dooms du jour, February/2002
[Commentary] ©2002 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080 - HOMEPAGE

2/28/2002 thu
- miss yesterday's? see Features below -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Chirac calls 35-hr wk 'authoritarian' but would flex, not scrap
• RR employees in S. Korea win shorter hours, quit strike - some had been working 78-hr wks!
vs.  doom du jourtm  
3 downsizings, costing 801 jobs, cited in New York Times and Boston Globe -
• 400 jobcuts by A. G. Edwards brokerage   • 361 by Tyco Telecomms   • 40 by Arnold Worldwide ads
+ 1 prison story: • we apparently have turned America into a huge criminal training facility

2/27/2002 wed
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• S. Korea strike for shorter workweek in 2nd day, autoworkers join
• Deltronics Operations, • FutureOne & • Waste Management Inc. all cut overtime
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Brazil jobless up to 6.8% in Jan.   • US consumer confidence shrinks on job worries  
• Bush now using 'executive privilege' to coverup FBI files re false testimony that jailed 4 innocent men
+ 4 downsizings, costing 562 jobs + unspecified, cited in New York Times and Boston Globe -
• 22% workforce cut (545 lost jobs) as Sapient tech consulting freaks over net loss last year,
instead of just trimming its workweek 22% (to five 6¼-hour days for the whole company
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and
keeping everybody together earning & buying 78% as many tech services as usual
• 17 cuts as eBay closes operations in Japan, and repairs to Taiwan
• ?? cuts as 'Dumsfeld' closes the Pentagon's Office of Strategic
Influence, ie: Dysinformation   &   • TMP Worldwide cuts staff

2/26/2002 tue
- "late edition" -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japan is screwing up work sharing but at least they're still trying
• S. Korea still works 6-day weeks & long hours, but unions are getting focused
vs.  doom du jourtm  
2 bankruptcy stories, totalling $5.7 billion in debt:
• Williams Communications heads for Ch. 11 with $5.2B debt
• Mpower Holding, pushed by bondholders, will go Ch. 11 with $538.4m
+ 1 downsizing, costing 37 jobs, cited in New York Times and Boston Globe -
• 16% workforce cut (37 lost jobs) as Organogenesis medical devices cuts costs (& markets) by self-amputation, instead of trimming its workweek 16% (to five 6¾-hour days for the whole company
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping
everybody together working, earning & buying 84% as many medical services as usual

2/24-25/2002
- late edition -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 12 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 4 UPsizings (13,500 new ~jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 11 downsizings totaling over 8,393 lost jobs   • 3 bankruptcies totaling over $21m in debt  
‹‹YTD: 75 timsiz +21 upsz (19449+=8%) vs. 163 dnsz (245,743+ jbcts) +35 bkrp ($6.9B+) +12 homlss +11 jail +1 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news:
• British Home Secretary steels himself for battle to cut police overtime
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • polls in Laos open for our kind of vote
• US telecoms - the better the party, the longer the hangover = 'nuclear winter'
• readers nail Enron as tip of iceberg & biz as usual in America's suicidal $concentration
• Bush & CIA are setting up naughty Venezuela as backup in case 'war' on terrorism peters out
+ 1 weekend homelessness story: • 100s of NYC homeless earn nickels redeeming cans & bottles - now new
super-wealthy mayor Bloomberg wants to eliminate redemption program so city can keep the nickels

2/23/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- "late edition" -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• US nurses are getting it right on overtime - wanting less   • UK police are getting it wrong
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of hope:
• 1 UPsizing, ?? new jobs - as Dunkin' Donuts opens stores in 70 Stop&Shop's
• GAO goes for it, sues VP Dick Chenanigan for freedom of information on energy huddles
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Taiwan shrank 1.9% last year for 1st full-year decline on record   • timesizing France only just started shrinking & only by 0.1% in Q4 - still up 2% for the year   • Pat Robertson thinks Islam is more violent than Christianity - maybe just recently   • allies getting POed by U.S. international-affairs autism
+ 2 downsizings, costing 3500 jobs + unspecified, cited in New York Times and Boston Globe -
• 5% workforce cut (3500 lost jobs) as Akzo Nobel chemicals induces recession by cutting jobs despite
higher earnings, instead of trimming its workweek 5% (24 mins/day for the whole company
including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, &
keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 95% as much as usual
• unspecified Japanese jobcuts as Snow Brand Food closes  

