Past dooms du jour December 2009

Timesizing® Associates - Homepage

hopes/dooms du jour,
December 2009
[Commentary] ©2004-09 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq PO, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

12/31/2009 thu.

(archives)-'have a marginally acceptable new year' -

TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'

[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Judge orders end of furloughs, governor to appeal ruling, MSN Money via news.moneycentral.msn.com
..State officials say the effort to cut hours and pay to 200,000 employees will save the financially strapped state more than $2 billion this fiscal year... - see whole article under today's date.

German Economy On Brink Of Radical Restructuring, Spiegel.de
..The crisis has cast doubt on America's philosophy of shareholder value, held high as a model for Germany by executives and management consultants until a few years ago. The downturn has highlighted the advantages of the German model -- the long-term focus of businesses, the partnership between management and labor, and the social safety net, which offers instruments such as government-assisted short-time working schemes...
[and maintenance of the domestic consumer base, including a high-velocity circulation of the money supply instead of a decelerating, recession-inducing coagulation of the money supply in the topmost brackets.] - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. The argument that work is infinite because human desires are infinite ignores the absence of infinite spending money to back up those infinite desires and ignores the increasing scarcity of good 40-hr/wk jobs in the age of robotics to provide even finite spending money. Shorter hours is a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Chrysler dealerships fight closings - New law may help reinstate stores; Some experts call closure process a mistake, WSJ, B1 pointer to B2.
Generations of the Painter family, shown at their St.George UT car dealership in 1997, question Chrysler's decision to terminate their business. (photo caption)
[It's like the American elite have become bored and suicidal - others first - just like Jimmy Jones and his Jonestown cyanide&koolaid cocktail, and for some strange reason, ordinary Americans don't want to go along with the whims of the wealthy and kill themselves or their livelihoods, just as a number of Jonestownians snuck off and hid in the woods instead of taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity to hasten to meet their Maker. The super-rich are trying to turn us into Jonestown America, a spiral stairway of financial bubbles down to the Third World, and we're trying to turn ourselves into less dramatic, Sustainable America - shorter workweeks, fewer crises, more fundamental freedom (free time) and more of the resulting fun and creativity - for ALL, not just the increasingly creepy people in the gated communities.]

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

2009: Banner year for stocks [LOL!] - Rise of 61% from March trough among fastest ever; Mom & pop investors still wary, WSJ, A1.
[Talk about irresponsible and unethical reporting! How far into this article do we have to read to find out that stocks had gone down so far before this "banner" rise that they've only got back up to where they were in 2003. And there are no fundamentals to support them, since they represent money that should be circulating in the consumer base and business markets in order to provide sufficient marketable productivity to sustain most investment rather than chuting down from bubble to bubble. It's all a function of sooo much concentration on the money supply in the top few brackets that literally, there's nowhere else to stash this kind of megamoola, especially now that a lot of the phony new investments invented in the '90s and early '00s just to soak up all this excess concentrated lettuce have been discredited (derivatives, single stock futures, marinated debt swaps oops that's actually credit default swaps, CDOs, NINJA loans, junk bonds, toxic assets...]

5.6 million reasons to doubt [falling] jobless rate, by Mark Gongloff, WSJ, C1.
[Here's another article on how phony-rosy our standard unemployment stats are.]
..Another 5.6 million people aren't counted in unemployment: That is the number of people who have given up looking for work and no longer drawing benefits and thus aren't counted in the labor force or in unemployment, which is the jobless percentage of the labor force...
[Check out our unemployment definition page for the rest of this article - and a whole big discussion.]

The Treasury said it will provide GMAC [General Motors Acceptance Corp.] with an additional $3.8 billion in capital and assume a majority stake in the company, WSJ, A1 pointer to C3.
[Just like the old Soviet Union, but while GM's car-dept. boss gets the axe, the financial dept. is getting $4B of taxpayers' money poured down its toilet and the US Treasury (=sleazeball Geithner) gets majority "ownership" = another big garbage-chute trip for the erstwhile Last Remaining Superpower.]

Canada's prime minister [Stephen Harper] is suspending Parliament until March so his government can "recalibrate," an aide said, WSJ, A1 pointer to A6.
[Say, isn't that what Charles I was doing all the way through the 1630s? And King Stephen II (Harper), ruling by divine right like his British precedent and his former US counterpart ('W'), is asking for the same treatment Charles I got - from the headsman. This prime minister is treasonous. Where are the heroic defenders of Parliament? Where's Cromwell, Pym and Fairfax? If only the 3 mouseketeers of the opposition last year had carried out their plans to depose this prime minister before they pubicized those plans, enabling him to counter them by suspending Parliament for the first time (last Nov.-Dec.). Now Canada sinks ever deeper into the mire of secret government as this gagging of Parliament becomes an annual event. Canada will need an Obama-like miracle to get rid of Harper, and the next prime minister, like Obama, may not be fundamentally different - or better.]

The land of the rising bearish wager - Some hedge funds bet against Japanese Government debt as borrowing climbs..., WSJ, C1.
[Like Canadian economists, the Japanese don't have the sense to do the opposite of whatever big suicidal USA is doing.]

With Greece teetering, the worst may not be over for Europe, NYT, B1.
[Little Greece, world economy #29 by GDP, is not going to have a big effect on Europe, which includes #3, 5,6,7,8...]

12/30/2009 wed. (archives) - from a kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Innovation key to success for Santa Cruz County businesses, SantaCruzSentinel.com
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -..He expanded hours of his staff and staggers hours but no one works more than 30 hours a week. "I don't think anybody should work over 30 hours a week in a beautiful area like this," he said. "It would be a shame to not take advantage of it."...
- see whole article under today's date.
Prime Minister prorogues Parliament [AGAIN!], SooToday.com
OTTAWA, Canada -..The plan provides additional help for long-tenured workers, maintains essential jobs in key industries, preserves jobs through the work-sharing program... - see whole article under today's date.
[The good news of Canada's worksharing program is overshadowed by the bad news of the Cheneyization of Canada's prime minister, and the hopeless incompetence of Canada's politically correct (Haïtienne) governess general, who keeps caving to PM Harper's mounting dictatorship. "The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity." North America is gone, both sides of the border. We've got two large complex systems with minimal feedback and adaptibility.]
Germany's Massive Job-Saving Program Could Still Fail - Betting on an Upswing in 2010, spiegel.de
..Germany's short-time working program has helped prevent massive unemployment during the current recession. BERLIN, Germany -..Although the model has been admired internationally,..the hugely expensive scheme is a risky bet that the economy will turn around in 2010...
[Or that Germany will redesign worksharing to turn the economy around on its own by converting overtime into jobs and pushing for full employment at whatever shorter levels of the workweek that may require.]
As it happens, many companies are already resorting to their own collective labor agreements in a bid to save jobs because the official short-time working program is not feasible for them. At Bosch, for example, employees in some departments now work 30 hours a week or less, instead of the standard 35-hour workweek. But unlike workers who qualify for the state short-time working program, their wages are reduced in proportion to the reduction in their hours.
[This will change by market forces once the 30-hour workweek spreads and absorbs the persistent labor surplus that has been holding down wages and weakening domestic consumption.]
The model foresees the working week being reduced to as little as 26 hours during the period of the crisis. Workers would continue to receive 25 percent of the wages they would have earned for the hours that are cut... - whole article under today's date.
[Sounds like Germany is independently inventing Walter Reuther's "fluctuating adjustment of the workweek," embodied in Timesizing's Phase Four.]

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. The argument that work is infinite because human desires are infinite ignores the absence of infinite spending money to back up those infinite desires and ignores the increasing scarcity of good 40-hr/wk jobs in the age of robotics to provide even finite spending money. Shorter hours is a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

WHAT HOMELAND SECURITY? - while we're still threatening people's livelihoods

Obama slams security breach [on NW flight 253] - 'A systemic failure has occurred...', WSJ, A1.
[Anything to distract us from our real systemic failure, the cascading collapse of our economy down into the Third World in shambles. And note the central role of unemployment in Al Qaeda recruitment, including in the case of Farouk Abdulmutallah, who kept going back to school (now one of our biggest makework campaigns - see makework realm #3)... And our 'leaders' have become totally crisis-oriented, and crisis-generating, to cover their own incompetence -]

As the nation's pulse races, Obama can't seem to find his - Get off the golf course and fix our airports!, op ed by Maureen Dowd, NYT, A23.
..If we can’t catch [or even get on the no-fly list! - an unemployed] Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?...
[Our media obsess for days abour "systemic failures" that nearly killed 300 Americans while we taboo discussion of the unlimited money concentration that is spreading poverty and killing conservatively 300,000 Americans and damaging all 300,000,000 Americans, including the wealthy (who no longer have sufficient marketable productivity for sustainable investments) - all because of a profound and deepening labor surplus, so general as to be largely unnoticed, but a natural result of pouring-in worksaving high-tech while freezing the workweek at a low-tech, 1940 level = the forty-hour workweek forever, regardless of how few remain employed and how many enter poverty and hunger. And as for the Third World -]

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Rich cling to life to beat tax man, WSJ, A1.
[Death will have an important function in human survival until we get much more effective value-centrifugation mechanisms. Next up = automatic overtime-to-jobs conversion (including training) and automatic fluctuation of the workweek against economy-wide underemployment and underconsumption (alias recession). The more these robopathic acquirers vacuum-in of the money supply, the deeper into recession we go.]

New slip in housing prices undercuts fragile optimism - A buying mood is blunted as interest rates rise [and gov't subsidies fall], NYT, A1.

Long wait to fight foreclosure, NYT, A1 pointer to A20.
A federal program to stem foreclosure moves at a glacial pace.

GM recalls 22,000 Corvettes, WSJ, B1.
[= "cheap U.S. goods"?]

GMAC set for another cash infusion - U.S. expected to lend $3.5 billion to help cover mortgage losses; Aid bill already at $12.5 billion, WSJ, C1.
[The top brackets sacrifice ever more of their consumer base to prop up their ludicrously narrow and high house of cards. Note the coincident photo of two ridiculously high Miami condo towers right below this article.]

Kumho Tire [of Seoul, S.Korea] delays paying employees [but not executives?] - A temporary cash shortage heightens concern about its parent company [Kumho Asiana]'s liquidity, WSJ, B4.
[That's nice. American CEOs just fire their employees - except for the few who cut hours for all, not jobs for a "few," then a few more, and a few more... No company loyalty to employees? No employee loyalty to the company -]

Shoplifters? The statistics say stores should watch workers, NYT, A1.
[The greater a general labor surplus, the more management skills deteriorate. Who needs mgmt skills? Just fire the old 'expensive' employees and replace them with twenty-something's on minimum wage - and grab the rest (while it lasts). Then act surprised when employees are grabbing stuff in the supply closet.]

Up in the air - Emerging markets roared [or appeared to roar] for a decade, but now come shudders of uncertainty, NYT, B1.

China is willing to spend big in Afghanistan, on commerce, NYT, A1.
[When will they ever learn? Afghanistan is in a pre-commercial stage of social evolution, at least 2,000 years behind, in the tribal age. But then China never got beyond the feudal period of the political age, except for its recent one-generation overlay of economics. China is getting ready to grab Afghanistan as it grabbed Tibet, - just as soon as the bankrupt ($12,4T debt so far) Americans quit in failure, as they're doing in Iraq and as they did in Vietnam, and as the Russians did in Afghanistan in the 80s, and as the Brits did in Afghanistan and Iraq in the 1920s. When will they ever learn?]

12/29/2009 tues. (archives) - from a kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Mesilla, NM reduces work week for employees, AP via KVIA.com
MESILLA, N.M. -..By reducing the work week from 35 hours to 32 hours, the southern New Mexico town expects to save more than $11000 in salaries and benefits that would have been owed to the employees... - see whole article under today's date.
Peace, Order and Goodies from the Government, by William Bedford, (12/28) CanadaFreePress.com
OTTAWA, Canada -.. I’ve thrown all the polls I could find into the blender, and here in simple language the sum of all our wants:... (#12) Introduce a 35-hour workweek and make the first Monday of every month a statutory holiday... - see whole article under today's date.
Charities count the cost of caring in a recession, Stoke&Staffordshire,UK via thesentinel.co.uk via thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE, England -..At Donna Louise Children's Hospice Trust, which has a team of 56 at its Trentham Lakes hospice,..the hospice board consulted with staff who unanimously agreed to reduce their working week to 35 hours – down from 37.5 – although most continued to work the full number of hours, effectively taking a pay cut... - see whole article under today's date.
Ireland Calling - The first budget cut is the deepest for the Irish public, by John Spain, (12/16) IrishCentral.com
IRELAND -..And there is also the inconvenient fact that pay for state workers was on average 20% higher than pay for workers in the rest of the economy, and also that most state workers had a 35-hour week, whereas private sector workers were on average doing a 38 hour week... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS clip - Germany's VDMA Sees Stagnant Production, Job Losses In 2010, Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal via online.wsj.com
.. While companies have more than fulfilled their responsibility in retaining workers this year, [VDMA President Manfred] Wittenstein said, further job losses are to be expected. This is despite an extension of short-time work. Currently 221,000 people are on short-time contracts in machinery production, the VDMA [German Engineering Federation] said...

