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America Summarized In One Headline: "Better Living Through Layoffs"
For today's motivational headline of the day we go to the WSJ, which reminds us that even though unprecedented corporate mergers which inevitably will lead to record corporate layoffs, pardon, synergies, there is a silver lining: "better living through layoffs."
The WSJ's article, which laments the lack of organic growth in America and where only (cheap debt-funded) mergers remain as a source of upside for shareholders, can be summarized as follows:
The argot of American business has been reduced to “sensible growth,” “dividend return” and “listening to shareholders.”
This is not an America playing to win. It’s an America playing not to lose.
Here is what "America playing not to lose" looks like when charted: 11 million "non-losing" waiters and bartenders.
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Jr. let Daddy tell you about something we used to call a dividend. I know it sounds scary...but they are all dead now.
Then we should be doing great
Layoff List: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
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So, basically, we're going to have only one chemical company in the US now. Why does the name "Standard Oil" keep popping into my head?
Look, the ultimate goal of any large company nowadays is to become so huge that they become a government-regulated (and protected) monopoly. After that it's all gravy.
The movie Rollerball touched on this subject.
There was one chemical corporation, one medical corporation, one ag corporation, etc. etc.
They called the shots, so to speak.
No worries, though. Pretty soon they'll pay us not to work. Finland is the test case.
they been paying farmers not to work for decades. They pay millions of .gov emps not to work everyday. Why can't we all get a cut of the free money printed daily?
I for one would be a lot more productive if I didn't have to work.
Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan...
It gets way more worriesome when the BBC can "print" this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34995094
and does NOT immediately start a revolt.
Revolt?! Are you on crack? The FSA (which IS on crack, mostly) would be out in the streets fighting each other for the packages.
"Revolt." Puh-leeeease. The Good Ship Sensible Public sank years ago.
brawndo has electrolytes! I hear plants are quite fond of them... ;-)
Standard Oil wasn't anything compared to the insane clown posse we have now. I just wonder which bunch of greedy idiots are underwriting this future debacle......
I read a book called Wealth Secrets of The 1% or something along those lines and that's basically what the whole thing was about. Just make a monopoly or get big enough to become regulated, then engage in rent seeking behavior. Seems like that approach is pretty timeless. Is it even possible to build great wealth without fucking a whole ton of people over?
Yes, everyone is more concerned with the return "OF" capital these days...
I'mm sure this is about ending the generous retirement healthcare benefits Doiw has, which were especially necessary for those who were developing pesticides and herbicides in the 60s and 70s and are now seriously ill.
this story used to go something like this:
Jr. let Daddy tell you about something we used to call AN INTEREST PAYMENT. I know it sounds scary...but they are all NEGATIVE NOW & WE PAY THE COMPANIES TO GO TAKE RISK ... IF THEY FAIL, WE GET LESS BACK THEN WE LENT THEM, THEY SUCCEED, WE GET LESS BACK THEN WE LENT THEM ... EITHER WAY, WE GET FUCKED.
Yes!!! Moral hazard is a real motherfucker isn't it!!!
Price discovery? what's that? Collateral? what's that? so many more ways people are getting fucked!!!
Moar trickle down of Barry's "Change you can believe in."
Just the other day I was reading a newspaper article about cashless promotions and how workers should welcome such opportunities, even if it spells out more responsibility, longer hours and no pay increase. What's been happening for years now is that the management's been laying off people, distributing their workload among the remaining staff and calling it anything but what it is. Reminds me of a time when I was working a full week for a fixed salary and the bosses decided to make workers do weekends. So they called it a "bonus". Since it was above the negotiated annual salary it looked like extra money. In reality, the weekend hourly rate was half the weekday rate, and if you said no, your contract would be terminated immediately.
That's better living for ya.
Chili's or Flingers?
maybe Chotchkie's?
There will come a day where the pieces of flare completely cover the vest.
Don't forget the ipecac.
When accountants run companies....they get very boring...very boring
Yes, even worse however; when accountants run countries and start using "mark to fantasy" accounting, you get world wars...
Ah, the blame is starting to fall where it lies...with the beancounters...and MBAs.
