Timesizing® Associates
hopes/dooms du jour,
Jan.31 + February 1-29, 2004 + Mar.1
[Commentary] ©2004 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE
2/28-3/01/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- #visitors to any of our 694 files, F Sa Su: 722,467,562 - wk's daily avg: 733 -
9 TIMEsizing articles in weekend's GoogleNews = strategic glimmers of hope:
- Pennsy office-supplies firm Standard Register tries 11½-hour shifts for a year, loses productivity & some good workers, returns to 7½-hour workday
- DaimlerChrysler goes the opposite way from 35 to 40 hour workweek in Germany
- US volunteer organizations begin realizing their self-interest in shorter-hours fight
- Singapore wants cut to five (from 5½?) day workweek for more family time
- US erodes its middle class, not to mention the 'American dream,' with longer hours
- more agonizing about US overtime proposal
- Australian worries that longer working hours mean more violence against women
- Aussies have ideas on how to modify or mollify retirement with shorter-hours work
- workaholic reporter at least provides the 6 points in the EU Working Time Directive
& indexing today's Wall St Journal (j) and NY Times (t) = random glimmers:
- armies of consumers: 1776's secret weapon? - a revolution built more on shopping & boycotts than on ideals (2/28 t.page A.15)
- open letter to voters of Massachusetts from Dennis Kucinich - single-payer health care, repeal 'patriot' act, work thru UN, move from military to social investment, sign international treaties for disarmament & environment, full public funding for state & federal campaigns, instant runoff voting (3/01 boston globe.A10)
- state & federal bills vs. outsourcing - require gov't contract work be done in USA, prohibit offshoring of work involving confidential info, require call-center workers to disclose their location to consumers, prevent bidders for gov't work from moving offshore, restrict number of foreign workers firms can bring into US to replace Americans (3/01 j.A10)
- iconoclast tells big oil it's fading fast - Amory Lovins of Rocky Mtn Inst. (2/28 t.B1)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing - in today's WSJ (j) and NYT (t):
- 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 900 lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- Tyson Foods to close Mississippi chicken plant and cut 900 jobs (2/28 t.B4)
- DOWNsizing overviews:
- biz coalition battles outsourcing backlash - big lobbyists, companies aim at a blizzard of bills meant to keep jobs at home (3/01 j.A1) - 'they're slowing our gutting of America!' - but here's some dramatic 'progress'...
- nearly half of black men in NYC are jobless (2/28 t.B15) - yet even with data like this...
- economists who champion outsourcing insist better jobs will replace the ones lost (if only 'insistence' paid wages & health insurance!) - mais voilà: new logistics profession appears (3/01 j.A1) - but 3000 better jobs at MIT etc. will not replace 3,000,000 lost ones
- Microsoft, amid dwindling interest, talks up computing as a career (3/01 t.C1) - for whom, India?
- jobs, from Bangor to Bangalore - US firms are doing well from outsourcing but their success no longer trickles down - 30 yrs ago US highschool grads could get jobs & be self-supporting; not any more - more training or education is no solution when you can't go back to college and support your family (2/29 t.4:12) - & will education in India stand still while we're in college?
- DOWNsizing results = 2 eroding-retirement stories:
- Social Security promise not yet kept - surplus meant to ensure benefits was diverted - & Greenspan is complicit in this shell game (3/01 g.A15) - but Dems started raiding SocSec fund under LBJ (2/29 t.4:5) - & dismantling graduated income tax under JFK (& opening floodgates to unprecedented immigration numbers under Clinton - now just try & get your teenager a job! {3/04 g.A1})
- New York Life pays $16m to settle claims that it failed to provide fair pension benefits to 1000s of sales agents (2/28 t.B4)
- DOWNsizing results = 1 homelessness story:
- 60-person Dignity Village (tents) to be given long-term lease for 1-acre corner of leaf-composting center it currently occupies in Portland, Ore. (2/28 t.A12)
- headlines from hell (tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) & New York Times (t) & Boston Globe (g):
- Bush & Cheney sooo badly wanted excuse to invade oil-rich Iraq that nobody followed up - not even on first name & fone #, that CIA had been sitting on for 2½ yrs, of 9/11 terrorist who crashed United 175 into south tower - 'Germans didn't give us a last name' (2/29 t.4:13) - weak
- spendy - consumers spending but if job mkt doesn't pick up, they can't keep up pace (3/01 j.C1)
- WHERE IS EQUAL COVERAGE of Kucinich & Sharpton???
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 83
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
19 TIMEsizing items (36+ new or saved jobs)
+ clouded hope: • 7 makework items (3000+ new 'jobs')
vs. doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 4 DOWNsizings, over 8700 jobcuts
• 1 eroding-retirement story
• 5 bankruptcies
• 1 homelessness story
{{ ytd: 173 timsizngs (636+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 15 upsizngs (36000 new jobs)
+ 78 makwrk (34503+ 'jobs') =
total: 71139 = 50% of cuts
VS.
136 downsz (143183+ cuts)
+ 39 bnkrpt ($350m+) +5 homlss +9 prsn +5 suic }}
2/27/2004 friday
all 694 textfiles: # visitors 2/26/thu: 782 excluding spiders (2/27/2003/thu: 862 including spiders)
2 TIMEsizing articles in yesterday's GoogleNews = strategic glimmers of hope:
- UK's Rail Maritime & Transport union to strike next weekend for 35-hr workweek
- Iowa nurses lobby Des Moines state house for elimination of mandatory overtime
& indexing today's Wall St Journal (j) and NY Times (t) = random glimmers:
- global warming reports are urged - pension-fund mgrs representing public employees in CT, ME, NY & NYC called on 10 Can-Am oil firms to produce their plans to deal with potential impact of global warming on their businesses (t.pages C1,3) - ie: are they moving out of polluting fossil fuels into clean sustainable energy?!
- Senate votes to require safety locks on guns (t.A14) - but Bush now tries to kill assault weapon ban & keep loophole that lets shady dealers slip weapons to buyers at gun shows (t.A24)
- San Francisco appeals court allows medicinal use of marijuana (t.A19)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing - in today's WSJ (j) and NYT (t):
- 2 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant, creating 3000 +?? new ‘jobs’:
- 3000 new 'jobs' as Vought Aircraft Industries, Dallas, plane parts, sucks up $35m grant from Texas for in-state expansion (t.C4)
- Cheney's Halliburton Co. says team of company managers & auditors found deficiencies in its cost-control system for work in Iraq (j.A1) - no kidding
- 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 3000 up-in-the-air jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- strikes in MI & NY 'force' GM to halt production at 3000-worker Fort Wayne IN truck plant till further notice (j.B2)
- DOWNsizing overview:
- Senate Democrats failed, despite having 12 GOP votes, in bid to extend unemployment benefits by attaching rider to bill on gun liability (j.A1)
- DOWNsizing appetizers = 2 takeovers, alias M&As (mergers & acquisitions):
- Genzyme agrees to buy Ilex Oncology for $1B (t.C4)
- First Data, world's largest processor of creditcard payments, purchased Concord EFS, owner of Star ATMs, for $7B (t.C4)
- and one chunk of good takeover news = Justice Dept. sued to block Oracle's $9.4B hostile bid for PeopleSoft, saying takeover would choke competition in mkt for biz-apps software (j.A1)
- DOWNsizing results = 1 new-to-us bankruptcy in WSJ (j) and/or NYT (t):
- Joel A. Adler in Chapter 11 (t.C3)
- headlines from hell (tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) & New York Times (t) & Boston Globe (g):
- Bush's Ag.Dpt. resists madcow cleanup proposal from Creekstone Farms of Kan. which wants to rapid-test all its cattle so can resume exports to Japan (t.C1,A14)
- orders drop for durable goods due to fewer orders for commercial & military planes (t.A19) - geez, when ya can't even git more warplane orders from waging optional wars!