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. The argument that work is infinite because human desires are infinite ignores the absence of infinite spending money to back up those infinite desires and ignores the increasing scarcity of good 40-hr/wk jobs in the age of robotics to provide even finite spending money. Shorter hours is a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Obama signed an increase in the U.S. government's debt limit into law.., WSJ, A1 pointer to A6.
..raising the ceiling to nearly $12.4 trillion [= $12,400,000,000,000].
[The American elite are behaving as if there's no tomorrow, and so, for America, there isn't. This time the "decline and fall" is happening in decades = a lot faster than the centuries it took for Rome.]

AIG is preparing to pay its departing general counsel several million dollars in severance benefits, WSJ, A1 pointer to C3.
..after she resigned due to federal pay curbs.
[So ongoing pay is bad but severance pay is OK...]

Israel said it will build 693 new housing units in East Jerusalem.., WSJ, A1 pointer to A10.
..a decision that drew rebukes from the U.S., the EU and the Palestinians.
[And everyone else in the Mideast, and everyone else on Planet Earth with half a brain. Rebukes aren't good enough - we gotta stop funding Israel and its suicidal land theft. Israel must be run by the weapons manufacturers, like us/US. Their constant question = How can we infuriate more and more people and create a bigger and bigger demand for our weapons? - never mind we create more anti's = anti-Judaism, anti-Muslimism... - hey, they both speak Semitic languages so maybe we can use "anti-Semitism" for double duty = cover the whole, reeking, constantly aggravated Middle East mess...]

12/27-28/2009 sun.-mon. (archives) - from a kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

A Dutch Formula Holds Down Joblessness - Nation's 'Short-Work' Programs Since Global Crisis Appear a Success, but Some Say Previous Austerity Moves Are the Real Key... [Austerity means belt-tightening meaning downsizing spending meaning recession and unemployment. How do you get out of unemployment and recession without downsizing spending? By reactivating all the money trapped in the topmost income and wealth brackets where they have far far more than they can possibly spend. How? Engineer a labor shortage as as during war or plague, without the war or plague. How? CUT THE WORKWEEK. Redefine "full time" down to where it should be in the age of robotization.]
BY ADAM COHEN, 12/28 Wall Street Journal,A10.
[Whoa, NY Times on Nov.13 - Wall St Journal on Dec.28 - worksharing is finally entering the mainstream!]
EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands -- Production at DAF Trucks NV here has dropped by more than half in the past year, but the truck maker has kept nearly 80% of its full-time staff with state help. "It beats being unemployed," says..Theo Witkamp, who operates computer-controlled cutting machines at DAF Trucks, a unit of Bellevue, Wash.-based Paccar Inc. Although his hours have been cut, he is making 85% of his regular wages through a combination of state and company contributions.... - see whole article under today's date.
What's Wrong with a 30-Hour Work Week? by Don Fitz, (12/16) MRZine via MonthlyReview.org
USA -..With millions of jobs lost during the first part of 2009, who is calling for a shorter work week to spread the work around? Not the Republicans. Not even the Democrats. But why is there nary a peep from unions?... - see whole article under today's date.
The best good deals of 2009, TMCnet.com
BOSTON, Mass. -..My choices: \ The Massachusetts Worksharing Program administered by the state's Division of Unemployment Assistance allows employers to avert layoffs by temporarily reducing workforce hours 10 to 60%. It allows affected workers to collect unemployment benefits to make up for some of their lost pay... - see whole article under today's date.
[Nice to see worksharing first on the list. Still no realization that it's the ink & paper of the list itself and for that matter, ALL lists.]
It's 2010 - Ready to communicate with dolphins? Take a spin in your flying car? Unfortunately, the future doesn't always turn out as predicted, 12/27 Boston Sunday Globe (BSG), K1.
BOSTON, Mass. -..The three-day workweek - By the 1960s..entire categories of employment were vanishing, as more and more functions in offices and factories became automated and computerized... What came out was a big prediction about work: that by now, we would all need to labor a lot less. The 40-hour workweek, mandated during the Great Depression, was supposed to have been winnowed down to 30 hours, or even 20... - see whole article under today's date.
[That "winnowing" has never happened by itself. It has always resulted from pressure. And until we remount that pressure, we'll be going into a greater and greater depression of pay-shrinking labor surplus, powerless to stop the flight of jobs offshore and of foreign products and unemployed onshore.]
Verbal confirmation for Doepker Industries work-share program, 12/28 Moose Jaw Times-Herald,SK via mjtimes.sk.ca
MOOSE JAW, Saskatchewan, Canada - A work-sharing program for Doepker Industries in Moose Jaw has been verbally approved, says president Gurcan Kocdag. Kocdag told the Times-Herald it was good news for everybody involved... - see whole article under today's date.
Moving on from a year to forget, by Nick Servini, BBC Wales business correspondent, 12/28 BBC News via bbc.co.uk
WALES, U.K. -..One other difference with previous recessions is the degree of co-operation between workers and management on issues like short-time working and pay cuts... - see whole article under today's date.
Short-time work carries long-term consequences, 12/27 Financial Times
BELGIUM, E.U. -..Jaga's 135 employees joined an estimated 2.4m workers on a variety of short-time work schemes across a dozen European Union countries... This also raises the question of what happens when the schemes end... - see whole article under today's date.
[No problem. Change the funding from temporary to permanent. How? Change the funding source from the unemployment insurance fund to a high tax on overtime with an exemption for OT-targeted hiring - and training if needed. Then cut the workweek to levels it should be in the Age of Robotics to provide more taxable overtime.]
Quantifying Eurozone Imbalances and the Internal Devaluation of Greece and Spain, 12/28 Emerginvest.com
GREECE and SPAIN, Eurozone -..The explanation is really quite simple and relates to the fact that German manufactures (in particular) has sharply cut overtime work and short time work... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS clips, west to east: #1 - Hawaii hotel, restaurant jobs down, 12/28 Pacific Business News via Bizjournals.com
HONOLULU, Hawaii -..The tourism downturn is still taking a heavy toll on hotel and restaurant workers... Though workers are putting in about 30 hours a week the same as last year, their pay has fallen from an average of $14.16 an hour in 2008 to $13.94 this year, possibly reflecting lower base pay and tips...
BONUS clip #2 - Local restaurants deal with downturn in diners - Seasonal slowdown, mired economy a deadly combination for many of Ashland's eateries, Ashland Daily Tidings via dailytidings.com
ASHLAND, Ore. - A slowdown in patronage to Ashland restaurants is forcing owners to cut hours and workers...
[but the more hours they cut, the fewer workers they cut...]
BONUS clip 3 - Finding their footing, 12/27 Arizona Daily Sun
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -..At Northern Arizona University, [Randy Young] worked about 40 hours a week making $14.50 an hour. At the [Grand Canyon] Railway, he worked 40 hours a week making $8 an hour plus commissions. Driving a [Flagstaff Unified School District] bus, he works between 30 to 35 hours a week at $12.34 an hour, which is enough work to qualify as a full-time employee and receive benefits...
BONUS clip 4 - Top 10 stories of 2009: No. 5: The recession has affect on county, 12/27 Racine Journal Times,WI
RACINE COUNTY, Wisc. -..The federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 to $7.25 in July, but it led some businesses to cut hours for employees, essentially lessening their paychecks rather than increasing them as intended...
[But instead of wasting time on raising the minimum wage, when a whole city, state or nation cuts the workweek, market forces raise pay in response to the reduced labor surplus.]
BONUS clip 5 - A passion to help people - Accountant and minister, he wants to be ‘an agent of change’, 12/28 SouthBendTribune.com
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -..“I never stopped doing accounting work on the side,” Gil Michel says. “I found a way to meet with clients in the evening, on the weekend or on lunch hours. It started to grow and grow and grow. It came to a point where I negotiated instead of a raise, give me a workweek of 32 hours.”..
BONUS clip 6 - Only 1 elected city official took a pay cut during budget crunch, 12/27 Mansfield News Journal
MANSFIELD, Ohio -..Most top city supervisors were placed on 32-hour work weeks, taking Fridays off...
BONUS clip 7 - Business in '09 - A shake-up of local auto dealers, bank woes and the transition to digital TV broadcasting were among the top business news stories of 2009, Columbia Daily Tribune
COLUMBIA, Mo. -..KOMU also cut back staff, citing a drop in revenue. In April, the station, which is an auxiliary business of the University of Missouri, laid off four employees and cut hours for two others. Marty Siddall, KOMU general manager, said at the time that the station’s revenue had been hit hard by the decline in automotive advertising...
BONUS clip 8 - Another 250,000 jobs will be lost in Britain before summer 2010, say employment experts, Telegraph.co.uk
LONDON, England -..During the earlier stages of the recession, economists..widely predicted that the jobless total would peak at more than 3m in 2010. However, unemployment has grown much more slowly than expected. Business groups and other commentators have attributed the trend to Government and monetary policy support, and a more flexible workforce, with employers imposing pay freezes and shorter working hours in order to limit redundancies...
BONUS clip 9 - Human capital in [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council [6 Gulf states] is all about retaining talent, 12/27 TheNational.ae
ARAB EMIRATES -..[talent] especially in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. For instance, though educated people coming from wealthy families may have developed high-level skills, they may not need to work to support themselves. Therefore, a recognised employer brand, values aligned with their own, interesting jobs, training programmes and career development opportunities would be essential to..keep this segment of the workforce... Private organisations, be they domestic or multinational, have to compete for national talent with numerous governmental institutions, as the public sector provides very generous remuneration and benefits, as well as shorter working hours...

Gates close on live [dog] racing at Raynham MA - Fans, track staff mourn the end of an era, jobs, editorial, BSG, B3.
Lead-outs escorted greyhounds onto the track at Raynham Park yesterday during the last day of live racing. Legislation bans greyhound racing in the state [Massachusetts] as on Jan.1. (photo caption)
..75 years of live dog racing in Mass. came to a close yesterday as the former Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park transitions to focusing on simulcast races from other parts of the country...
yesterday's crowd...4,000...like the 80s...
It's unfortunate that the people [unspecified] are being laid off, but the dogs [as many as 150] are being laid off too \and\ need to be adopted...

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO ARBITRARY MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

Hartford - State to give $250,000 in business grants, AP via BSG, B3.
..Connecticut Small Business Innovation and Diversification Program...
[Yeah, ri-i-ght. This is just more charity forced from taxpayers by and for wealthy special interests = yet another ineffectual indirect job-creation program probably with no guarantees built in as to how many jobs must be created or how long they must last and stay in Connecticut. More effective? Timesizing.]

HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA (archives) - sooo unnecessary with full employment via timesizing -

Homeless find solace in yarn work - Program intertwines [LOL] knitting and crocheting in a surprising sort of therapy, BSG, B1.
..at the Barbara McInnis House in the South End [of Boston]...
[Art for the homeless, laptops, now knitting therapy - how about just HOUSING?!]

Officials offer building as winter shelter, AP via BSG, B3.
Connecticut officials have offered part of a state-owned building in Hartford as an emergency winter shelter. The arrangement was made as the Salvation Army announced that it would no longer run the overflow, or "no freeze," shelter it has operated for nine years.

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

An estate tax mess. editorial. 12/28 NY Times, A24.
For much of the last eight years, the majority Republicans pushed through tax break after tax break that mostly benefited the wealthy. Now in the majority, Democratic lawmakers have failed to stop yet another tax benefit for the richest of the rich from taking effect in 2010... - see whole editorial under today's date.
[Why is there no discussion here of the reverse multiplier effect? The reverse or negative multiplier is what cutting taxes on the rich does AND it is precisely what creates recession and depression. How so? Let's do the simple case first. Keynes' positive "multiplier effect" is what creates "wartime prosperity" and every other kind of real prosperity (plaguetime prosperity, shorter-hours prosperity...) - which is always and only based on perceived labor shortage. As money spreads out to those who want and need to spend it, its frequency and velocity of circulation are multiplied exponentially. Consumer markets grow exponentially. DEMAND grows exponentially. And so do all the derivative markets that are based on the consumer base = b2c, b2b, i2b and i2i, where c=consumer, b=business, and i=investor. In short, when money is spread around instead of concentrated and coagulated in an astronomically tiny and massive "black hole" in the topmost brackets, it benefits EVERYONE INCLUDING THE TOPMOST BRACKETS, who then find more and more marketable producitivity to invest in and therefore have more and more sustainable and profitable investment going on rather than, as now, less and less. When money is redistributed to the topmost brackets, this whole effect goes into reverse. Unless the wealthy smarten up and start allowing discussion of this, they are committing economic suicide, everyone else first.]

