creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- bill to aid tobacco farmers hinges on a windfall for landowners (j.A1)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
simulated growth thru takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- SEC to review $10B American Electric Power Co. takeover of Central & South West Corp. (t.C4)
- LNR Property Corp. to be sold to Riley Property Holdings for $3.8B in cash & debt (t.C4)
- after takeovers, the next steps, cumulatively lethal, usually involve downsizings
DOWNsizings - today's total, unspecified jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
10% Kanahwa Valley WV workforce cut (160 jobs lost) as Dow Chemical overreacts to poor market conditions by worsening them even further, instead of cutting 10% of its Kanahwa workweek (¾ hr/day for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone together working, earning and shopping 90% as much as before (t.C5)
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
Kirchner's next challenge - public ire at Argentine activists demanding jobs highlights need for sustained job creation (j.A10) - or quit straining & just implement worksharing
DOWNsizing results = dysfunctional executive pay, perks & pensions:
Hollinger's board comes under criticism in a report into hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to top executives (j.A1>3)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- the Bush Pentagon's troubling role in Nov. election - directly handles 6m military & civilian overseas votes - & 2 states (so far) are allowing military voters to vote by email & requiring them to sign a release acknowledging they may not have secret ballots (t.A20) = Bush's America continues its slouch toward theocratic military dictatorship - 'what rough beast, its hour come round at last...'
- social conservatives wield influence on GOP platform - platform opposes abortion & gay unions (t.A1) - good! that'll lose'em the women's vote & the gays' vote
- govt failed to flag air marshals with problematic records in a rush to boost air security, a Homeland Security report says (j.A1) - Bush screws up again
- Howard's government warned Australia could be target of a terror attack in the 6-week campaign leading to Oct.9 elections (j.A1) - terrorism: the all-purpose bogeyman - scumbag PM of Australia is trying to copy Bush's 'Perpetual War' scam for perpetual power
8/28-30/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- #visitors to any of our 721 files, F Sa Su: 565,395,394 - wk's daily avg: 600
-
TIMEsizing awareness = strategic glimmers of hope in weekend's GoogleNews:
- Welsh unions campaign for 3 more annual holidays to bring them up to EU norm
- long hours go hand in hand with low pay, sweatshops & child labor in Philippines
- plus 39 other worktime-related articles
• click here for details
+
random glimmers of hope indexing (j) Wall St.Journal, (t) NYTimes or (g) Bos.Globe (archives):
- perks for hybrid cars in Calif. - Gov. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign legislation this week that would allow up to 75,000 Calif. drivers of alternative-fuel vehicles to use carpool lanes - Detroit is fighting this initiative (8/28 t.B1>A8)
- the icon Republicans want to forget - Reagan will be on all lips, Nixon should be on all minds: op ed by James Rosen, Fox News' White House correspondent (8/28 t.A27) = GOP split widens?
- I'm too old (80) to debate Vietnam: Mary Eisenhauer of Danvers MA - enough is enough! John Kerry served in Vietnam and faced enemy fire - George W. Bush didn't (8/29 g.D10)
- full-page ad of 9 people who voted Republican in 2000 but are voting for Kerry in 2004, & their various reasons (8/30 t.P7) - compare: full-page ad by 17 Republican former governors, senators & public officials calling to the Grand Old Party to come back to the mainstream (8/30 t.P19)
- Republicans gathered for the convention amid antiwar [& anti Bush] protests - a NYC official estimated that 120,000 took part in the tightly policed demonstrations, while organizers contend the turnout was more than triple that, over 360,000 (8/30 j.A1) = largest protest at a political convention in US history: Democracy Now (9/08)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now on 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- France closer to aiding private company - European Commission likely to approve $621m in govt aid for ailing computer firm Bull (8/28 t.B1>3)
- U.S. diplomat wants more funds for Iraqi security - plan shifts $3.37B in reconstruction money mainly to fight 'insurgents' (8/30 j.A1)
- South gains the most in a major redistribution of public housing subsidies, e.g., $3.6B annual budget for day-to-day housing operations - Texas & Florida are among the big gainers under a new formula (8/30 t.A17)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing, in j, t, & g (Boston Globe):
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- Japan's jobless rate jumps from 4.6% in June to 4.9% in July while prices declined [deflation!] & consumer spending declined - 'recovery' seems...not as robust as thought (8/28 t.B1>3)
- British Airways to examine its own 'labor shortage' - no mystery: BA has cut 13,000 jobs over last 3 years (8/30 t.C2)
DOWNsizing results = dysfunctional executive pay:
P&G more than tripled CEO A.G. Lafley's long-term incentive pay to $9.86m (8/30 j.A1>B3)
DOWNsizing results = eroding-retirement noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- Greenspan warns anew about retiree expectations due to shortfall as U.S. ages - fed govt might have to scale back promises to elderly in programs like Soc Sec & Medicare (8/28 t.B1) - unless we quit clobbering our consumer base by coddling the already coddled affluent & restore taxes on the rich - compare: 'hedge fund LTCM censured for acting in bad faith, gross misstatement & understatement when it took $106m in tax deductions - ordered to pay $40m tax bill + 2 penalties that will raise total fine to $56m (8/28 t.B1) - isn't this the fund that Greenspan helped bail out?
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare opposes privatization thereof - full-page ad (8/30 t.P13)
DOWNsizing results = prison news (archives):
- Rumsfeld mischaracterizes [ie: lies about] findings of 2 studies on U.S. torture at Iraqi interrogations - said there was no evidence that prisoners had been abused (8/28 t.A6)
- Abu Ghraib: the worst to come? - the scenes of torture that have circulated for 4 months are only the portion of the evidence that's been cleared for public consumption: Matthew Daniels of Brooklyn (8/30 t.A20)
headlines from HELL (tm) from (j) Wall Street Journal or (t) NY Times or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- corporate profits fell in quarter on oil costs, slowing consumer demand (8/30 j.A2)
- & while consumer markets are starved for funds, there's ... a very, very big cash cow just sitting at corporations - US companies have nearly $600B in 'working capital' that eludes them, waiting to be liberated, according to a new outside audit (8/30 j.A1>C1) - so now we have mutual funds, high-tech, oil firms, high-income taxpayers & the working capital of US firms in general, awash in cash... while US consumer base is starving - but that's where the dynamic circulation occurs, the multiple transactions, that support all the rest of the markets, including the arrogant investment markets
- economic reality bites: editorial - if need further evidence that Bush's fiscal policies haven't worked the way he says, Census Bureau reports that 2001-2003, poverty increased, income stagnated & ranks of uninsured grew (8/28 t.A26)
- state of the economy: Jonathan Rees - chairman Gregory Mankiw of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers says there's no data available on quality of jobs the economy is now creating - he should look at recent work of Bureau of Labor Statistics, which concluded that only 57% of full-time workers displaced 2001-2003 & rehired by 2004 were earning less & 33% of these were earning over 20% less - is Mankiw ignorant of his own administration's research? or merely afraid that if he scratches the surface of the economy, he'll find parallels to Hoover's America after all? (8/28 t.A26)
- economic squeeze is plaguing middle-class families & middle class is shrinking - households $25-75k have dropped from 51.9% in 1980 to 44.9% in 2003 - 1.6m households filed bankruptcy last year, up 33% from 2000 (8/28 t.A11)
- club of most powerful gathers in strictest privacy - Bush, Rumsfeld & Cheney said to have met group of few hundred conservatives called Council for National Policy (C.N.P.) who've gathered at undisclosed locations 3 times a year for 23 years to strategize about how to turn U.S. toward right (8/28 t.A10) - still think there's no conspiracy?
- official of Bush Pentagon suspected of giving U.S. secrets to Israel (8/28 t.A1) - might as well, they've given them everything else! eg: $9B last year, $3½B normally
- science sidelined: editorial - once again a Bushie science report blames CO2 & greenhouse gases for global warming & once again Bush says no action is warranted (8/29 g.D10)
- US & Russia still dominate arms market, but world total falls (8/30 t.A7)
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 70
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
87 TIMEsizing items
+ bogus hope: • 7 makework items (?? new 'jobs')
vs. doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 4 DOWNsizings, over 3180 jobcuts
• 4 bankruptcies
• 2 eroding-retirement stories
• 1 homelessness story
• 7 prison stories
{{ytd: 905 timsizg (1636+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 98 upsizngs (104228+ new jobs)
+ 294 makwrk (36803+ 'jobs') =
tot: 142667 = 39% of cuts,
VS.
