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67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned) to Jack_in_VA

Member

to Jack_in_VA

Re: What country are sharp window air conditioners made?

The auto industry's arrogance sank them. As for Boeing, it's hard to compete with a state backed company.

I won't mention my company or our brands, but we lead in almost all the businesses in which we compete. And like I said, the premium products are done here. The cheap stuff is done elsewhere. So all the cutting edge design work is US based and the products command a premium so we can hire in the US and pay competitive wages. We use patents to keep out the Chinese. Once the patents are up and the low cost manufacturers move in, we're off to the next product.

You wouldn't believe the strategic planning that we do in all aspects of the business and the processes we have down to protect our technologies and how we stay efficient and lean. You don't get to be where we are and in the businesses in which we are by not executing.

Does it mean that Bubba won't be able to sit back and collect a boatload of money by doing nothing? Yes. Does it mean people without higher education may lose their jobs as we automate more? Yes. Does it mean that if you aren't among the top of your peers in the white collar roles that you'll be let go? Yes. Will you work harder than you used to? Yes.

But for those that make the cut, does it mean you'll have a job where the survival of the company is no longer in doubt? Yes. If you're retained, are you considered a top performer? Yes. Are you rewarded for that? Yes. Does it increase your job security? Yes.

We are competitive and leaders throughout the world.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

And just how long do you think the millions of displaced workers that have been "let go" going to sit back and remain passive? The apocalypse in this country has been brewing for a few years now and once they realize the middle class is gone in spite of the politicians promises look out.

Goober you might have a good job but that is not representative of the vast majority now. Are you are part of the One Percent that are living high on the hog as the Occupy protesters pointed out.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

I am and I earned it. This whole generic 1%-ers are evil thing is so misguided. I don't know when an why this country stopped being anti-success.

I don't begrudge any of the 1% their success. But there's a difference even within that designation that a lot of the OWS people don't get, although I did hear a OWS person acknowledge it in a TV interview. She said she didn't begrudge the working 1%, but had problems with those that inherited it or earned it without working for it.

In my case, I fall within the working 1% category, but I worked my ass off to get there and I still work hard. Worked hard in high school to get into a good EE program. Worked hard as an engineer to get into a couple of well-known Fortune 500 companies. Got into law school (not a great one because it was a last minute decision) and worked hard to get a top offer from a top firm. Came out in '94 with over $100K in private student loans, which meant higher interest rates and immediate payment.

I worked hard at my next two law firms to earn a good salary. I worked hard at the next two corporations to climb the ladder. The effort resulted in a high position where I am now and I'm in the top 10% salary range for my position.

I haven't worked on average less than 11-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week since 1987.

And even now, do I live high on the hog? No. But do I enjoy some nice things now and then? Yes, because I worked for it. No one helped me out and no one paid my way and I took no handouts and I didn't expect any.

Once people start taking pride and putting in an effort to better themselves, only then will we see all boats rise. Until then, only a few will be able to get there. And I have no problem with that.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

1 recommendation

scross to 67845017

Member

to 67845017
said by 67845017:

The auto industry's arrogance sank them. As for Boeing, it's hard to compete with a state backed company.

I won't mention my company or our brands, but we lead in almost all the businesses in which we compete. And like I said, the premium products are done here. The cheap stuff is done elsewhere. So all the cutting edge design work is US based and the products command a premium so we can hire in the US and pay competitive wages. We use patents to keep out the Chinese. Once the patents are up and the low cost manufacturers move in, we're off to the next product.

You wouldn't believe the strategic planning that we do in all aspects of the business and the processes we have down to protect our technologies and how we stay efficient and lean. You don't get to be where we are and in the businesses in which we are by not executing.

Does it mean that Bubba won't be able to sit back and collect a boatload of money by doing nothing? Yes. Does it mean people without higher education may lose their jobs as we automate more? Yes. Does it mean that if you aren't among the top of your peers in the white collar roles that you'll be let go? Yes. Will you work harder than you used to? Yes.

But for those that make the cut, does it mean you'll have a job where the survival of the company is no longer in doubt? Yes. If you're retained, are you considered a top performer? Yes. Are you rewarded for that? Yes. Does it increase your job security? Yes.

We are competitive and leaders throughout the world.

Well, at one time I might have speculated that you work with or for Motorola, but I'm not sure that they are really "world class" any more. In fact, I don't even know if they even exist as such any more. Didn't they have some kind of break-up? And didn't they sell off all or most of their patent portfolio? I do remember someone knowledgeable in these matters once speculating that, out of the thousands and thousands of Motorola patents in existence, probably only some ridiculously low number (a dozen maybe, if that) had actual technological value, with the rest just being legal fodder. And it's been a bit hilarious to see how pathetic these patent fights have turned out in court lately; Oracle vs. Google has been especially entertaining for me, because even I could easily find prior art. If only some of those overpaid, overeducated, but largely incompetent patent lawyers had done their jobs better, then maybe some of this crap could have been avoided!