The big zero - The decade when nothing went right, op ed by Paul Krugman, 12/28 NYT, A25.
..Let me [reference] a speech that Lawrence Summers, then deputy Treasury secretary..gave in 1999... Here’s what Mr. Summers — and, to be fair, just about everyone in a policy-making position at the time — believed in 1999: America has honest corporate accounting; this lets investors make good decisions, and also forces management to behave responsibly; and the result is a stable, well-functioning financial system. What percentage of all this turned out to be true? Zero. What was truly impressive about the decade past, however, was our unwillingness, as a nation, to learn from our mistakes.\. Mr. Summers \is\ now the Obama administration’s top economist...
- see whole editorial under today's date.

After navigating slump, managers ponder next moves.., 12/28 WSJ, B1.
{"After"?? - Most of them are reading this and thinking, Gee, why isn't the slump over for ME?]
- Careful timing will be crucial next year in coping with an uneven recovery, subsubhead...
["Uneven" as in "mirage." And unless the careful "timing" is done in the form of timesizing, it will be irrelevant, again.]
- CEOs see some light after a dismal 2009, subhead...
[Yeah? Where? The new stock bubble? Check this -]

Adjusted for inflation, bad run looks worse - Stocks suffer when controlled for consumer prices, 12/28 WSJ, C1.
Some analysts measure the Dow against the performance of gold, which further dents the record of the blue chips over the past decade... [photo caption]

The recession begins flooding into the courts, 12/28 NYT, A1.
New York State's courts are closing the year with 4.7 million cases - the highest tally ever - and new statistics suggest that courtrooms are now seeing the delayed result of the country's economic collapse. The Great Recession may be showing signs of easing [just like there were, all through the Great Depression], but the legal fallout from the financial troubles [or was it ethical troubles, or common-sense troubles...] may have only just begun...

Necessity forces companies to look for outside ideas, 12/27 BSG, G1.
[Here's an alternative to downsizing from Germany that US companies are going to continue to shrink and shrivel if they don't adopt = worksharing temporarily-transitionally and timesizing permanently-sustainably.]

12/26/2009 sat. (archives) - happy Boxing Day -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

West Palm prepares to crunch numbers, and maybe jobs, in 2010-2011 budget - City will consider $10 million in cuts, Sun-Sentinel.com
..The construction department already works a four-day week, but on a reduced, 32-hour schedule, instituted because of a drop in demand for construction services... - see whole article under today's date.
PATH needs weekend workers, volunteers with trade skills, Farmington,NM Daily Times via DailyTimes.com
..The shelter recently cut hours of three full-time staffers to trim its budget. PATH has 14 employees working at the shelter and soup kitchen, but only two people work full time... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA (archives) - sooo unnecessary with full employment via timesizing -

Better than the street, NYT, A1 pointer to A13.
For homeless youths, Christmas at a Harlem shelter is its own gift, Susan Dominus writes...

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Recession? Teenagers get it - With money tight, a new understanding of thrift and value, NYT, B1.
[= deflationary pressure...]

As slump hits home, cities downsize their ambitions, WSJ, A1.
["Recovery" happytalk on holiday? Nope -]
U.S. economic "data" offered more "evidence" [our quotes] that strength is returning to manufacturing and that the labor market is improving, WSJ, A1 pointer to A2.
[Keep cookin' thet "data"!]

Junk-bond issuance is likely to be brisk in the first part of 2010, WSJ, B1.
[Of special interest to investors who bought toxic assets and NINJA loans (no income, no job or assets check).]

Hedge-fund clones drawing in investors, WSJ, B1.
[ {cue the music} "When will they ever learn, When will they e-e-e-ver learn..."]

Does golden pay for the CEOs sink stocks? WSJ, B1.
[Not with investors as stupid as those still buying junk bonds and hedge funds!]

How overhauling derivatives died, WSJ, B1.
Lobbying by Wall Street...
[So stay tuned for fall'08 revisited!]

The administration said it would cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years, WSJ, A1 pointer to A3.
[A blank check on taxpayers? This administration is just as irresponsible as the last! Thus bringing money ever closer to total meaninglessness.]

Congress's move to lift the federal government's borrowing limit by $290 billion, WSJ, A1 pointer to A2.

Torrent of illicit cash flows where the U.S. and Mexico meet, NYT, A1.
[So learn the lesson of the Prohibition and DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS!]

A tiny rates, saving money costs investors, NYT, A1.
[So SPEND IT - that's what it's FOR! - especially spend it on spending by spending it on wages - which will happen only when market forces are responding to perceived labor shortage (available merely by cutting the workweek).]

The Left's new view of Obama, NYT, A1 pointer to A10, A14.
The debate over the healthcare overhaul showed Pres. Obama as a play-by-the-rules leader, to the dismay of his party's left wing.
[When progressives "play by the rules" and regressives don't, the nation goes backward.]

The Obama way - The president's elusive poltical identity, op ed by Ross Routhat, NYT, A17.
[Just like Clinton = charity for the rich spun as "big tent," "unifying," "moving to the center"....
Note that there's nothing elusive about Bush's or Reagan's political identity, resonating with the saying about science: "The advance of science is not helped by taking wishywashy positions."]

Japan's consumer prices fell in November for the ninth month in a row, WSJ, A1 pointer to A6.
..a worsening trend that is shifting consumer behavior and imperiling a nascent recovery.
[The only diff between Economy #2 (Japan) and Economy #1 (USA) is skill in cookin' the data. But stay tuned, cuz -]
China reported revisions that showed its economy was faster-growing, more services-based and closer to overtaking Japan's in size, WSJ, A1 pointer to A12.
..than previously estimated.
[And closer to overtaking the USA in data-cookin' skill. Never mind sustainability.]

12/25/2009 fri. (archives) - happy Xmass (X is Greek chi for Christ) -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Walnut Creek library may come up short in cash, hours, ContraCostaTimes.com
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -..The county pays for the libraries to be open 35 hours a week. Walnut Creek's libraries are open for more hours because of Measure Q, the $22-per-[land?]-parcel tax passed in 2002 generating more than $900,000 to fund extra hours at the city's two libraries... - see whole article under today's date.
Service with a smile - Tenured Johnston Automotive staff ready to move, (12/26) SpencerDailyReporter.com
SPENCER, Iowa -..Elliott, who decided to work part-time in 2002, continues to serve as the Spencer store manager. While he still puts in around 30 hours a week, Johnston also decided to cut back on her work hours recently... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Rep. Barney Frank voiced disappointment in OneUnited Bank, BG, A1 pointer to B4.
..which has failed to make [TARP re]payments after Frank helped it receive bailout funds.
[He's learning. But, uh, how's its lending record, supposedly the point of it all?!]

A sour economy and the Cash for Clunkers program have meant fewer donations for charities, BG, B1 pointer to B4.
[Huh? Oh -]
..fewer people donating cars, BG, from B4 target article headline.
[And speaking of government help -]

Tax credits go to life science firms prospering here, BG, B1 pointer to B4.
[That's the trouble with government help - it often goes to those who don't need it. But overtime-targeted training&hiring always goes right to the bottlenecks.]

Some in healthcare industry fear overhaul efforts don't tackle rising costs, BG, B1 pointer to B4.
[So automate, like everyone else. And cut the workweek for less stress and more rest and health.]

12/24/2009 thu. (archives) - from a kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Onondaga County's central library in downtown Syracuse to cut hours, five jobs, (11/23) Syracuse Post-Standard via Syracuse.com
Patrons of the Onondaga County Central Library will see reduced hours and services come Jan. 4... - see whole article under today's date.
A good deal of giving, JacksonSun.com
.."If you are struggling to get by on 35 hours (a week) and have that cut to 20 hours, you can't make it." The American Red Cross in Jackson deals primarily... - see whole article under today's date.

Walt Disney - CEO Robert Iger's pay fell by 58% to $20.8 million, WSJ, B4.
[Life is rough. When this kind of money concentration is legal and encouraged by our current primitive level of economic design, the whole world is...Disney World, stalked by aliens (self-insulating, self-isolating CEOs), any one of whom at any time could take another big step toward the system-destructive, just as the Bush regime did when they pulled off the gloves and started manufacturing their own voting machines via Diebold, ES&S and Hart Intercivic, and just as US banking CEOs did when they started bundling up toxic assets, selling them as AAA and then shortselling them... see "Banks won bets against debt they created" in Financial Bubbles section below.]

Activists return in Europe - Resurgence of shareholder activism could have a big impact on M&A in 2010, WSJ, C1.
[Here's hopin'! Europeans, with much more real freedom than Americans (financially secure free time), can unleash thousands more citizen watchdogs on the suicidally short-sighted CEOs - so their system will outlast ours unless we redesign ours.]

Recession slows population rise across sun belt. NYT, A1.
[Is this what it takes to stop population rise in deserts?]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

LOOTING- & LAYOFF-TRIGGERING MERGERS in the news (archives) -
M&As provide a superhighway to monopolies & the Black Hole economy by opening up the Great Leak Upwards -
management's economy-shrinking merger skills need replacement by shorter-shift suturing skills -

Drug firm [AstraZeneca (UK)] to acquire Novexel [for $430m]. WSJ, B4.

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Sales of newly built homes fell 11.3% in November to a seven-month low, WSJ, A1 pointer to A4.
..as the government's tax credit for first-time buyers was originally set to expire.

Dollar takes a holiday [and Treasurys too] - Euro, yen gain on greenback as housing data disappoint, WSJ, C12.
[And why poor housing data?]

Cash and carry: [US] businesses can spend but won't [and US banks can lend but won't],, WSJ, C1.
[Instead, they're seeking safe havens in government, or "sovereign," securities. But ... ]

Banks risk storms in safe havens, WSJ, C12.
Subprime securities whacked the banking sector. Could lenders now face a not-so-prime sovereign crisis?
[Peter Eavis has done some pretty bad writing here. Setting aside the important point that the banking sector itself whacked itself with subprime securities, the real contrast here has nothing to do with subprime vs. prime as implied by the first sentence, which should read -]
The banking sector first whacked itself with its own non-government "securities." Is it now going to whack itself with shaky government securities, erstwhile safe havens?
[Answer = yes, if shaky government securities can keep whitewashing themselves with high credit ratings so that banks have to hold zero, or little, capital as security against them. We bounce more and more roughly down a deteriorating spiral staircase from the P/E ratio bubble, to the dot-com bubble to the housing bubble to the hedge-fund bubble to the first of a selection of bail-out bubbles, first up, the inflated-rating government security bubble... Why do we insist on properly wording this so it's clear the banks did it to themselves? Well, here's one big demonstration -]

Banks bundled debt, bet against it and won - When mortgage deals soured, clients lost but not Goldman, NYT, A1.
[The Boston Globe version of this headline is even pithier -]
Banks won bets against debt they created, BG, B8.
[Why is this suicidal for banks? Because they're cannibalizing their own client base, just as they're cannibalizing their own consumer base. How can they get away with this? Too few watchdogs. How many do we need? Millions. How do we get them? By engineering full employment and maximum wages, no matter how short a workweek it takes. Ripple effect -]

For ad industry, 2010 promises scant relief - Detroit's skid, meager marketing budgets and recession turned 2009 into a year Madison Avenue would like to forget - The [bank-triggered] recession and flight of ad dollars to the Web shook the media and ad businesses to their core, WSJ, B5.

Wells Fargo and Citigroup repaid government aid received during the financial crisis, WSJ, A1 pointer to C3.
[Sounds good, right? but -]
..escaping heightened regulatory scrutiny.
[When your whole banking industry is adopting strategies and policies it's embarrassed by, your civilization is in decline. "For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." John 3:20.]

Revival of nuclear energy, NYT, A1 pointer to B1.
Helped by federal loan guarantees, utilities are showing new interest in expanding nuclear power.
[Oh no, Mr. Bill! Like a vampire that won't stay dead, like the cursed "star wars" boondoggle, nuclear energy is rising again from the grave where it belongs on the surface of any planet cooler than Venus or Mercury.]