327 dnsz (366558+ cuts)
+ 132 bkrp ($416m+) +30 homlss +124 jail +18 deth }}
8/27/2004 friday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 723 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/26/thu: 585 (8/28/2003/thu: 746) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- Scandinavians resist pressure to work longer hours
- a roundup of US-dominated IMF's recent successes in conning European CEOs into joining America's Race to the Bottom via longer & longer workweeks
- plus 5 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- a delicate question for the far right from Hoover Institution fellow & Harvard history prof. Niall Ferguson - might American conservatism be better off if Bush isn't re-elected? (j.A1) - re-electing a poor candidate clobbered the right indefinitely in England in the 1990s (John Major) & for the following decade in the U.S. in the 1950s (Eisenhower) - compare: words for a campaign: James O. Freedman of Cambridge MA - in 1952, Adlai Stevenson stated it was better to 'lose the election than mislead the people' (t.A22)
- U.S. judge Richard Conway Casey in NYC rejects ban on partial-birth abortion (t.A1>12)
- a Gandhi preaches peace in Mideast - Arun Gandhi, a grandson of Mohandas, took part in a peace rally in Ramallah - told Yasser Arafat that it was not too late for passive resistance (boston globe.A11) - at last!
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- a windfall from a student loan program - loophole profits lenders - taxpayers are paying a billion a year for a subsidy that isn't supposed to exist (t.C1>2)
- NYC braced for large protests before & during the Republican convention next week with tens of thousands[?!] of security personnel on duty (j.A1)
- James Albaugh, CEO of Boeing's $27B military&space unit, has repeatedly denied any role in recruiting & hiring Darleen Druyun away from her job as high-ranking Air Force acquisition official though he was aware of, & participated in, job-related contacts with her even as he negotiated across the table from her for important Boeing business with the Air Force (j.A1>A3)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
simulated growth thru takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing - (mega & banking archives):
Toronto-Dominion Bank bought 51% of Banknorth Group of Maine for $3.8B (t.C3)
- after takeovers, the next steps, cumulatively lethal, usually involve downsizings
DOWNsizings - today's total, unspecified jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
unspecified cuts as Belgium's biggest drugmaker, UCB, closes Boston research unit (t.C3)
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- unemployment filings exceed forecasts - ½ the rise is attributed to Hurricane Charley (t.C3, j.A2)
- more Americans were poor in 2003, Census concludes - fresh evidence of a jobs slump has political implications (t.A18)
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
DeVlieg Bullard II Inc. in Chapter 11 in Del. (j.B5)
DOWNsizing results = prisons noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
- top generals said a list of Rumsfeld-approved interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo migrated improperly to Ghraib & contributed to torture there (j.A1) - like it was OK at G'tmo?!
- Army's report faults Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez in prison torture - orders found to exceed standard practice (t.A1>10) - reports criticize medics for overlooking torture (t.A10) - report is likely to prompt criminal charges (t.A10) = still protecting Rumsfeld
- Abu Ghraib, the next step: editorial - for months, Chairman John Warner of Senate Armed Services Committee has been gamely resisting pressure from Republican leaders to call off his hearings on the prison disaster (t.A22) - who will answer for Abu Ghraib? 6 letters - sample: Karen Alexander-Brown of Salt Lake City - 'let me get this straight: a president can be impeached for having sex in the White House, but not for war crimes - what's wrong with this picture & this culture?' (t.A22)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- troubling Census news (g.A22) - more Americans were poor in 2003, especially single-parent families - national poverty rate rose to 12.5% in 2003 from 12.1% previous year - "poor" = family of four with annual income less than $18,660 (t.A1)
- health plans cover fewer while costs keep rising - increase last year was 1.4m, to a record 45 million uninsured = 15.6% of all Americans: US Census Bureau - health insurance fell only for families with annual income of less than $75,000 (t.C1) - we've been using '43m' for 4 yrs!
- Republican platform committee pushes through approval of platform draft by 'novel tactics' like limiting access to text & to names of committee members (t.A16) = Republican elite are even shafting their own rank&file
- more than half of Asia still lives in poverty - Asia's "robust" economic development 1990-2002 has done little to reduce poverty, where 1.9B people or 60% of the population still live on less than $2 a day: Asian Development Bank (j.A10) - ADB needs to change focus from stodgy investments via concentrating money to dynamic consumer markets via centrifuging money
8/26/2004 thursday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 723 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/25/wed: 660 (8/27/2003/wed: 769) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- almost 30% of Brits would like to adopt the French 35-hour maximum workweek
- 24% of HR professionals in US say differences over acceptable work hours are the primary sources of conflict among different generations of employees
- plus 6 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- Kerry repeated a call for Rumsfeld to resign in the wake of Iraqi-prisoner abuse reports (j.A1)
- national counsel for Bush's re-election campaign quits over links to Kerry's foes - Benjamin Ginsberg helped Swift Boat Veterans for 'Truth' - McCain expresses dismay at TV ads attacking Kerry's war record (t.A1) - at least Kerry HAS a war record to attack - & 5 medals - & not just a gap in the record like service-ducking Bush & 5 draft deferments like Cheney
- hiding the truth in a cloud of black ink - far too many govt records are classified: Trent Lott & Ron Wyden (t.A27) - well, why not DO something about it, Trent?
- weighing Bush vs. Kerry against your tax bill - under the Kerry plan, high-income taxpayers would be expecially 'hard' hit (j.D2) - so it's an improvement to continue under the Bush plan where lower-income taxpayers will be especially hard hit once Bush's megabills come due?
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
simulated growth thru takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- First Reserve Corp. buyouts to buy Dresser-Rand refinery equipment for $1.2B (t.C3)
• after takeovers, usual next step (cumulatively lethal) = downsizing
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
Oakwood Living Centers Inc. et al. in Chapter 11 jointly in Del. (j.C12)
DOWNsizing results = prisons noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
abuses of Iraqis at prison ordered by intelligence officers - details in Army panel report - blames 2 colonels, Thomas Pappas & Steven Jordan - also implicates 29 soldiers (t.A1>10) - dangerous conditions preceded prison abuses (t.A10) - latest report on Abu Ghraib - abuses of Iraqi prisoners 'are, without question, criminal' (t.A11) - holding the Pentagon accountable for Abu Ghraib: editorial - impossible while circumventing Geneva Conventions & protecting Rumsfeld (t.A26) - impossible while the foot soldiers always take the fall (t.A27)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- holding the Pentagon accountable for religious bigotry: editorial - first reports sounded like over-the-top satire of the Bush Pentagon - Depy.Secy.of Defense for Intelligence, Lt.Gen. William Boykin, the ranking general charged with the hunt for Bin Laden, went to 23 US churches in uniform preaching that God (not Supreme Court) had put Bush in the White House, that Islamic terrorists will only be defeated 'if we come at them in the name of Jesus' & pronounced Satan the mastermind of the terrorists because 'he wants to destroy us as a Christian army' - last fall after this brimstone bigotry became public, Rumsfeld actually praised Boykin for an 'outstanding record' & kept him in the highly sensitive position during the inquiry - now Pentagon wants to merely reprimand him (t.A26) - apparently the Bush administration & Pentagon are just as crazy & primitive as the warring theocracies of the Middle East
- awash in a gusher of cash, oil firms are reluctant investors - failure to add capacity could leave world at risk for future price shocks (j.A1) - but what do they care? - so now we have mutual funds, high-tech, oil firms & high-income taxpayers awash in cash while consumer base is maxxing out its credit cards - is Bush trying to trigger Great Depression II? - prevailing economic design has no way to prevent draining of $circulation into top brackets - Timesizing prevents it with guaranteed full employment & incentive-balanced inflation control
- economy may be taking a breather (j.A2) - no kidding
8/25/2004 wednesday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 722 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/24/tue: 775 (8/26/2003/tue: 741) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- for S.Korean businesses, workweek reduction will mean more opportunities to drive up sales - banks led the reduction in 2002
- after half a century of struggle against poverty since the Korean War, South Korea is finally becoming normal - South Koreans are cutting from a 44- to 40-hr workweek because after years of sacrifice, they feel they now deserve better quality of life
- plus 19 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- Cheney remarks blur gay-marriage stance (j.A8) - more flipflops from ... Republicans
- America & Europe: us & them? - it's not the aristocratic elite but the middle & lower classes whose political power & engagement define the crucial difference: Kirsten Wever of Arlington MA (t.A22)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
simulated growth thru takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- Citigroup to buy First American Bank of Bryan TX for $?? (j.C3, t.C3)
• after takeovers, usual next step (cumulatively lethal) = downsizing
DOWNsizings - today's total, 110 jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
110 jobcuts as Provident Financial Group suffers after this year's takeover by National City Corp. (t.C3) - again the toxic takeover-downsizing connection
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- online today - work in progress - 2 Oregon towns try to save call-center jobs (j.A1)
- Bank of America Corp. in N.C. laid off hundreds in Fleet branches last week despite execs' statements that 'customer-facing' jobs would be safe - moved 2d key business unit, small-business banking, from Boston to Charlotte NC despite repeated pledges to keep key units in Boston after taking over New England's largest bank, FleetBoston - only 5 months since the takeover & already broke its pledge by moving its LatAm operations to NYC (g.A1) - when will legislators learn - enforce anti-trust cuz you don't have the means to enforce anything else
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
MicroAge Inc. in Chapter 11 in Ariz. (j.C11)
DOWNsizing results = prisons noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
a trail leads to Rumsfeld - on eve of GOP convention, 'office' of Secy of Defense becomes target, not Rumsfeld - abuse panel says rules on inmates need overhaul - command chain faulted - in wake of Abu Ghraib, military is urged to use a 'moral compass' (t.A1, j.A1) - oh that'll be real effective without Rumsfeld's resignation! - the Republican administration has lost all responsibility & credibility, but the mutually propping slime goes on & on
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- threat of jailing Time mag reporter Matthew Cooper is lifted - he gets help from Cheney chief of staff Lewis Libby who waived a confidentiality agreement with him in the matter of the traitorous act of disclosing covert CIA officer Valerie Plame - 'it is not known what role, if any, Mr. Libby may have played in identifying the CIA officer' (t.A1>16) - NYT strains to cover up the obvious - why would Libby have a confidentiality agreement with Cooper in this matter unless Libby - & Cheney - were the traitors in the White House who betrayed our own intelligence service? - Rumsfeld goes free, Libby & Cheney go free... - who's next?