But it ultimatlely lies with .gov and the monetary system...once you figure this one out, then you will have it all figured out.
The downward spiral started when shareholders trumped stakeholders in the order of importance. That's when companies started their decline into shells of their former selves.
Back in the day, my manager (an engineer) was replaced by a CPA. Six months in they offered to upgrade his laptop with the latest in-house made notebook and he declined sayng he was happy with his existing one. I said to him, "you do realize we're a tech company and when you're out with a customer, you're a walking advertisement for our products. The company makes money by convncing people that they need to upgrade to the latest and greatest technology that we sell." He couldn't grasp that concept, just wanted to minimize spending.
No, I'm pretty sure America is playing to lose. It's part of the NWO's plan for winning.
America is playing golf.
America is playing Candy Crush.
A fundamental rule of ecomics and finance is that when input costs can be reduced, ie labor costs, then it is better for the bottom line, and thusly reflected in stock prices.
Fundamental rule of economics.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Stop it I am getting dizzy.
No, no, no..wait a minute. SG is right, this is a fundamental rule of economics...problem is that fundamental rules are made to be broken and there are about 1000 thousand other rules that corps/.gov are bending/breaking.
Well, no, you are right, continue on with your LOLOLOLing but put a crash helmet on for protection.
Will this result in MORE jobs being created?
Will this result in less competition, and more competative pricing?
Will this result in more choices?
Yeah, i thought not. #CorporateAmericaWinning / Citizens Losing
What ever happened to those anti-trust laws?
As long as the 0.1% get rich, nothing else matters. Blankfein and Dimon richly deserve their second billion.
Forward to more tyranny and more inequality and more war.
They are renaming the Truman Bldg on my old campus. I suggested "Thats'aburger" for the new name so no one will get offended anymore. The science bldg should be "Hot Dog" and so on....don't want to offend any peeples sensibilites now do we.
We used to call the clock tower the cock tower.
< YAWN > ...still beileve that you can get infinite growth in a biosphere with finite resources...?
Good luck with that. Evolve or die motherfuckers...
SAME AS IT EVER WAS...
"still beileve that you can get infinite growth in a biosphere with finite resources...?"
that is an excellent summary of what the real problem is for the 21'st Centry.
Unfortuantely, the fact that we have a bunch of politicians, generals, and bankers who still want to play by the old 20'th century rules ... guarantees a very bad outcome. We are guaranteed to have a series of Wars in this century that make WWI and WWII trivial by comparison.
Let me be clear. Innovation and technology do indeed evolve, however. It takes a shitload of real resources to discover, develop and bring new technology to the market. You can't do that if your fucking SNAP program is supporting a billion useless fucks.
Yes, the herd will be thinned (a truely "deflationary" event) and then real growth will return. Same as it ever was...
History does indeed rythme and human technology does evolve, human nature does NOT.
Oh Snap! I got to call my connection.
Yes, your statements are true....but the deflationary events are a result of the previously imparted inflationary pressures. When on a fiat currency, you will always have high inflation rates. This is why the most stable period in USsA growth was on the gold standard...less inflation, less deflation, less government (lives within its means), less regulations, more freedom, more choices, more small businesses, less mega corps......I could go on all night, but I think you get the point.
https://youtu.be/98AJUj-qxHI?t=111 Same as it ever was ......So after my sugar mommy pays off my debts, we can go out to Crapplebee's more often?
Please lay me off so I can cash out my 401K and Profit Sharing Plans before the 70% Crash Hits!
Borrow against your 401K now if you can.
There must be a Russian or Iranian company where I can source my raw materials. I would actually feel more patriotic doing so at this point.
This chart (the bartenders and waiters chart) reminds us that the USG is still "saving or creating" new jobs all the time.
Tell me again why I am paying tuition so my kids can be engineers and scientists. I'll be visiting the grand kids in China.
those are still excellent career choices. try convincing them to move to Singapore - there's a lot of R&D there
My industry (US data for biotech)--biotech/pharma--ran up to 29bill in R&D last yr:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-biotech-industry-continue...
Or, about 10% of Singapore's GDP.
People want to be able to sit on the sofa cramming their fat faces w/ chips and beer and not gain weight!
