplanes
+ disability in the news: • disabled Americans spend $13.6B on 32m trips each year
+ 1general workplace-murder story: • 'only' 609 workplace homicides last year in U.S.
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • Bush admits he's seen no evidence Saddam Hussein involved in 9/11
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • now Bushies want 'new' 40k-strong Iraqi army - at our expense
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• OECD wrings its hands over how to avoid making top brackets pay for retirement bulge - even considers ageist & sexist job preferences including flextime for women, instead of cutting to the chase with general workweek reduction

9/17/2003 wed
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 643 files, # visitors yesterday 9/16/tue: 929 (9/17/2002/tue: 725) -
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 570 lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT:
• 5% workforce cut (500 jobs lost) as Toshiba fails to keep up with laptop price wars, instead of just trimming its workweek 5% (24 minutes a day for whole firm, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying 95% as many laptops as before   • 70 jobcuts by ACD Knitting Mill
+ 1 bankruptcy in WSJ or NYT:  • David Schick & Venture Mortgage jointly  
+ eroding retirement: • relentless GOP pressure to return America to land of Warren Harding 1921  
+ 1 workplace murder-suicide: • Japanese man blows himself & 2 others up in dispute over back wages
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • US Senate restarts Cold War - vs. whole world - by voting 53-41 to fund Bush initiative to develop new generation of nuclear weapons   • poor nations walk out of trade talks cuz we're demanding they do things we never had to do in getting where we are
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• a week of rare Congressional victories for labor, including blocking double-edged fiddling with overtime without simply blanket-discouraging it in midst of unprecedented under-employment

9/16/2003 tue
- keep hope-vs-doom acomin' with $25/yr subscrptn check to ‘ Timesizing.com with Phil Hyde’, Box 622,
Cambridge Ma 02140 USA  - all 643 files, # visitors yesterday 9/15/mon: 925 (9/16/2002/mon: 765) -
5 DOWNsizings, totaling 300 +?? lost jobs reported in WSJ or NYT: • estimated 300 jobcuts by Sprint
• unspecified cuts by Goodyear  • Farmland Industries  • PPL Therapeutics  • Women's United Soccer
+ 2 bankruptcies & 3 shutdowns in WSJ or NYT:  • NorthWestern Corp. owing 1.76B   • Fansteel  
• Farmland Industries co-op   • PPL Therapeutics   • Women's United Soccer Association
1 failed takeover in WSJ or NYT:  • Electricite de France went adventuring in the Argentine & is now trying to sell Empresa Distribuidora de Electricidad de Mendoza, which has never made profit
+ eroding retirement: • push to ease pension raids for biz loses steam in Congress, except in Senate Finance Committee   • Treasury goes ahead with attempt to ease older employees out of defined-benefit pensions despite House block   • Medicare has been fiddling around cutting benefits   • some pension plans are starting to live dangerously   • elder abuse rises 15% in Wisconsin
+ 2 prison stories: • 22 Fla. inmates charge guards torture them with
pepper spray & tear gas in lockup   • Saudi prison fire kills 67 inmates in Riyadh
+ headlines from hell (tm)  • world becoming turbulent faster than most companies become resilient
+ 1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant:  • Mass. Gov. Mitt 'da mitten' Romney thinks he's going to get min. 20,000 new 'jobs' out of $125m, 3-yr plan
vs.  glimmers of hope
TIMEsizing in the news = strategic hope ignored since Pearl Harbor -
• family-leave advocates look to Canada for generous model, but...
• once-lovely Southwest Airlines joins Wal-Mart in getting tasks done off-the-clock