And, in case you haven't been paying attention, with the latest economic woes a lot of those "top" employees have lost their jobs, too - along with their savings, and maybe their homes, and so on. And just because you're a survivor doesn't necessarily mean you're safe in the long term. I myself (being a "top performer") survived round after round of layoffs at a former employer, along with a relative handful of others in my area. They were whittling things down to "the cream of the crop", they said, and one of the VPs even flew out to tell us in person that we had all been personally selected BY HIM to stay, and what a great job we were doing, and that all of our jobs were safe, and so on and so forth. Luckily not all of use believed him!

So, of course, within a month they announced major office closures all across the country (more of that "Ive League financial engineering" gone sour), and they almost had to close down the entire corporate operation, too, plus they cut field operations to the bone. That was something like 25,000 jobs gone, almost overnight. They are still around but operating with basically a skeleton crew, have been getting royally screwed over since day one by the outsourcing providers who they thought would save them, and are on a long-standing corporate "death watch". Current projections show that they will probably be out of cash within twelve months, if not sooner, and their lines of credit have already been exhausted, so they have resorted to selling off their prime assets in order to stay afloat. But you know it's kind of hard to run a successful and profitable business (it has been neither of these for several years now) once you've lost your best employees, and sold off everything else of value. Apparently that's something they didn't get taught at Harvard!

As far as education goes: Perhaps I should describe my attitude towards it as there being a need for more of a "lean, just-in-time" system - one where you learn much of what you need to know when you need to know it, not years earlier when it may have grown stale or out of date over time. And we really shouldn't be rewarding people just because they stayed in school for a really long time, or just because they went to the "right" schools, or whatever. Again, this is a big part of what's WRONG with this country today, not what's right!
scross

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1 recommendation

scross to 67845017

Member

to 67845017
said by 67845017:

I am and I earned it. This whole generic 1%-ers are evil thing is so misguided. I don't know when an why this country stopped being anti-success.

Funny thing about "success": You can work very hard, go to the best schools, work for the best companies, have all the trappings of personal success (big paycheck, big house, fancy car, etc) and still be remarkably unsuccessful (destructive) in the bigger picture. Patent-troll lawyers fall into this category, and many financial types (basically con-men and thieves), and many politicians - as do Mafia types, as do drug dealers, and so on. In a lot of cases, the fancy pedigree just gives you a license to steal with almost no questions being asked. People like me see through this veil of legitimacy, though, and we do ask the questions, and we usually see how things are ultimately going to turn out in the end.

And I worked hard, too, my friend - I worked full-time during the day, went to school full-time at night, I often worked 72-hour days (this didn't always play well with my schoolwork), weekends and holidays, too, when necessary. And in school I usually ran circles around the other students (even the grad students), because I was smart and attentive, and in many cases I had already learned advanced stuff on the job while they were still covering the basic stuff in school. And I saved my money and I watched my debt (by working full-time I generally avoided student debt), so that when my employer closed up shop I was able to retire for several years at age 46. And now at 50 I'm still semi-retired (I pick up projects on occasion), and will probably pick up more work now that the economy is perking up a bit, if I find things that interest me - or that are boring but pay well because nobody else is willing or able to do them.

I've already told my prep-school, teenage daughter not to automatically assume that she will do a four-year or longer degree, and that there are other options out there which we will explore together (on-line classes and such), because I might like to take some current classes, too. Stanford, MIT, Harvard - they're all getting into this game in a big way now. (Many other institutions are, too, but the big names get most of the attention, of course.) Stanford has been saying for a while now that their certificate programs - which generally equate to nine to eighteen hours of college credit - are proving to be as effective (if not more so) than their degree programs, and they are one of the schools having problems keeping students around to finish a full degree in a timely matter, anyway, because demand is so high at the moment.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

I wish I cared, but I really don't. Everyone has to make their own way through the world and make their own choices. I've made mine. You've made yours.

My point was that those OWS cretins can suck it if they want handouts. Until they work for something rather than just whine and complain, they can hang for all I care.

tmh
@verizon.net

tmh to 67845017

Anon

to 67845017
said by 67845017:

I am and I earned it. This whole generic 1%-ers are evil thing is so misguided. I don't know when an why this country stopped being anti-success.

I don't begrudge any of the 1% their success.