- ahead of the tape - watching the cash welling up on corporate balance sheets has prompted Wall Streeters to wax bullish, but companies have lately shown little inclination to let go of their hoards (j.C1) - so consumers are running out of money, mutual funds are moving into cash, & now firms are slowing spending - tealeaves anyone?
- EPA says mercury taints fish across U.S. (t.A19) - just like 'neo-conservatism' taints Republicans
8/24/2004 tuesday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 722 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/23/mon: 826 (8/25/2003/mon: 732) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- between 1981 and 1997, U.S. kids' free time went down from 63 hours a week to a mere 51
- Kerry-Edwards Campaign campaign releases new study on effect of new Bush overtime regulations
- plus 7 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- online today - campaign 2004: Kerry picks up a bit more ground in the latest Zogby Interactive poll of 16 key battleground states (j.A1>D2) - but if the voting machines are corrupt...
- glimmer of intelligence: older investors more jittery as U.S. markets disappoint (t.C1) - blue chips decline to 10,073.05 after disappointing Wal-Mart forecast (t.C1)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
China's central bank nears bailout of private company, D'Long Corp. with loan package of up to $1.8B - "trying to head off a collapse that would shake the market" (t.W7) = the usual excuse
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
DOWNsizings - today's total, 3070 jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 3000 likely UK jobcuts as Banco Santander Central Hispano makes plans for takeover target Abbey National PLC - union plans to back Santander if bidding war breaks out (j.C12) = another toxic takeover-downsizing connection + suicidal union
- 70 cuts as Lacrosse Footwear Inc. of Portland OR plans to close its Claremont NH plant (t.C4) - a little plant closing here, a little plant closing there, & pretty soon you're talking 'death by a thousand nicks'
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):BMC Industries Inc., Vision-Ease Lens Inc, & Buckbee-Mears Medical Technologies in Chapter 11 jointly in Minn. (j.B7)
DOWNsizing results = homelessness in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
thousands in SW & central Fla. left homeless by Hurricane Charlie face housing shortage (t.A10)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- downturn [or was it Bush's taxcuts for the rich?] made states and cities more dependent on property taxes (j.A1) - so the Henry Georgeists are winning, after all these years - we're moving toward his panacea: a single tax on land
- Israel said it will add 530 [illegal squatter] homes in settlements after the U.S. offered no objections to its announcements last week of plans to build 1,000 new units (j.A1) = 530 more nails in the coffin of Mideast peace = great for them arms mfrs!
8/21-23/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- #visitors to any of our 721 files, F Sa Su: 665,484,452 - wk's daily avg: 656
-
TIMEsizing awareness = strategic glimmers of hope in weekend's GoogleNews:
- South Korean teacher presents '10 commandments' for healthier shift from 5½- to 5-day workweek
- Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx strikes back against consumerbase-cutters who want to relengthen the workweek & reconcentrate employment
- plus 17 other timesizing articles
• click here for details
+
random glimmers of hope indexing (j) Wall St.Journal, (t) NYTimes or (g) Bos.Globe (archives):
- UPsizings - unspecified new jobs as Aussie mining firm BHP Billiton Ltd. supports South Korean steel firm Posco's efforts to build $8.4B steelmill in India (8/23 j.B6)
- as Congressional budget chief, former Bush economic aide Douglas Holtz-Eakin isn't keeping to script - the White House taxcuts are skewed to the wealthiest: spoken like a true...Republican?? - raising doubts about Bush economic policies, & making Republicans wince (8/23 t.A12)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now on 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- the silence of an old soldier & the literary education of some young ones - straight from Iraq to a writing class, thanks to the N.E.A. (8/22 t.A22) - is this what we want to be doing with our children's tax money?
- wide U.S. inquiry into purchasing for health care - subpoenas to suppliers - case of Novation Co. - in Texas, of course - appears to focus on possible overcharging in sales to hospitals (8/21 t.A1)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing, in j, t, & g (Boston Globe):
DOWNsizings - today's total, 226 jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 150 mgmt jobcuts as Alaska Air slashes costs & nicks markets (8/21 t.B3, 8/23 j.B6)
- 76 cuts as Microsoft cuts some games at its Xbox videogame biz (8/21 t.B3, 8/23 j.B6)
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
new employment data show job picture in swing states - 75% have fewer jobs than they did when Bush took office (8/21 j.A1>3)
DOWNsizing results = 2 bankruptcies & 1 overview (archives) in WSJ (j) and/or NYT (t):
- Anglo American Insurance Co. Ltd. in Section 304 (8/23 j.B6)
- Aviation & General Insurance Co. Ltd. in Section 304 (8/23 j.B6)
- the bankruptcy ballad: Amanda Moore of Prestonsburg KY - NYT editorial of 8/16 'no bed of roses in the mines' is correct that the bankruptcy laws need humane revision (8/22 t.A22)
headlines from HELL (tm) from (j) Wall Street Journal or (t) NY Times or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- Kerry: slow-motion response on Swift Boat lies - how pathetic is it that he's playing defense on Vietnam when Bush didn't even serve? - Dems always seem caught off guard when GOP badcops show up to rip their throats out (8/22 t.4:9) - but then they chose jello Kerry instead of fighter Dean or principled Kucinich, didn't they
- chipping away at the wall between church & state (8/22 t.4:9) - when we should be duplicating it to separate state & market
- U.S. [ie: Bush] now said to support growth for some West Bank settlements (8/21 t.A1) - gotta keep that Perpetual War seething! - compare: Palestinian leaders voiced anger at U.S. silence over Israeli squatter plans (8/23 j.A1)
- rosy forecasts slipping as oil prices rise - GDP, racing ahead at 4.5% [cuz of all the bad stuff it counts] slowed to 3% pace as consumers cut back sharply (8/23 g.C3) - but hey, that's not really bad, cuz current price of crude is still far below the high it hit in 1980 - nothing is shocking (8/23 j.C1)
- water shortages pose a risk to businesses worldwide - shortfalls have led to plant closures in India & elsewhere (8/23 j.A1>A11)
- patenting good ideas could hurt companies rather than aid them (8/23 j.B1) - better maybe just to establish precedence by publishing in an obscure Lithuanian scientific journal
- mutual-fund 'timers' get clocked - scandals lead to grief - so just change the dreaded T-word (market timing) to 'active investing' & everything's OK, right? (8/23 j.C15) - ri-i-ght
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 45
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
53 TIMEsizing items
• 2 UPsizings
+ bogus hope: • 11 makework items
vs. doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 8 DOWNsizings, over 5,401 jobcuts
• 4 eroding-retirement stories
• 5 bankruptcies
• 3 prison stories
{{ytd: 818 timszgs (1636+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 98 upsizngs (104228+ new jobs)
+ 287 makwrk (36803+ 'jobs') =
tot: 142667 = 39% of cuts,
VS.