12/23/2009 wed. (archives) - from a kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

SEIU's Andy Stern On Improving Health Care Bill: 'It's Now Or Never', TPMDC (blog) via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
..The Senate "employer responsibility" provisions create an enormous incentive for Head Start agencies and other employers to cut workers' hours to 29 hours per week, end health insurance coverage, and steer workers to the exchange for coverage, because they will pay nothing for part-time workers and their families who receive coverage in the exchange... This is a fair and predictable contribution and will not create an incentive for agencies to cut hours... - see whole article under today's date.
[We could probably have full employment with a 29-hour workweek, not so radical considering the US Senate passed a 30-hour workweek bill on April 6, 1933.]
Fulton Public Library slated to cut hours and staffing, Fulton Valley News,NY (subscription) via valleynewsonline.com
..“Continued under-funding of the library by the City of Fulton has compelled the trustees reluctantly to reduce open hours and layoff one staff member,” said Marian Stanton, president of the library’s board of trustees... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS clip - Salzgitter reduces short-time working scheme, Steel Business Briefing (subscription)
GERMANY -..The company saw the low point of capacity utilisation in May, when 9000 of its total of 24000 employees were on short-time working, the spokesman says...

A federal appeals court affirmed a $290m patent infringement judgment that will bar Microsoft from selling current versions of Word, WSJ, A1 pointer to B2.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

LOOTING- & LAYOFF-TRIGGERING MERGERS in the news (archives) -
M&As provide a superhighway to monopolies & the Black Hole economy by opening up the Great Leak Upwards -
management's economy-shrinking merger skills need replacement by shorter-shift suturing skills -

The UK's competition regulator reversed course and cleared the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. WSJ, A1 pointer to B5.
[Payoff? Death threat? In the future, mergers and acquisitions will be barred except in cases of corporate extremity = bankruptcy.]

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Americans without work - Putting jobs first, editorial, NYT, A26.
[But despite Krugman on Nov.13, the Times editors are still putting the obsolete 40-hour workweek first by ignoring worksharing.]

Reconnecting young people, editorial, NYT, A26.
The House's jobs bill..does not do nearly enough to address the ominous shortfall of jobs among the young people who have been driven from the job market - and marginalized economically - in record numbers...
[America has marginalized its youth and its future.]

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Boys choir has quiet end, NYT, A1 pointer to A24.
After more than three decades, the Boys Choir of Harlem [NY] is no more. Beset by financial problems and a scandal over accusations of sexual abuse, it last performed in 2007 and efforts to revive it have failed.

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Consumers need more than just Uncle Sam, by Mark Gongloff, WSJ, C1.
..job growth [must] improve drastically...
[= impossible with a 69-year-old forty-hour workweek]

Latino leaders use churches in census bid - Illegal immigrants are urged to be counted, NYT, A1.
[The Scofflaw Latinos strike again, heaping up resentment and depressing wages of legal minorities - and everyone else.]

New housing data provided fresh signs of a stabilizing market, but a flood of foreclosures threaten the trend, WSJ, A1 col.1 pointer to col.3.
Third-quarter GDP growth was revised downward.

Tax credit gives a lift to housing - The economy was weaker than expected in the third quarter, NYT, B1.

Tough times bring the return of the charge card, WSJ, D1 pointer to D2.

Swiss watchmakers await an uptick, WSJ, B1.

12/22/2009 tues. (archives) - from cluttered kitchen in greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Yahoo imposes weeklong shutdown, WSJ, B7.
..from Dec.25 through Jan.1, as the Internet company searches for new ways to cut costs during the recession... - see whole article under today's date.
US town halls find fresh angles to meet recession, Financial Times via ft.com
..Local officials are being forced to cut hours to save money... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS (unexpanded) - Daimler ends in 2010 the short time work in Sindelfingen, eblog.mercedes-benz-passion.com
GERMANY - Daimler ends in early 2010 the short time work, in his largest car plant in Sindelfingen due to the increased demand of vehicles from the E- and S-Class. This [object] confirmed [verb] Daimler employee organization chief Erich Klemm [subject] in Stuttgart. In other car plants, like Bremen or Rastatt, will [auxiliary verb] the short time work [subject] continue [main verb] in 2010...
[Love that machine translation! - or human Germenglisch?]

For great ideas, ask the workers, WSJ, B1 pointer to B7.
Entrepreneurs seek..workers' ideas - Contests with cash prizes and other rewards stimulate innovation in hard times..., WSJ, B7 target article.
[Cut the gimmicks and just offer a lifetime employment guarantee like Lincoln Electric, so employees don't have to fear "idea-ing" their way out of their jobs. Whence the flexibility to do that? Overtime-targeted cross-training and workweek fluctuation instead of workforce fluctuation.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

LOOTING- & LAYOFF-TRIGGERING MERGERS in the news (archives) -
M&As provide a superhighway to monopolies & the Black Hole economy by opening up the Great Leak Upwards -
management's economy-shrinking merger skills need replacement by shorter-shift suturing skills -

Sanofi agreed to acquire consumer-products company Chattem for $1.9 billion. WSJ, A1 pointer to B4.

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Pain awaits S.Korean shipyards - Plans to address plunging orders are unlikely to avoid job cuts, other distress, Wall St Journal, B8.

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Heartland Publications files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - Heartland said it determined a Chapter 11 filing would be the best way to "restore liquidity", WSJ, B7.

PRISONS in the news (archives) -

Pennsylvania - State sending 2,000 inmates to Michigan, Virginia, WSJ, A8.
[..making it tougher for families to visit and reintegrate offenders into society. America's costly game of Musical Cells continues, instead of just decriminalizing drugs and deprivatizing prisons. Let's see - how else can our "leaders" commit suicide on our behalf?]

[Violent (down 4.4%) crime and property (down 6.1%)] crime fell in the first half of 2009, the FBI said, AP via WSJ, A1 pointer to A8.
Many experts had expected rates to rise during the recession.
[And maybe they did when we consider a few additional factors. FBI figures exclude violations of immigration crime (illegal entries) and other categories. Also, USA already has the biggest prison population in the world thereby taking most of the "criminal element" out of the statistics except for recidivism, so we're relying more than ever on first-time offenders to swell the figures.]
Washington, D.C. - Violent, property crimes fell in first half, FBI says, WSJ, A8 target article.
..Crime rates haven't been this low since the 1960s [when we kept them low with low unemployment] and are nowhere near the peak reached in the early 1990s [when we started privatizing prisons and making jobs conditional on locking up lots of people and keeping them locked up].
The new figures show car thefts also dropped significantly, falling nearly 19% and continuing a sharp downward trend in that category.
[Thieves can't afford today's gas prices?]
The figures are based on data supplied to the FBI by more than 11,700 police and law enforcement agencies. [Police and law enforcement all over the nation are being cut in hours and headcount now that the relatively few American wealthy have sloughed off taxes onto their consumer base and employment basement. Also, the U.S. population is supposedly aging out of the high-crime ranges.]

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Holiday cliffhanger: Stores pin hopes on last-minute shoppers, WSJ, B1.
..More than 40% of consumers still have holiday shopping left to do [or don't have the money this year], nearly double the share of a year ago and the highest in 10 years...

Housing is shaky with U.S. aid - Without it??, WSJ, C1.

The pay czar [Kenneth Feinberg] will allow AIG to give one well-paid employee [unnamed exec] $4.3 million, WSJ, C1 pointer to C8.
[So the "pay czar strategy" doesn't work to reverse the consumer-base-cannibalizing concentration of the nation's income and wealth. Back to tried&true timesizing, which kept things in rough balance till we froze the workweek at the pre-tech 1940 level, and with better designed, more rigorous and automated application, could keep things in smoother balance.]

Repaying U.S. and reaping bounty in fees, by Andrew Sorkin, NYT, B1.
Here comes another payday on Wall Street, just in time for the holidays. ...Not..the big bonuses you've been reading about... a new one, courtesy of companies like Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America returning their federal bailout money and raising new capital to replace it. And that means big fees for all the banks that will hawk these new shares for themselves and their rivals... BofA's $19.3B offering generated $482m in fees; Citigroup's $17B...$425m; and Wells Fargo's $12.2B...$275.6m. (The banks paid themselves roughly 2.5% of the offering price)...
[America is history now that the financial sector has designed itself incentives to churn without purpose, kill its habitat and become a "dumb parasite."]

U.S. investment in research and development fell in 2008.., WSJ, A1 pointer to B7.
[Meanwhile -]

Lawmakers set aside over $4 billion in defense earmarks.., WSJ, A1 pointer to A4.
..despite efforts to curb spending aimed at members' districts.
["Representative" democracy lurches downward. Time to move on to direct democracy and turn these small-minded representatives into mere housekeepers of the public will.]

12/20-21/2009 sun.-mon. (archives) - from greater Boston MA -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

70 Iowa companies participate in “Shared Work” program, 12/21 RadioIowa.com
IOWA, U.S.A. -..Kerry Koonce at the Iowa Workforce Development agency says before this year, only a handful of Iowa companies signed up for the “Shared Work” program... - see whole article under today's date.
Subsidy assistance sought by 2000 firms, 12/20 Sunday Business Post via sbpost.ie
IRELAND -..The scheme provides support of €9100 for each worker in qualifying businesses over a 15-month period if the employee is working 35 hours or more a week... - see whole article under today's date.
Law Firms Cut Junior-Lawyer Bonuses by as Much as 71%, 12/21 Bloomberg.com
USA -..Facing a slowdown in work due to the financial crisis, law firms [such as Cravath, and Skadden] fired thousands of associates this year and last, forced new hires to delay starting dates and cut hours in exchange for reduced salaries. Demand for legal services dropped 6.8% in the first nine months of 2009 compared with last year... - see whole article under today's date.
[Couldn't happen to a more deserving group - oh yeah, except for the banksters and the Bushies...]
Austriamicrosystems ends short-time work at Unterpremstätten, 12/21 evertiq.com
AUSTRIA -..Chip-manufacturer Austriamicrosystems will terminate the current short-time work schedule at its Austrian location in Unterpremstätten on December 31, 2009...- see whole article under today's date.
Economic meltdown: ILO warns on premature exit, 12/21 Nigerian Compass Newspaper via compassnews.net
GLOBALLY -..Millions of workers have been “retained” by enterprises with support from governments despite falling activity. These workers are now on shorter hours, partial unemployment or involuntary part time... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS (unexpanded) - Municipal union members: Blame schools, not us, for tax woes, by Richard T. Hoffman, Journal News of Lower Hudson River Valley,NY via LoHud.com
LOWER HUDSON VALLEY, N.Y., U.S.A. -..In order to maintain our local towns in the manner to which the residents are accustomed, the crews necessary must continue to work and retain all medical benefits. Instead, in an effort to save money, there are towns that are considering reducing the numbers of hours in a work week from 40 to 35 hours, and the employees' time off and medical benefits are in jeopardy of being lost...

Bostonian of the year - The watchdog: Elizabeth Warren [chair of TARP], 12/20 BG Magazine, 21.
[though we need the millions of watchdogs that a shorter fulltime workweek would unleash since billions of the $700 billion bailout will never be 'clawed back.']

Calling on leakers [=whistle-blowers] to help document local misdeeds, 12/21 NYT, B6.
..WikiLeaks...
[and ALL levels of misdeeds??]

Madness on the road, by Yvonne Abraham, 12/20 Boston Sunday Globe, B1.
..I was thrilled with Wednesday's news that the Boston City Council passed a ban on texting while driving...

Worcester MA - Medical plant-growing site is approved, AP via BSG, B4.
Worcester development officials have approved a plan [by PharmaSphere LLC] to build a medical plant-growing facility on a brownfield site in the city...
[But won't the brownfield pollute the plants? At any rate, another small step toward redirecting our law enforcement system away from the victimless 'crimes' of the crazy replay of the failed Prohibition = our taxpayer-bashing 'war on drugs' - and hopefully toward the still-legal capitalism-bashing of our financial industry.]

Revolution of the mind - Under seige at home, Iran's dissidents draw comfort and ideas from some visionary thinkers based here, Boston Sunday Globe, A1.
"They contact us because they want liberation," says Gene Sharp [of East Boston MA], an author of works on undermining authoritarian rule. (photo caption)
[Step One. Stop your own elite and your own government from undermining democratic rule when it manages to surface, as in Iran in 1953 when CIA operative *Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. undermined the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq and replaced it with the authoritarian Shah. In short, America is its own worst enemy - specifically, America's short-sighted, dull, unimaginative, narrowly interested, top income and wealth brackets, who have been functioning for decades as the kind of parasites who damage their host - and themselves = "dumb parasites."]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO ARBITRARY, TOO MILITARY, TOO ECO-STRESSING MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

As phones do more, they become targets of mischief, 12/21 NY Times, B3.
[So in addition to virus, spam, adware and spyware writing and checking-blocking-extracting for computers, we're now starting on smartphones. Truly our technology has outstripped our common interest = our best social integration and sharing mechanisms. Time to move on to a new and better one = timesizing.]