We aim to meet that demand--but it will cost in terms of fees and untoward effects.
http://fortune.com/2014/11/17/top-10-research-development/
Five of the top 10 are US and acct for approx 45bill in R&D spending.
Gas, grass or ass--nobody rides for free.
Bartending was the method to distribute the Industrial surplus in Cork at one time.
Nothing wrong with it.
Not anymore baby.(Usury taxes on Beer)
The industrial system displaces jobs from primary and secondary Industry.
If you want jobs in the productive sector then you wish to return to the agrarian past
That is the logic of the situation
now I have a certain fondness for a Belloc /Chesterton ideal but you need to Understand the basics of the dynamic.
it can't be long before there is a ROBOT that mixes drinks at bars. and tells bad jokes.
I guess when that happens, all these bartenders will become street thugs and hold-up artists.
Already done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=NlNFJUlJlrI
People with purchasing power will always choose the Czech 30 something barmaid with the nice ass.
There is a certain pub where I order a bottle of Bulmers located at the bottom of the till.
It's a big seller for some funny reason.
People are being forced to choose the robot.
If we had real equity democracy then the robot bar would die from lack of cashflow
BONUS TIME!!
So what the fuck just happened to Gold and Silver ??? Can't even go out to the store for 20 minutes without them collapsing $15 in made up price on absolutely nothing.. 23 hours upward stolen in 23 minutes.
it's volatile, and it can feel a little scary when you actually want to buy or sell. no easy answers, but you might want to delay your transaction until near the closing time of the New York exchange. maybe prices will be a little more stable then, but i have not studied the volatility (daily pattern).
there's a real possibility that the Powers That Be are delaying a major war in Syria until they can snarf up as much gold and silver as possible. that's only a sick rumor, but these days sick rumors are more plausible.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dmghQANfWGU
At least small businesses are thriving due to well thought out regulations....... DOH!
I think we can be certain now of these guys objectives.
It's. a religious mission
It is to destroy both the pagan god of Christmas present and the Christian Jesus figure.
European society has been structured around these two figures for 1500~ years now
But I do not hold out much hope for American puritans.
They cannot understand this process, &nbs
p;the time period is now too vast.,
Budon
Read this post, if you think this is bad...AG Loretta Lynch was a former anti trust lawyer for United Healthcare. Got a copy of the image from their legal staff recommending her for the job of head of the DOJ. Read it...she's not going to do a thing with anti trust at all. Also see the connection with Senator Warren's daughter and current CMS acting director Andy Slavitt. They made a lot of money together a few years ago and met at the McKinsey CEO school and her daughter runs a talent agency to find people to run big corporations now that competes with McKinsey. Meanwhile, Mom pounds the consumer hammer in public in needed it seems.
Ok so why is the CEO of United Healthcare sitting on the board of Cargill now? That's the evil twin company of Monsanto...Intellectual property with seeds to make money off farmers. Oh by the way Cargill just bought a big Salmon feed company, and ironic the FDA just approved genetically altered salmon? Is there a little politicking there?
How about CEO of United's right hand man, Anthony Welters, a special VP of United who also has his own PE firm called Black Ivey. His wife is a US ambassador and he was just made the chair at Carlyle group, yes you read that one correct. United Healthcare is the 3rd largest healthcare company in Brazil right now and just bought another hospital there. We all know where the Brazil economy is right now and it just so happens that Carlyle has some interests too in Brazil healthcare...keep an eye open there. And there's more....regulation of any anti-trust is lost in this country, of course unless you are a couple of office products stores, like Staples and Office Depot that the big guys can take on and hassle for a public showing to make it look like they are doing something.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/11/optumrx-united-healthcare-buys-home.html
Bartholomew: Corporate society takes care of everything. And all it asks of anyone, all it's ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions.
This is the NWO consolidating on a pre-planned economic melt down concentrating power in fewer and fewer companies who already have taken over the governments.
Can't wait until were as advanced and diverse as those Central African bush villages. Humanities pinnacle of achievement.
Bonobos have a pretty sweet life, bro.
There's no payoff in production. So why play to win in a losing game?