323 dnsz (363378+ cuts)
+ 128 bkrp ($416m+) +29 homlss +117 jail +18 deth }}
8/20/2004 friday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 721 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/19/thu: 755 (8/21/2003/thu: 640) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- shorter-hours candidate for president in Ohio: Joe Shriner
- South Korean joblessness dictates that their cut from a 44- to 40-hr workweek needs to speed up & maybe go lower
- plus 4 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- high demand for oil could mean high prices (new record: $48.70/bbl) are here for long run (j.A1,C1,5) - good, maybe now alternative, sustainable, renewable energy will gain traction!
- veteran by veteran, NYT chart rebuts "Swift Boat Veterans for 'Truth' " - chart shows either how they previously contradicted themselves, what records say, or both (t.A16)
- the Chavez victory = a blow to the Bush administration's strategy in Venezuela (t.A8) - when will the US get its big nose out of other people's affairs & clean up its own internal mess?
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
Halliburton's KBR meets deadline to lay out its argument why Pentagon shouldn't begin withholding 15% of its payments after auditors dubbed KBR's cost estimates inadequate (j.A2)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
DOWNsizings - today's total, 4825 jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 3500 mostly administration & research jobcuts as Canada's Nortel Networks plans restructuring by Dec.31 & fires 7 more financial managers (t.C3)
- 33% workforce cut (1325 jobs lost) as Aer Lingus overreacts to competition with Ryanair & cuts costs (& markets) - instead of trimming 33% of its workweek (to five 5hour,22min days for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone together working, earning and flying 67% as much as before (j.B2, t.C4)
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
HomeGold (Financial) Inc. & Carolina Investors Inc. in Chapter 11 jointly in S.C. (j.B7)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- South Korean lessons - American consumers, despite recent wobbles, haven't lost their urge to buy cuz banks are shoving credit cards at them & now total household debt is up to 83% of GDP - but S.K. did same thing (only up to 64%) & now personal bankruptcy is rampant & consumption again declining (j.C1)
- senator? terrorist? US Air agents stop Ted Kennedy 5 times cuz someone put 'Edward Kennedy' on a watch list (t.A1) - spiralling pettiness: is US Air, like Diebold, Republican-owned?
8/19/2004 thursday
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 722 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/18/wed: 725 (8/20/2003/wed: 684) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- Australian assemblywoman Karin McDonald argues for shorter sitting hours for assembly
- Dr. Gordon Moore shook off his long hours & far-ahead appts and joined 'open access' movement to give patients faster appts in Brighton NY
- plus 7 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- Rep. Doug Bereuter, a respected Republican voice on intelligence issues who is retiring, wrote a farewell essay for Nebraska constituents saying despite his earlier support, he now considers the war in Iraq an error that cost the U.S. dearly in lives, treasure & global standing (j.A1, t.A15) - compare: former Bush administration official David Kay who led the fruitless postwar effort to find WMDs in Iraq now faults pre-war intelligence as botched, fingers Condi Rice as 'the dog that did not bark' over Iraq's weapons program (t.A16)
- federal judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan tells U.S. [ie: Bush] to release data on treatment of detainees it holds in military bases or other facilities overseas, including official policies & records requested months ago by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act (j.A16)
- it's not about money = something Republicans just don't get in offering protesters discounts to keep it peaceful: it's about the human condition, sharing & social justice: letter from Suzanne Russian of Metuchen NJ - compare letter from David Hershey-Webb of NYC - Mayor Bloomberg's discount plan is the most brilliant since Gerald Ford's WIN button (Whip Inflation Now) - how about 'Peaceful Republican Delegate' buttons for Republicans willing to admit Iraq war was mistake & vote to remove the pResident who started it? (t.A30)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- bag it - give up on federal airport screeners - 4 arrested at NYC airports for stealing from locked bags in April, 4 more in Fla. in June, 1 in Philly, 13 in New Orleans - 28,000 claims for loss or damage have been filed - is it wise to trust the Transportation Security Administration to make air travel safe when it has a hard time protecting Americans from its own agents? (t.A21)
- how lawyers helped drive the boom in tax shelters [= private-sector makework] - Raymond 'R.J.' Ruble of Brown & Wood gave 2nd-opinion approval of shelter 'products' from KPMG that he helped KPMG develop in first place (j.A1)
- Halliburton billing battle heats up [back to public-sector makework] - US Army plans to withhold about $60m a month in payments to Halliburton's KBR unit amid questions about billing for troop work in Iraq & Kuwait (j.A1>3) - 'make up your damn mind!'
- time to quit Iraq (sort of) - Kuwaiti subcontractors are collecting huge sums from Pentagon contracts (t.A21)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
- cost of employee benefits [& CEO pay & perks?!] cited as factor in slump in jobs - rise in health premiums [& SEO severance?!] - companies say they are reluctant to hire more full-time workers (t.A1) - & US economists think they're in any position to criticize 'labor market rigidities' in Europe??
- past & potential layoffs: Delta's CEO Gerald Grinstein said the airline will need more layoffs & benefits changes - nation's 3d-largest airline has been in 3-year tailspin during which it has shed more than 16,000 jobs (j.A1>B6)
- Lloyds TSB Group in UK faces legal challenge to its outsourcing - plans to have 1500 workers in India by Dec.31 - one of its customers complained in July that transferring sensitive data or calls to India may break UK law (j.A11)
DOWNsizing results = dysfunctional executive pay, perks & pensions:
European giant in magazines finds U.S. a tough read - fired chief of Gruner+Jahr unit, Daniel Brewster, seeks $7m he says he's owed in compensation (j.A1>6) - more 'screw up & win'?
DOWNsizing results = eroding retirement noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
good news for a change: better retiree benefits to affect BellSouth earnings (t.C4)
DOWNsizing results = disability noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
halting progress for the 53m disabled Americans - only a little over 1/3 report being employed (j.A13) - so if 2/3 (35m) are unemployed & only 5.7m, say 6m, are on disability, what's up with the other (35-6=) 29m?
DOWNsizing results = prisons noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
- Abu Ghraib report doesn't blame senior officers - direct blame for the mistreatment is apparently limited to lower-level officers - the report expands the number of [foot-]soldiers believed to be culpable in the scandal (j.A2, t.A1>12) - of course, senior officers in the Bush regime have no responsibility - & this article only appears in the New England edition of the WSJ, not in the continental & Honololu edition
- to onetime political inmates, this jail was no vacation - now, 13th-century Schloss Hoheneck in Stollberg, Germany, has been converted into hotel simulating the experience of prisoners (t.A4)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- Al Qaeda gaining new support - amid crackdown in Pakistan, cells form among middle class (j.A11) - thank you sooo much, Geo.W.Bush & oil pals - & speaking of oil...
- oil futures climbed to another record of $47.27 a barrel as supply falls - fear of disruptions haunts world markets (j.A1>C5, t.C1) - Georgie Bush sowed the wind & reaped the whirlwind
- surging fuel costs hit struggling airlines hard - surcharges, new jets help, but losses mount, hedges can't cover soaring bills (j.A1) - truly Geo. Bush is the best thing Bin Laden could ever have hoped for - someone who would make whole ranges of mountains out of a molehill, who'd amplify 19 boxcutters into billions of dollars in costs to Americans for years & years to come
- 5 reporters held in contempt over Wen Ho Lee, who for his suit against Depts. of Energy & Justice is seeking the identity of the sources that provided private information on him to reporters & suggested that he was a suspect in theft of secrets from Los Alamos National Labs (j.B6) - secrecy replaces accountability under Bush-Cheney cuz trust them, they're 'Christians'
- Democrats' legal challenges impede Nader campaign - a state-by-state effort to reduce 3rd-party impact in Nov. (t.A19) - so this is the state of democratic choice in the 800-lb. gorilla that presumes to go around spreading 'democracy' to other less 'advanced' nations - you can easily get far too sophisticated for democracy to work (recall Machiavelli)
- law backing 2-sex marriage is upheld by federal judge Paul Snyder in Tacoma in case intersecting bankruptcy law (t.A19)
- Wyoming: snowmobiles may stay in national parks (t.A25) - Bushies gotta keep showin' Nature who's boss! - compare: U.S. would allow 720 snowmobiles daily at Yellowstone (8/20/2004 t.A14)
- 'two years without a contract.... is this any way to treat the heroes of 9-11': sign carried by NYC police protester last month in police-firefighter battle with Republican Mayor Bloomberg (t.A28) - is this how deep Republican admiration for the 9/11 heroes really goes? - Repubs believe 'it's all about money'...unless the money is for someone else!