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Citadel Broadcasting files for bankruptcy - Ad declines and big debt loads [thanks to rapacious M&A banksters] plague the radio [and every other] industry, 12/21 NY Times, B3.

HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA (archives) - sooo unnecessary with full employment via timesizing -

Making a life in a motel - In bad times, shelters can't hold growing numbers of homeless, BSG, No1.
1,015 Homeless families living in motel rooms in Massachusetts
2,000 Family units statewide [for families - already full]
$2.8 million Monthly cost to the state to house homeless families in motels
[Colleague Kate: Isn't that crazy? It would be cheaper to build them housing.
Phil: Time for Massachusetts to get on the stick and use its worksharing program as a springboard to leading the world with proactive statewide full employment via overtime-to-jobs conversion and a timesizing-mediated shorter and shorter state workweek.]

PRISONS in the news (archives) -

Texas - Prison population may see rare drop, AP via BSG, A22.
DALLAS...
[Whoa, here's a phenomenal example of twisting bad news to sound good. This article is sooo misleading to keep ignorant Americans believing they still live in the "land of the free." The tiny article from AP has nothing to do with Dallas or Texas (did AP screw it up or the Boston Globe?). It's about national U.S. prison statistics, period and should read -]
Prison population growth sees rare dip, AP via BSG, A22.
The United States..locks up more people than any other [nation]. About 739,000 prisoners were admitted to state and federal facilities last year, about 3,500 more than were released, according to new figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics."
[We need statistics on the unusually high number of minimizing 9's there are in US badnews statistics - it's seldom 740,000 for the bad or 3,490 for the good - nap on, America, your day is done. Your toxic elite have turned you, once the "Land of the Free," into the Land of the Jailed. Next, something that really is from Texas -]

Repeat offenses in Texas raise questions over release of mentally ill juveniles, 12/21 NYT, A16.

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Climate talks end with no approval of pact - Many nations cool to accord by US, others, BSG, A23.

Snow storm could hurt sales, 12/21 NYT, A1 pointer to B1.
The winter storm on the East Coast gave already tight-fisted consumers another reason to stay away on Saturday and Sunday, normally blockbuster days for stores...
[On Saturday around Boston, people were stocking up on groceries before the storm.]

Making it all compute - A new approach to point the young toward digital careers, 12/21 NYT, B1.
[Like there are going to be enough jobs in 40-hour-workweek digital careers when their whole orientation is "making life easier" for people = taking over human work and working hours?]

Jobs data shows a surge in hiring of temp workers ..-.. It is a weak comeback, because temporary workers are reluctant to spend \-\ Employers are jittery - Trend no longer signals jobs will become permanent, 12/21 NY Times, A1, A4.

Spending less and looking for deals, 12/21 NYT, B3.
[And the result is -]

U.S. stock performance is on track for..the worst decade.., 12/21 WSJ, A1 pointer to C1.
..in nearly 200 years of recorded stock market history.
[And here's one reason why -]

Fund boss made $7 billion in the panic, 12/21 WSJ, A1.
David Tepper bet big on banks (photo caption)
[- and his buddies' ability to manipulate Congress into megarobbing the American taxpayer and consumer long into the future -]
..hedge-fund firm [Appaloosa Management, specialty: distressed companies] has racked up about $7 billion in "profit" so far this year - with Mr. Tepper on track to "earn" more than $2.5 billion for himself...among the largest one-man takes [ie: heists] in recent years... [our quotes]

Federal judge [Thos. Porteous Jr. of Louisiana] could be the 8th impeached, BSG, A26.
[Probably could have cut that figure if the Dems had spent the last 8 years impeaching the Bush regime instead of going into hiding.]

Gun permits surge in Massachusetts - Worries on crime, stricter laws cited, Boston Sunday Globe, A1.
[In this erstwhile gentle, progressive state?? This country is toast!]

Missouri will begin charging sales tax on yoga classes, LA Times via BSG, A23.
[Wealthy US decision-makers and the wealthier 'holders of their remotes' continue to slough off taxes onto their own consumer base and employment basement, making both weaker and weaker, and further enfeebling their own markets and the marketable productivity they need to maintain their massive black hole in the middle of the nation's money supply. And on taxes on the poor (sales taxes), Canada is even worse.]

China's export of labor faces growing scorn..and violence in Africa and Asia, 12/21 NYT, A1, A11.

Resentment of foreigners re-emerges in South Africa, 12/21 NYT, A13.
[And everywhere else during a deepening recession. Here's a local version -]

Finances push Beverly Hills schools to rescind welcome to neighbors [and] cut nonresidents, 12/21 NYT, A14, A16.

12/19/2009 sat. (archives) - from Somerville, Mass. (Boston burb) -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

'An economic reality' - Budget pressures trigger the first of three waves of program cuts at Cumberland County's public libraries, Patriot-News via pennlive.com
.."It's unfortunate that, during this recession, our libraries need to reduce hours and purchase fewer newer materials," system Executive Director Jonelle Darr said. "People need us more than ever so they can apply for jobs online and to stretch family budgets. "But," she said, "it's an economic reality."... - see whole article under today's date.
Furniture Work Shifts From NC To South China, NPR.org
..Zou Zuoxin is one of the survivors. His factory, which made component parts for Lacquer Craft, cut hours until half its workers left...
- see whole article under today's date.
[= pre-downsizing shorter hours in China]

Morgan Stanley's chief executive [John Mack] gives up his bonus this year, NY Times, B1 pointer to B7.
..He will, however, still be paid an annual salary of $800,000...
[Life is rough. And scattered charity doth not a real recovery make.]

A Texas jury awards $100 million to BP workers [in toxic substance case], NYT, B1 pointer to B5.
[Neither doth scattered jury largesse a recovery make. It has to be systemic, like this -]

The possible expiration of the estate tax could force some to face big bills [which they can easily afford], Wall St Journal, A1 pointer to B1.
[Why not? They're not using it anyway - they've got far far beyond what they can possibly spend and even way beyond what they can sustainably invest. They've created a downward spiral staircase of bubbles, from the P/E ratio bubble in the early 90s to the dot-com bubble in the late 90s to the housing bubble in the early 00s to the bailout bubble in the late 00s... Labor-surplus capitalism is apoppin' and adroppin'.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

GM to shut Saab unit, quirky icon of the road, Wall St Journal, A1.
..Most of the 3,400 people Saab employs world-wide work at its main plant in Trollhattan, Sweden...
[Playlist - now watch the shift from "jobless recovery" to jobless economy to consumption-less economy and investment-less financial sector corner concentrated media ownership into backing temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing.]

Few laughs left in a Catskill town - A resort economy declined decades ago, and stayed down, NY Times, A19.
[Sorta like Detroit?]
Monticello NY's Broadway is nearly deserted of commerce, but the drug trade has moved in. [photo caption]
[Other towns get killed by Walmart - before the drug trade moves in.]

A DELUGE OF DISABILITY & "disability" in the news (archives) - so-o-o unnecessary with the shorter workweeks of the timesizing program -

[NY] City reaches out to those who won't come in, NY Times, A1.
..There are about 2,300 people on the streets according to a yearly count performed on a cold night in January. Advocates for the homeless say there are many more..\.. Last year, four died.\.by the cold..\.. The Homeless Services Dept. [has] successfully placed more than 1,800 chronically homeless people from the street into housing since 1907...

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

We're saving again - What happened? NY Times, B1.
[Guess the wealthy have concentrated so much of the money supply, they can sway the statistics, and now they've gone from beyond spendability to beyond investibility - so they're "saving" it - in their mattresses.]

Shopping: The beat goes on and on - Anxious consumers dig deep to keep Christmas alive for the children, NY Times, A18.
[.."for the cheeeeeel-drun"..]

Lean times but no rise in adoptions [although] A dampening of hope can drive a fervor for motherhood, NY Times, A18.

Sharp rise in autism, but causes are unclear - Diagnoses among Hispanic children rose 90% in the latest study, while the diagnosis rate among black children went up 41%, Wall St Journal, A4.
[Wild guesses = poverty? Joblessness? So the choice is immigration-law enforcement or contraceptives or worksharing , choose at least one.]

The ECB said banks in the euro zone face higher losses than previously thought, Wall St Journal, A1 pointer to A8.
[And in a bank just outside the euro zone -]

Barclay's executive [Robert Diamond Jr.], put on the spot in London, defends his compensation [07 GBP 21m] - Some in an audience are left wondering if a banker 'gets' it, by Landon Thomas Jr., NY Times, (B1) B7.
LONDON - "If you really love working for Barclay's, why do you need that huge incentive to do the job you are paid to do anyway?"...on the same day that the government announced it would impose a 50% tax on bank bonuses [above GBP 25,000 (US $40,700) after] the British taxpayer had bailed out the banks [in the amount of] roughly BPL 1 trillion..\.. Diamond..took no bonus in 2008, although [he] did receive BPL 14 million in cash and stock from a previous award plan...
[His rationalization?]
..the bank's..purchase of Lehman Brothers' US-based operations... [so] "We are a stronger bank today than we were"...
[No "we" aren't because banking is now mixed with brokerage again - with all the attendant conflict of interest and corruption. This is like the Republicans going back to the unseparation of church and state. Been there, done that, had the corruption and system corrosion.]

Climate pact falls short - Emission curbs are weak; U.S. calls compromise with China, India a 'first step', Wall St Journal, A1.

12/18/2009 fri. (archives) - from early-a.m. Ottawa-Montréal train -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Not all are pleased with big rig change, (12/17) WCAX.com
BURLINGTON, Vermont -..In the years since his death she has been working to get tougher restrictions for the trucking industry. She wants drivers to work shorter hours and drive fewer miles...
- see whole article under today's date.
France: Renault unions agree to short-time work, AutomotiveWorld.com
Renault has announced that all employee representative bodies (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT, FOR) have signed an agreement extending the crisis-period labour deal. Under the arrangement, managers, office staff and factory workers are required to work fewer days than normal... - see whole article under today's date.
Uncertainty weighs on world economy, Financial Times via ft.com
..Whether because of policy (such as Germany's Kurzarbeit) or voluntary hoarding, employers cut hours but kept workers on payroll... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Bankruptcy numbers [Canada] - Consumer bankruptcies rise in Oct. - but Blackmount Capital says you shouldn't read too much into the numbers, National Post, FP2 pointer to financialpost.com/tradingdesk.
[Whaddaya need to "read into" the numbers? Bankruptcies are rising = bad news. Is Blackmount trying to make it good? Maybe they could align with a real solution if they could thaw the big frozen smile and accept there's a problem.]

downspiral of FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Recession takes holiday toll - Many Americans scale back seasonal trips or stay put - Just one indicator: Christmas mailings [= proxy trips?] have fallen by 11%, USA Today, 1A.

Consumers not ready to spread cheer - New study contradicts earlier polls of shoppers, Ottawa Citizen, F2.
..The TNS survey found Canadians expect to spend $780 on holiday gifts this year, down from $956 last year...

Canadian stocks - Commodities get hit as dollars favored, Ottawa Citizen, F6.

Greek crisis slams into euro and lifts US$ - Spain, Ireland next?, National Post, FP2.
..escalating fiscal crisis...

12/17/2009 thu. (archives) - from Bridgehead coffee house at Bank&Albert in Ottawa -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Rise of the desperate house husband, NewStatesman.com
..When recovery comes, might some who can afford it, having got used to seeing more of their children, seek permanently shorter hours?.. - see whole article under today's date.
[Here's hopin'!]
DNR cutting hours in Rhinelander, Woodruff, NewsoftheNorth.Net,WI
The Department of Natural Resources says it’s reducing office hours in Rhinelander and Woodruff [Wisconsin] as part of mandated budget cuts... - see whole article under today's date.
Renault Blue-collar Staff Agree To Pay Deal For 2010, Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal via online.wsj.com
..The extended contract sets out the conditions for an average 45 days of short-time work expected in Renault's plants in France next year... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

High unemployment means a long march back to normalcy, Toronto Globe & Mail, A6.