It's funny. When I first heard the media use the concept of the 1%, my very first thought wasn't about how unfair this all is. Rather, it was "Okay, now what does it take to be the 1%"?
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

scross to 67845017

Member

to 67845017
said by 67845017:

I wish I cared, but I really don't. Everyone has to make their own way through the world and make their own choices. I've made mine. You've made yours.

My point was that those OWS cretins can suck it if they want handouts. Until they work for something rather than just whine and complain, they can hang for all I care.

You certainly have made your choices. You've made your choice to lie down with dogs, so don't be surprised when you get fleas. Remember - you've been warned!

And about those "OWS cretins": While I don't necessarily agree with everything they say or everything they do, in the vernacular their activities (and the activities of others before them) are what is known as "foreshadowing". Historically, the "haves" (even if they came by it honestly) have been vastly outnumbered by the "have-nots". And if the haves do things to make the situation worse, or if they simply choose to ignore the have-nots, then before long the masses rise up and just take what they want, usually in the bloodiest of fashions. This has happened a great many times throughout history, and you ignore this lesson at your own peril. (It would be very Darwinian if you did, though.)

Even the lying corporate VP that I mentioned earlier knew this, because it was one of the things that actively scared him. He had talked about precisely this scenario before, while discussing tough economic times and the general misfortune of other companies, some of which we acquired. He was shaking like a leaf as he gave each of us our individual walking papers (mine were quite generous, thank you very much), and there were several people who picked up on this and toyed with him a bit. Unfortunately for him, unlike the CFO who showed up to give us the initial bad news en masse, this particular VP wasn't deemed worthy by corporate of having a personal security guard, so he had to deal with each of us individually, all alone, face-to-face. It didn't help that he had been "friendly" with some of the female employees (this was quite common within the management ranks, as it turns out - even among the very top brass, who should have known better), so they were able to blackmail him and negotiate even more generous severance packages (God bless 'em).
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned) to tmh

Member

to tmh
said by tmh :

said by 67845017:

I am and I earned it. This whole generic 1%-ers are evil thing is so misguided. I don't know when an why this country stopped being anti-success.

I don't begrudge any of the 1% their success.

It's funny. When I first heard the media use the concept of the 1%, my very first thought wasn't about how unfair this all is. Rather, it was "Okay, now what does it take to be the 1%"?

Exactly right. That's the attitude that's been lost and which helped propel this country to success. Now, success is a dirty word and something apparently to be ashamed of. We've become apologists and handout seekers instead of dreamers and innovators.
said by scross:

You certainly have made your choices. You've made your choice to lie down with dogs, so don't be surprised when you get fleas. Remember - you've been warned!

And about those "OWS cretins": While I don't necessarily agree with everything they say or everything they do, in the vernacular their activities (and the activities of others before them) are what is known as "foreshadowing". Historically, the "haves" (even if they came by it honestly) have been vastly outnumbered by the "have-nots". And if the haves do things to make the situation worse, or if they simply choose to ignore the have-nots, then before long the masses rise up and just take what they want, usually in the bloodiest of fashions. This has happened a great many times throughout history, and you ignore this lesson at your own peril. (It would be very Darwinian if you did, though.)

Lying down with the dogs? Because I've worked hard and found success? Thanks for the warning. Kind of scary, but I think I'll just keep on keeping on. I'm not nearly an E or C level employee, so I don't think the villagers are planning on burning down my castle any time soon.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

1 recommendation

scross

Member

said by 67845017:

said by tmh :

said by 67845017:

I am and I earned it. This whole generic 1%-ers are evil thing is so misguided. I don't know when an why this country stopped being anti-success.

I don't begrudge any of the 1% their success.

It's funny. When I first heard the media use the concept of the 1%, my very first thought wasn't about how unfair this all is. Rather, it was "Okay, now what does it take to be the 1%"?

Exactly right. That's the attitude that's been lost and which helped propel this country to success. Now, success is a dirty word and something apparently to be ashamed of. We've become apologists and handout seekers instead of dreamers and innovators.
said by scross:

You certainly have made your choices. You've made your choice to lie down with dogs, so don't be surprised when you get fleas. Remember - you've been warned!

And about those "OWS cretins": While I don't necessarily agree with everything they say or everything they do, in the vernacular their activities (and the activities of others before them) are what is known as "foreshadowing". Historically, the "haves" (even if they came by it honestly) have been vastly outnumbered by the "have-nots". And if the haves do things to make the situation worse, or if they simply choose to ignore the have-nots, then before long the masses rise up and just take what they want, usually in the bloodiest of fashions. This has happened a great many times throughout history, and you ignore this lesson at your own peril. (It would be very Darwinian if you did, though.)

