Boeing to Chop 10,000 Jobs

[Zachstar]

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2009/db20090128_740915.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index +-+temp_top+story


It just keeps getting worse and worse. Of course they were quick to blame the union. Yet that is nothing compared to how bad decisions and worse PR decisions (Like fighting a stupid PR war over the tanker contract) Have left them without much of a market.

However this adds to a neverending series of layoffs. Nearly 100 thousand for one week.

Sadly this will likely mean the stimilus will fail. Any extra money anyone is going to get is going towards the piles and piles of debt they are accumulating.

We may be on the verge of having to face a very difficult decision about the future. There is no Hitler on the other side of the planet that will cause US industry to fire up. There is no cheap oil for small business to use to quickly expand. And the lack of demand for just about everything outside of food is not helping.

Is Obama prepared to be a one term president and sacrifice his political future to give the next generation hope? We will have to see. Tax cuts and political games are no longer going to win this economic battle.

[Enigma]

Tax cuts and political games are no longer going to win this economic battle.

I agree. We are in deeper trouble than anyone seems to realize....

I have 2 job interviews on Monday. I approach them as if there is no tomorrow, because I can't believe my luck for having just one.
High education and several sets of skills that should have ensured employment for a lifetime. 5 months without work. And I'm afloat. I'm one of the lucky ones. I can't imagine what it's like for people who haven't accumulated enough to survive for a while....

[Zachstar]

It is going to be bad and if Obama has any balls it will get alot worse.

We are close to having to accept that for the next decade or so we will have to throw everything we have on the future.

This ought to have been done already but everytime some small thing is cut. CNN is there with a story of how some museum failed because no more taxpayer bucks (Instead of how it failed because its displays and interactivity sucked)

Let me give you some examples of how bad we have to redirect things.

End the NASA Ares and all ideas of manned activities outside of orbit for the time being.

Ending of all small potatoes grants yes this will mean horrid loss but we need that money to invest in the future of the big stuff.

That is just a few I am sure there will me many more.

Here is the thing tho. We can end them now and throw all the money on infrastructure and R&D to get America back on top. Or we can play the political games until people start rioting due to lack of work.

Our economy is based on growth. For 2 decades that growth was just simulated by credit use. That will never come back so we have to fix 2 decades worth of nothingness.

#1 We have to make America the leader in broadband use. Every scrap of money we can get has to go to this. Every community needs to get atleast a basic DSL service it is vital to their local economies.

#2 We HAVE to gain new technologies and BIG ones. I ain't talking about a new expensive solar panel or batteries or a new car. Im talking FUSION Im talking Robotics that can actually do WORK! This is going to take money we just dont have right now.

The only way this is going to happen tho is if Obama decides to sacrifice his political future and face congress and the nation with the hard truths. Will he do this? I doubt it. Everyone seems to think we can do an 80s and dig our way out of this.

[breadcatcher101]

We are in the same boat Enigma, 5 months for me as well. It looks good for me in the near future though, just a matter of time.

Best of luck to you.

[PeriscopeDepth]

They will play at every game they possibly have until the only option left is to default all the bad debt and wipe it off the balance sheets (IE, the right thing to do). You're right when you say they don't have the balls to do the right thing. Shuffling paper isn't going to keep the boat afloat for much longer though, methinks. If they don't start doing "the right thing now" we are going to be in a world of hurt within 4 years if not less than 2.

PS. I was unemployed for 4 months before I found another job. And at a 50% pay cut. I've just found another one that will hopefully take that down to 30%-40% pay cut. I consider myself lucky to have a job though.

PD

[Enigma]

We are in the same boat Enigma, 5 months for me as well. It looks good for me in the near future though, just a matter of time.

Best of luck to you.


And you, Pal.

[Zachstar]

They will play at every game they possibly have until the only option left is to default all the bad debt and wipe it off the balance sheets (IE, the right thing to do). You're right when you say they don't have the balls to do the right thing. Shuffling paper isn't going to keep the boat afloat for much longer though, methinks. If they don't start doing "the right thing now" we are going to be in a world of hurt within 4 years if not less than 2.