- ex-aide to Blair says Brits spied on Annan at the UN (t.A1,10) - when will Labor Party dump Blair? when will Parl't vote no confidence? not till we impeach Bush?
- in search of the pResident's missing years - why hasn't the press learned more about Bush's past? A: he's come up with new set of 'complete' documents every election cycle (t.A25)
- House makes it separate offense to harm fetus in violent crime (t.A15) - thus splitting pregnant women in two
- new US land mines to pose less long-term danger cuz they go inert within days (t.A12) - like NYC's walk buttons? -
- for exercise in NYC futility, push 77% of walk buttons (2500/3250) at intersections = mechanical placebos (t.A1) - gov't dupes taxpayers while wasting their money (t.A1)
- Senate panel presses Bush on prewar Iraq intelligence - executive privilege vs. possible subpoena by Congress (t.A10) - King George harks back to Charles I's divine right of kings
2/26/2004 thursday
all 694 textfiles: # visitors 2/25/wed: 801 excluding spiders (2/26/2003/wed: 1055 including spiders)
5 TIMEsizing articles in yesterday's GoogleNews = strategic glimmers of hope:
- English furniture firm Deeside Cabinets negotiates three-day, 24-hour workweek with union till end of March to avoid further round of layoffs
- W.Va. outlaws forced overtime for nurses
- official warns that, with Australian women working 76% more hours than in 1980s & men doing more overtime, family life is sinking & obesity is rising (sound familiar?)
- British workers are givin' it away - 5m do unpaid overtime - longest hours in Europe & low productivity - 35-hr week France is 32% more productive, Germany 16%
- back in 'death star' DC, Bush is forging ahead with plans to gut overtime regardless of short & long term economic impacts
& indexing today's Wall St Journal (j) and NY Times (t) = random glimmers:
- job losses pit CNN's Lou Dobbs against old CEO pals - in campaign he calls 'Exporting America', famed Republican financial journalist rails nightly against offshore outsourcing - recently called for Bush to fire Mankiw (j.page B1, cf. 3/05 j.A14, cf. Howard Stern 3/17 g.D1)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing - in today's WSJ (j) and NYT (t):
- 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 4800 lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- AT&T Corp. - wireless-bundle deal, 4600 jobcuts, debt repurchase are planned (j.B3)
- Schering-Plough says it will eliminate 200 jobs in USA & freeze hiring to slash costs (t.C4)
- DOWNsizing overview noted in Boston Globe (g):
- record number, 760,000, of long-term jobless losing aid - may exceed 1m by midyear (g.E3)
- DOWNsizing appetizers = 2 takeovers, alias mergers & acquisitions:
- Silver Acquisition is buying Gold Banc for $672m (t.C4)
- France's Michel David-Weill announced a $1.85B merger of 2 Lazard holding companies, Eurazeo & Rue Imperiale (j.A1,C5)
- DOWNsizing results = 1 new bankruptcy:
Telecarrier Services in Ch.11 (j.C8)
- DOWNsizing results = 2 eroding-retirement stories:
- Greenspan: 'trim Social Security' (g.E2, t.A1) = Greenspan voted opposition to tax increases [esp. increases for rich?] to contain deficit & proposed scaling back SocSec & Medicare (j.A1) - cuz, hell, he don't need 'em!
- US Steel slashes retiree healthcare obligations by $450m for 2003, largely due to Medicare drug bill (j.R3)
- headlines from hell (tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) & New York Times (t) & Boston Globe (g):
- study finds most healthcare workers do not get flu vaccines (t.A19) - spread! that! flu! - great US healthcare sys strikes again
- decline seen in science applications from overseas - concerns raised over US as educational destination (t.A16) - who wants to go where they teach creation 'science'?!
2/25/2004 wednesday
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/24/tue: 891 excluding spiders (2/25/2003/tue: 992 including spiders)
1 TIMEsizing item in yesterday's GoogleNews = strategic glimmers of hope:
- Hartford prof gets a lot deeper than most commentators but withholds best option (worksharing) too long & develops it too little
& indexing today's Wall St Journal (j) and NY Times (t) = random glimmers:
- affluence rises for Asian-Americans - now account for 5% of US wealthy investors (j.D8) - but what about Blacks? what about still-no-casino Native Americans?
- US court rejects mandatory levy on dairy farmers for Nat'l Dairy Board's Got Milk? ads (j.D8,t.C2)
- WTO says EU can retaliate vs. US & its antidumping laws (j.A12) - US-style free trade again? - cf: EU & S.Korea ban US poultry (j.A12) - 2 US cases of bird flu corelate to 'efficiency'? eg: feedin’em their own poop makes ’em fatter faster?
vs. doom du jour in today's Wall St Journal (j) and NY Times (t):
- 2 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
- rapid growth of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac is a risk to taxpayers, Greenspan warns (t.C8) - why is government in mortgage business at all?
- Canada sponsorship flap leads to suspensions of 3 execs of crown corps. - had funneled $75m to Liberal-linked ad agencies (j.A12) - but why was all that dough in a fund to 'boost national unity' in 1st place? Stephen Leacock: 90% of economy is makework (proved by diversion of 90% of GNP to war effort in World War I)
- DOWNsizing overviews noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- consumer confidence slumps on worries about jobs, finances (j.A8, t.C5)
- voters' job jitters raise anxiety level for Bush campaign (j.A4) - trade & jobs at center stage as Dems court Ohio vote (t.A1)
- DOWNsizing appetizers = takeovers, alias mergers & acquisitions:
- specific - remainder (51%) of Great Eastern to be bought for $1.71B by Oversea-Chinese Banking (j.C14)
- general - with a 'recovering' economy, the day of the big deal is back [- the more big deals, the slower the economic 'recovery'] (t.A1) - as memories of past debacles dim, new billions are in a frenetic kind of play [- for the moment anyway] (t.C8)
- DOWNsizing results = 2 new bankruptcies:
- US units of Parmalat seek bankruptcy (t.C4)
- bankruptcies - notice of public sale - Belgium's KBC Bank NV, NY branch (j.C7)
- headlines from hell (tm) :
- consumer confidence slumps on worries about jobs, finances (j.page A8)
- NASD disciplines firms, individuals (j.C6A,6B) = 2/3 page of small print
- NASDAQ ends at low for year (2005.44) as stocks' decline goes on (j.C1)
- U.S. youths are getting sexual diseases at high rates (j.D8)
2/24/2004 tuesday’s index to top US papers
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/23/mon: 905 excluding spiders (2/24/2003/mon: 987 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) & New York Times (t) & Boston Globe (g):
- UN study shows widening wealth gap between & within countries
- globalization is failing (t.page C1)
- general takeover story:
- if mergers are back, antitrust monitoring should return too (j.A4) - but what antitrust monitoring did we have before??!
