AT&T Cutting 12,000 Jobs → Sign of the times :(

Job loss continues to rise in the US, and people are cutting back on expenses and services which translates into someone else's job being affected.

Consumers are looking for the best bang for their buck, and companies are trying to stay competitive by trimming internal costs in order to reduce external price points or keep the company in the black.

Unfortunately, there are both winners and victims in this scenario.

There is some amount of irony here.

The corporations who outsourced jobs and production in a race for cheap labor (race to the bottom, it's called) are now watching the natural effects of their effort: consumers without disposable income aren't reaching into their pockets around the world and lo and behold the layoffs begin and the corporations go crying to govt for bailouts because their demise will mean our demise. Well, logic -- and Darwin -- would argue that if they're too big to fall then they're too big to exist.

Economists like Bill Greider, who predicted this mess a decade ago, now don't look so much like commies, do they?

This is one time when I agree with the status quo: we must destroy the village to save it.
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