- the new hanging chads - confusion over provisional ballots: editorial (t.A30)
- the quadrennial question = are we better off now? let's see...: Neil Friedman of Brooklyn (t.A30) -
- my country is engaged in a futile military exercise in Iraq
- my city is under a perpetual orange alert
- I am not sure that my vote will be counted
- my bags are being pilfered at the airport
- gas prices are up and still rising
- my rent just increased another 4%
- my salary has not increased in 2 years
- in a month, I'll be able to buy my very own assault rifle
- Clifford Ando of L.A. adds: the appalling failures of the No Child Left Behind Act
- & the disgraceful behavior of a few soldiers in Iraq [Abu Ghraib]
- & the alarming unwillingness of the federal govt to enact & enforce proper standards for the oversight of elections (= #3 above)
- a vote's worth: Joe Kane of Cortez FL - why does the U.S. have a foolproof ATM banking system but not a flawless voting procedure? (t.A30)
8/18/2004 wed.
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 722 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/17/tue: 750 (8/19/2003/tue: 732) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- online survey finds half of respondents willing to give up 5% of their pay for more free time, a quarter willing to give up 15%
- Minneapolis columnist thinks there's a revolution on the way for more free time
- Manchester Guardian (UK) suggests conservatives jump on the more-free-time bandwagon
- plus 8 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- UPsizings - unspecified new jobs as Starbucks Corp's Japan affiliate opened 17 stores (j.C14)
- inflation rate fell last month, mostly due to lower gas prices (j.A1, t.C1) - or should we now be worrying about deflation or stagflation?
- US bigger by 2050 but Germany 9% smaller, Russia 17%, Japan 20% according to Population Reference Bureau (j.A1) - but then, they may be going for quality of life, not just quantity
- 'if Feds won't fight global warming, we will' = letter signed by 8 attorneys general (CT CA IA NJ NY RI VT WS) including Eliot Spitzer & Richard Blumenthal (j.A11) - go get 'em, boys!
- Kerry condemned, at McCain's request, a MoveOn ad criticizing Bush for spending Vietnam in the Texas Air National Guard, but allies didn't (j.A1, t.A17) - why should they, when he didn't even spend Vietnam in the National Guard but AWOL from it!
- Pentagon's 'stop-loss' program keeping soldiers in service beyond enlistments was challenged in court by a Calif. National Guard member, identified as John Doe to protect his privacy (j.A1, t.A18) - stoploss = nice move by an administration run by a guy who didn't even serve out his whole enlistment in the Guard
- glimmer of intelligence - bad news on charter schools front: editorial - Bush's education program got a devastating setback this week when long-awaited federal data showed that kids in charter schools performed worse on math & reading than kids in regular public schools (t.A20)
- Hugo Chavez wins: editorial - it's time for his opponents to stop pretending they speak for most Venezuelans - he has aimed programs directly at the everyday problems of the poor: illiteracy, land hunger, inferior healthcare - he has used oil revenues to advance social welfare (t.A20) - in short, he has centrifuged the income of the nation & dynamized the sleepy Venezuelan economy with vibrant domestic demand
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- bag it - give up on federal airport screeners - 4 arrested at NYC airports for stealing from locked bags in April, 4 more in Fla. in June, 1 in Philly, 13 in New Orleans - 28,000 claims for loss or damage have been filed - is it wise to trust the Transportation Security Administration to make air travel safe when it has a hard time protecting Americans from its own agents? (t.A21)
- how lawyers helped drive the boom in tax shelters [= private-sector makework] - Raymond 'R.J.' Ruble of Brown & Wood gave 2nd-opinion approval of shelter 'products' from KPMG that he helped KPMG develop in first place (j.A1)
- Halliburton billing battle heats up [back to public-sector makework] - US Army plans to withhold about $60m a month in payments to Halliburton's KBR unit amid questions about billing for troop work in Iraq & Kuwait (j.A1>3) - 'make up your damn mind!'
- time to quit Iraq (sort of) - Kuwaiti subcontractors are collecting huge sums from Pentagon contracts (t.A21)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
DOWNsizings - today's total, 210 +?? jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 140 jobcuts as Alcoa Inc. of Pittsburgh closes autoparts plant in Northwood OH (t.C3)
- 70 cuts as Indus International Inc. inventory software of Atlanta cuts costs - & markets (t.C3)
- unspecified cuts as Cargill Inc. of Wayzata MN closes corn processing plant in Dimmitt TX due to poor returns in high-fructose corn syrup business (t.C3) - with all the corn subsidies, they still can't make this makework work??
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
- financial firms hasten their move to outsourcing - rapid push to find lower costs with most of the jobs ending up in India (t.W1>7) - fine, as long as they include analysts & economists, who will then quickly rethink globalization & 'free' trade
- economic battle roils Israel - workers strike to save jobs & benefits as leaders trim budgets (j.A9) - $3½ billion they get from US in a normal year ($9B last year) & they STILL can't keep people employed? - then what's the use?! let's cut the mega handouts!
DOWNsizing results = eroding retirement noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
US wants UAL Corp. (United Airlines) to step down as fiduciary of pension plans - UAL will name new fiduciary with Labor Dept's approval - Secy of Labor said the plan 'ensures that workers' interests are protected' (j.A3>6, t.C5) - ri-i-ight
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
- World Access Inc. et al. in Chapter 11 jointly in Ill. (j.B7)
- Fujita Corp. USA in Chapter 11 in Calif.
DOWNsizing results = prisons noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT (archives):
whistleblower threatened - Army reservist, Specialist Joseph M. Darby, who tipped off investigators to abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison by fellow soldiers is in protective military custody because of death threats (t.A18) - 'blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely...; rejoice and be exceeding glad...for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you...; ye are the salt of the earth...; ye are the light of the world...' (Matt.5:10-14)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- US may grow 43% to 420m by 2050 (j.A1) - ENOUGH already! let's switch from quantity to quality
- crude oil futures hit another intraday historic peak of $46.95/barrel in NYC after concern that production capacity may not match demand - so far this year, prices have surged 44% (j.A1, t.C1>7)
- some mutual funds get bearish on U.S. - American stocks lose luster, Merrill finds, & Japan gains (j.C16) - other funds opt to liquidate to cash & shut their doors as their managers confront a lackluster stock market, tough trading climate, greater regulatory scrutiny & higher costs - 2 wks ago, Oakmark Small Cap Fund - now WWW Internet Fund, taking with it Growth Flex & Market Opportunities (t.C1>2)
- getting the tax bill right as property incomes decline - strapped local govts are looking for ways to raise more revenue - as Bush cut federal help, commercial property taxes have risen more than 10% on average over the past 3 years (j.B6) - so did Bush really lower taxes or just move them around, onto businesses & the middle class?
- who needs assault weapons? - despite his promise during 2000 campaign: 'it makes no sense for assault weapons to be around our society', Bush decides to duck (j.A21) - add this to Bush's list of flipflops while in power, as Geo. 'The Ducker' Bush claims to emulate Ron 'The Gipper' Reagan
- Bush promised his missile-defense plans [against whom??] at a campaign stop in Pa., saying opponents don't appreciate the threats confronting the US (j.A1, t.A16) - & Bush doesn't appreciate 9/11's boxcutters on one hand & his current big govt, Iraqi misfire & huge deficit on the other!
- Israel's Sharon approved building 1,000 new homes in West Bank settlements [squattervilles?] despite U.S. freeze demands (j.C1, t.A3) - the land theft goes on & on
- Iran warns its would strike Israel's Dimona [nuclear?] plant in retaliation for an attack on its nuclear facilities, stressing that its missiles have that range (j.A1) - Israel is deep into unprovoked attacks on its neighbors, funded, & now also exemplified, by U.S.
8/17/2004 tuesday -
- please excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 722 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/16/mon: 761 (8/18/2003/mon: 736) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- Carl Honore promotes shorter hours via a slower lifestyle
- Human Resources Gateway in Britain slams longer hours as macho
- plus 5 other timesizing items mainly from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- Venezuela said Pres. Hugo Chavez soundly defeated a bid to recall him by referendum Sunday, with 58% of voters favoring letting him complete the remaining 2 years of his term (& then presumably run again?!) - international observers found no evidence of fraud or vote-rigging, & Jimmy Carter urged the opposition to accept the result (j.A1, t.A1)
- oil prices ease as Chavez wins Venezuela vote, calming fears that political unrest could disrupt the flow of oil (t.C1, j.A1)
- stocks rose on bargain hunting & a drop in oil prices - Dow gained 129.2 (1.31%) to 9954.55 (j.A1) - funny thing: CEOs don't like Chavez, but when CEOs don't have all their own way, stocks & economies rise, because work & money get spread around
- foreign investors increased purchases of US securities in June to $71.8B, enough to finance the current-account deficit (j.A1) - expect that to change if Bush wins in Nov.