2/22/2002 fri
- "late edition" -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• two-thirds of Brits polled feel they could do just as much work in
four days (32 hrs/wk) as they now do in five or more (40 hrs/wk or more)
• Hitachi undermines purpose of its own work-sharing by allowing employees to moonlight
• in France, however, Lionel Jospin is doing something right in his campaign for the presidency
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of hope:
• 1 UPsizing - United recalls 2,000 flight attendants
• Russia's population shrank by nearly 1m last year
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Bush reverses dumping Geneva Conventions, duh   • Aussie Enron   • US auditors lose audience abraud   • recession ending!- not   • employers popular!- not   • plagiarized translations?
+ 3 downsizings, costing 500 jobs + unspecified, cited in New York Times and Boston Globe -
• 500 jobcuts as Colt Telecom adjusts value of some assets downward despite last year's bailout 
• ?? cuts as Spiegel closes 40 Eddie Bauer stores &  • Archer Daniels Midland closes Polish plant

2/21/2002 thu
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• France - Jospin finally announces Presidency bid, runs on full employment via
  cutting the workweek to spread around the immediately available employment
• background on Jospin - a professorial progressive like Woodrow Wilson
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Bush creates 7500 unpaid gov't "jobs"...in Peace Corps
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • worldwide problems with executive grab&run  • bull market left behind 2/3 of
US households  • small official inflation means actual Depression-like deflation  • secret Bush energy
policy now thumping arches & trees in Utah  • Pentagon risks 'war' effort by ushering-in Hollywood
+ 1 downsizing, costing 800 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 44% workforce cut (800 lost UK jobs) as Dyson vacuum cleaners rationalizes move to China,
instead of trimming its workweek by 44% (down to four 5½-hour days for the whole company
including top executives), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, &
keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 56% as many hoovers as usual
+ 1 prison story: • 90% of Honduras' 11,000 inmates have never been convicted,
so nation is switching from presumption of guilt to presumption of innocence

02/20/2002 wed
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• high court dismisses 9 US states trying for free overtime above 40-hr week
• (2/14) next year, UK firms will have to quit all overtime above 48-hour level!
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • snowmobiles gain against plan for park ban 
• appellate court opens door for complete consolidation of U.S. media 
+ 1 bankruptcy story: • 2001 sees bankruptcies up nearly 20% to record 1,490,000
+ 4 downsizings, costing 3393 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 3% workforce cut (2500 lost UK jobs) as Invensys engineering self-mutilates to reduce
debt, instead of just trimming its workweek by 3% (to five 7¾ days for whole firm
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
and keeping everyone together working, earning & shopping 97% as much as usual
• 500 cuts by AT&T Broadband   • 372 by General Mills   • 21 by Kirshenbaum Bond Creative
+ 1 work-related murder-suicide: • German avenges firing by killing ex-bosses & highschool principal, then self

2/19/2002 tue
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• French waste-mgmt firm experienced 2-wk drop in industrial &
household waste collections as govt & small cos. switched to 35-hr workweek
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• 1 UPsizing - timesizing Southwest Airlines to hire 4000 this year
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • we subsidize air & highway travel but not our most efficient form, rail travel 
• GOP leadership is holding jobless benefits hostage till they get more for those who already have most 
+ 2 bankruptcies: • NYC-based Council Travel, with $21m in debt,
largest US student travel agency     • Dublin-based USIT World student travel
+ 1 downsizing, costing 200 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 29% workforce cut (200 lost jobs) as Dean Foods dairy self-amputates post-merger to reduce costs
(& markets), instead of just trimming its workweek by 29% (to four 7h6m days for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping everyone together
working, earning & spending 71% as much as usual on dairy products

