Home Depot to slash 7,000 jobs... (sales, unemployment, stores)

[noah]

On the other side Japan was in a terrible economic downturn for nearly a decade.

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

Several great points! How can anyone argue with this?

[coolyfett]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

Yeah, it sucks that some people will take this as an opportunity to laugh at the misfortune of the employee. To me the buck stops at the top. It's jerk-off CEOs like Bob Nardelli who make these overly corporate decisions that ruin the whole shopping experience for everyone. Then these fatcat CEOs make off like bandits with these $200,000,000 parachutes while everybody else gets to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions.

Don't expect these crony capitalists to be held accountable by society though, at least not by the Limbaugh/"conservative" crowd anyways...

Maybe some of these CEOs need to be assassinated.

[coolyfett]

Originally Posted by cityrover

Lure people into buying stuff on credit for years.

Jack their rates and smack them with penalties out the left field.

When people can no longer charge stuff they dont need with money they dont have, FIRE them.

Because we knowthat firing overtaxed and broke people is a great way to get them to spend more money to increase your business.

Ah capitalism. It's nice, isnt it?

Rep Pint for the Rover!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by coolyfett

Maybe some of these CEOs need to be assassinated.

No, I think that would be overkill.

[coolyfett]

Originally Posted by cityhopper

I am certainly not a genius, but if these cities/counties don't begin to work together...Atlanta could have a really huge problem in the next few years.

What exactly do you mean?

[AcidSnake]

Originally Posted by coolyfett

Maybe some of these CEOs need to be assassinated.

Now I wouldn't go to THOSE extremes, although it's a shame that there is no sense of sacrifice and suffering along with your loyal workers from those at the top. At least in Japan they have the concept of seppuku or harakiri.

If a CEO in Japan dishonors his company and the people who work for him he may commit ritual suicide as penance. Now why can't we have something like that here in the U.S.?

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

Now I wouldn't go to THOSE extremes, although it's a shame that there is no sense of sacrifice and suffering along with your loyal workers from those at the top. At least in Japan they have the concept of seppuku or harakiri.

If a CEO in Japan dishonors his company and the people who work for him he may commit ritual suicide as penance. Now why can't we have something like that here in the U.S.?

I could be more understanding if that happened...

[coolyfett]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

No, I think that would be overkill.

How about poison?

[Galounger]

[quote=wxjay;7210378]

Nothing is free, as your following statements have shown here. There is a cost involved, so let's not mask it as something that comes out of thin air.

True there is a cost. Higher taxes (taxes pay for the health care ofcourse). That's one advantage American Companies do have. Lower taxes. But If your company waste these tax benefits by giving huge raises to inept CEO's and pushing development and production of undesirable products. Then those lower taxes are useless.

I also think another factor is the overall hardworking nature of Japanese workers. Many work 12-16 hour workdays. It is a cultural aspect to their workplace. However, right now the Japanese are having a major population crisis. Their birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, and estimations say that Japan's national population could be 1/3 of what it is right now in 70 years or so. That's a scary prospect and doesn't bode well for economic projections.

I too used to think it was all about the Japanese working harder and Japanese are very hard working people. But having worked in a couple of Japanese firms I know it is deeper than just that! There are plenty of very hard working American workers as well but the Japanese way of management allows and facilitates employees working much smarter than in American companies.

Just a couple of examples of what I'm talking about are Japanese companies place much much more importance on proper training of new employees. Most american companies on the other hand hate to spend the time and money on training and try to get around it.
American companies pay lip service to quality but american culture is to punish those that stop production to address problems. (especially if it's because of a mistake they made) Japanese companies on the other hand encourage and often praise those that stop the line for quality issues (even if it was because of a mistake they made). The concept is to figure out how to design a way into the system to prevent this mistake from happening as often in the future. In American companies it's we'll punish you to scare other workers into not making this mistake in the future. That approach usually leads workers to often try and hide mistakes.

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Remember - the topic is about Home Depot laying folks off....

Sorry. But I hope you see the connection I'm making here Greg.

1. America abandons it's manufacturing base to Japan, Germany, China, etc. rather than learn to compete with them.

2. Those jobs are replaced by service jobs and a huge trade imbalance occurs. The American economy must become very consumer oriented to stay afloat without manufacturing and exports.

3. Any drop in Americans desire to consume huge amounts causes this new economy to suffer. The government remedies this by artifically lowering interest rates to encourage high borrowing and spending and growth in the real estate area.

4. Too Much is borrowed and spent on real estate over flowing the market with new homes. The bubble burst and the resulting credit crisis forces Americans to spend less whether they want to or not. Big reccession and Home Depot is one of the first to fall since it depends on both consumerism and the real estate market for survival.

Take care of number 1. and 2,3,4 will be fixed as a result.