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Most families don't comprehend layoffs until it happens to them
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Tuesday, November 2, 2004 | Anne Michaud

Posted on 11/02/2004 8:38:08 AM PST by Willie Green

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To: tx_eggman

Some people actually have gloomy realities...


61 posted on 11/02/2004 9:09:28 AM PST by stuartcr (Neither - Nor in '04....Who ya gonna hate in '08)
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To: EEDUDE
This has been going on for years. This is not Bush's fault and he can't fix it. Neither can Kerry.
It is not within their power....
Government CAN'T fix this crappy situation.

An honest conservative would admit that it is the excessive burden of government regulation that places our domestic industries at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. Government created this economic disparity. Government policies CAN be shifted to rectify and compensate for it.

But I agree, neither candidate WILL do anything.
They both place the priorities of their respective special interests ahead of what's right for the American People.

62 posted on 11/02/2004 9:10:08 AM PST by Willie Green (Hawkins/Tonnelson in 2004!!!)
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To: Willie Green

Keep it up Willie! Idon't think anyone has a "right" to a job but having worked for major corporations for most of my life I know some of the nasty tricks they pull. The execs are always taken care of by the old boy network even after they've robbed the pension fund. The workers are left out in the cold after having half their earnings robbed by the goverment in the form of taxes. It's legalized theft, plain and simple.


63 posted on 11/02/2004 9:10:37 AM PST by dljordan
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To: oceanview

No, the companies would move to India with a large, well-educated population of english speakers.

I have a friend who has a small manufacturing concern. Last year he told me that the hourly cost of a lathe operators etc. had dropped from like $20 an hour to around $10 or $11. And he was pretty happy about this because he could drop his prices to customers. Last month a rep comes by offering him finished parts tooled overseas for like half his total cost of production. And he jumped at it, not only to make more money and be more competitive, but because it offset the increases he's experienced in his cost of raw materials.


64 posted on 11/02/2004 9:11:38 AM PST by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: shellcracker

Anyone who thinks we can return to 40 years ago is living in a fantasy..It will not happen..


65 posted on 11/02/2004 9:12:42 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry has been AWOL on issues of national security for two decades)
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To: NavVet
You may disagee with him, but Willie's no troll. He's been here longer than me, and a helluva lot longer than you, newbie. Show some respect.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

66 posted on 11/02/2004 9:12:45 AM PST by wku man (Breathe...Relax...Aim...Squeeze...Smile!)
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To: Willie Green

I haven't had a full time job for a year and a half.

I started my own small business (a non-profit historical research foundation) and applied for 501c(3) status.

I don't expect to make a lot of money from it (yet) and I still check Monster every day, but I don't sit around and whine all day long.

OK, maybe I do sit around and whine sometimes BUT AT LEAST I'M DOING SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST THAT.


67 posted on 11/02/2004 9:13:02 AM PST by Alouette (http://www.jewsforgeorge.com)
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To: Willie Green
Many of the jobs that have been lost are due to unions (manufacturing jobs in OH and MI). Union wages and demands drive up the cost of hiring employees, so employers are forced (by the market) to lay people off, move away from the unions (other countries, outsourcing, etc.), etc. The market cannot be manipulated by unions--the market weeds out inefficient and overpaid workers by other competitors who do not have that problem and can offer their goods and services at a lower cost (i.e., the real market price that willing buyers will pay).
68 posted on 11/02/2004 9:15:06 AM PST by Hendrix
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To: Willie Green

I wonder what your detractors will say if Kerry gets elected and you continue posting as usual.

Maybe they'll get it through their thick skulls you're an equal opportunity critic of bad government.


69 posted on 11/02/2004 9:16:37 AM PST by primeval patriot (I'll stay in cowtown, I'll stick around)
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To: dljordan
Keep it up Willie! Idon't think anyone has a "right" to a job

Thank-you!
Despite the mudslinging that's practiced by my critics, I agree that nobody has a "right" to a job.
However, as American Citizens, we DO have a "right" to expect our elected officials to enact policies that will benefit (rather than hinder) our economic endeavors.

70 posted on 11/02/2004 9:17:15 AM PST by Willie Green (Hawkins/Tonnelson in 2004!!!)
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To: Willie Green
My husband is laid off right now. We are keeping our heads above water by praying and working hard where we can.

That said, there are worse things than being un- or underemployed.

Keeping the terrorists out of the country and pushing them back until they are gone are more important. No matter how long it takes, this is the bigger fight.

71 posted on 11/02/2004 9:18:36 AM PST by Ruth A.
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To: oceanview

Actually I think they did both.
They hired somebody out of COLLEGE in CHINA....