2/17-18/2002
- Phil 'Mr. Timesizing' Hyde to be on 'Dan & TJ Show' 8:40-50am local
(9:40 eastern) Tue on 102.7 FM Oklahoma City talk radio -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 6 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 2 UPsizings (1650 new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 21 downsizings totaling over 32,265 lost jobs   • 3 bankruptcies totaling over $3.7B in debt  
‹‹YTD: 63 timsiz +17 upsz (5949+=3%) vs. 152 dnsz (237,350+ jbcts) +32 bkrp ($6.88B+) +12 homlss +9 jail +1 suic››
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news re controlling overtime (OT):
• Phil "Mr. Timesizing" Hyde gets last third of long article in Gainesville Sun
vs.  doom of the weekend -
headlines from hell: • Enron hid debt as trades as well as assets
• US interns average 95-hr workweeks & Ed. Council proposes one 125-hr wk/mon.
+ 1 weekend prison story: • Texas has twice supplied convicted killers with dumb guards & escape vehicles
+ 1 work-related suicide: • YTD total above incremented because of overlooked Enron incident on 1/26

2/16/2002 sat (re fri biz)
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• (2/15)  Boston trial court sets up ex post facto timesizing option to avoid deeper downsizing
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• Canucks get gold (after hysterical French judge 'fesses up)
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Norway whalers allowed bigger catch  • China dissidents tossed into mental hospitals 
• UK asylum seekers turn to arson  • Bush has much to downplay in Far East trip 
• no 'signs of recovery' in US small towns  • Americans exhausting jobless benefits
+ 2 bankruptcies: • Globalstar, with $2.77B in the red   • Harbison-Walker Refractories
+ 2 downsizings, costing 6000 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 9% workforce cut (3000 lost jobs) as Sprint PCS Gp mobile phones self-mutilates in over-reaction to a
4th-quarter loss, instead of just trimming its workweek by 9% (to four 9h6m days for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping everyone together
working, earning & spending 91% as much as usual on cellfone services etc.
• 3000 cuts by Brit banking group, Lloyds TSB  

2/15/2002 fri
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Boston trial court sets up ex post facto timesizing option to avoid deeper downsizing
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias beam of hope:
• campaign finance reform passes House, 240-189 (already passed Senate)
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headline from hell_tm • TV clutter breaks records in 3 timeslots
+ 5 downsizings, costing 9673 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 15% workforce cut (7850 lost jobs) as GM keeps reacting to big sales & small profits with
death spiral of cutting employee-booster-customer base, instead of trimming its work
week by 15% (to five 6¾-hr days for whole firm including top execs), re-investing
overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping everyone
together working, earning and buying 85% as many vehicles as usual
• 1473 cuts by Tyco   • 250 by Mass. court   • 65 by Black Dog Tavern   • 35 by Curis

2/14/2002 thu
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Michelin creates 1000 new jobs out of 4-hour pieces cut
out of people's old 39-hr French workweek to reach new 35-hr workweek
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Michelin creates another 1000 new jobs
out of thin air (over & above the recycled workweek scraps)
• So. Koreans say Bush's "axis of evil" is indelicate & worsens things
• Senate cuts agrobiz subsidies  • 45% of Ma. judges take paycuts to bar jobcuts
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • tepid Bush plan vs. global warming  • flaccid Japan plan vs. falling prices
+ 5 downsizings, costing 6407 jobs, cited in the New York Times and the Boston Globe -
• 12% workforce cut (5800 lost jobs) as British Airways turns self-amputatory over 9/11,
instead of trimming its workweek by 12% (to five 7hr2min days for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping
everyone together working, earning and shopping 88% as much as usual
• 390 cuts by USEC  • 120 at SilverStream Software  • 52 at State Street  • 45 by Smithsonian Institution

