January 21, 2009

  • Like a funeral

    Early this morning, a colleague and I were discussing our socialistic-fueled approach to fixing the U.S. economy. Granted, we were smart enough not to name it socialistic or anything akin to that political idea—Americans are too myopic to grasp the advantages of some sort of socialism without going insane about the perils of governmet control and referencing doomsday scenarios by name dropping the likes of Marx, Lenin, Stalin or Mao.

    Anyway, instead of just giving billions to corporations to keep them afloat, the government should require that each company partaking in this charity (read: socialism) promise not to lay off any of their employees and promise to overlook their desires to make a profit for the next year as WE ALL ride out this recession. After all, how will the economy bounce back if more and more people are laid off? We will never bounce back if companies take the charity offered by the government with one hand while with the other handing out pink slips to their employees so that the company can continue to make a profit. Yeah, I know, this is capitalism and it’s dog-eat-dog so who cares about employees, right? If companies have been able to dupe the government into keeping them afloat at the expense of their employees, so what right? They’ve found a way to win!

    Somehow, all of this sounds insane....but it’s the current reality. Can someone—perhaps someone much more intelligent than me—explain how all of us will continue to function like this?

    . . .

    Well, this brings me to the “funeral” part of this blog. Beginning later on this same morning, the company I work for began laying off 10% of the staff. My department was hit curiously deeper than others: 40% of our colleagues were eliminated in one unceremonious act. The irony is that I work for a non-profit, but the rationale for the cuts was “to maintain the [profit] margins” — [um, care to explain that?] (that’s a topic for another blog/rant).

    By the grace of God—who has quite an interesting sense of humor—I was spared the ax . . . this time. It was like attending a funeral today in the office. I can’t help but think this funeral was bigger than just a company or a city, more like a country or an entire world.

Comments (3)

  • Wow, 40%? That's a huge cut...

    Yes, the economy is absolutely terrible... Ahh. I think, though, the government should really be vigilant about how/where the money is spent exactly because right now, accountability sucks... >__

  • @bibliomania — You’re right on accountability. There is none in this day and age. The same people who got the company into this mess are still pleasantly employed (and probably still making their big bucks). Sad and sick. Despite the reeling economy, every company is still going to seek profit. No one has the foresight to contemplate the result of an entire country’s workforce laid off so that every company can continue to make their profit margins...where will the means to buy products and “stimulate” the economy come from? Idiotic and self-preserving greed will be the end of us all.

  • funny, i was called a socialist just yesterday for my economic beliefs about creating an income cap. :)

    and thank you, for the birthday wishes.

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