PS. I was unemployed for 4 months before I found another job. And at a 50% pay cut. I've just found another one that will hopefully take that down to 30%-40% pay cut. I consider myself lucky to have a job though.

PD

They will never go that far. China would declare war over that.

No what we have to do is instead make the serious decision to deeply cut social programs. No more food for Wik. Seriously reduced Welfare checks even social security if needed.

Will it means deaths? Yes alot of them. But we have to stop asking the next generations to face the problems our parents would not. If we don't the dollar will crash and people will be without anything.

Fusion is going to be the big one. The US Navy's IEC fusion program (A design run by the late Dr. Bussard) Has had some pretty encouraging news lately but it is silly to consider it the only hope. We must fully fund our part of the international fusion program and do what we can to make it produce results faster. We get fusion we end the crisis. There will be enough raw energy to bring back many "Production" jobs.

Will this happen? Nope because we think we are immune and "above" the starving people in africa. And the politicions are afraid of the protests from mothers with 5-6 children. Eager to throw their problems on the next generation instead of facing them.

But we have got to talk about it. This is not going to be a democrat or republican problem. If we do not face it now we will face it when there is riots in the streets and things break down.

Am I being far too pessamistic? Maybe but look at the situation! Every previous bad recession or depression had some kind of raw entity waiting to bring things back to the good times.

Great Depression Ended by war technology
80's depression.. Took some time but was effectively ended by the growth of mainstream computers. The hope for the future drug us out.

Oh oil was cheap with both.

We are staring right down a disaster here. The job cuts are setting off a chain of destruction. They cut jobs because people are not spending, Less people spend, more jobs cut.. The next step is buisness implosions. Bailouts are out of the question. Every day a new report shows how banks have COMPLETELY misused the funds given. And even to the point of helping wackjob anti-union groups. They are an enemy to dems and fiscal republicans now and nobody wants bailouts anymore.

So what does that leave us? Mining? China is dealing with a downturn of its own and will not need tons of materials for some time. And their mines are getting more and more productive.

Production? What production. Almost everything has been shipped overseas.

Its a trap. An economic trap that has been fear for centuries. A depression with no easy way out.

Look at the last depression. To keep people from starting a revolution from their anger there had to be spending and lots of it. Somthing we cant do now unless we make serious cuts in the process.

[bookworm_020]

I have 2 job interviews on Monday. I approach them as if there is no tomorrow, because I can't believe my luck for having just one.


Good luck Enigma, hope you land one!:up: Having just changed jobs, I feel lucky to be in a job that will be as secure as they come (Suburban train driver):yep:

[Respenus]

I don't want anyone to get any wrong ideas on what I am about to say, yet Malthus must be turning in his grave right now. You guys are right, every economic crisis had something that saved it. Even the Great Depression at the end of the 19th century. In the 1920's and 30's we had military technology and after the war great advances in everything scientific made sure we had something to keep us going.

Now, in a globalist economy as we know it today, where everyone is the master, there are no longer any "colonies" or "white spots" which might be able to become markets for our hyper production of consumables. What this crisis demands is some serious and really, really hard decisions. Malthus was wrong when he wrote his work, as technology has kept up with our growth. Now it has caught up with us. I really hope that we, as a race, will learn something. Since the second world war, the whole world has been working together on some project or another. Now we have reached a point, where, in sci-fi, people would go out into space and colonise as our ancestors did when there were still continents to be found and markets to be made. Not any more. I hope for the best yet deep inside I fear that this might be our final moment. We must change the way we use, the way we consume, the way we think.

Sooner or latter, states, particularly larger ones, will return to protectionism and autarky. Which all in all isn't bad, as long as the WHOLE world works together. You might say that I'm a dreamer and I might even accept that as you are most probably right. This is something which requires vision, vision which unfortunately politicians do not have. We need something similar or exactly the same thing which Kant wanted in his essay on Perpetual peace. Only in this way we will be able to work together as otherwise we need something else to drive us forward. Or preferably someone, as otherwise I don't see a very bright future for us (the world).