72 posted on 11/02/2004 9:18:49 AM PST by traumer
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To: shellcracker
we'd better try to recreate those times.

Now from a management point of view...

I have a guy who has worked for our company for over ten years. He started at $20K per year and, with annual raises of 5%, is now making nearly $34K per year. His position barely warrants that pay level (simple receiving) and he has already made comments about getting his raise at the end of the year as if it were automatic. While we aren't thinking about letting him go, I could replace him with someone costing about $8K a year less in a heart beat. At some point he will be seriously overpaid for his job and we will have to make a decision.

This employee has made no effort to make himself "more valuable" to the company. He does his job, but does not actively seek out new responsibilities.

Put yourself in the place of an owner/manager. Do you keep raising his pay? Do you stop raising his pay and let him leave? Do you replace him and save your company money?

There are two sides to every layoff...

73 posted on 11/02/2004 9:19:31 AM PST by Crusher138 (Support capitalism. Check out www.USAPoliTees.com)
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To: Hendrix

You have a "trick" phrase in there -- "overpaid." The baseline for compensation is not constant. It changes with the environment. If I'm doing a job for minimum wage and some guy in India or China can deliver the same service for a fraction of that amount, then I'm overpaid.

Conversely, I remember in the 1970s, many of my union card holding friends were getting salaries in manufacturing that paid $15 to $30 bucks an hour. And they weren't overpaid because nobody with the skills were offering to do the job cheaper.


74 posted on 11/02/2004 9:19:51 AM PST by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: primeval patriot
I wonder what your detractors will say if Kerry gets elected and you continue posting as us

If Kerry is elected, I'll be among those posting "Impeach Kerry" articles.
So I would think that many of my detractors would continue to flame me.

75 posted on 11/02/2004 9:20:26 AM PST by Willie Green (Hawkins/Tonnelson in 2004!!!)
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To: ghitma

Here's the thing. His pension, if he NEVER gets another job, won't be as big as it would have been, had he worked another 10 or 13 or 15 more years. But he WILL get that pension at the designated time.

I was in that position, in 1990, with no job, booted out of the house by second wife, with a resentful girl friend who was tired of me lying about her house, and I found myself with everything I owned piled in the back of an old blue Ford station wagon, headed down the road looking for credible employment. It wasn't too gainful, but it did lead back to a place where I could build on my prior experience, and extend it into a couple of promotions as well.

He will survive, in spite of his crappy outlook at the moment. Not only survive, but go on to the best and most productive years he has ever known. And this period of unemployment does teach you the skills you need to know in retirement.

Old age ain't for sissies.


76 posted on 11/02/2004 9:22:27 AM PST by alloysteel
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To: Willie Green
That is true (the government should not enact laws that hurt jobs). California is a good example of a state that just keeps enacting new regulations on businesses that will keep hurting jobs (the state has a new rule on the ballot for requiring businesses to provide health insurance). Ohio has one of the highest taxes in the US, and it wonders why it is having a hard time economically. Florida has one of the lowest taxes and is booming. It's not rocket science--it's only basic economics. We are all subject to the laws of economics whether we like it or not, and politicians need to understand this.
77 posted on 11/02/2004 9:22:34 AM PST by Hendrix
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To: oceanview

"except in this case, Motorola didn't hire someone right out of college to replace you - they hired someone in China. that's the difference this time around."

You're correct, and I expect that someday in the not too distant future, they will sincerely regret that move.

China has no respect for intellectual property rights, and I wouldn't be surprised if someday the Chinese government simply says "get out of here Americans, these semiconductor fabs are now the property of the Peoples Republic".

China is still a communist country, and if things get bad they will revert to their old ways.


78 posted on 11/02/2004 9:25:18 AM PST by EEDUDE (Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: Ruth A.
Keeping the terrorists out of the country and pushing them back until they are gone are more important. No matter how long it takes, this is the bigger fight.

It would be nice if one of the major party candidates was more concerned about stopping illegal immigration at our borders. But unfortunately, increasing the traffic of NAFTA trucks has been the greater focus.

79 posted on 11/02/2004 9:26:48 AM PST by Willie Green (Hawkins/Tonnelson in 2004!!!)
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To: RAY

Not so easy...I'm unemployed since May....I've applied for hundreds of jobs on Monster,Hotjobs,Career Builder along with companies web sites and so far nothing....I was told by an employment agency to "downplay" my resume because it's too unique and technical and to add more information
on my credit and collections experience from 20 years ago in order for me to get near a $40,000 a year customer service rep job.


80 posted on 11/02/2004 9:28:27 AM PST by geege
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