May 22, 2006
HAD ENOUGH?:
A nation that's gotten used to mass job cuts a review of The Disposable American: Layoffs and their Consequences by Louis Uchitelle (Gabriel Madway, May 20, 2006, MarketWatch)
Americans have accepted corporate layoffs as the norm, a new book charges, acquiescing to a system that creates a nation of unstable, temporary workers.Not every country is so obliging, as we have been reminded lately. After all, bandana-wrapped young Parisians, choking on tear gas, spent early spring marching angrily through the streets of the 5th arrondissement, protesting the mere threat of allowing layoffs.
Americans, meanwhile, watched the spectacle on CNN with amusement. [...]
[T]he book contends that a more active government involvement in the marketplace could go a long way towards remedying the epidemic of American layoffs. Such an argument may have found a foothold in the 1970s, but it sounds almost quaint in today's regulatory environment.
It'll surprise no one that Mr. Uchitelle, with his proposals that we be more like France, is a NY Times reporter.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 22, 2006 11:58 AM
Send them all out to get a clue.
Posted by: erp at May 22, 2006 12:13 PMOne of the less pleasant parts of being self-employed is when management decides it's time to downsize. (Speaking from experience.)
Given the current financial numbers at the New York Times Corp., there may be some looming downsizing there too. However, even in boom times, your average reporter at the Paper of Record prefers a society that promises security over freedom, because they don't connect that security with future overall lower living standards due to a loss of productivity and the increased financial support system through taxation and/or higher prices that type of security demands.
Posted by: John at May 22, 2006 5:47 PM