- national DOWNsizing noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- jobs expected to continue to lag economy [ie: temporarily marketable GDP increments] - new employment isn't keeping up with workforce growth, a Fed bank survey says (t.C11)
- letters - lightning rod issue: when the jobs here move there - where's this 'let them eat cake' mentality come from? - human labor is in vastly greater supply [@ 40 hrs/person/week] in China & India than here in USA [& it's already in over-supply here] - economist Bhagwati claims our big problem is automation, not cheap imports (t.A26) - we agree
- 1 new bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- 150-year-old Oglebay Norton Co., industrial minerals, in Ch.11 (t.C4)
- 3 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
- Pentagon says it plans to kill Comanche copter program - after $8B for no copters, the U.S. says 'no more' (t.A1,A12)
- Pentagon opens criminal inquiry of Halliburton[-Cheney] pricing (t.A6)
- Europe learns our litigious ways - in trend toward US-style lawsuits, French union of jobless sues gov't unemployment agency for breach of contract now that benefits abruptly cut off (j.A16) - maybe we'll eventually narrow the income gap by much more 'suing the deep pocket'
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
2 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• Swisscom's 20% hours reduction has saved 36 jobs
• Seattle Times cites 84-hour workweeks, but where?
+ random glimmers of intelligence in Wall St Journal (j) or NY Times (t) or Boston Globe (g):
• Britain joins others in Europe in limiting immigrant workers (t.A5)
2/21-23/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz) index
- #visitors to any of our 693 files, F Sa Su: 769,536,600 - wk's daily avg: 751 -
weekend headlines from hell(tm) cited in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
• total poverty awareness - when will US policies recognize that people stay poor for many reasons?
- 35m Americans below poverty line (2/21 t.page A29)
• Adelphia is next in parade of fraud trials (2/23 t.C1) - after Martha Stewart, Tyco, Enron...
2 bank takeovers = setups for downsizing:
• Citigroup buys S.Korea's Koram Bk for $2.73B (2/23 j.C6)
• Bank One's CEO Jamie Dimon (only 'earned' $12m in 2003) wants at least 90% of what J.P. Morgan
Chase's CEO Wm.Harrison ($20m in 2003) gets once they do their $58B merger (2/23 j.C6)
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 3,150 +?? lost jobs cited in
WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• 3000 layoffs as American Hospitality Concepts closes 59 Ground Round etc. restaurants (2/21 t.B4)
• 150 layoffs in Wichita & Seattle as Boeing slows air-tanker program (2/23 j.A12)
• unspecified cuts as Shell plans to shut Bakersfield CA refinery (2/23 j.A3) - click for archives
2 bankruptcies reported in Wall Street Journal &/or NY Times:
• Rouge Industries in Ch.11 (2/23 j.B6)
• American Hospitality Concepts in Ch.11 (2/21 t.B4) - click for archives
1 eroding-retirement story cited in WSJ (j) or NYT (t):
• judge to investigate retiree cuts at United - airline misled employees re health insurance (2/21 t.B2)
• to work or not to work - two very different answers for today's retirees (2/23 j.R3) - in short, damned if you do & damned if you don't
1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant involving ?? new 'jobs' reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• in season of campaigns, Halliburton joins in, running commercials assuring viewers company
got those billion$ in contract cuz of 'what we know, not who we know,' ie: Cheney (2/23 t.A17)
vs. hope du jourtm
TIMEsizing = strategic hope - the only thing we haven't tried lately:
• NYT finally makes tribute to achievement of shorter workweeks, now vanishing
• British unions declare Friday "Work Your Proper Hours Day"
• 2/3 of business leaders are working 45 hours or more a week
• 26m Americans spend 49 or more hours a week on the job
• Illinois continues fight against federal overtime changes
• overtime overhaul worries workers
+ random hope reported in Boston Globe (g) &/or NY Times (t):
• 1 general UPsizing story - unspecified new jobs as foreign firms also outsource...to U.S.
(2/23 j.A2) - but not as many
• France creates French BBC (2/23 j.B1) & UK creates British Le Monde (2/23 t.C5)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 81
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 10 DOWNsizings, over 29,076 jobcuts • 2 eroding-retirement stories
• 10 bankruptcies
• 1 homelessness story
• 1 prison story
• 1 work-linked suicide story
vs. hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
17 TIMEsizing items
• 5 UPsizings (1000+ new jobs)
• 4 makework items
{{ ytd: 154 timsizngs (600+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 15 upsizngs (36000 new jobs)
+ 71 makwrk (31503+ 'jobs') =
total: 68103 = 51% of cuts
VS.
132 downsz (134483+ cuts)
+ 34 bnkrpt ($350m+) +4 homlss +9 prsn +5 suic }}
2/20/2004 friday’s index to top US papers
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/19/thu: 855 excluding spiders (2/20/2003/thu: 855 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) & New York Times (t) & Boston Globe (g):
- in the new economics, Bush boosts mfg jobs by calling McDonalds a 'factory' (t.page C2)
- Molly Ivins: globalization begets corporate giantism & kills competition - & capitalism (g.A13)
- Japan drops farmers' protections (j.A10) so poised to lose rural consumer base & plunge deeper
- 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 8,426 lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 10% workforce cut (8000 jobs lost) as Zurich Financial Services cuts costs (& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek 10% (48 minutes a day for whole firm, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone together working, earning, confident & buying at least 90% as much insurance as before (j.A8)
- 350 jobcuts (26% of NJ plant) as GM shifts production to Louisiana (t.C3)
- 76 cuts as Northwest Airlines closes 25 ticket offices (t.C3)
- 56 cuts (28x2) as Furniture Brands Int'l tells workers imports will be good for remaining employees (j.A1>6)
- (?? jobs lost as Women's Industrial Union closes its 127-yr-old gift shop in Boston {g.B1} )
- national DOWNsizing noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- initial jobless claims fall by 24,000 (j.A2, t.C6) - but many discouraged jobhunters 'externalize' selves into underlying barter system as automation (dba 'productivity') rolls on
- dark side of free trade - anxiety grows as good jobs disappear (t.A27)
- 3 new bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- Alphastar Insurance Group in Ch.11 (j.C13, t.C4)
- Suncos Corp. in Ch.11 (j.C13)
- Altheimer & Gray changed to Ch.11 (j.C13)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
4 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• Furniture Brands Intl's N.C. plant uses 4-day workweeks to fight top-mgmt's disinterest in American workforce or consumer base
• Canadian Union of Public Employees advances priority of shorter workweeks & overtime limits
• S.Korea plans reductions in working hours to curtail layoffs & help achieve 2 million new jobs
• China demoes hell with 12- to 18-hour workdays for millions
+ random glimmers of intelligence in Wall St Journal (j) or NY Times (t) or Boston Globe (g):
• 1 UPsizing - unspecified new jobs as new hires climb aboard revitalized US freight trains (g.A3)
• impeach Bush ad (t.A22) - Bush hit hard in primary season: Pew poll (g.A20)
- rebellion in ranks of GOP governors vs party line on taxcuts for rich (j.A1,A4)
• New Mexico - sales tax on food is repealed (t.A22) - want recovery? tax the rich, not sales
2/19/2004 thur’s index to top US papers
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/18/wed: 847 excluding spiders (2/19/2003/wed: 826 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- Harvard study found million-dollar homes now no rarity, & 31% paid for in cash (j.page A1)
- thousands more millionaires, millions more poor
- dismal report card - US companies got walloped with worst image assessment in Harris Poll history - eg: 'not good' & 'terrible' (j.A1)
- the federal debt has passed the $7 trillion mark, the Treasury said, confronting Congress with the necessity of raising the ceiling again soon (j.A1)
- Senator Grassley says report chronicling misconduct by FBI agents is a 'list of horrors' - includes rape, embezzlement & extortion (j.A1, t.A16)
- Bush administration accused in Union of Concerned Scientists report of suppressing research data that run counter to its policies (j.A1) & unprecedentedly distorting science (bos globe.A6)
- traffic bottlenecks have increased 40% since 1997 (j.A1) - time to discuss population limits?