2/13/2002 wed
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• (9/01) Finland had interesting 30-hour workweek experiments 1996-98
vs.  doom du jourtm  
8 downsizings, costing 10,125 jobs, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe -
did the last 2-3 days with only 1-2 downsizings make you think it was really over? think again -
• 5400 jobcuts by Daiei Inc. supermarket chain in Japan, many through voluntary retirement
• 11% workforce cut (1150 lost jobs) as Milacron equipment over-reacts to falling demand,
instead of trimming its workweek by 11% (to five 7hr7min days for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and keeping
everyone together working, earning and buying 89% as much 'equipment' as usual
• 1000 cuts by Asahi Mutual Life  • 800 at NYPD  • 800 at Speaking Rock Casino 
• 500 by Steelcase  • 275 at NYFD  • 200 by Reuters 

2/12/2002 tue
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• shorter hours a live political issue in France: Chirac begins
re-election bid on platform of relaxing 35-hour workweek law
• Eastman Chemical has been cutting overtime among its 15800 employees worldwide
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• 1 UPsizing, 650 new jobs - UBSWenergy.com opens, lucky for ex-Enronites
• campaign finance reform gains traction
vs.  doom du jourtm  
headlines from hell_tm • Web sales tax coming in Europe
• convenient porkup at Pentagon  • Bush's budget math no better than Enron's
1 downsizing, costing 60 jobs, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 60 cuts in Ohio by Kadant Inc. papermaking & recycling equipment 
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Sipur getting a big push to file from Gazprom for $932m owed

2/10-11/2002
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 6 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 1 UPsizing (500 new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 19 downsizings totaling over 13,370 lost jobs 
• 5 bankruptcies totaling over $81m in debt   • 4 prison stories  
‹‹YTD: 57 timsiz +15 upsz (4299+=2%) vs. 131 dnsz (205,085+ jbcts) +29 bkrp ($2.98B+) +12 homlss +9 jail +1 suic››
- hope of the weekend - weekend timesizing news:
• (2/2) Airbus & other firms give comp time for overtime instead of $$
vs.  doom of the weekend - headlines from hell:
• layoffs taking toll on families • Enron CEO disses Congress again • Bush & Cheney diss Congress & democracy• GOP & Dems diss democracy, slurp $$$ • crime costing us more • priestly crime boss won't quit • creationism tries again • lotsa execs secretly exercise stock ops • stock ops losing luster • execs profit even from bankruptcy, like Global Xing
• Argentinians abandoning sinking econ ship

2/09/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Sanyo will cut wages proportionate to hours cut in work sharing program
• Veeco of Woodbury, NY uses shortened workweeks to avoid layoffs
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias glimmer of hope:
• 1 UPsizing, 500 new jobs - Greenbrier get orders for 900 freight cars
vs.  doom du jourtm
2 downsizings, totaling 4200 jobcuts, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 3500 cuts by Goodyear Tire & Rubber  • 700 by Kraft's Life Savers
+ 1 prison story: • several transsexuals housed in women's prison in Mass.

2/08/2002 fri
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japanese unions seeks gov't compensation for pay lost in worksharing
+ today's headline from heaven^tm alias glimmer of intelligence:
• Britain proposes language & cultural qualifications for immigration
vs.  doom du jourtm
headlines from hell_tm • Argentinians brood over their silver past & bankrupt present
+ 3 downsizings, totaling 3100 jobcuts, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 2% workforce cut (1600 lost jobs) as Visteon autoparts reorganizes itself out of
1600 of its best customers, instead of trimming its workweek by 2% (10 mins/day for
whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
and keeping everyone together working, earning and buying 98% as many autoparts as usual
• 1000 cuts by Tyco's TyCom unit  • 500 by 3M 
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Kasper apparel in NJ goes bellyup
+ 1 prison story: • escapees from Texas' county system
recaptured in Oklahoma after convenience-store pig-out cum standoff

