Dr. Walter E.Wlliams on downsizing

[1963danno]

Corporate downsizing is a euphemism for let's fire all the people who are actually producing something and keep a lot a people who are not producing anything.

[1963danno]

I believe this guy is an effeminate heterosexual

[panther9mm]

@SSgtParmer housing those chinese kids in a sweatshop is inhumane. you should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of those underpriviliaged. everybody knows that the true cycle is supposed to be the american has the job, and gives foreign aid to the other countries. there is no need for the rest of the world to work because americans are so productive, and will be treated fairly because of the unions

[prettylyricsmarie]

The problem with downsizing, is greed is a an addiction and at times a mental illness...Excessive Downsizing and excessive greed will only lead to chaos and violence/revolution in the future...Eventually there will be too many downsizing of companies, and too much greed, people won't have enough to survive, food, clothing, shelter, etc. and people will be fighting over what's left...

[panther9mm]

@prettylyricsmarie excessive greed is you. i saw you waiting in line at best buy on black friday. next time, don't be greedy, and give me your place in line

[prettylyricsmarie]

@panther9mm actually I wasn't at best buy on black friday. I didn't even shop on black friday. I don't know what you are talking about sorry.

[willyswear]

I have no problem with automation but how does closing manufacturing in the US so they can give the jobs to Chinese slaves make the world a better place?

[krnduell]

Walter Williams, please run for President in 2012!

[hugesinker]

Its idiotic to think that a company should provide a job for life. Maintaining a skill that is in demand is the only thing that provides a job for life and it does this without fail. The company you work for is just a demanded service in the economy with a hat on it.

[dbmasta]

The term "job creation" is pretty ridiculous when you think about it. Oh no...we need jobs! Please consume all our waking hours and don't let us have a life!

"Job elimination," in conjunction with unchanging or increasing supplies of resources, is really what economic development (aka quality of life optimization) is all about. The less time it takes to meet your material needs, the more time you have to live your life.

[Focrak]

downsizing is justifiable and even expected on times of economic recession, but the fact is that General Motors, General Electric, Dow Chemical Company, and hundreds of big companies have been persistently cutting jobs since the nineties, a decade of steady economic growth. The result? Millions of unemployed (now underemployed and drowning in debt) americans, growing income and quality-of-living inequality, epidemic depression, huge deficits on federal budgets and all-around a fucked up society.

[DetailsOfSonoma]

The U.S. Govetnment should realize that it's competing for busineses to want to locate in the USA. Look at Ireland, the drop corporate taxes and they enjoy the hottest economy in the EU. On the flip side look at California businesses have high taxes, high regulation and they are leaving in droves.

Busines is good for people, it provides jobs, products, food, medicine and higher quality of life.

Capitalism in the 20th century has given humans the highest quality of life in recorded history.

[assgrabberb]

Wha-wha-whaaaat?!?!?!?

Panther Im gonna assume your joking.

[Erbstank]

I don't agree with Jan Helfed on this one. downsizing in favor of cheaper foreign labor is wrong in so many ways, most of outsourced goods and services are imported back into the economy at a cheaper price tag, and that might seem like a win win situation for producers and consumers alike, but when productive individuals are laid off in droves, the economy as whole suffers the burden of rehabilitating those inflicted, the overall economy shrinks when we opt to turn productivity into a liability.

[panther9mm]

Unions are good things. Companies should go bankrupt before they fire one person.

[BRYAN351]

panther, if the demand for a company's products goes down, and the number of widgets they have to produce goes down, what is the company supposed to do, pay the extra workers to do nothing??

If your answer is yes, then it would no longer be a business, it would be a charity. Entrepreneurs go into business to make a profit, not to give all their money away until they are broke. Communities only thrive if the businesses thrive.

Your logic is seriously fucked dude.

[panther9mm]

The dollar is falling and we need to get back to producing. we need unions to have people working. why should we let the bankers make a profit while they destroy the country. we need sound money and a sound economy

[BRYAN351]

panther, unions don't create any jobs. Businesses create jobs. All unions do is price workers out of the market and give businesses incentives to send jobs overseas.

Unions are professional extortion rackets, nothing more. They force companies to pay workers MORE than their jobs are worth, by threatening to strike and fuck up their operation if they don't submit to their demands.

You're correct in that we need sound REAL money and more production jobs, but you really need to rethink unions.

[panther9mm]

unions create more jobs because american production is so high. one person in america is like a few workers in china, and shipping jobs and such are created. So the unions create more jobs, so I don't see why it is a bad thing. And americans don't want those jobs anyway, so we can give them to the people who want them.

[BRYAN351]

panther, are you just pretending, or are you really this ignorant? HOW do unions create jobs? Please explain this theory to me.

[panther9mm]

Walmart has one store greeter, and they say hello to you when you come in, and hassel you when you try to leave. In china a restaurant can have 5-10 greeters when you walk in the door, so basically chinese are ineffective workers. You will need many of them doing the job of one white person. So when one white person loses his job, then the chinese, vietnamese or whoever can have a few extra jobs for the same amount of labor. So you have more jobs created.

[BRYAN351]

panther, just because Chinese Wal-Marts hire multiple greeters for some reason (if they actually do) doesn't mean no Chinese person can do the same amount of work as a white person. lol That's pretty racist, don't ya think??

Maybe the multiple greeter policy is a cultural thing. Ever think of that?

You really should just quit now panther, because your comments make you look like a retard. You need to go get on the short bus.

[panther9mm]

@BRYAN351 you must be white american and a liberal too. throwing around your political correctness like you are a police with a badge

[fdny9682]

@BRYAN351 dude panther is an economic illiterate

[dtpac]

American companies would likely NOT outsource but for one thing, and that's the federal government. Look at the taxes American business is forced to pay. So, overseas they go where labor is cheaper and less red tape stands in the way. And they pay less in overall taxes. The first goal of business is to make a profit, not bend over and smile while the government rapes them.