DOWNWARD TRAIL OF FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

More coverage - The darkness returns, Toronto Globe, A1 pointer to B1.
U.S. cities face growing problem of 'shadow' inventory of homes seized by banks that threaten to restart the cycle of foreclosure all over again.

Wrestle down that debt while you still can, Toronto Globe, B1.
..A financial squeeze is coming in the next year or so and the risks are serious enough that the Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has twice warned about them in the past seven days.

12/16/2009 wed. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Smith's Senseless Spending, Harvard Crimson via thecrimson.com
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. -..With any luck, the Faculty of Arts and Science’s new interest in reinstating secure spending policies will include reabsorbing laid-off staff members or reinstating cut hours as part of an effort to return services to the College and the university as a whole. The funds being directed toward professors and graduate students would conceivably have a bigger impact on the larger Harvard community if applied to initiatives such as bringing back hours in libraries and the Bureau of Study Council, serving hot breakfast, increasing hours for students who hold jobs on campus, and transitioning out of the hour reductions and furloughs many staff members face... - see whole article under today's date.
[So regardless of Harvard Economics professors' opinions, their employer, Harvard University itself, practices cutting hours instead of cutting jobs = worksharing instead of layoffs - though for the self-destructive underlying purpose of further raising elite salaries.]
Take Advantage of US Department Of Labor Funding To Train Your Staff, Manufacturing & Technology eJournal (press release) via mfrtech.com
USA -..MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth NETwork, will provide auto supply chain employees in Ohio with 35 hours of professional training—a $1,000 value—for just $500 per employee in the first quarter of 2010... - see whole article under today's date.
[Looks like Timesizing Phase Two without the vital inclusion of the market-determined incidence of overtime to target, fund, gauge and pace the training.]
Help - the labour market puzzle continues, Financial Times via FT.com (blog)
BRITAIN - Official figures show Britain’s economy has contracted by almost 6 per cent this recession; the US economy by only 3.2%. Yet the employment declines have been much smaller in the UK: OECD figures suggest British employment has fallen only 2%, compared with 4.5% in the US... Ralph has explained the European Central Bank’s concern that short-time working schemes in continental Europe explains much of the difference, but that argument does not apply to the UK, where there have been no such schemes [except so-called informal "labour hoarding"]... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Bankruptcies in Canada decline 27 per cent [sounds good, but...] - Experts cite a change in legislation that made filing more difficult, Toronto Star, B3.

DOWNWARD TRAIL OF FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

U.S. inflation on the rise, Toronto Star, B3.
[Higher prices, lower sales.]

[Canada -] Housing market in bubble territory?, Toronto Star, B2.
[No-o-o - why would anyone think that?]

As countries shut out migrants to stay afloat, Canada risks becoming their safe harbour, by demographics reporter Joe Frisen, Toronto Globe & Mail, A1.
[and risks beating the U.S. in the Race to the Bottom. Canada has healthcare, minimum vacations and federal worksharing but overpopulation and underemployment can ruin all that...]
The worst recession in a generation has played havoc with the job market... Now it's doing the same thing with..the worldwide movement of people. The world's wealthiest nations, from Japan to Spain to Australia, are cutting immigrationi targets to protect fragile labour markets and [are] encouraging migrant workers to leave. Only Canada has refused [or neglected] to adjust immigration levels in response to the downturn...
[Comments: (1) This is another argument for binding public referendums on important issues since the immediate satisfactions of Diversity and Political Correctness are clobbering the already diminished job openings and wages for existing citizens and legal residents and diminishing future living standards for all Canadians. (2) The world's poorest nations are only poor because they approach 99% of the money being in the hands of 1% of the population - and the whole reason for "the worst recession in a generation" is that the "world's wealthiest nations" have just taken another big step in that direction. Once again the centripetal forces on the money supply have far outpaced the centrifugal forces, as tends to happen during prolonged periods of peace (since the chronic labor shortage of war centrifuges the money supply by natural market forces and employers bidding against one another for good help). And no matter how much or how little money we're talking about, if 99% of the population has 99% of it, it's a wealthy nation with homeland security, but if 1% of the population has 99% of the money, the nation is poverty-stricken and without homeland security.]
A government intelligence document described as [or labeled as, by politicians serving suicidally short-sighted wealthy campaign donors] "sensitive and not for public distribution" [our quotes] warns that more migrants..could opt to come to Canada...refer[ing] to both legal..and illegal [entrants]...
[Another sign of Canada's accelerating deterioration = vital government reports and warnings withheld from the public. The deterioration of democracy is the gradual closing off of the most important kind of feedback = negative feedback = the kind that indicates necessary change and adaptation. So all over the world wherever we're sinking back into authoritarian government, we have huge complex systems with no feedback - and that means they are inherently unadaptive and unsustainable.]

Under record deficit, Ontario looks to unload its crown corporations [anything but tax all the unuseably concentrated wealth at the top!] - Hydro, lotto and liquor corps on the table,
by Willis & Erman, Toronto Globe, A1.
..to raise cash to close a $24.7 billion deficit this year... The Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty recently hired two banks with experience in privatizations...
[The usual suicidal, possible-one-time-only "solution" - Ontario and Canada in general has contracted The Stupids from south of the border. There's only one group who can afford the cash to close this scale of deficit and that's the group who created the deficit by pushing through a lot of government spending bills that benefited themselves without previously passing bills to pay for the government spending (ie: raising taxes on themselves) - and that group is the province's and the nation's and the world's wealthy, who, roughly every 60-70 years, forget past experience and get really blind and grasping - they want not just a free lunch and a free palace but a free personal Fort Knox, totally ignoring or disbelieving any negative effects on currency circulation and the multiplier and their consumer base and the employment basement - and totally guaranteeing transformation into Fort Knocks. It ain't about liberal or conservative - the whole spectrum has fallen into a policy of Suicide, Everyone Else First - because none are talking about the only sustainable solution, homeostatically guaranteed full employment regardless of how short a workweek it takes, or about the only adequate short-term bandaid, the rich pay themselves off with wartime levels of graduated income and estate taxes - since now they've funelled the money supply to themselves, they're naturally the only ones with any money on a correspondingly mega scale. And if they don't? - the collapse continues...]

These are really tough times for public institutions, by Jeffrey Simpson, jsimpson@globeandmail.com, Toronto Globe, A21.
Suppose..you discover two disconcerting trends. First, 70-80% of your spending is locked in but still rises at, say, 3% a year. Second, your income has gone in the tank... This crude depiction illustrates the dilemma facing hospitals, universities, schools, libraries and all other public institutions today...

12/15/2009 tues. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

..Welch wants short-time compensation program added to jobs bill, BurlingtonFreePress.com
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vermont, U.S.A. -- Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Monday he wants a jobs bill now making its way through Congress to include a provision that would encourage struggling employers to temporarily retain workers rather than lay them off... - see whole article under today's date.
Green shoots of recovery - News of a global economic rebound should be met with hope, and caution, by export-dependent countries such as Cambodia, PhnomPenhPost.com
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -..In addition to those who are out of work completely, millions of other people are currently on shorter hours or involuntarily working part time... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Housing planned at ice cream plant, Boston Globe, B7.
ARLINGTON, Mass. -..former Brigham's site... production ended June 2008 after Brigham's name and recipe sold to H.P.Hood... 40 employees laid off...
[And the new tenants, if any, will get their rent money where??]

DOWNWARD TRAIL OF FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

A day in family court: cases soar as recession batters wallets, psyches,
Boston Globe, A1.

Boost lending - you owe us, Obama tells banks - Wall Street has 'greater obligation' to help recovery after taking billions of dollars in bailout support , President says, Toronto Globe & Mail, A1.
[As mentioned yesterday, with low rates, there's not much incentive for the banksters to take on risk, and preaching and public pressure hasn 't worked. We suggest - for a much faster, more sustainable recovery - claw back the bailout billions - back out of the bonuses they gave themselves with it - and put the money into state and federal worksharing programs. The billions of debt isn't even necessary. Just jump to sustainable worksharing with a tax on overtime and an exemption for OT-targeted training and hiring.]

12/13-14/2009 sun.-mon. (archives) - from Bridgehead coffee house at Bank&Albert in Ottawa (Sun.) & good ol' Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. (Mon.) -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Initial unemployment claims rise, which could mean some will have trouble with debt, 12/13 Credit.com News
CALIFORNIA -..The state with the largest decrease of initial claims was California, which reported 28,672. The state attributed the drop to a shorter workweek and a lower number of layoffs in the service industry... - see whole article under today's date.
Economy takes toll on holiday giving on Treasure Coast, 12/14 Stuart News (subscription) via TCPalm.com
TREASURE COAST, Fla. -..“But we have cut hours,” she said, and no longer allow overtime for staff. She's also looking for grants to try to make up the difference... - see whole article under today's date.
[And Florida also has a state worksharing program.]
Time to Kill Some Puppies, 12/13 BBC News via bbc.co.uk/blogs
SCOTLAND -... An attention-grabbing headline, so no surprise it comes from the Mad Men of the advertising industry... The Scottish advertising sector has already lost a significant player in the 1576 agency, which went bust last year. Others have quietly been laying off staff, moving to shorter hours and cutting pay and benefits... - see whole article under today's date.

So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

DOWNWARD TRAIL OF FINANCIAL BUBBLES (archives) - 'solved' by war or smarter, timesizing -

Rates are low but banks balk at refinancing -, NY Times, A1.
[Shouldn't that be "AND banks balk at refinancing" because with low rates, there's not much incentive for them to take on risk.]
Stricter credit rules -, 12/13 NY Times, first subhead, A1.
[Even more disincentive to lend! Clearly the throw-taxpayer-billions-at-bankers-to-spur-lending strategy for recovery is self-undermining.]
Interest at 1940s levels but many consumers squeezed out, NY Times, second subhead, A1.
[Could be that most consumers do kinda need a job and decent pay. Our financial geniuses are trying everything they can to grab more money instead of spreading it out to the people they need to have it so they can spend it and bring back markets and sustainably marketable productivity. And the only way to get full employment in the Age of Robotization is ... shorter levels of the human workweek, because the robots don't care how many hours THEY work and "incidentally," they don't do any consumer spending. As Reuther said to Ford when Ford taunted him with "Let's see you unionize these robots!" - "Let's see you sell'em cars."]

Storm batters energy upstarts, 12/14 Toronto Globe, B1.
CALGARY, Alta. - Canada's haven for wildcatters and risktakers has hit hard times. A blizzard of misfortune... low natural gas prices...
[Sounds good to us - that's how we heat our shack in Boston...]

12/12/2009 sat. (archives) - from Galeries de Hull, QUÉBEC -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Sullivan vetoes funding for arts, libraries, Anchorage Daily News via adn.com
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -..[Mayor Dan] Sullivan is still interested in talking with unions about shifting most city workers to a shorter, 37.5 hour workweek to save money... Sullivan needs the agreement of unions to implement the shorter workweek... - see whole article under today's date.
Canada's economic engine revs up, driving recovery – and hope, Toronto Globe and Mail via theglobeandmail.com
WOODSTOCK, Ont., Canada -..According to Brad Hammond of Woodstock's economic development team, Woodstock has seen layoffs, work sharing... - see whole article under today's date.
Protesters in Madrid challenge job-market reforms, Agence France-Presse via AFP via google.com/hostednews/afp
MADRID, Spain -..Germany has introduced a system in which businesses can put their workers on short-time working, with the government carrying much of the financial burden for a two-year period... - see whole article under today's date.
[As the next bubble inflates and pops, Deutschland will have to shift this program from temporary to sustainable funding based on a confiscatory tax on overtime profits (relative to hiring more employees) coupled with a complete exemption for reinvestment in overtime-targeted hiring (and training if needed).]

House OKs financial overhaul bill with no GOP support - Aims to protect borrowers, Boston Globe, A1.
[Or is this really bad news, because all recent financial "overhauls" have tightened the coagulation of the money supply in the top 1% of the population, without limit, without spendability and without even sustainable investability. And it's just another peripheral bandaid, leaving the core solution of leveling the playing field between employees and employers skewing further because of a still deepening labor surplus fueled by downsizing in response to technology instead of timesizing (trimming hours and saving jobs - trimming further and creating jobs].

U.S. puts curbs on pay at bailed-out firms, Boston Globe, B6.
[Trying to put curbs on market-raised wages during World War II resulted in circumvention of the law by the invention of benefits. Trying, by fiat, to put curbs on CEO pay without adjusting market preconditions will be similarly circumvented. How adjust? Flood the market with qualified CEOs and starve the market for ordinary labor - as during the war. How adjust without war? Thaw the 70-year-frozen workweek and adjust it downward to levels more appropriate for the Age of Robotics.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Videogame creator Harmonix [Cambridge, Mass.] lays off 39, Boston Globe, B5.

