Recession roundup: volume eleventeen zillion
By Laura June 
posted Jan 28th 2009 2:33PM
posted Jan 28th 2009 2:33PM
We're getting rather tired of having to "roundup" the misery, loss of profits, and layoffs in this modern era of plenty and luxury, but there's seemingly no end in sight, so here we go. Texas Instruments announced plans to cut 12 percent of its workforce (apparently as a safety measure as its profits last quarter actually topped analysts' estimates). Meanwhile, Panasonic's announced some modest cuts of roughly 600 workers, in addition to closing some of its plants in Asia as it posted a net loss for the first time in six years. Moving on, Hewlett-Packard's laying off nearly 25,000 people in a "restructuring" scheme, while those IBM losses we've been hearing about (and which have been rumored to number nearly 16,000) are now quietly happening in several locales across the U.S. Finally, big boxer Best Buy's just confirmed impending cuts at their headquarters in Minneapolis, but won't release any hard numbers until February. Seriously, world: the future is disgusted with us.
Read - Texas Instruments cutting jobs
Read - Panasonic to cut 560 jobs, close plants
Read - IBM, HP quietly cut thousands of jobs
Read - Best Buy plans layoffs at headquarters
Read - Texas Instruments cutting jobs
Read - Panasonic to cut 560 jobs, close plants
Read - IBM, HP quietly cut thousands of jobs
Read - Best Buy plans layoffs at headquarters
FP. And that's "Hewlett".
I love these reoccurring reminders that America = FTL
uh, screw you. i love america.
ps whats with the comment rankings? i havnt seen any highest ranks in the full comments sections (and fewer highly ranked's), but the small thread that gets emailed to you when someone replies to you appears as normal. seems there is a threshold difference.
The US actually hasn't been the hardest-hit by this economic downturn. Russia, for instance, has just had a brutal ride over the past few months; Rouble's in the tank.
@maveric101,
The number of votes needed for different rankings have apparently been greatly increased. Not sure what the reasoning is, but I miss the old days.
Funny thing about russia is that they are running out of taxpayers. Last year the government gave everyone the day off to go home and copulate.
Every nerd reading this thinks its a good global example the US should adopt.
@Brando
Define copulate.
Wow, NO ONE can detect sarcasm?
oh yeah /sarcasm tag wasn't used, i should have been more careful.
@maveric and joe
im not so sure whats going on, because when you get a link in your email that tells you that somebody replied to you, on THAT page you can see the "Highest Ranked", but not on the real post. something's been up for over a month now....
fieldcar, if you were being srcastic in the beginning, you get a "minus" vote from me as I pretty much feel the same towards the US economy status and the way "you" let it happen...
Good job!
Where's all doomed, Jean Luc!!!! Doomed, I tell you.
**sticks head in sand**
Make it so, number one.
"Hewlitt-Packard" :::sucking of air through teeth::: OOhhhhhh..
Good thing it wasn't Hewlett Packard, as in Hewlett with an 'e,' or I'd really start worrying.
My employer is cutting 3500 at some point in the next few months. Though they're trying "selective voluntary early retirement" first.
Part of the ebb and flow of human economies.
All of this misery over a couple of houses
All of this misery because of a few houses
Did they finally run out of Depression Era black and white images?
Welcome to Capitalism, American style. If many of these companies had wanted to give people jobs, they wouldn't have lobbied the same politicians that helped banks lie about their stability. They wouldn't have lobbied the same politicians that gave tax payer dollars to banks so those banks could buy new corporate jets from France. They wouldn't be keeping huge chunks of money in overseas tax shelters.
TI can afford to keep people. With Circuit City in the drink, Best Buy can afford to keep people. Panasonic only cut a few people, but the Japanese are used to doing a lot with limited resources.
Yea, from what my father told me, one of the employees who was laid off from TI, the company has a few billion in the bank...
Jean Luc, where are you now that we need you.
when are we getting rid of our dept based economy and start working towards the betterment of humankind!
sheesh, when will this all be over?
in about a year and a half. Assuming that the retards in congress can actually stop bickering and get a recovery package passed. Fucking republicans. WAAAAAA we want MORE tax cuts then what the plan already offers....fucking assholes are playing with the future of this country as if its a damn game.
Seriously Best Buy, actually fire people before you announce job cuts. Good luck being productive until then.
nevermind, Obama will handle it.