Lying down with the dogs? Because I've worked hard and found success? Thanks for the warning. Kind of scary, but I think I'll just keep on keeping on. I'm not nearly an E or C level employee, so I don't think the villagers are planning on burning down my castle any time soon.

From the sounds of it your company is now lying down with the dogs of Wall Street, and while everyone there may be happy about that right now, even "amazed" (Really, dude, I cringed so hard for you when I read that!), I can pretty much guarantee that you will come to regret this in short order. I could give you some details of what to look out for, and I may do that a bit later, but the key idea here is that Wall Street always wants "more". Your company may start off doing relatively smart things (cutting the fat, as it were, and tightening up its accounting and supply chains and so on), but before long at the Street's insistence they'll be cutting into muscle, and then into bone, because that makes the bottom line look better in the short term and keeps Wall Street happy. And there are ways (very tempting ways, and very successful for Wall Street) of letting them get almost total control of your stock, and then almost total control of your C-level and other executives, to the point where they dance for Wall Street like so many marionettes. And when they've decimated your company and wrung everything they can out of it, they'll just turn around and dump it, maybe letting it get chopped up and sold off by pieces in the process. And no matter where you are in the food chain, you're generally not immune to the effects of this.

(I really wish now you would tell us who you work for, because the playbook for this manipulation is so set that I could make some pretty good profits out of your company's stock as it continues to rise (maybe) and then inevitably falls back down again.)

And about that "success": The myth (although of course there is still some truth to it), if that if you study hard, and you work hard, and you are maybe reasonably lucky (health-wise and so on), then you will get a good job and be financially successful and have a happy life and a happy retirement. I don't know if this has ever been as true as we think it was, but there plenty enough people who've followed pretty much this track over the years and have been happy with it, at least up until now. And it is certainly generally true that slackers don't succeed, although there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, too, for people who were maybe born into privilege or have privileged connections or who maybe pick certain career paths (legal or otherwise).

But many "hard-working and successful people" are now finding that their careers are gone, their savings are gone, their retirement is gone, their youth and health are gone, and so on. And their kids and their grandkids have noticed this, too, and have realized that, not only are many opportunities gone for them now, but even if they were able to take them then they might end up getting just as screwed in the end, and many of these young people are who you now see out in the streets in protest.

And protesting itself isn't new (there have always been protests in this country and elsewhere), but what is new (or so it seems) is a general willingness on the part of the media and the general public to just dismiss the concerns of these protesters out of hand, or even to intentionally distort their concerns to the public, as if they are non-issues that will simply go away if they are ignored long enough. And they may soon find, as so many others have found before them, that this is not at all true.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

That was a funny post. You have no clue about my company and yet you know all about its certain demise. Very cool.

I don't worry about the company getting chopped up and sold off in pieces. That doesn't affect me. Many of the things that you described don't apply to us because of the structure of the company. So many of your doomsday scenarios are laughable. Also, I have a one year termination clause, so I don't worry too much personally.

Plenty of jobs out there for what I do and for the experience I have.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

scross

Member

said by 67845017:

That was a funny post. You have no clue about my company and yet you know all about its certain demise. Very cool.

I don't worry about the company getting chopped up and sold off in pieces. That doesn't affect me. Many of the things that you described don't apply to us because of the structure of the company. So many of your doomsday scenarios are laughable. Also, I have a one year termination clause, so I don't worry too much personally.

Plenty of jobs out there for what I do and for the experience I have.

Friend, dear friend Goober. (May I call you Goober? The name certainly seems to fit!) I don't really need to know much about your company (other than the name; I really do want to play your stock), because I know all I need to know right now, which is that they're dancing to the tune that Wall Street is playing for them. And, despite your protestations to the contrary, if you stick around this will most definitely affect you at some point. I was very serious when I said that there is a playbook for this, and while it might vary a bit from year to year and company to company, by-and-large it follows a tried-and-true formula. I could give you a blow-by-blow account of what will probably transpire, and how it may effect your personal life and finances, but since you don't seem too interested then I think I'll just let you discover that for yourself.

You say that there are plenty of jobs out there; good for you! But keep your network open and maybe start looking at some of those other jobs right now, because you may find that you need one of them (or at least want one of them) much sooner than you might think.

What I've given you here is "fair warning"; what you've given me back is "denial" (something that I've seen plenty of before). But when things start to go south, and you start feeling very uncomfortable, and you start having trouble sleeping at night, promise me that you'll remember that we had this little conversation, and get out while you still can, if you still can.

That is all. Take care and have a safe drive home!
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

1 recommendation

67845017 (banned)

Member

Ahh, now career advice! I assume you are uniquely qualified to give someone like me some pointers. I'm humbled, grateful and amazed by your business prowess.

Funny stuff. Mind if I call you Carnac?