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

The markets - Investors cut more than $2 billion in value from Canada's Big Three [telco] incumbents,
Toronto Globe, B1.
[Rogers, Bell Canada, Telus]

Price stability among other casualties of war, National Post, FP7.

Million-dollar soldiers - The price of war [itself] is going up, National Post, FP1.
[But wait - maybe this is good news!? 'Course, the price was always high in property damage and human life, but balanced by wartime prosperity because labor shortage and collapse of trade raised wages and consumer spending, and the rising tide floated all boats...]

12/11/2009 fri. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Libraries to make cuts to balance books, Patriot-News via pennlive.com
PENNSYLVANIA -..Cumberland County's public libraries will have to cut hours and programs while buying fewer books as they wrestle with an $860000 state funding cut... - see whole article under today's date.
Childhood literacy hurt by library budget cuts, Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -..It is unfortunate that the Beech Grove Public Library has to shorten its hours of operation ("Beech Grove's library to cut hours in 2010," Dec. 6)... - see whole article under today's date.
Working through the recession. Paris Star via parisstaronline.com
CANADA -..In the midst of the recession, it is important to protect as many Canadian jobs as possible. That's why we are also acting to help keep more Canadians working by extending work-sharing agreements by fourteen weeks to a maximum of 52 weeks. Through work-sharing agreements, companies are able to avoid laying off their skilled employees, and families are saved from the difficulties and stress of losing their jobs... - see whole article under today's date.

Robust export activity helps stocks, Boston Globe, A10.
[Or is this really bad news cuz it's just another bubble until we redefine "full time" downward and workshare our way to (A) maintaining and (B) increasing jobs and the consumer base?]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

Both sides dig in as vote nears on Wall Street rules, Boston Globe, A1.
[= rules establishing a consumer protection agency and getting a handle on derivatives trading and hedge funds, which the incapable-of-learning-from-disaster Republicans are naturally fighting...]

Foreclosure wave feared as mortgage aid lags behind goal,
Boston Globe, B9.

12/10/2009 thu. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Why Work Sharing Wont Work, Heritage.org via blog.heritage.org
..The amount of work that can be done in the economy is virtually unlimited. Why? Because human desires are unlimited... - see whole article under today's date.
[Two gross fallacies here = (1) the amount of work that CAN be done in the economy does not equate to the amount of work that IS being packaged into available job openings that the un(der)employed can apply for and actually GET NOW. (2) Unlimited human desires do NOT equate to unlimited employment, because the desires do NOT automatically come with the spending power to satisfy them.]
GERMANY: Porsche extends short time working to end March, just-auto.com
..Porsche, now 49.9% owned by Volkswagen, on Thursday said it would extend shortened working hours at its main Zuffenhausen plant near Stuttgart until the end of March 2010 "in view of the uncertain sales development on the individual markets"... - see whole article under today's date.

Bankers' perks face 50% - U.K. finance minister to 'claw back' taxpayers' money..., Toronto Star, B4.
[Without feedback, the system perishes.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Putnam Investments cuts 104 jobs, Boston Globe, B6.

Interim state labor chief [Nancy Sneider, Massachusetts] calls jobs top priority, Boston Globe, B5.
[Not investments? Not banks?! Not hedge funds?!? = The light begins to dawn - just a glimmer.]

[Toronto] Star agrees to 166 staff buyouts - Layoff notices issued to nine in the newsroom, Toronto Star, B2.

City office space glut to worsen, Toronto Star, B2.

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

US home values plunge $5.9 trillion, Boston Globe, B6.

Holiday spending - Lists can wait until prices fall - The loonie is hurting, Toronto Star, B1.

12/09/2009 wed. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Obama faces a difficult dilemma, Jackson Clarion Ledger,Jackson,MS,USA via clarionledger.com
..To avoid layoffs, [*Laurel Machine & Foundry Co. in Laurel, Miss.] has cut hours... - see whole article under today's date.
Canada's Economic Action Plan Helps More Canadians Continue Working Through Work-Sharing, MarketWire.com (press release)
CANADA - Canada's Economic Action Plan is supporting Canadian workers with enhancements to the Work-Sharing program, enabling more Canadians to continue working while companies experience a temporary [you hope] slowdown... - see whole article under today's date.
So what should Darling [Chancellor of the Exchequer] do today? Independent.co.uk
BRITAIN -..David Coats, Associate director, The Work Foundation - Specific policy proposals we would like to see include the introduction of a short-time working scheme similar to the arrangements that apply in Germany. This has helped to keep German unemployment low and it has been matched by a more ambitious stimulus package than in the UK... - see whole article under today's date.

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

Financial innovations 'took us to brink of disaster': former Fed chairman [Paul Volcker], National Post, FP11.
[That's how much he knows - he thinks we're no longer at the brink cuz the bubble-dwelling bystanders in the financial industry feel better ... or do they -]

Debt raters on warpath - Downgrades hit Greece, Dubai; U.S., U.K. potentially in danger, National Post, FP1.
[The US started it - dubious debt raters should've hit them first.]

Canada - Big six straddle cash pile - Banks in holding pattern awaiting new regulations, National Post, FP1.
[Another excuse for not lending - at least Canadian banks didn't get massive charity from taxpayers to do the lending as US banks did.]

12/08/2009 tues. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Qué. -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Obama keeps focus on jobs, warns no silver bullet, Reuters.com
USA -.."I hope he goes for some work-sharing tax credit. The idea is picking up lots of support in Congress. It is hard to envision a quicker way to get unemployment down," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. - see whole article under today's date.
Spain to Reform Labour Laws, Kyero Spanish Property News
SPAIN -..The proposed changes which may be modelled after the Germany scheme will include allowing firms to cut costs by reducing their hours instead of making them redundant. ...The proposed changes, which include allowing firms to cut costs by shortening workers' hours but without making them redundant as Germany has done, would be discussed between unions and employers during the first half of next year... Under the "short-time working" scheme that Germany’s cabinet extended for a year last month, the state pays up to 67 percent of the salary of a worker whose hours have been reduced for a period of up to two years... - see whole article under today's date.
Economy to remain sluggish: Treasury, Brisbane Times.Brisbane,Queensland,Australia
AUSTRALIA -..The unemployment signal is underestimating the amount of slack in the economy, simply because employers have been able to cut hours rather than jobs during the financial crisis... - see whole article under today's date.
[Here's some backwards thinking - instead of fewer hours masking higher unemployment, a frozen pretechnology workweek is masking the higher quality of life and greater amounts of financially secure free time, rest, low stress levels and health that Australians would be experiencing if they quit assuming that the 40-hour workweek was given by God on Mt.Sinai as mankind's permanent schedule regardless of worksaving technology.]

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

TOO LITTLE, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO ARBITRARY, MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

Stimulus sparks new construction and revitalizes home builders, Toronto Globe, A1 pointer to B1.
[Unsustainable, ecology-hostile new construction on taxpayer dollars? Taxpayer subsidies for a specific industry that needs to shrink, motivated solely by job desperation at the 40-hour workweek level? instead of general workweek adjustment and overtime-to-jobs conversion, taxpayers are being forced to give charity to a specific industry and its unlimited-pay CEOs = economic self-deterioration.]

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

As Detroit rivals flounder, Hyundai (South Korea) sets sales record, Toronto Globe, B1.
[The True Religion of Free Trade claims another sacrifice from the advanced economies, high labor standards and high quality of life in its economist-ignored Race to the Bottom.]

12/06-07/2009 sun.-mon. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière, Gatineau sur l'Île de Hull, Québec -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

The Reason for 15 Million Unemployed: Poor Thinking at the Top, op ed by Dean Baker, 12/07 truthout.org
..It is important to realize that work sharing can also have a lasting impact on the structure of work. There have been major efforts by labor unions and women's organizations to make the workplace more family friendly through paid family leave, paid sick days and paid vacation. These work-share programs offer an opportunity to both quickly reduce unemployment and lay a basis for lasting change in this area... - see whole article under today's date.
Upstate companies seek concrete solutions to jobless problem - Bankrupt benefits fund concerns those businesses trying to keep workers employed, 12/06 Greenville News,Greenville,SC,USA via greenvilleonline.com
GREENVILLE, S.C. -..Dan Crosby, president of Metrocon, a Pickens County ready-mix concrete plant, believes he's done his part during the recession to keep workers working, but he worries that the state's bankrupt jobless insurance trust fund could cause problems for his and other small businesses down the road. To date, the company, started by three partners in December 2006, has not laid off any employees although it did cut hours back from 40 hours, he said... - see whole article under today's date.
Federal program to spur job retraining falls flat [- Too many restrictions to qualify - Needs to be opened up], Canwest News Service via 12/06 Canada.com
OTTAWA, Canada -..Finley has the reverse problem with one of the other Employment Insurance programs announced in the government’s economic action plan. It has become wildly popular and industries are already lobbying for a one-year extension to March 2011. Known as *work sharing, it has been around a long time and helps companies in such sectors as forestry, oil and gas and manufacturing stay afloat in tough economic times by providing EI benefits to top up the wages of employees who work a reduced week.... - see whole article under today's date.
Continued economic stimulus measures key for job creation – UN report, 12/07 UN News Centre
..In addition to unemployment, the report found that businesses have retained millions of workers on shorter hours, partial unemployment or involuntary part time with help from government funding, and warned that an estimated 5 million workers are at risk of losing their jobs if that support is taken away... - see whole article under today's date.

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO ARBITRARY, MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

From fake nuns to red noses, tax-break "charities" [our quotes] multiplying, 11/06 NY Times, A1.
[The "non-profit" tax exemption was appropriate when religion was needed as "social cement" but by now it is widely abused, has long outlived its usefulness and should be eliminated. Any economic design that relies for vital functions (such as centrifugation of the money supply) on charity is lethally flawed, because charity is dysfuncationally capricious and arbitrary.]

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

Meltdown breeds a new kind of value investor, 12/07 Toronto Globe, B1.
[who doesn't flock to financial stocks but to equity financing...]

Never missed a mortgage payment and still facing foreclosure, 12/07 Toronto Globe, B1.
..up to 30,000 home owners [in Canada, because wouldn't be able to get financing from traditional lenders, such as a bank]...

12/05/2009 sat. (archives) - chez Jane Blanchard Gibson, Ottawa -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Study: In Md., working class bears brunt of recession - Most Md. job losses, foreclosures hit lower-, middle-income residents, by Jamie Smith Hopkins, BaltimoreSun.com
..The Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute has called for tax increases to reduce the need for cuts. Neil Bergsman, director of the institute, said recession-fueled setbacks for workers have ranged from job losses to income reductions as hours are cut back. Maryland's average workweek was just under 35 hours in July - down 9 percent from the beginning of 2008, in the early part of the recession, the report said... - see whole article under today's date.
Pay cut for two million Britons causes collapse in tax revenue. Telegraph.co.uk
..The Treasury calculates that 1.7 million people who might have been made redundant in the recession have been saved from the dole queue by taking a pay cut or shorter hours. ...A number of major companies such as BT and KPMG have offered their workers sabbaticals in return for pay cuts. Mr Darling will cite the shift to "more flexible working" next week as he declares that the Government's policies have helped prevent unemployment – currently 2.5 million or 7.8 per cent of the workforce – from reaching the peaks it did in previous recessions... - see whole article under today's date.

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Jobs data lift recovery hopes - Layoffs, unemployment rate fall [to 10% in Nov.]..., WSJ, A1.
After two-year climb to heights unseen in nearly three decades...
[Still 10.0% and the gullible's hopes are raised? Pathetic!]

Home nursing may face cuts in health bills, NYT, A1.
[Cut the most effective and inexpensive kind of gerontological nursing? Ri-i-ight.]

Rock museum annex closing, NYT, A1 pointer to C1.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame And Museum Annex NYC in SoHo is closing in January after barely a year. The economy was cited as a factor.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO ARBITRARY, TOO MILITARY MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

The U.S. welcomed the decision by 25 countries to send an additional 7,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, WSJ, A1 pointer to A8.
[Lotsa countries are still stupidly living in the past of 'wartime prosperity' - but modern war just doesn't kill enough of the first-world workforce to create that magic labor shortage back home, the shortage that harnesses market forces to raise wages and centrifuge the national income into the hands of those who really want and need to spend it = stronger consumer markets = stronger b2b markets = more marketable productivity = sustainable investment targets.]

BANKRUPTCY tsunami in the news (archives) - staunched only by risky war or safe timesizing -

Regulators pull plug on bank, WSJ, A1.
..AmTrust Bank, a battered Cleveland thrift... fourth-largest US bank or savings institution to fail so far this year...increasing the total to 128...