- national DOWNsizing:
White House backs away from rosy jobs forecast (t.C1) = another reversal?
- 1 new bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
Southwest Recreational Industries Inc (j.C9)
- 1 eroding-retirement story, slightly uneroded: judge says IBM owes older workers for shorting them when it shifted from fixed-benefits to cash-balance pension plan in '90s (t.C10)
- 1 homelessness story:
China's [& America's] mean streets - problem of homeless children amid rural poverty & frayed safety nets grew by 50% in past decade to 150k official, 600k actual - worse in USA where up from 327k in '91 to 930k in 2000 (j.A1>11) - see archives
- 1 PUFFsizing item = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
Russia seen achieving anti-missile system evasion - Pentagon downplayed announcement, saying Putin could already defeat its $30.2B Star Wars program (boston globe.A9) - so Star Wars is pure dysfunctional makework
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
2 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• Ontario Liberals are going after medieval labor laws of Conservatives, eg: 60-hour workweek
• symbiotic jobshare in Oregon between two schoolteacher-moms
+ random glimmers of intelligence in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 3 UPsizings, 1000+?? new jobs
- Bank of America finalized plans to employ 1,000 back-office people in Bangalore, India (j.B9)
- Ford said to be planning assembly plant in Nanjing, China as part of $1B investment (t.W1)
- emerging-market Wall Street jobs grow quietly, contrast late 90s when many laid off (j.B7B)
2/18/2004 wed’s index to top US papers
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/17/tue: 886 excluding spiders (2/18/2003/tue: 903 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- board games - Recurrent Crisis in Corporate Governance, by Paul MacAvoy & Ira Millstein
- CEO often heads group that's supposed to monitor his performance = problem (j.page D4)
- 2 banking + 3 regular takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing:
- National City of Cleveland will buy Provident Financial of Cincinnati for $2.1B (j.A1 & t.C3)
- Sun Bancorp to acquire Community Bancorp of NJ for $83.2m (t.C3) - click for roundup
- $41b offer by Cingular Wireless takes AT&T Wireless (j&t.A1)
- Disney acquired much of Henson's muppetworks which family just bought back for $73m (j.A1)
- Owens-Illinois to buy Euro glassmaker BSN for .625+.835= $1.46B (j.A1)
- economywide takeovers:
ahead of tape - recovery spawns M&A revival (j.C1) - which will kill it
- 1 DOWNsizing, totaling unspecified lost jobs:
Huffy Corp. staff to be reduced by 20% (j.A12)
- economywide DOWNsizing noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- take this job & be thankful (for $6.80 an hour) - The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler (t.B8) - re Wal-Mart lady in NH: if she hadn't been poor, she wouldn't have lost her teeth, & if she hadn't lost her teeth, she would have got promotions & not been poor
- 2 Bush officials cautious on job-growth forecast of 2.6m new jobs = Treasury's Snow & Commerce's Don Evans (t.A17), plus Mankiw's now claiming he was misinterpreted (t.A16)
- 2 new bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
o RCN Corp. plans Chap.11 (j.A12 & t.C3)
o EliteAgents Mortgage Services Inc. & Milestone Capital Inc. in consolidated Chap.11 (j.C12)
- 1 'work'-linked suicide in Boston Globe (g):
target in probe of law grants is a suicide in Georgia
- Richard St. Louis, law enforcement consultant & former Mass. state public safety official (g.A1)
- 1 PUFFsizing item = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
downtown Philadelphia roiled by proposed subsidy - should a Comcast skyscraper be eligible for tax abatements? (t.C4)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
2 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• flexible working hours a distraction from real goal = reduced working hours
• flexible working hours do not lead automatically to reduced working hours
+ random glimmers of intelligence in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 1 UPsizing - tribe finds ways to create unspecified new jobs
- bucking trends, Winnebago Indians of Nebraska build new businesses (j.A4)
• customer satisfaction at 9-year high due to restrained pricing & better product quality (j.D1)
• Dutch lower house votes to expel 26,000 denied political asylum, accept 2,300 (t.A3)
2/17/2004 tuesday’s index to top US papers
all 693 textfiles: # visitors 2/16/mon: 762 excluding spiders (2/17/2003/mon: 745 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) in the Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- consumer confidence slid in early Feb., especially among lower-income households (j.page A1)
- health of nations (t.A23) - 43m Americans lacked health insurance 4¼ years ago (11/20/2000 )
- why not every 5 yrs lower Medicare eligibility by 5 yrs of age?! - NY's Harold Locker (t.A22)
- 4,450 priests accused of abuse (t.A14) = 4% of US priests (boston globe.A1) = job perk?
