Korean Job Discussion Forums

[freethought]

So some of you may remember this story from last week:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/10/news/companies/citigroup.reut/index.htm

Well here's today's headline:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0704/gallery.500top50.fortune/8.html

So the largest and richest bank in the US, and the 8th richest company overall, recorded incredibly high profits last year and then cut between 17 and 23 thousand jobs.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/index.html

People talk about outsourcing, the emerging markets of India and China along with a number of other factors being the main challenge to American businesses and economic pre-eminence.

I suggest that corporations making 20 thousand people unemployed while still recording billions in profits may be a much bigger problem.

More than just city group, though, three of the top 10 on the Fortune list are oil companies, one is a major automotive company that is rapidly losing ground to other manufacturers (and I suspect minus the money they've been making from military contracts they'd be a little lower on this llist), and then there are the banks reaping massive profits at times of unprecedented government spending, deficit and debt.

As much as Papa Bear and Lou dobbs are concerned with illegal immigrants and outsourcing, the nature of American economic difficulties (present and to come) can be found in this list. And if current trends continue, then good things may not be on the horizon for America, and quite likely the world.

[Kuros]

So basically, the problem with American corporations is that they are trying to streamline operations in accordance with profit ratios?

So what?


P.S. Lou Dobbs is full of shit, but I'll go farther than you and say he sees a crisis where there is only short-term pain.

[thepeel]

The assumptions that led to your conclusion, freethought, are marxist.

In a market system, firms cut and hire with disregard. This is the key element of creative destruction that keeps our world economy running.

Citibank must compete in a hyper competitive global banking environment. If they are heavy, they will get slaughtered. Citibank will save billions with this change, and those billions will be used to invest in new markets and new services that will create new jobs.

And let us not forget that the 9,000jobs being shifted to "low wage" markets are benefiting some of the most deprived economies in the world who have as a comparative advantage the fact that their wages are low. Also, the cuts were a mere 5% of the total workforce.

This is why capitalism is such a hard sell. The job losses are publicized, but the job gains are not. The people who were fired will not be unemployed for long (unless they want to be).

[ddeubel]

[freethought]

I'm afraid a paragraph got deleted when I was typing and I didn't notice, so a main thrust of the Op never appeared.

That thrust that goes to the title of this thread, is that the mentality goes beyond cutting jobs to boost profits and reassure investors.

The mentality is of the entire American corporate 'course', since I can't remember what cool word I chose last time. The reason I chose the examples I did is because there are three major oil companies, a non-renewable resource, that is also a major cause of MAJOR problems now facing the planet (climate change, air pollution, smog, acid rain etc--- note to ALL, please DO NOT turn this into another global warming thread). Rather than acknowledging these problems they fight against them, downplay them and deny them. Rather than innovate, they do little to nothing.

Then there's walmart, who has an awful record when it comes to treatment of employees, and they use even worse practices to keep their shelves stocked and their racks full.

Then there was GM who is SO far behind in the automative race, and they've lost so much ground that they are and look both desperate and pathetic. Honda, Toyota and VW have all taken MAJOR measures and initiatives either toward hybrid and electric, or incredibly efficient diesels. GM built SUVs.

My comment was supposed to be a major indictment of the entire scope of the richest AMerican corps and how they're slipping and becoming less competitive and behind the times.

Apple computers, for instance is ahead of the times developing major new products that totally capture and control markets. COnstant innovation. Look at the top 10 on the fortune list and you can't say that about any of them.

If American wants to retain 'her place in the world', then major changes need to be made, as these example illustrate.

[thepeel]