[Killedkennyagain]

@dtpac High taxes is why I closed my small business, I could not even pay for new equipment I needed or maintenance of the old equipment because of the excess taxes.

[WarVideo]

So why dont we just destroy all techonology because thats what technology does too.

[th3lonius]

Take a look at history for the last two centuries, particularly the history of union labor in this country. Many people have proposed just that. Well, not taking it to the extreme of that logical extension by destroying all technology, but still waging war against specifics innovations in their industries that would put people out of work. The cotton gin, to name one profoundly productive invention, caused rioting.

[libertarianjury]

Wow! I'm going to open a business that fires people! Amazing!

But the plebes don't want to be downsized because they have no savings --the government they stupidly voted for and supported ate all their savings. So the plebes continue to vote for their own enslavement.

[ALittleBitPregnant]

Its such a shame that such basic economic realties have to be explained, what do they teach in those goverment run schools?

[BRYAN351]

ALittle, they teach collectivism , political correctness, and Keynesian economics.

[JuSdAt]

'Downsizing' in the u.s. by large companies like GM has been mainly due to the NAFTA over the last 15 years or so. Which was, of course, the result of greed by executives linked to the clinton administration. The directors of such companies are more rich and powerful than the average person could ever dream of... Winning the lottery would be peanuts.

[BRYAN351]

JuSdAt, that's what happens when you have corporations and government in collusion with each other (fasicism).

If we would get back to a true free market and a constitutionally limited government, we wouldn't see all these shady deals and gigantic bailouts going on, not to mention a near worthless dollar and collapsing economy.

[RimmersFamily]

LOL. You don't make more money by firing people. Cutting jobs helps to cut losses, and losses come from over-extension and other oversights, but also government intervention.

[rantventrant]

Walter Williams is awesome

[Jacko86plus5]

So basically, you didn't get fucked over by the company, you just got fucked over by....well, life.

[watcher8o]

Is there any data on companies that made an effort to stay American rather than follow the crowd of industries that went to China and India and elsewhere? Did they fail due to being uncompetitive?

[watcher8o]

Perhaps it was economy that drove companies to go overseas. Perhaps it was greed. Or a mixture of the two?

No matter the cause, we see the results coming to fruition today: A world that is better for a select few Americans and better for the world economy, while America goes down the toilet as the much vaunted "service economy" started in the '80's and taught by economists through the '90's.

Does patriotism and fraternity play any role in the ethics of Capitalism?

[idnotego]

Perhaps it was government policies and taxation that drove companies to go overseas.

The division of labor knows no boundaries. Do you know how many hands a product passes through before it gets to you? The tools used to make the products? The materials used to make the tools that make the products? In nature, things tend to take the path of least resistance, and this also applies in economics; taxation = resistance, regulation = resistance, bad for economies & individuals.

[watcher8o]

Taxation is part of the economy. This was taken into consideration.

I do not support taxation or regulation and I wasn't looking for enforced ethics as an answer. But my question still stands.

This video seems to try to wash the hands of corporate leaders. They're just as dirty as those of the politicians, in my opinion.

[BRYAN351]

watcher8o, they may have considered the tax burden, but taxes can go up unexpectedly.

As for your statement that "taxation is a part of the economy" ....that's like saying that theft is a part of the economy. Is it true? Technically, yes. Is it a legitimate part? No. Taxation is theft, in my opinion.

[watcher8o]

Get rid of taxes and everyone will be healthier for it. But at this point in time, taxation is a huge part of the economy. Sure, OUR hard earned dollars primarily go into the hands of the greedy and corrupt via taxation, but tax money also keeps the huge military industrial complex running. A lot of jobs and money flow rely on that, and that's just one aspect of the sprawling Federal entity. When looking at the economy, taxation cannot be dismissed as minor.

[thomasst2]

Not so much. It's:

35% business taxes

Govt and unions forcing wages above marginal productivity levels

Govt transfer of tax payments and subsidies to favored companies, lowering competitiveness non-Govt favored firms

Govt regulation which cripples small/medium size firms and allows the large to gain market share

The Fed lowering interest rates, causing capital consumption and infrastructure erosion

Monetary Inflation which shifts wealth from savers to consumers

[1963danno]

@thomasst2 AH sorry , there is no forcing of wages. If a company decides to be affiliated with a union then they are merely subject to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement with said union. They are not forced to be a union company by anyone nor are the workers forced to be union members. If wages get to deemed to high then the union company will not survive

[BRYAN351]

watcher8o, yeah it was greed, the greed of UNIONS, whose sole purpose is to extort companies to pay employees MORE than the market value of their jobs.

It was also caused by the widespread spinelessness of corporate executives who tolerate and submit to union extortion.

I live near Detroit, and our whole state has been gutted of industry, largely because of these 2 reasons.

[medliberty]

We have an upside down economy wherein only a very small percentage of workers actually produce a product. We cant be competitive in the world market if 90% of our GNP is in services. The only thing holding up the U.S. economy now is the heavily subsidized price of gasoline/oil. Take away government subsidies and gas will go to $11/gallon and sink the economy. We need to learn to make a lot more products a lot more efficiently.

[Diatonic135]

the reason downsizing adversely affects American workers is largely because of the lack of other job options. it is displaced blame.

while new jobs and new markets have been created and efficiency has increased in all jobs, American workers have been pushed out of the global market by inflation of the U.S. Dollar. Because of inflation, U.S. workers are simply too expensive. Lack of competitiveness in the global market is why the U.S. has been incrementally deindustrialized.