- convention gives Bush a challenge - polls show voters are evenly divided twixt him & Kerry, & the relatively few undecided voters are decidedly down on Dubya - independent analyst Charlie Cook says only ¼ approve of job Bush is doing (j.A4)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope: UPsizing gov't (and private-sector) inefficiency =
makework, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- bringing troops home - Bush plan will give ammo to members of Congress of both parties seeking to preserve military pork for their home districts (j.A18)
- Halliburton granted more time by US Army to substantiate costs in Iraq & Kuwait, staving off possible withholding of 15% of Army's payment - 2nd time this year Army has bent the rules for Halliburton (t.C1>A10) - ie: for Cheney?
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
CEOs simulate UPsizing thru takeovers = appetizers for downsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- Intelsat satellite operator to be bought by Zeus Holdings Ltd., a group formed by Apax Partners, Apollo Mgmt, Madison Dearborn Partners, & Permira for (3cash+2debt=) $5B (j.A1>A12, t.C4)
- LifePoint Hospitals Inc. to buy Province Healthcare Co. for $1.13B (j.A1>D4, t.C4)
• after takeovers, usual next step (cumulatively lethal) = downsizing
CEOs are DOWNsizing the workforce - today's total, 140 jobcuts, made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
3.7% workforce cut (140 jobs lost) as Libbey Inc. glassware of Toledo OH closes factory in City of Industry CA next year & restructures itself out of another chip of its consumer base, instead of just trimming 3.7% of its workweek (18 mins/day for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring & keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 96.3% as much glassware as before (t.C2)
CEOs end up
DOWNsizing own consumer markets via own employees - overviews (archives):
- in tepid job scene, certain workers are in hot demand - 'Swiss style' machinists doing ultra-precise tasks typify shortage of skills (j.A1) - or shortage of training - ah, weren't we supposed to be better than all Europeans in all possible ways?
- Hurricane Charley may damp [or hike?] U.S. payrolls count for August - impact on jobs could hurt White House effort to prove labor market is mending - impact of natural disasters on job creation is often difficult to discern (j.A2)
CEOs constantly UPsize their own
pay, perks & pensions, to economy-starving levels:
- Conseco gives CEO Wm.J.Shea rich $13.5m severance, continuing pattern (j.C1>6)
- Tyson Foods said regulators (SEC staff) plans to recommend a civil action against it for allegedly failing to fully disclose $1.7m perks for its ex-senior chairman Don Tyson (j.A1>3, t.C4)
- big board's profit slides 54%, hurt by costs in Grasso battle (j.C3)
- departure of BUCA Inc's CEO Joseph Micatrotto was costly - for him - an unexplained $582,031.08 that he paid the company (j.C3) - to quiet previous riflings in that amount?
- FPL Group Inc. to get return of $9.75m from 8 current or former executives as part of $22.3m settlement of shareholders lawsuits that accused them of improperly collecting change-in-control payments for merger that never happened (j.B6)
CEOs DOWNsize everyone else’s retirement (archives):
US Air is asking IRS to let it spread out pension-plan payments in order to preserve cash - seeks waivers granting 5-year extension for payments - facing cash problems & hoping to avoid 2nd bankruptcy filing (j.A1>3, t.C5)
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t & (Bos.Globe) g (archives):
- Census Bureau said the richest fifth-of-households' share of US income rose to 50% in 2002 from 44% in 1973 as all poorer fifths fell back (j.A1)
- prices of consumer imports are likely to fall in coming years 'as production moves to low-wage countries,' a recent study says (j.A1) - not to mention 'as jobs disappear from high-wage countries, along with their rich consumer demand'
- some worry that firms, fretful of slowing economy, have lost appetite for spending on new equipment, but on closer look, one might wonder if there was all that much appetite to begin with (j.C1)
- senior CIA officer 'Anonymous' (Michael Scheuer) denounces Agency & 9/11 report - charges that officials' failures have gone unpunished (t.A14)
- interrogating the protesters: editorial - FBI has been using pre-emptive interrogation to intimidate & chill freedom of expression (t.A24)
- misconceived military shuffle: editorial - Bush's troop redeployment plan makes little long-term strategic sense - dangerously weakens deterrence on Korean peninsula at worst possible moment (t.A24) - is Bush really interested in making Americans more secure or just in pursuing Perpetual War to keep everyone too scared to 'change horses in midstream'?
8/14-16/2004 sat-mon (re fri biz)
- pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- #visitors to any of our 720 files, F Sa Su: 721,491,518 - wk's daily avg: 679
-
TIMEsizing awareness = strategic glimmers of hope in weekend's GoogleNews:
- there are fewer full-time workers now than three years ago & 12% more part-timers
- in U.S. recession that 'ended' in June 2001, 50% of jobcuts were "structural" = permanently eliminated, compared to only 25% in previous recessions - & still no nationwide worksharing!
- plus 11 other timesizing articles
• click here for details
+
random glimmers of hope indexing (j) Wall St.Journal, (t) NYTimes or (g) Bos.Globe (archives):
- 'invent wisely' is new mantra at H-P (8/16 j.B1) - but define 'wisely' - any company, like HP, that has mass layoffs has failed to come up with the wisest invention = how not to downsize its own best customer base
- 'fiscal follies' from both sides of the aisle: David Dausey of Pittsburgh - why trust that a Bush 2d term would restrain non-defense spending? 1st term had unparalleled pork-barrel spending sponsored by GOP Congress = unfair to knock Kerry's fiscal proposals while giving Bush a free pass (8/16 j.A13)
- troops face redeployment in Bush plan = eventual withdrawal of 70,000 troops from Europe & Asia - but without increasing troops in Iraq (8/16 j.A11) - so 'redeploy' to where? at least Europe will appreciate de-sliming as US gets less cooperative & more totalitarian
- Europe’s 'outdated' job rules - some say certification requirements hinder EU productivity (8/16 j.A11) - but it's marketable productivity that counts, tho EU could definitely use more fluid overtime-targeted on-the-job training!
- China posted strong 13.2% rise in retail sales in July (8/14 t.B3) = sign of success to slow investment while supporting consumption (8/16 j.A1>11) - ie: to centrifuge some of the tightly concentrated investment money to those who spend it immediately?
- so many Venezuelans queued to block Chavez recall that voting was extended (8/16 j.A1)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now on 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- a C-130 can't fly a specified 1,000 miles with a Stryker armored vehicle, & takeoffs are impossible under some conditions, the GAO found (8/16 j.A1) - so how much did they cost us?