....right?
Obama ain't god. If the Republicans keep playing games we are pretty much screwed for the long haul.
I laughed at the picture.
But seriously I been collecting unemployment Since 2007 after being canned, doing temp IT jobs that came along to keep me afloat. The only thing I can praise Bush on was to extend unemployment claims due to the economy. Without that I would be flat broke.
Oh, and I am living with family that is financially fine and yes, I have been actively seeking employment. Covering bases.
are there going to be any lay-offs in big government this eyar?
Plenty of Democrats in 2010
Obama in 2012
It's a start.
On the upside, all of you who have been putting off finishing that Great American Novel (you know who you are) now have no excuse and can get to it.
On an unrelated note:
Any more "Picard facepalm" pictures out there?
I love the preemptive cuts. A big part of the problem is that people and employers are making cuts because they expect it may get worse. Well guess what? It WILL get worse if people keep making cuts. The downward spiral continues.
And the media is foaming at the mouth to have "roundups" of the layoffs, driving things down even further.
Seriously engadget... report the news... and stop "reporting on the reporting of news."
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Looks like Homer Jay with two missing hairs and one extra finger.
AWSOME-O!!!! LOL
Who put Engadget in charge of the recession. Nobody wants to hear this depressing crap. NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS!
This is all some sort of prank by Q. Just watch.
If only!
Folks is this hope and change?
$335,000,000 FOR STD PREVENTION IN ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL
Wed Jan 28 2009 09:58:30 ET
Democrats may have eliminated provisions on birth control and sod for the National Mall in the "job stimulus" -- but buried on page 147 of the bill is stimulation for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases!
The House Democrats' bill includes $335 million for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
In the past, the CDC has used STD education funding for programs that many Members of Congress find objectionable and arguably unrelated to a mission of economic stimulus [such as funding events called 'Booty Call' and 'Great Sex' put on by an organization that received $698,000 in government funds.]
"Whether this funding has merit is not the question; the point is it has no business in an economic plan supposedly focused on job creation," says a stimulated Hill source.
Developing...
http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_hr1_text.pdf
A little birdie told me that Dell employees are expecting massive cuts this Friday.
I think some earlier posters above don't get it, possibly they haven't experienced it yet but duh your a damn fool for all those like 'fieldcar' whether its sarcasm or not to put it blunt its not remotely funny if you think it is you need to wake up and quick.
I have been made redundant due to the financial worldwide crisis and i live in the uk, it truly sucks when everything you worked for gets taken from you, even my own business lost work due to the same crisis and i was pulling my hair out for a good 4 months wondering where every penny was coming from, its just not funny, i actually had to ration my food to such an extent, i think the only way we will get through this is help each other to do so, we cannot rely on the government who in turn to rely on us paying out or to give us handouts, it is very sad to read people are loosing their jobs still. It won't help if we all try and forget and dig your head into the sand, you can't forget inevitability, just help each other and then we will all pull through.
I personally don't like reading about it in the paper or seeing it on the news to such an extent where i no longer switch on the news or read the paper, its just too demoralizing but i use my time to help others who i know have worse situations than I.
I believe we together can CHANGE this situation!
Well, whats the solution?
Everyone keeps chanting, "CHANGE, CHANGE!, YES WE CAN!!!". Thats about the end of it though.
Have you looked at that pdf of the bill?
Dear lord...the bill-writing process needs reformed for starters...what a piece of work.
Those 1 1/2 to 2 inch margins really make great use of the page and the hyphenation really improves readability...not!
You could probably cut the size of that document in half with a few minor changes and get the headings for each section back to the top of a new page.
Can someone explain the meaning of the phrase "not less than $xx shall be used as...." ?
Not less than? Or "no more than" ?
This bill doesn't look very targeted to me....money's being thrown around all over the place.
get used to YES WE CAN and HOPE'N'CHANGE for the next 4 years.
Picard: Tea, Earl Grey....
Dont you mean Tea, Earl Grey, Hot?
Picard: We've got to cut back on energy consumption
You guys forgot the most important part that I tipped you off about the other day!!
"Microsoft lays off entire Flight Simulator division and staff - no more products, the Flight Sim series is gone!"
You people just HAD to have that 3,000 sq ft home with the jacuzzi in the back didn't ya?