Three things inspired me to write this morning:
1. Yesterday’s assault on an IRS building in Austin, TX;
2. The February 15, 2010 issue of Newsweek;
3. A question asked by a guest at my first official fundraiser: Should the middle class be placed on the endangered species list?
Much has been written about the frustrations of people attending tea parties, but little has been written about the underlying driving forces. I may be making a leap of faith here, but it seems as though one pilot crashing his plane into a building, after writing a suicide letter at his blog is the personification of the malady. While we are horrified at another plane flying into a building, we see some of our anger reflected in his “manifesto.”
We are mad as hell that we see our neighbors being laid-off from jobs that they’ve held for years. We are mad as hell that we see our retirement plans going up in smoke: our savings accounts are disappearing with the declining stock markets, so we’ll probably have to work until we drop. We are mad as hell that just as we need health care, after years of paying into a health care system, someone is trying to mess with what little is left of our Medicare, or VA benefits, or employer provided insurance. We are mad as hell that to health insurance companies being a woman is a pre-existing condition. We are mad as hell that the middle class can’t catch a break from the government, while fat cats and welfare queens suck up welfare.
It wasn’t until I read the Newsweek article, which is linked below, that a light bulb came on for me. The story is about a business practice that has been increasing: layoffs. But the amazing thing is that research has demonstrated that companies using layoffs as a tool for relieving strains on profitability actually see costs go up; lose institutional knowledge, which decreases efficiency; have lower revenue as laid off workers can no longer afford to buy their products; and their stock prices decline rather than increase. Since all businesses have been using the same “best practices” models over the decades of decline, this phenomenon is repeated across all industries and all neighborhoods.
We can do better. We need to create sustainable jobs, which actually result in more profitable businesses, higher stock prices, and happier citizens. We need to stop supporting companies that come into our neighborhoods, abuse our labor, and then leave us all mad as hell.
Homework:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/233131
1. Yesterday’s assault on an IRS building in Austin, TX;
2. The February 15, 2010 issue of Newsweek;
3. A question asked by a guest at my first official fundraiser: Should the middle class be placed on the endangered species list?
Much has been written about the frustrations of people attending tea parties, but little has been written about the underlying driving forces. I may be making a leap of faith here, but it seems as though one pilot crashing his plane into a building, after writing a suicide letter at his blog is the personification of the malady. While we are horrified at another plane flying into a building, we see some of our anger reflected in his “manifesto.”
We are mad as hell that we see our neighbors being laid-off from jobs that they’ve held for years. We are mad as hell that we see our retirement plans going up in smoke: our savings accounts are disappearing with the declining stock markets, so we’ll probably have to work until we drop. We are mad as hell that just as we need health care, after years of paying into a health care system, someone is trying to mess with what little is left of our Medicare, or VA benefits, or employer provided insurance. We are mad as hell that to health insurance companies being a woman is a pre-existing condition. We are mad as hell that the middle class can’t catch a break from the government, while fat cats and welfare queens suck up welfare.
It wasn’t until I read the Newsweek article, which is linked below, that a light bulb came on for me. The story is about a business practice that has been increasing: layoffs. But the amazing thing is that research has demonstrated that companies using layoffs as a tool for relieving strains on profitability actually see costs go up; lose institutional knowledge, which decreases efficiency; have lower revenue as laid off workers can no longer afford to buy their products; and their stock prices decline rather than increase. Since all businesses have been using the same “best practices” models over the decades of decline, this phenomenon is repeated across all industries and all neighborhoods.
We can do better. We need to create sustainable jobs, which actually result in more profitable businesses, higher stock prices, and happier citizens. We need to stop supporting companies that come into our neighborhoods, abuse our labor, and then leave us all mad as hell.
Homework:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/233131
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