Payoffs come from the financial sector and their monetary privileges.
Thus the policies.
Beyond the moment this leads to civilizations end.
But the thieves in control must thieve on.
It's a curious thingy but puritan Americans think the pub is about alcohol.
At any given day the Irish with cashflow will drink 10 times the amount of the American but none of us Gaels think it's about the drink.
It's the crack boys and girls.
A neutral venue where you accept other people's flaws.
One of the religious goals of the monetary priesthood is to force the Irish out of the pub.
Much like coffee houses in the past it is a place people physically get together to talk shit.
They are mediums of sedition.
Now the bright idea is to tax supermarket cans of beer, the Irishmans last refuge where he typically tops himself by plastering his brains on the wall.
Will this be a mistake on their part?
One of the religious goals of the monetary priesthood is to force the Irish out of the pub.
Much like coffee houses in the past it is a place people physically get together to talk shit.
They are mediums of sedition.
Now the bright idea is to tax supermarket cans of beer, the Irishmans last refuge where he typically tops himself by plastering his brains on the wall.
Will this be a mistake on their part?
God Bless E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co!
Napalm, Agent Orange and Kevlar! Nylon, Neoprene, Lucite, Teflon, Tyvek.
Only you can prevent forests!
DuPont was never the same after the Bronfmans (Seagrams) started buying up shares in the company. From then on, all we kept hearing was how we needed to provide a better return to the stockholders. R&D started being cut and we started hearing the word "outsourcing". This was followed by disastrous "improvement" programs, the worst of which was called OE, for Organizational Effectiveness. The company behind OE was being sued at the time by Pacific Bell but no matter. Soon we were swimming in a world where even the form of memos was dictated. "Core values, core competencies, the inner and the outer whole, consciously capable" and other hogwash became the enforced jargon of the day. DuPont spent millions on off-site meetings to brainwash the employees. OE "resources" were forced on people holding meetings so they could keep a "bucket list" on a whiteboard. I was in several where the OE spy was almost physically ejected for interfering with everything. Anyone who balked at OE was put on a list and soon encouraged to take a buyout. DuPont has never been known for good management. I wonder what they'll do with the little shrine in Seaford, DE where the first commercial scale Nylon spinning machine and windup are preserved. Nobody cares now I'm sure.
DuPonts, inbred into submission like every other Euro aristocratic family.
They've deserved a comeuppance since fleeing revolutionary France. I'm surprised they're still breeding.
Of course now, brand trumps actual heritage I guess.
Not sure what part of DuPont you are in.
Few years back DP got out of some of it's market areas, nylon and paint being some of that, I think.
Some entire plants were sold off, employees had difficult pension changes and decisions to make, the trust of the employees that they were DuPont "family" and would be treated as such was broken.
Why be a professional and work at a DP industrial factory in some smaller rural community/backwater if you can forsee getting sold off or laid off?
No longer know people still working there but it was a absolute shock to them that they were just employees. Some are now worried additional changes could threaten the value of the pension now that they are retired.
I took a buyout in the 90's and agree with your post. I don't know anybody that still works there either.
What became of "spin offs" that corporations used to do?
No spin-off's necessary when the federal government is the backstop.
The Great Red Dragon's goal "to own the earth in fee-simple" just got closer. 'Course, few care.
Dow-DuPont M&A follows the identical trajectory as BurgerSurf & Tim Horton's, WalMart, Zellers, Target, McDonald's, and Bernie Maddoff.
DuPont(tm) makes good drum skins so be sure to buy up a supply before they declare Chapter 11.
The US as well as many European countries admired Germany's recovery. JFK thought it was amazing. In politics as in narcissism, you project your own perceived weakness on those that challenge your identity. Don't give much of a shit about either party, really. Don't mind if we have a French Revolution-esque purge. The belief that there is one way, one belief, one right, one way to follow is evidence that the human species is not divine. If it were, it would automatically respect the fact that it is remarkable, not because it believes what it believes, but because it exists at all, on a random planet, in galaxy of millions of planets, in a universe of infinite planets. Honestly if God, Allah, Yahweh or whatever obsurdism you adhere to satiate your perceived social duty to make yourself feel "worthy"