2/07/2002 thu
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias glimmers of strategic hope:
• Japan careens ahead on work-sharing - Nikkeiren chief offers 4 flavors
• Carrier Corp. is cutting unplanned OT with i2 Factory Solution software
+ today's headlines from heaven^tm alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 'good, but' - Bush wants voluntarism to make up for his cuts (but is it slavery?)
• France pegs Bush as 'simplistic'  • resilient growth in...geriatric services
• 'Enron effect' is pulling top execs back from merging to managing 
vs.  doom du jourtm
headlines from hell_tm • 'bad, but' - cos. eliminate jobs but 'productivity' increases - unsaleable
• more millionaires paying less in taxes  • Big 3 beg for mercy from depressed Japan 
• German unemployment rises - needs work spreading on weekly, not yearly, basis
2 downsizings, totaling 20 jobcuts + unspecified, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 1.4% workforce cut (20 lost jobs) as Simon & Schuster gets 'in fighting shape' by
cutting jobs (& markets), instead of trimming its workweek by 1.4% (7 mins/day for
whole firm including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training,
and keeping everyone together working, earning and buying 98.6% as many books as usual
• unspecified cuts by SBA Communications of Boca Raton
+ 1 prison story: • prison builder & operator Cornell Cos.
'reviews' own accounting scam as Enron ripples spread

2/06/2002 wed
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias a glimmer of strategic hope:
• Michigan union gets serious about worktime abuse in nursing homes
+ today's headlines from heaven alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• Kuttner praises Ralph Nader (but doesn't vote for him) 
• reader slams Bush Inc. for no-quality moremoremore
vs.  doom du jourtm
headlines from hell_tm • Saudi Arabia going into recession
• New York State played the shortsighted grasshopper - like Texas
• New York City gets grossly mammon-mad - will rename city parks for cash
+ 6 downsizings, costing 5825 jobcuts + unspecified, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 13% workforce cut (1900 jobs lost) as Mm02 mobile phones cuts costs (&
markets), instead of trimming its workweek by 13% (to five 7-hr days for whole firm
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, and
keeping everyone together working, earning & buying 87% as many fones as usual
• 1400 cuts by Delta  • 1075 by BMC  • 650 by Network Plus  • 400 by Ciena 
• unspecified cuts at U.S. travel agencies
+ 3 bankruptcies: • Arthur D. Little, the nation's oldest consulting firm, • Network Plus, and • ICH

2/05/2002 tue
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias a glimmer of strategic hope:
• French work 20% less per week than Brits but are 24% more productive
• Chirac tries to roast Jospin over 35-hr workweek
but Jospin's got him pouting over a kickback probe
vs.  doom du jourtm
5 downsizings, costing 2,900 jobcuts + unspecified, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 31.5% workforce cut (2100 jobs lost worldwide) as Gemplus smart cards panics about collapse of sales, instead of trimming its workweek by 31.5% (to 27hrs27mins/wk for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone
together securely working, earning & buying 68.5% as many cellphones as usual
• 600 cuts by Rohm & Haas  • 200 by Kulicke & Soffa Industries
• unspecified cuts by Shurgard Storage & • Electronics Boutique
+ 1 bankruptcy: • Questron Technology with $81m in debt • Pulp & Paper of America with $2m
+ 1 prison story: • medical ethicist says inmates should get level of care available to all law-abiding citizens, ergo no heart transplants