- hit the books, kick the ball - from bartenders to soccer stars, Europeans often need certification to ply their trades - the guild mentality has taken a toll economically (8/16 j.A1>A11) - better the kind of skill fluidity provided by overtime-targeted on-the-job training
- Albany [= NY State govt] puts off repairing a jobs-creation program - budget overload keeps in the shadows one of NY's main economic development programs, the 'Empire Zones' (after NY='the Empire State'), those tax-free areas devised to create jobs (8/16 t.A15)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of timesizing, in j, t, & g (Boston Globe):
DOWNsizings - today's total, 6568 jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 6000 jobs lost as Colombia demobilizes 1/3 of its largest rightwing paramilitary group, United Self-Defense Forces (8/14 t.A4)
- 300 jobcuts as Conexant Systems Inc. semiconductors in Red Bank NJ over-reacts to slowing in sales & profit growth (8/14 t.B4, 8/16 j.B3)
- 203 German cuts (7%) as ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG broadcasting in Munich kamekazis into rising sales & profits (8/16 j.B5)
- 13% workforce cut (65 jobs lost) as Disney's Miramax Films division faces budget crisis after spending spree in 1H-FY, instead of just trimming 13% of its workweek (to five 7-hour days for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone together working, earning and seeing 87% as many films as before (8/14 t.B4, 8/16 j.B1>3)
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- Japan's mood still upbeat despite 2nd-quarter jolt - exporters & even banks are healthier, but many are still trimming payrolls (8/14 t.B3)
- Arafat survives latest challenge to his political power - unemployed & angry Palestinians marched in streets of Gaza City in June, protesting lack of jobs (8/16 t.A3)
DOWNsizing results = eroding-retirement noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- PBGC pension agency seeks to void United Airlines' loan pact (8/14 t.B1>2)
- for Florida's hurricane-displaced retirees, the unwelcome prospect of starting over - eg: Gilbert Stanage's mobile home was flattened (8/16 t.A12)
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcy overviews (archives) in WSJ (j) and/or NYT (t):
'good' news for a change: Japanese corporate bankruptcies fell 16.8% to 1151 cases in July from last year = 19th straight month they've fallen, per Teikoku Databank - but temporary financial aid from public financial institutions is keeping many small & medium firms alive so many collapses have yet to surface (8/16 j.A11)
DOWNsizing results = prison news (archives):
2000 Palestinian prisoners, taking only fluids, fast in Israeli prisons, both military & civilian, beginning on Sun. 8/15, to press for better conditions, a halt to strip searches, more access to phones, & more frequent family visits - Minister of Internal Security, Tzahi Hanegbi, said as far as he's concerned, they can strike until death (8/16 t.A3) - as Israel continues its metamorphosis into the Third Reich
headlines from HELL (tm) from (j) Wall Street Journal or (t) NY Times or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- slowing growth stirs doubts over global 'recovery' - slowdown is spreading worldwide amid surging oil prices (8/16 j.A1) - and inadequate $centrifuge technology - and even employment-centrifuging technology like Timesizing
- an ugly word for an ugly condition - how stagflation, a pernicious mix of stagnating growth & rising inflation [that's standard in the Third World], could make its inglorious comeback ... around the world (8/16 j.A1>2)
- what's news online - consumers have been providing economy's main support, but struggling job market & weakening retail sales spell danger for consumer-oriented stocks (8/16 j.B2)
- oil grows to record $46.58/barrel & far above OPEC's $28 ceiling (8/14 t.B1)
- explosion at Indiana refinery - crude-oil futures topped $46/barrel Friday for first time - set record on mounting supply worries (8/16 j.A1>C6)
- investors turn wary of tech stocks - techs approach bear-market status - caution about the economy, oil prices damp sentiment - sector has to prove itself amid concern on rising inventories & slowing earnings (8/16 j.C1>4)
- online trading fell last month (8/16 j.C5)
- record trade gap hits U.S. as export markets falter (8/16 j.A1) - trade deficit grows to record $55.8B in June as imports of crude surged & exports to Japan & Europe slowed (8/14 t.B1)
- dollar falls amid trade data; focus turns to foreign inflows (8/16 j.C5) - what 'foreign inflows'?
- 1500 companies worldwide have announced nanotechnology research plans (8/16 j.B4) - 'fools rush in' - just don't breathe-in any of that teeny stuff
- out of spotlight, Bush overhauls [ie: dismantles] US regulations (8/14 t.A1) = in a hole but don't know enuf to stop digging?
- despite a sharp slowdown, Japan's mood remains upbeat ('hope springeth eternal...') - domestic consumption was unexpectedly weak (8/14 t.B1)
- Europe - economic growth slows in Q2 (8/14 t.B3)
- defensive investing rules amid gloom - European investors see slowdown coming, seek 'safe' sectors (8/16 j.C16) - like, cash under the mattress?
- Chinese 'puzzle' - surprising 'shortage of workers' forces factories to add perks; upward pressure on pay & prices (8/16 j.B1) - in a land with millions of unemployed? hardly - this is a shortage of training & fluid skill-transfer technology
weekend roll-up -
5 issues/wk - wk's avg homepage hits/issue: 56
hope of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
•
40 TIMEsizing items
• 4 UPsizings (9697 new jobs)
+ bogus hope: • 11 makework items (?? new 'jobs')
vs. doom of the weektm from the WSJ & the NYT:
• 11 DOWNsizings, over 11,513 jobcuts
• 10 eroding-retirement stories
• 4 bankruptcies
• 4 prison stories
{{ytd: 765 timsizngs (1636+ new or sav'd jobs)
+ 96 upsizngs (104228+ new jobs)
+ 276 makwrk (36803+ 'jobs') =
tot: 142667 = 40% of cuts,
VS.
315 dnsz (357977+ cuts)
+ 123 bnkrp ($416m+) +29 homlss +114 jail +18 deth }}
8/13/2004 friday
- pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up -
- we have 721 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/12/thu: 713 (8/14/2003/thu: 700) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- Brits work the longest hours in Europe, & Yanks work longer than Brits
- Mother Jones’ "take" on Bush’s overtime changes
- plus 2 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- UPsizings totaling 8997 new jobs - 8800 more this year than expected a year ago as IBM responds to growth in its worldwide services business, to total of 330,000 employees (t.C2)
- 197 jobs restored as Continental Airlines recalls pilots from furlough (= indefinite 'temporary' layoff), 436 still on furlough (j.B4)
- Kerry blasted Bush for contemplating replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, saying it would land hardest on the middle class (j.A1) - & on the consumer base, the foundation of all other markets - but when did Bush ever care about the middle class? the rich are 'his people'
- Italy, Germany - new immigration filters proposed (t.A9) = glimmer of sanity?
- glimmer of intelligence: wealth & happiness don't necessarily go hand in hand (j.B1) - more often seen together hand in hand = sharing & happiness - compare also: they're all rich, now the problems start - the IPO has created a staff of millionaires at Google - staff windfalls confront management with retention, morale & productivity concerns (8/20/2004 j.C1>3)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope = makework = PUFFsizings, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
Congress and HUD - Secy Alphonse Jackson of HUD claims costs for Sec.8 program, which helps low-income families pay their rent, are 'out of control' (t.A22) - meddling by gov't officials in housing, at taxpayer expense, would be unnecessary if they'd simply shoulder their responsibility to referee the job market and ensure that EVERYone could easily get a share of the still-unautomated market-demanded employment, as per Timesizing
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
simulated growth thru takeovers = appetizers for DOWNsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- National-Oilwell Inc. to acquire Varco International Inc. for $2.4B (j.B3, t.C4)
- Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. signs agreement to purchase UFJ Holdings Inc. for $?? & create world's largest bank (j.A3, t.W1)
• after takeovers, usual next step (cumulatively lethal) = downsizing
DOWNsizings - today's total, 400 +?? jobcuts that made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 7% workforce cut (400 jobs lost) as GM overreacts to 10% sales drop in Ion compact & eliminates a shift at its Saturn plant in Tenn. - and some of its best customers - instead of just trimming 7% of its workweek (34 minutes a day for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training&hiring and keeping everyone together working, earning and buying 93% as many cars as before (j.B2, t.C4)
- unspecified cuts as Payless ShoeSource to close or sell 292 more stores (t.C4)
DOWNsizing overviews noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
blame for jobs picture: letter by Eddie Volchko of NYC - the technology jobs engine of late 90s was turbocharged by overoptimistic investors (t.A22)
DOWNsizing results = dysfunctional executive pay, perks & pensions:
Shell senior executive's severance pay package disclosed - $4.6 million (3.8m euros) to former head of exploration & production Walter van de Vijver, who was ousted after the firm disclosed it overstated reserves (j.A1>6) - 'screw up & win'
DOWNsizing results = eroding retirement noted in (j) WSJ or (t) NYT or (g) Boston Globe (archives):
- fate of 40,000 Federal-Mogul workers' pensions at British subsidiary in doubt after creditors refuse to provide more money to pension plan (j.B4)
- tracing a pension plan's fall - effect was devastating when United Airlines' business troubles combined with pension investment losses - asset mix took toll (t.A1>C1)
DOWNsizing results = prisons (archives):
- many local officials now make inmates pay their own way - e.g., Gary Kervin is being charged $20/day by Macomb County jail during his 30-day sentence for failure to pay child support - incarceration fees raise thorny ethical & constitutional issues (t.A1>17) - like how are we ever going to rehab people if we keep kicking them while they're down
- private company CACI International finds no evidence its interrogators took part in prison abuse in Iraq (t.A8) - totally unbiassed, of course!