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

Goods & Services Tax (GST) hike may be only option - Cuts not enough to tame deficit, analysts say, National Post, 1A.
[And these are people who know, from Friedman, you get less of what you tax - while they aren't taxing the rich. So they want less sales and less marketable productivity to invest in, so they can have thousands more wealthy who have no marketable productivity in which to even maintain the value of their coagulated billions? Economies like this are plummeting into the Third World.]

The young and the jobless - Twenty-somethings are bearing the brunt of the recession that could take a lasting toll, Toronto Globe & Mail, B1.
RICHMOND, B.C. - Brendan Baines trained in international relations, has lived abroad and is fluent in Spanish. But he has not had a job offer despite dozens of applications, and so has moved back in with his parents (photo caption)
[Meanwhile -]

In record ruling, judge says 33 years of marriage is worth $110,000 a month in support, Toronto Globe, A1.
..Carol Ann Elgner's marriage to Claude Elgner...
[Millions can't earn enough for an apartment while thousands have more than they can sustainably invest, let alone spend. Only worksharing in sustainable, market-friendly designs like Timesizing can soak up the labor surplus, level the playing field and correct this self-eroding dysfunctionality.]

What took so long? China leader asks [Canada's] Prime Minister - Harper chided for dragging feet on visit, Ottawa Metro, 6A.
..for taking too long to visit the country...
[OK. let's get this straight. Every country's leader is supposed to be prompt at visiting the economy that under globalization is ruining them? Ri-i-ight.]

12/04/2009 fri. (archives) - from l'Université du Québec (UQO) -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Congress moves to extend jobless benefits, CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK, N.Y. -..Both bills would also provide temporary federal funding of a program that allows workers whose employers have reduced their hours to collect partial unemployment benefits. The bill calls for the federal government to cover the cost for two years. The House bill would cover the 17 states participating in the program, while the Senate bill would extend it to all 50 states. "It is a cost-effective, proven job saver that helps businesses retain skilled workers and allows workers to maintain their health insurance and retirement benefits through difficult economic times," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I... - see whole article under today's date.
[Worksharing is bustin' into Congress.]
Major funding cut to jobs subsidy scheme, IrishTimes.com
DUBLIN, Ireland -..Some €250 million was originally earmarked for the scheme, launched in August as a way to encourage businesses to keep staff... Unlike the original scheme, the second phase distinguishes between two categories: employees who work 35 hours or more, and those working 21-35 hours per week. Employers with workers in the first category will receive a subsidy of €9,100, paid over a 12-month period for each subsidised job, while those in the second category will receive €6,370. Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the second phase took account of the fact that many firms had cut working hours... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS (unexpanded) - Bundesbank forecast puts Germany on stronger footing, ForexPros.com
..The Bundesbank said job losses were likely in coming months, as firms had so far escaped mass redundancies by moving to shorter hours...

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

The factory lights go out in the town that Bata built, Toronto Globe, B1.
BATAWA, Ont., Canada -..Linamar Corp., the Guelph-based auto parts giant, announced it will be shutting its Invar plant - on a site where 100 Czechoslovakian tradespeople arrived in 1939 [just as the war was ending the Depression in Canada] to build the famous Bata Shoe works...

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

12/03/2009 thu. (archives) - from l'Université d'Ottawa -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

As Obama's jobs summit convenes, pundits offer job-creation ideas, DailyFinance.com (blog)
..First, there's work-sharing, a concept that allows a company to avoid layoffs by reducing the number of days employees work. The arrangement eliminates the need to cut positions and leaves employers in a good position to ramp up business when the economy turns around since they already have trained work force on hand. Seventeen states have some form of work-sharing program, the Associated Press reports... - see whole article under today's date.
[Whoa, worksharing is bustin' into the national discussion, top of the list, and catching the imagination of one or two bloggers...]
Two Roads to Job Creation, by CATHERINE RAMPELL, New York Times via economix.blogs.nytimes.com
..(2) Try to promote job creation even at a given level of economic output... A work-sharing program, in which employers reduce their workers’ weekly hours and pay and governments make up some of the lost wages, would similarly keep more people working without directly stimulating more demand... - see whole article under today's date.
[Oops, worksharing here has slipped to number two, but the worksharing buzz continues, positive and negative.]
White House jobs summit: Eight ideas to aid job growth, by Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor via csmonitor.com
... (5) Encourage shorter hours so more people can work. If firms keep more people on the payroll, working fewer hours, the decline in income for those workers could be partially offset with payments from the unemployment insurance system... - see whole article under today's date.
[Even CS Monitor columnists are getting in on the act, but its editorial board are still complete retards (see bonus item following) and here, worksharing via shorter hours has slipped to 5th place, so this commentator's thinking is still five-eighths inside the box. The Timesizing program combines #5 here with his #6 (training).]
BONUS (unexpanded) - The real jobs summit? At the Bernanke Fed, by the Editorial Board, Christian Science Monitor via csmonitor.com
..Job creation right now is at risk, Bernanke said, because the number of small businesses reporting difficulty in obtaining credit is near a record high. And many employers have resorted to putting employees on part-time work or shorter hours, a move that may slow job creation if businesses get used to such a practice...
[Sounds like he/they'd prefer to worsen job loss and market weakness. You'd think Bernanke or the Monitor editors would have more sense (but then, Bernanke is the Fed chairman who stood and watched while all this corruption spread, instead of doing his job of regulation.)]

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO ARBITRARY, MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

Japan moved closer to increasing an economic stimulus effort.., WSJ, A1 pointer to A13.
..that could total more than $80 billion.
[More 'stimulus' at the wrong end of the income scale.]

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

The Dow.,slipped 18.9 points..to 10,452.68, Wall St Journal, A1 pointer to C1.
[...on its way to another, lower-level, bubble...]

Gold rose 1.1% to $1212 an ounce..., Wall St Journal, A1 pointer to C6.
[..and the panic currency mounts...]

The price of stimulus: Here come the cuts, Toronto Globe, A1.

Leverage and ambition put Dubai [& US!] in a tailspin, NY Times, B1.

12/02/2009 wed. (archives) - from Terrasses de la Chaudière -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

AP IMPACT: For White House job summit, 4 ideas, by ADAM GELLER and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, The Associated Press via google.com/hostednews/ap
..WORK-SHARING ..At least 17 states have some version of work-sharing. Some come with bureaucratic requirements that discourage employers and many programs are little known, said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. But broader, more aggressive use of such programs could prevent job losses, which goes hand-in-hand with creating jobs, Baker said. *A similar strategy has helped cushion the recession's blow in Germany, which is subsidizing the pay of thousands of workers assigned shorter hours... - see whole article under today's date.
[Looks like worksharing is finally breaking into the mainstream discussion in the USA!]
Less Bad ADP Data Not Good Job News, Barron's via blogs.barrons.com
..And with many workers putting in shorter hours or taking involuntary unpaid days, employers can simply reverse these draconian measures rather than hiring hiring new workers. - see whole article under today's date.
[These reporters describe non-dramatic, minimal-impact, job-saving shorter hours and unpaid days off as "draconian" and have no comment on job&market-slashing downsizing after downsizing, mass layoff after mass layoff?! This economy is goin' down deeper and faster until these bubbleheads can manage to figure out which strategy is really extreme and destructive, and which is moderate and conservative.]
PM arrives in China, unveils economic update, The Montreal Gazette
..The government says that 167000 Canadians are enrolled in work-sharing programs, "preserving jobs that would otherwise be lost.... - see whole article under today's date.

[So shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way. It's a strategy that is being reinvented hundreds of times a day across the U.S. in this recession and thousands of times a day across the world in both public & private sectors, in every industry, and in a variety of ways. Many countries and U.S. states already have worksharing programs to cushion the transition to permanently shorter workweeks more sustainable in the Age of Robotics. These programs currently are designed to be temporary. Here's what their permanent program will look like when they finally succumb to the inevitable.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

A slump legacy: Empty offices, falling rent, Toronto Globe, B1.

TOO ARBITRARY, TOO MILITARY, TOO ECO-STRESSING MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

'Bold' troop surge [30k, our quotes], early exit: Obama makes Afghan war his own, Toronto Globe & Mail, front page.
[Exactly what we did NOT elect him for.]

WORSENING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

In deflation-wracked Japan, it's the 'life of minus', Toronto Globe, B1.
..Low prices mean that "the jobs are going to China, Vietnam, other countries, because we cannot make Y700 jeans. It's cheaper but doesn't seem cheaper because we have less money in our pockets."...
[So make up your minds - you can either continue to believe that globalization = Free Trade means a Better Life for everyone, or you can cut the worse and worse "Better Life," apply protectionism = tariffs, stop subsidizing your export industry at the sacrifice of all your other industries, and get your jobs and your economy back. Shouldn't be too hard a choice unless you're suicidal masochists. And the same applies to the USA.]

Global emission standards fall short by half, Toronto Globe, A1.

12/01/2009 tuesday (archives) -
TIMESIZING instead of downsizing in the news (archives) - Google Search newsclips of what the world's doing that's on the right track - the core solution is so obvious, nobody's noticing it - it's our closest candidate to a single all-sufficient control and it's reinvented thousands of times a day in every downturn despite *dismissal by the 'experts'
[Editor's comments in square brackets] (Editor: Phil Hyde, timesizing@aol.com) -

Engel: Machine manufacturer ends short-time working early, Plasteurope.com
..Injection moulding machine manufacturer Engel (Schwertberg / Austria; www.engelglobal.com) will end short-time working at all its Austrian sites earlier... - see whole article under today's date.
German November Jobless Falls as Economic Recovery Broadens, Bloomberg.com
..Companies can file for help from the 5 billion-euro ($7.5 billion) plan, which tops up pay for people working shorter hours when orders dwindle... - see whole article under today's date.
[But now the knives come out for the German unemployment rate and worksharing solution -]
German Jobs Data: Not as Good as It Looks? SeekingAlpha.com (blog)
..The second is a government subsidized scheme that encourages employers to cut hours but not jobs. In effect, a business pays an employee for the hours worked, and these could be cut to half time. The government grants an allowance to make up the bulk of the difference. In essence, an employee can draw roughly 80% of his/her salary and work half the time... - see whole article under today's date.
[And the knives come out for US worksharing plans -]
Son of Stimulus Set to Attack American Economy - Son of Stimulus is likely to be as big a disaster as its parent, CanadaFreePress.com
..A variation on Krugman's reboot of the WPA is a work sharing proposal that would essentially also mean having the government directly subsidize jobs... - see whole article under today's date.
BONUS (unexpanded) - Hampton Sawmills Cut Back, Building-Products.com
..Mills in Tillamook, Or., and Darrington, Wa., will cut hours by 60%. Willamina, Or., will reduce production slightly. The curtailments are indefinite...

Congress is seeking to close a legislative loophole that has led to the dismissal of many corporate whistle-blower complaints, WSJ, A1 pointer to B1.
[Without feedback, the system perishes.]

doom du jourtm = today's headlines from helltm (archives)
– face the bad news here in the context of the waiting solution:

GROWTH-CHOKING DOWNSIZING in the news (archives) - all reversible by switching to timesizing -

Steelmakers downsize once again, WSJ, B1.
..Leading the move is ArcelorMittal [Europe]... US steel production [is] operating at 63% capacity...

TOO ARBITRARY, TOO ARTIFICIAL, TOO MILITARY, TOO ECO-STRESSING MAKEWORK in the news (archives) - all unnecessary with full employment via temporary worksharing and permanent timesizing -

U.S. [ie: Obama] opts for limited surge - Large buildup [expect 30K] of troops for Afghan "mission" [our quotes]..., Wall Street Journal, front page.
[Obama is a bigger and bigger disappointment - but what's the option? The GOP is killing America even faster. But while Obama throws more and more of our descendents' money down the Afghan sinkhole, makework back home languishes -]

Road work fades as stimulus ebbs, WSJ, A1.

WORSENING ECONOMIC & SOCIAL COLLAPSE (archives) - solved only by dumb war or smart timesizing -

In job hunt, even a college degree can't close the racial gap, NYT, A1.

Report cites big shortfall in reserves at A.I.G., NYT, B1.

Justices void order [from lower court] requiring US to show photos of detainee abuses [at Gitmo], NYT, A23.

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For more details on the work-sharing approach, see our layman's guide Timesizing, Not Downsizing which is available at bookstores in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. or from *Amazon.com online.

Questions, comments, feedback? Phone 617-623-8080 (Boston) or email us.

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