- Japanese capital and jobs flowing to China (t.C1)
- 1 big bank takeover = appetizer for DOWNsizing:
- North Fork Bancorp to acquire GreenPoint Financial for $6.3B (t.C2) - click for roundup
- 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 17,500 lost jobs reported in
NY Times (t) or Boston Globe (g):
- Siemens to shift 15,000 jobs from US & W.Europe to India, China & E.Europe (g.C2)
- 2500 flight attendants took early retirement last summer, pushed by United (t.C2) - cf. 2/15/2003
- economywide DOWNsizing noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- more Americans are leaving the work force (j.B1) - goodbye consumer base & 1st-world status
- 'despite the outcry, Mankiw was right about outsourcing' - it's economists vs. everybody else (j.A4) proving Joan Robinson's view that economics is a branch of theology (Econ.Philosophy)
- 2 new bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- Logan Medical Foundation dba Logan General Hospital in Chap.11 (t.C2)
- EliteAgents Mortgage Services Inc. & Milestone Capital Inc. in consolidated Chap.11 (j.C12)
- 1 prison item:
- Denmark: prison riot over dumbbell ban - at Nyborg, 90-min protest over removal of weights from workout rooms & crackdown on steroids - inmates were becoming 'monster men' (t.A7)
- 1 PUFFsizing item = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
- White House & Citigroup are proposing $200m plan to finance Iraqi imports, with oil sales guaranteeing bank revenue (j.A1) - 'oh what a tangled web we weave'
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
3 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• 1000 Indonesian candy workers strike for cut to 5-day, 40-hour workweek
• job sharing under a microscope in North Carolina
• outsourcing (& uncontrolled immigration & tech disemployment) is bringing 80-hour workweeks from Third World back to America, eg: Walmart
+ random glimmers of intelligence in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• why our immigration laws must be enforced (j.A21)
• leaders on Cyprus accept deal on bridging island's Greek-Turkish divide (j.A1) - potentially ending 40-yr conflict (2/14 t.A1)
• good times roll on for developing world, for now (t.C1) - never mind wipeout of globe-serving consumer base in US-Japan-Europe
2/14-16/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz) index
- #visitors to any of our 692 files, F Sa Su: 647,400,496 - wk's daily avg: 683 -
weekend headlines from hell(tm) cited in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
America in decline - 4 alarming editorials (2/14 t.page A28):
• privacy in peril - Ashcroft's subpoenaing 6 hospitals to destroy women's reproductive rights
• triumph for sugar lobby - more free-trade-when-it-suits-us in exemption from deal with Australia
• kith & kin inc. - 28 Congressmen have relatives working as paid lobbyists or gov't consultants
• snowmobiles unleashed - Yellowstone phase-out halted so instant jump from 490 to 700 a day
2 DOWNsizings, totaling 200 +?? lost jobs cited in
WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• 200 jobcuts (0.07%) as Home Depot closes Seattle support ctr & spends more on cptrs (2/14 t.B4)
• unspecified cuts as CKE Restaurants closes 28 Hardee's (2/14 t.B4) - click for archives
1 new bankruptcy reported in Wall Street Journal &/or NY Times:
• Delaco (2/14 t.B4)
1 homelessness story:
• amid Manhattan's wealthiest, Richie Spagnole slept in tenement boiler rooms but found open hearts for 10 yrs on Upper East Side - then got job & new life from fish mkt (2/14 t.A1)
1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant involving ?? new 'jobs' reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• Cheney-linked Halliburton Co. likely to be campaign issue this fall as its troubles grow (2/14 t.A12)
vs. hope du jourtm
TIMEsizing = strategic hope - the only thing we haven't tried lately:
• Australian train engineers refuse to be lured into looser overtime rules by higher pay
• New Zealand gov't has campaign to combat citizens' workaholic culture
+ random hope reported in Boston Globe (g) &/or NY Times (t):
• 2 UPsizings - 35,000 new jobs as Home Depot plans 175 stores (2/14 t.B4) - compare 1/19
- ?? news jobs as gypsum maker BPB plans $100m plant in Roxboro NC (2/14 t.B4)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 61
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 1,710 jobcuts
• 1 eroding-retirement story
• 4 bankruptcies
• 1 homelessness story
• 1 work-linked suicide story
vs. hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
23 TIMEsizing items
• 2-1 prev.counted = 1 UPsizing (35000 new jobs)
• 4 makework items
{{ ytd: 137 timsizngs (600+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 10 upsizngs (35000 new jobs)
+ 67 makwrk (31503+ 'jobs') =
total: 67103 = 64% of cuts
VERSUS
122 downsz (105407+ cuts)
+ 24 bnkrpt ($350m+) +3 homlss +8 prsn +4 suicid }}
2/13/2004 friday’s index to top US papers
all 692 textfiles: # visitors 2/12/thu: 760 excluding spiders (2/13/2003/thu: 796 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- media knots tightening with Comcast bid for Disney - 'arms race' of mergers (t.page A1)
- less diversity, more downsizing
- Cuba detentions may last years (t.A1) - no more 'justice for all'
- enemy of environment - Bush has record of putting lobbyists in influential jobs in executive branch, now an anti-environment one, Wm.Myers, in a judgeship (t.A28)
- Bush distances self from his economist's praise for outsourcing jobs (j.A4) - another reversal
- Mexico demands US & UK answer Chile's charge that they spied on UN delegates in last year's frantic hunt for war resolution votes (j.A1)
- weak European & Japanese consumer spending render recovery vulnerable (j.A1)
- Israel boycotts international hearings in The Hague on its fence around Palestinian areas (j.A1)
- Russia's healthcare is crumbling (j.A9) - & so is USA's
- 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 50 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 50 laid off as Scalamandré fabric mill moves from Queens NY to S.C. (t.A27)
- unspecified jobs lost as 2 more historic NYC restaurants close - 125-yr-old Gage & Tollner, and
- 45-year-old La Côte Basque (t.A26)
- economywide DOWNsizing noted in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- retail sales mixed; jobs weak - Labor Dept. said wk's initial jobless claims rose 6000 to 363k (t.C3)
- H-P chief on outsourcing - Carly Fiorina, 'no job is America's God-given right any more' (j.A1) - never was, tariffs made it so; 'solution is innovation' - not if CEOs keep following it downsizing rather than timesizing
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
4 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• fatal disaster on Staten Island Ferry evokes report recommending less overtime
• American Residential & AmNet reduced layoffs by eliminating overtime
• big German union IG Metall preserves 35-hour workweek, barely
• the opposite of timesizing is slavery, e.g., today, in Brazil
2/12/2004 thur’s index to top US papers
all 691 textfiles: # visitors 2/11/wed: 824 excluding spiders (2/12/2003/wed: 875 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- chief Bush economist Mankiw says outsourcing jobs helps economy, some Dems echo (j.A4)
- fashion - hemlines higher in 2 fotos, lower in 5 (t.A28)
- colleague Kate: in well-known co-relation, economy follows hemlines
- Maureen Dowd rakes the neo-Khan artists
- 2 takeover rebuffs (good news):
- judge rules in favor of opponents of MONY takeover by AXA (t.C5)
- the mouse besieged - federal regulators should make Comcast work harder to win them over on this $54B deal than Disney shareholders (t.A32)
- 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 50 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 12% workforce cut last year (50 jobs lost) as Lycos focuses on subscription-based services, instead of just trimming its workweek 12% (to five 7hr2min days for whole firm, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone working, earning, confident & buying at least 88% as many toys as before (t.C8)
- unspecified cuts as Travelocity.com closes a customer-service center in Virginia & outsources some work in San Antonio (t.C8)
- 1 'work'-linked suicide:
healthy student Traci Johnson, 19, in paid trial of new Eli Lilly 'antidepressant' duloxetine aka Cymbalta, became this drug's 5th suicide (t.A22) - how many does Lilly need?
followup - many patients quit a medical trial of new antidepressant after participant killed herself (2/13 j.A1)
- 1 PUFFsizing item = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
tax questions for US military contractors - 27,000 (1 in 9) are evading taxes yet continuing to win new gov't business (t.C3)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
5 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic glimmers of hope in today's GoogleNews:
• NZ's biggest union is focusing on shortening workweek to 37½ hours (from 40?)
• Euro opposition to UK's over-48-hour workweek mounts
• short-sighted S.Korean 'research' institute fights workweek reduction
• company-level slippage on workweek length in Germany
• baggage workers in South Africa fight company's attempt to increase 40-hr workweek to 45
+ random glimmers of hope in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• what dollar's decline means: time to wean foreigners from dependence on US consumers (j.A1)
• Mr. Greenspan weighs in vs. Bush - contradicts Bush line that deficits 'insignificant' (t.A32)
• FBI vs. Bush - anxiety takes hold of pResidential aides in inquiry over CIA ID leak (t.A24)
• Hastert vs. Bush - house GOP leaders, under pressure, weigh cutting Bush's budget (t.A24)
2/11/2004 wed’s index to top US papers
all 690 textfiles: # visitors 2/10/tue: 814 excluding spiders (2/11/2003/tue: 910 including spiders)
- 3 DOWNsizings, totaling 550 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 500 US jobs destroyed as DaimlerChrysler shifts work from Tower Automotive to Mexico (t.C4)
- 50 mainly equity salespeople cut as Goldman Sachs offsets shrinking stock-unit profits (j.C4)
- unspecified cuts as premier NYC French restaurant Lutèce closes after 43 years (t.A1>D1)
- 1 new bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- Atrium Plaza Health Care Center Inc. in Chap.11 (j.C17)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- bird flu is HERE - mild form in Delaware thwarts hopes of fast gain in sales to Asia (j.B2)
- broadband fiasco - US trails Canada, Italy, S.Korea in high-speed Internet use (j.A18)
- French bid to cut 20% dining tax fails but US still trails France in popularity with tourists (j.A16)
- US revenue springs a leak - costs of healthcare, pensions might explain shortfall (j.A4)
- couldn't be taxcuts for rich & more uncounted jobless, oh no!