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- stocks tumble to lows for year (Dow 9814.59) as oil climbs to new record, $45.50/barrel (j.A1>C1) - lesson of Iraq: high oil prices may not be temporary (t.C1)
- economists sharply reduced their projections for second-half growth, citing soaring oil prices (j.A1) - consensus forecast predicts Q3 GDP gain of 3.8%, down from 4.4% (j.A2) - consumers still spending even as they struggle with energy prices, jobs (j.A2) - but credit lines are maxxing out
- crude realities - strip out the things that have been going up in price, & all those worries about inflation suddenly fall by the wayside (j.C1) - inflation can have lots of components, & stripping out rising oil prices leaves you with no wage-push inflation except among top executives - & raising interest rates only curbs regular wage-push inflation - it doesn't touch rising oil prices or executive pay hikes - so why is Greenspan raising interest rates?? - never mind, it'll make things worse & help lose Bush
- Congressional Budget Office says biggest taxcuts go to richest 1% - cuts heavily favor the wealthy - 1/3 of the Bush taxcuts have gone to people in the top 1% of income, earning an average of $1.2 million (t.A1>16, j.A6Bush's own goal - 'ownership society' provides pseudo-populist cover for policies that are actually highly elitist in favoring the rich (t.A23)
- Pakistan arrested several suspects on leads developed with the aid of an al Qaeda computer expert arrested in July - it criticized U.S. [i.e., Bush administration] for identifying the man, thus alerting his comrades to cut links to him (j.A1>12) - but what does Bush White House really care about the safety or effectiveness of our intelligence as long as it serves them? - they outed Valerie Plame & now they've outed Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan
- Democrats cry foul as Census Bureau expedites release of govt report on poverty & the uninsured from usual late-Sept. to Aug.28 = Bushies trying to bury bad news (j.A4) - fear not, there'll be plenty more in late Sept.
- Calif's top court voided 4000 gay weddings performed in San Francisco this year (j.A1)
8/12/2004 thursday -
pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up
- we have 721 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/11/wed: 783 (8/13/2003/wed: 807) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- US trucker pays too light a penalty for violating worktime rules & killing 11 people
- German CEOs, bored with current 2% GDP growth, shift to longer-hour policies that will shrink & embarrass them
- plus 7 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- UPsizings - unspecified new jobs as Honeywell Int'l Inc. plans mfg plant in Shanghai's Qingpu district (j.B6)
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope: UPsizing gov't (and private-sector) inefficiency =
makework, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- a federal panel recommended modest revisions to the US dietary guidelines, advocating more consumption of fish, unprocessed grain (j.A1>D1>3) - like we need govt to tell us what to eat?
- don't view NIH (National Institutes of Health) as workfare for scientists (j.A11) - why not? that's exactly what it is till we get universal health insurance like every other industrialized country
- concern on Guard contracts awarded without putting out competitive bids - 2 security firms benefited from multimillion$ Pentagon contracts awarded to Alaskan corporations, Alutiiq & Chenega, representing tribal groups that are uniquely eligible to win Pentagon contracts in unlimited amounts without having to compete against other companies - but the main beneficiaries were the minority partners in their joint ventures (JVs), Wackenhut Services & Vance International resp. - JVs being paid $194m to protect 40 properties - contracts' value if extended could reach $500m (t.A2>C1>6)
- Halliburton is faulted by Pentagon on accounts (t.A10) - but Cheney's OK with gay marriage
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
CEOs simulate UPsizing thru takeovers = appetizers for downsizing - (mega & banking archives):
- GE will acquire DeltaBank in Moscow for $?? (t.C5)
- Gold Fields Ltd. of Jo-burg to buy Iamgold Corp. of Toronto for $2.1B (j.A1>C4, t.W1)
• after takeovers, usual next step (cumulatively lethal) = downsizing
CEOs are DOWNsizing the workforce - today's total, 3900 jobcuts, made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
- 3300 jobcuts as Sears Roebuck & Co. of Hoffman Estates IL 'gains efficiency' by cutting its own best markets, then turns round & plans to open 4 'Sears Grand' stores by 2004-end (j.B6) - define 'efficiency'
- 450 cuts as Citigroup Inc. closes credit customer service center in Des Moines next year after last year's purchase of Sears Roebuck's financial services unit (t.C5) - again the toxic takeover-downsizing connection
- 150 cuts as Belden CDT Inc. comm cables in St.Louis closes plant in Essex Jctn VT to cut costs [& mkts!] (t.C5)
CEOs constantly UPsize their own
pay, perks & pensions, to economy-starving levels:
corrupt Riggs National bank officials are eligible for $7m in severance pay if they quit after company's sale to PNC Financial Services Group (j.A4)
CEOs DOWNsize everyone else’s retirement (archives):
union at United Airlines shows its ire over decision to stop contributing to employee pension plans by asking bankruptcy judge to appoint trustee to run the airline (t.A1>C1)
DOWNsizing results = bankruptcies (archives):
National Energy & Gas Transmission Inc. (f/k/a PG&E National Energy Group Inc.) et al. in Chapter 11 jointly in Md. (j.B7)
DOWNsizing results = more prisons (archives):
fearing backlash, Democrats [cowards, as usual in recent behavior] are guarded on issue that could work in their favor = should former felons be allowed to vote? (j.A4) - yes, with emphasis on former (felons) & forgiveness (Matt.18:22) - the only people who should be denied the vote are the non-self-supporting, but only after flexible worksharing via Timesizing guarantees full employment for the economy & lifetime employment for individuals
& lastly, headlines from HELL in (Wall St. Journal) j & (New York Times) t (archives):
- painting the economy into a corner: editorial - Bush 'reacted decisively' to shocking jobs report by changing subject to terror, again - Greenspan changed subject to oil prices - neither acknowledges that policymakers have run out of tools for stewarding the economy (t.A26) - we're painting ourselves into corner from which Timesizing is only way out
- tyranny in the name of freedom - muzzling protesters in speech-free zones: op ed by Dahlia Lithwick - you are at liberty to exercise your First Amendment right to assemble & protest only as long as you do so from behind chainlink fences & razorwire, or miles from the audience you seek to address (t.A27) - so in Bush's America, freedom of speech & assembly have become more dangerous than terrorism
- Bush suggests change in taxes - remark touches off new debate on income tax - tells supporters in 'ask pResident Bush' session in Niceville(!) FL on Tues (8/10) that U.S. should consider replacing income taxes with national sales tax (t.C1>A18) - grrreat! at a time of weak sales, we're supposed to tax sales? - recall Milton Friedman: you get less of whatever you tax
8/11/2004 wed. -
pls. excuse delays while we play post-vacation catch-up
- we have 720 textfiles: #visitors yesterday 8/10/tue: 743 (8/12/2003/tue: 752) -
strategic hope = TIMEsizing news (click here for DETAILS):
- massive demonstrations in Deutschland are making fad-crazed pols back off backward "reforms" such relengthening workweeks
- Soc profs at Loyola say Americans should work less, not Europeans more
- plus 6 other timesizing items from yesterday's GoogleNews
+ random glimmers of hope indexed to today's (j) Wall St Journal or (t) NYTimes (archives):
- UPsizings - 700 new jobs to total workforce of 1700 as Ford India switches to double 8-hr shift this month at Madras plant (j.B5)
- Fed increases interest rates quarter-point to 1.5% - [Fed flimflam re 'robust recovery' is successful:] Fed message lifts markets and the dollar (t.C1)
- stocks record biggest gains in 2 months (j.C1) - but 'Greenspan underestimated bubble and now overestimates expansion' (j.C1)
- US to give border patrol agents the power to deport illegal aliens (t.A1)
- money's worth - the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone & Yosemite still have lodging available for those trying to squeeze in a last-minute trip before Labor Day (jDC3) - good luck trying to squeeze into digs at the Grand Canyon: personal experience from one just returned
- Boston-area readers who want real news - try 90.3 FM 12-1pm Mon-Sat and 6-10am Sunday for "Radio Free America for Americans" dba *Democracy Now
+ clouded hope: UPsizing gov't (and private-sector) inefficiency =
makework, creating unspecified new ‘jobs’ (archives):
- U.S. settles nuclear case over burial of waste - fed govt promises to pay $300m in damages to Excelon Corp. for failing to accept nuclear waste for burial, in a settlement that implies a total cost to Energy Dept. in the billion$ (t.C1>5) - how the heck did taxpayers get saddled with this little piece of corporate welfare?
- Pentagon questions Halliburton's KBR unit on $1.8B of work in Iraq, raising prospect that payments would be withheld (j.A1>4)
- US/Dallas District Court Judge David Godbey recuses himself in Halliburton suit involving charges of deceptive accounting practices after disclosing that his children owned stock in the company (t.C1>4) - Judge Barbara Lynn gets the hot potato (j.A4)
vs. doom du jour tm for lack of TIMEsizing - in WSJ (j) and NYT (t) -
CEOs are DOWNsizing the workforce - today's total, unspecified jobcuts, made it into j (WSJ) or t (NYT):
8% workforce cut (unspecified jobs lost) as Wolters Kluwer NV publishing pursues 3-yr transformation plan, instead of just trimming 8% of its workweek (38 minutes a day for everyone, including top execs), re-investing overtim
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