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So much for the better economy...

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  • So much for the better economy...

    Staggering job losses continue in this country...

    14,500 laid off from Hewlett Packard, and today Kodak announced it was laying off another 10,00 employees (they previously announced they were laying off 25,000 employees).

    I wouldn't exactly call this a ringing endorsement of a renewed economy. In order to compete, companies have to cut costs. The easiest way to cut costs is to reduce the workforce or ask for concessions.

    If you read the papers you will have noticed some of the concessions pilots and flight attendants (who are represented by labor unions) are being asked to make: 20-30% reductions in pay and benefits, increases in health care costs. I think that's going to be a trend now in all industries...the economic emasculation of the American middle class, who, in order to stay employed, must take pay cuts while paying more out of their own pockets for their health care.

    Miulang

    I was only briefly a card carrying union member, but I can certainly empathize with the plight of union members. If it wasn't for the battles they waged in the 30s and 40s and 50s, many of us salaried people wouldn't have what we have today.
    Last edited by Miulang; July 20, 2005, 02:39 PM.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: So much for the better economy...

    Other "experts" are attributing the increase in employment figures to the number of unemployed people who have taken themselves out of the job market for whatever reason. Isn't that another obfuscation? How do people who get frustrated with not being able to find a job survive? Is being underemployed better than being unemployed? How does this affect our communities and our country?

    Miulang
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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