2/03-04/2002
- Timesizing.com recommended for info on avoiding layoffs in current issue of
*Business Ethics - see "No-Layoff Payoff" article on p. 7 of Jan/Feb issue -
weekend roundup per the NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 8 TIMEsizing stories (?? saved jobs)  • 6 UPsizings (3024+ new jobs) 
vs. doom of the week:
• 23 downsizings again, totaling over 15,475 lost jobs 
• 3 bankruptcies   • 2 homelessness stories   • 1 prison story  
‹{YTD: 51 timsiz +14 upsz (3799+=2%) vs. 112 dnsz (191,715+ jbcts) +24 bkrp ($2.9B+) +12 homlss +5 jail +1 suic}›
- hope of the weekend -
weekend timesizing news:
• (1/09) some details of work sharing à la Fujitsu - no breakthroughs yet
vs.  doom of the weekend -
1 weekend downsizing report, totaling 45 jobcuts:
• 47% of workforce cut (45 lost NJ jobs) as the Jersey Journal pursues self-amputation to save
the 135-year-old daily, instead of just trimming its workweek by 47% (to five 4¼hr days)
for whole firm including top execs, implementing overtime-targeted training & keeping
everyone employed, earning & buying 53% as many newspapers & magazines as before

2/2/2002 sat (re fri biz)
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set  
stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias a glimmer of strategic hope:
• more on United Airlines' use of furloughs to avoid layoffs
• Airbus & other firms give comp time for overtime instead of $$
+ today's headlines from heaven alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - Staples cuts 326 & adds 1200, nets 874 new jobs
• 102 courageous Israeli reservists stand vs. Sharon's continued treaty violations
• Irish to vote on abortion referendum on 3/06  • ban proposed on 'living' patents
vs.  doom du jourtm
headlines from hell: • United Airlines reports staggering $2.1 billion loss
• Bush wants big rise in military budget to outdo Reagan & solve labor glut & slump
• Bushboys Powell & O'Neill's unilateral arrogance rocks even arrogant Econ Forum
- US will do anything it damn well pleases & to hell with the rest of the world (cf. Israel)
+ 6 downsizings, costing 10,110 jobcuts + unspecified, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 6500 net jobcuts as Lears closes 21 facilities  • 1150 more cuts as Lucent continues implosion
• 4% workforce cut (1000 jobs lost) as Amtrak (US passenger trains) gives up on breaking even
by 12/02, instead of just trimming its workweek by 4% (just 19 mins/day for whole firm including
top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keeping everyone together
securely working, earning & riding the train 96% as much as usual (or more with that free time!)
• 960 cuts by TDK in Japan  • 500 at American Eagle  • unspecified cuts by Butler Mfg

2/01/2002 fri
- free consulting to playwrights, novelists, scifi writers who want to set stories at various points in a timesizing future - 617-623-8080 or email -
timesizing in the news alias a glimmer of strategic hope:
• 1000s of hospital employees march in Paris for new negotiations to
get the additional hiring intended by France's 35-hr workweek
+ today's headlines from heaven alias glimmers of vaguer hope:
• 1 UPsizing - 450 new sales jobs at Sepracor pharmaceuticals
• Newsweek cover features 3 corporate moguls - African-American
vs.  doom du jourtm
headlines from hell alias 'the march of folly' (pace Tuchman):
• 8 dumb Euro nations diss currency pains & EU by negotiating air treaties directly with U.S.
• Bush seeks to define fetus as person (so, tax-deductible as 'dependent'?)
• Sharon is sorry Israel didn't kill Arafat when had the chance
+ 2 downsizings, costing 100 jobcuts + unspecified, cited in NY Times & Boston Globe:
• 10% workforce cut (100 jobs lost) as Elizabeth Arden cosmetics gets hysterical over
a sales drop, instead of just trimming its workweek 10% (48 mins/day for whole firm
including top execs), re-investing overtime savings in overtime-targeted training, & keep-
ing everyone together securely working, earning & buying 90% as many lipsticks as usual
• unspecified cuts as Staples closes 30 stores
+ 1 bankruptcy: • PhyCor phyles Chaptor 11