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
4 TIMEsizing items in the news = strategic hope in today's GoogleNews:
• big German union finally gets first things first = worktime issue
• engineers union in New Zealand pushes for cut to 37½-hour workweek
• in 'Sweatshop China,' seven 20½-hour days = 143.5-hour workweeks
+ random glimmers of hope, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 1 UPsizing - 4000 new Cognizant jobs in India pay 20% of US as profit rises 94% (t.C13)
• Finland fines according to ability to pay - sausage heir fined $216,000 for speeding (t.A10)
• without US, EU pursues effort to regulate credit-rating firms (j.C5) - two can play 'go it alone'
• Kerry's quest for focus = let US hook up with old friends, unhook from oil addiction (j.A4)
2/10/2004 tuesday’s index to top US papers
all 690 textfiles: # visitors 2/09/mon: 840 excluding spiders (2/10/2003/mon: 931 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- Mr. Bush's revisionism - hasn't vetoed a single spending bill so far (t.A26)
- 9/11 panel threatens to issue subpoena for Bush's briefings (t.page A16) - what's he scared of?
followup - White House backed down in latest battle with 9.11 commission - subpoena threat led it to offer intelligence summary briefings (2/11 j.A1)
- White House backs away from Bush '02 nuke-terror warning (j.A4) = another Bush reversal?
- Iraq 'pacification' has replaced Iraq 'reconstruction' & 'democracy' or 'nation building' (j.A1)
- antiwar forum in Iowa elicits federal subpoenas (t.12) - another Bushy intimidation mistake?
followup - subpoenas on antiwar protest are dropped - US attorney reverses course on university peace demonstration (2/11 t.A16)
- Dems suggest inquiry points to wider spying by GOP - Dem strategy memos somehow got into hands of GOP staffers (t.A17) - GOP still doesn't ‘get’ Watergate?
- tough accountability rules hit bottom lines, CEOs say (j.A1) - want all accountable but selves?
- minority apps at U.Mich. 23% below last year when High Court hit its affirmative action (j.A1)
- G7's seemingly tougher stance on dollar's fall yields to impression of same-ol', same-ol' (j.C2)
- ATVs (all-terrain...) take off in sales, fall into regulatory void, & deaths, injuries mount (j.A1)
- 2 big takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing:
- Juniper Networks to acquire NetScreen Technologies in deal for $3.63B (j.A3)
- Singapore's ST Assembly Test Services nears deal to buy Calif.'s ChipPac for $1.5B takeover in stock (j.A9) - on good side, PeopleSoft's board rejects Oracle's sweetened takeover bid (j.A1) & Justice lawyers advise against deal (2/11 j.A3)
- 1 DOWNsizing, totaling 860 lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 860 jobcuts as Circuit City closes 19 money-losing superstores across 15 states (t.C4)
- economywide DOWNsizing noted in the WSJ (j) &/or the NYT (t):
- 2 new bankruptcies mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- big music retailer Tower Records & its parent MTS Inc. files for Ch.11 (t.C1)
- PDC Milford Power LLC, Milford Power Co. LLC, et al. - fine print cloaks liquidation? (j.C13)
- 1 eroding-retirement story in NYT (t) or WSJ (j):
- political money said to sway pension investments - racketeering suit asserts conflicts of interest in Pa.'s Luzerne County pension fund, another case of possible tainting by campaign contribs when elected officials sit on gov't pension boards (t.A1,C1)
- 2 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant creating unspecified new ‘jobs’:
- Bush spanks Fannie...Mae (j.A16) - but will he stanch this potentially lethal leak in gov't budget & overall financial system?
- Iraq pacification garnished with Kuwait's wanting own Halliburton inquiry (j.A1)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
4 TIMEsizing items in the news:
• big S.Korean union starts work-sharing campaign by reducing overtime hours
• the human side of the workweek reduction in S.Korea coming up on July 1
• the other side - OxFam monitors longer hours pushed on world's women workers
• Euro Parliament votes today on enforcing 48-hour workweek cap on Britain, no 'opt-outs'
+ random glimmers of intelligence, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• the Right begins backing Bush a bit less - ranks in conservative press start to sway (t.A21)
• Howard Dean now says loss in Wisconsin wouldn't end his campaign (t.A18)
• German resistance to US-style management consulting ('downsize!') grows (j.A14)
• inflation could narrow China wage gap (j.A14) - but not if CEOs keep grabbing more & more
• condoms at Carnival in Brazil - 10 million handed out free vs. spread of AIDS (t.A8)
2/07-09/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz) index
- #visitors to any of our 691 files, F Sa Su: 750,463,591 - wk's daily avg: 728 -
weekend headlines from hell(tm) cited in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
• survey finds profit pressure is leading to poor decisions - a conclusion that the short term often
eclipses the long term (2/07 t.page B3) - but hey, Short-Term Capitalists 'R' Us
3 DOWNsizings, totaling 3070 +?? lost jobs cited in
WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• 3000 jobcuts (9%) as Cigna cites drop in policyholders (2/07 t.B2)
• 70 cuts as Alberto-Culver sells Illinois plant (2/07 t.B4)
• unspecified cuts as Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur IL, world's largest grain processor,
plans to close plant in Leer, Germany (2/07 t.B4)
2 general DOWNsizing stories in
WSJ &/or NYT:
• job growth (112k) picks up in Jan. but misses forecasts (175k) & even 150k
= new-entrant absorption level (2/07 t.B1)
• jobless rate unchanged at 7.4% in Canada (2/07 t.B1)
1 PUFFsizing = makework rampant involving ?? new 'jobs' reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• Halliburton Co. subsidiary is part of consortium alleged to pay $180m in bribes
to land natural-gas contract in Nigeria (2/09 j.B5)
vs. hope du jourtm
TIMEsizing = strategic hope - the only thing we haven't tried lately:
• Australian electrical union votes for statewide campaign
to win 36-hour workweek of four 9-hour days
• Israeli cabinet sets team to explore cutting workweek to 5 days (from 5&189;? or 6?)
- and 4 other worktime news items
+ random hope reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• Bush finds party faithful in an ugly mood - activists see conservative agenda
threatened by growing doubts about grassroots base (2/09 j.A4)
• administration's message on war in Iraq now strikes discordant tones - are
pResident's ranks still uniform, or is it every warrior for himself? (2/07 t.A8)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 70
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 21 DOWNsizings, over 9,241 jobcuts
• 2 bankruptcies
• 5 eroding-retirement stories
• 2 prison stories
vs. hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
18 TIMEsizing items
• 4 UPsizings
+ clouded hope: • 15 makework items
{{ ytd: 114 timsizngs (600+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 9 upsizngs (?? new jobs)
+ 63 makwrk (31503+ 'jobs') =
total: 32103 = 31% of cuts
VERSUS
111 downsz (103769+ cuts)
+ 20 bnkrpt ($350m+) +2 homlss +8 prsn +3 suicid }}
2/06/2004 friday’s index to top US papers
all 691 textfiles: # visitors 2/05/thu: 816 excluding spiders (2/06/2003/thu: 913 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- hazards for investors get ignored year after year - corporate board minutes get altered; judgements in arbitration go unpaid (j.page A1)
- Wash. state governor proposes higher sales tax (t.A20) - want sales? cut sales tax & hike graduated income taxes on superhoarders, instead of -
- help grandparents of rich kids now - deal with real problems later (t.C1)
- 4 DOWNsizings, totaling 290 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 240 jobcuts as Swiss Re takes over life insurance part of CNA Financial for $690m (t.C3)
- 50 +?? cuts as Canadian ad agency Wolf Group Integrated Communications closes all but 1 of its offices, including NYC (t.C10)
- unspecified cuts - by Covisint LLC as Compuware Corp. acquires it (j.B5) and
- - by Manhattan as other NYC boroughs weather recession better (t.C11)
- 1 new bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- Parmalat Finanziaria SpA's Brazilian dairy unit (j.B4)
- 1 PUFFsizing item = makework rampant creating 89,000 new federal civilian ‘jobs’:
- Uncle Sam expands - Clinton cut federal civilian staff by 300k to 1778k by 2000 but Bush increased them by 89k back to 1867k by 2003 - at 153,000, Homeland Security is now bigger than all cabinet depts. except Defense & Vets Affairs (j.A16)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• Snap-On Tools in Iowa cuts to 3-day workweek to limit jobcuts to four
• standard economists have come up with another smokescreen to put off timesizing imperative
• Minn. healthcare workers diss Bush overtime plan but some are unsustainably addicted to OT
• Atlanta women lawyers push for easier & better part-time option
+ random glimmers of intelligence, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 1 UPsizing: unspecified new jobs as AARP recruits & trains workers over 55 to help fill jobs at Home Depot (t.C4) - whoopeedoo
• most retailers sold more in Jan. - but customers lured by record cold & clearance sales (t.C5)
• citing arms (or lack thereof), Tory leader Michael Howard says Blair should quit (t.A12)
• Churope - China & Europe are growing ever closer, both diplomatically & economically (j.A1) - when last superpower goes nuts, subpowers of the world unite to cast off its change
2/05/2004 thur’s index to top US papers
all 691 textfiles: # visitors 2/05/wed: 823 excluding spiders (2/05/2003/wed: 859 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- U.S. image will take years to repair, says Tutweiler, State's new chief of public diplomacy (t.A5)
- factory orders & services index show economy growing, spending 'a little stronger' (t.C8)
= pathos spun as growth despite millions of deactivated consumers - jobless, homeless, jailed...
- as G7 gathers, Europe 'looks like an outsider' (t.C1) - how can majority of G7 be 'outsiders'?
- geeks alert the unsavvy: learn basics else virus - never open unknown email attachment (t.A1)
- the 'quorum after' - why is Congress still not prepared to weather an attack? (t.A31)
- cuz they're distracted by costly terrorism-irrelevant war based on spectral evidence like Salem?
- the 'animals we are' - kids competing for Growth & excess wealth, wiping out resources (t.A30)
- clarity on Clean Air Act- a year since Bush promised to overhaul & nothing's happened (t.A30)
- Haiti's descent - Aristide, once hailed as democracy's champion, morphs into despot (t.A30)
- 2 DOWNsizings, totaling 1786 lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
- 1300 public diplomats cut 1991-2003 as US image abroad tanks (t.A5) - Bush: who cares?
- 486 jobcuts (1086-250-350) as State Farm closes La. office & moves to Ok. & Mo. (t.C4)
- 1 eroding-retirement story in NYT (t) or WSJ (j):
- Swedes privatized their Social Security in 2000:
too many fund choices make default fund far frontrunner, but fell 30% in first 3 yrs (t.C2)
- 4 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant creating unspecified new temp ‘jobs’:
- the temps of war: blue-collar workers ship out for Iraq - Halliburton jobs pay well,
if you don't mind the danger - camping...with mortars (j.A1)
- misspending military dollars - if Bush serious, budget would have reflected real costs of Iraq, cut cold-war-era holdovers & focused on real 21st-century military needs (t.A30)
- a federal scientific panel called Bush's $1.7B hydrogen-car plan 'unrealistically aggressive' (j.A1) = the story of W's life?
- India announces $5.5B to modernize armed forces (t.A6)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• British truckdrivers' push for EU's 48-hour workweek maximum
• US truckdrivers squawk about safer shorter hours, one plants Ricin
• more on Australian electricians' push for 36-hour workweek, four 9-hour days, 3-day weekend
• Miami Herald - 'our time bind is all in our mind' - never mind the data
+ random glimmers of intelligence, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• FDA may ask drug advertisers to display side-effects info more prominently (t.C5)
• ban urged on animal feed for cows, else 1 mad per month (t.A16) = back to vegetarian nature
• judges back scientific study of 9000-yr-old Kennewick man vs. NW tribes' attempt to claim
as untouchable ancestor (t.A16)
2/04/2004 wed’s index to top US papers
all 691 textfiles: # visitors 2/03/tue: 840 excluding spiders (2/04/2003/tue: 929 including spiders)
- headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- unemployment/Latin America:
• Argentina 16.3%
• Venezuela 15.4%
• Colombia 13.3%
• Brazil 10.9%
• Peru 9.7%
• Chile 7.4%
• Mexico 3.0%
- 6 DOWNsizings, totaling 2413 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or NY Times (t):
- 1500 jobcuts as Gadzooks women's apparel chain goes bankrupt (t.C4)
- 4% workforce cut last year (333 jobs lost) as Lego wages battle of children's building-block makers, instead of just trimming its workweek 4% (19 minutes a day for whole firm, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone working, earning, confident & buying at least 96% as many toys as before (j.B1)
- 300 jobcuts as Boeing overreacts to Air Force maintenance cutbacks in San Antonio (t.C4)
- 200 cuts as Varco International responds suicidally to poor sales (t.C4)
- 80 as Visteon autoparts eliminates costs - and markets (t.C4)
- unspecified cuts as Ciba Specialty Chemicals cuts 2% of its workforce (t.W1)
- 1 new bankruptcy mentioned in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- Gadzooks files for Chapter 11 in Texas (t.C4, j.B4)
- 1 eroding-retirement story:
- HHS opens $9.5m ad campaign vs. Dems' criticism of drug benefits as threat to Medicare (j.A1)
- 1 prison item:
- last spring, girlfriends make 3 tries to spring 2 SingSing inmates, but foiled by panic attack, hasty timing, fake badge & left-behind ID (t.C13)
- 4 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant creating ?? ‘jobs’:
- Bush's budget reported by analysts to contain wide wallpapered-over cracks (j.A1) - Bush's credibility becomes problem, mostly self-inflicted (j.A4)
- seeing future in Bush's budget, why not apply $27m from Halliburton meal overcharge & $6m from KB&R kickbacks to meals for poor kids in US (t.A24)
- Halliburton admits it also overbilled Pentagon at 4 other dining sites in mideast (j.A1>2)
- hey, big spenders: spending limit law could stop you (j.A16) - but just rehashes Prop.2½?
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
TIMEsizing consciousness in the news:
• Airbus saves 1200 jobs at Broughton, Flints. plant in England by introducing a 35-hr workweek
• electricians in Australia's power industry push for permanent 36-hr workweek & long weekend
• Hartwick College in Oneonta NY allow married microbio professors to jobshare
+ random glimmers of intelligence, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 1 UPsizing: unspecified new jobs as MGM Mirage plans to build hotel & casino in UK (t.C4)
2/03/2004 tuesday’s index to top US papers
- all 691 textfiles: # visitors yesterday 2/2/mon: 812 excl.spiders (2/03/2003/mon: 890 incl.spiders) -
- 3 headlines from hell(tm) from Wall Street Journal (j) &/or New York Times (t):
- mixed (read 'weak') economic signals leave markets in flux, ie: unstable (t.page C7)
- contrast '3 reports show economy continues to recover' (t.C3)
- tax package offered to replace WTO-outlawed export taxbreak (j.A10) = 'free trade' à la Bush
- sweet sabotage of deal with 'down under' (j.A14) = sugar growers hold up push for 'free trade' (j.A13) - oh wait, that's GOOD!
- 6 DOWNsizings, totaling 1682 +?? lost jobs reported in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or NY Times (t):
- 1300 jobcuts as Carrier Corp. to close factory in central Tennessee (t.C6)
- 57% workforce cut (257 jobs lost) as Incyte drug discovery closes Palo Alto ctr, instead of just trimming its workweek 57% (to four 4hr,18min days for whole firm, including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone working, earning, & buying at least 43% as many drugs as before (t.C6)
- 125 jobcuts as Phelps Dodge copper plans to close magnet-wire plant in El Paso (t.C6)
- unspecified cuts by Entergy (w.A12) and
- Humana (w.A12),
- and by Somalia as it shuts 11 orphanages (j.A1)
- 1 industrywide DOWNsizing story noted in
the WSJ (j) &/or the NYT (t):
- speeding flight check-in at self-service kiosks lets airlines cut labor costs (t.C4)
- 2 economy-level bankruptcy stories reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
- federal judge Alfred Wolin - despite advisers with conflicts of interest - refuses to step aside in 5 cases of bankrupt firms being sued for exposing people to asbestos (t.C7)
- largest US bankruptcy last yr ($11.4B), Mirant, reveals new risks for lenders to ailing firms (j.C1)
- 3 eroding retirement stories:
- United Air battles flight attendants union to cut medical benefits of its 35,000 retirees (j.D5)
- cutbacks in retiree health benefits at Lucent, Alcatel & others in last 2 years (t.C1>A1)
- Treasury Dept. plans new 'cash balance' pension rules - to further coddle firms (t.C2, j.A11)
- 1 prison item:
- New Hampshire had 337 inmates in 1981; 2,438 end of 2003 @ $22k cost to taxpayers (t.A21)
- 5 PUFFsizing items = makework rampant creating ?? ‘jobs’:
- Bush unveils 'budget' package of $2.4 TRILLION excluding future Iraq costs (j.A1)
- compare tomorrow, 'sex, lies & Bush tapes - those spend-&-spend conservatives' (t.A25) &
- 'seeing the future in Bush's budget' with $50B for Iraq kept quiet till after election (t.A24)
- in complex world, even lawyers need lawyers (t.C1) - see makework area #3
- effectiveness & spending don't necessarily add up - Bush proposes spending 3% more on drug-abuse programs (j.A10)
- healing the wounds at the 'bloody crossroads' of politics & art? - Bush recently proposed largest boost in 20 yrs for NEA (j.D8)
- Halliburton will repay est. $27.4m overcharges for US troops' meals (t.A9) - contrast 'army study of Iraq war details a "morass" of supply shortages' (t.A1)
vs. glimmers of hope = headlines from heaven
TIMEsizing consciousness in the news = strategic glimmers ignored since Pearl Harbor:
• German unions struggle to hold onto 35-hour workweek despite employer attempts to re-expand it (& give themselves bigger unemployment and crime bills)
+ random glimmers of intelligence, in Wall Street Journal (j) or NY Times (t):
• 2 UPsizings: ?? new jobs as - SEC to hire staff, investigate & hedge mutual funds (j.A10) &
- Brazil steel plant planned by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, Baosteel & Arcelor (t.W1)
1/31-2/02/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz) index
4 weekend headlines from hell(tm):
• debt-heavy economy jittery about rates - since 1999, household debt rose from 70 to 83% of GDP (1/31 t.B1)
• Democrats assail, & tap, 'special interests' (1/31 t.A1) - critical problem for progressives
• Europe snorts at 'no WNDs' report - already figured Bushies lied to own citizens, Europe & selves (1/31 t.A5)
• reporter Andrew Gilligan at center of BBC Iraq dispute resigns, following 2 top officials (1/31 t.A5) - BBC's independence sacrificed to save Blair's butt
4 DOWNsizings, totaling 1900 +?? lost jobs cited in
Wall Street Journal (j) &/or NY Times (t):
• 1000 jobcuts as Ford cuts 1 shift at Hazelwood MO plant (1/31 t.B4)
• 600 cuts by Wella haircare, & we don't mean hair cuts (1/31 t.B4)
• 300 as Ormet Corp. shuts part of its Hannibal OH operation (1/31 t.B4)
• unspecified cuts as Blockbuster, pressed by piracy, closes all 24 Hong Kong stores by 2005 (2/2 j.B3) - CEOs: 'if we lost $, you get laid off; if we make $, we get bonuses' (tails you lose, heads we win)
1 general DOWNsizing story in
WSJ &/or NYT or Boston Globe:
• globalism minus jobs equals campaign issue - consensus of candidates grow that trade accords must be re-examined (1/31 t.A8)
1 bankruptcy-related outrage reported in Wall Street Journal &/or New York Times:
• US attorneys contest bankrupt FAO Inc's plan to pay out bonus & severance to executives in FAO's 3d bankruptcy in 3 yrs (2/2 j.C4)
1 eroding-retirement story cited in WSJ (j) or NYT (t):
• another pension bailout, or just Bush handout, for airlines & steel (2/2 j.A18)
2 PUFFsizings = makework rampant involving ?? new 'jobs' reported in WSJ (j) &/or NYT (t):
• Bush to introduce today a budget jammed with military spending but a squeeze on social services (2/2 j.A1)
• Halliburton hits another billing snafu - $16m overcharge for meals - & now Bush is outsourcing law&order work abroad, including Iraq (2/2 j.A1)
vs. hope du jourtm
TIMEsizing = strategic hope - the only thing we haven't tried lately:
• in 1965 sociologists predicted that by 2000 increased automation would result in 15-hour workweek
• Australian employers' study predicts doom if shorten workweek, never mind cutting it from 80 to 40 hours 1800-1940
• union 'take' on proposed US overtime changes
• US productivity miracle is based on 'progress' toward Third World = longer hours for less pay
+ random hope reported in Boston Globe (g):
• the myth of runaway taxes - in 2004, our state & local tax burden is about what it was in 1964 (2/01 g.G1)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 67 again
doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 13 DOWNsizings, over 18,070 jobcuts
• 1 work-linked suicide story
• 3 bankruptcies owing over c.US$350m (C$396m)
• 3 eroding-retirement stories
vs. hope of the the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•