"CEOs warn Daley that 'huge layoffs' are coming to Chicago" (Lee: leasing, buy)

[ChiMack]

did you guys read this in the suntimes, what do you think

CEOs warn Daley that 'huge layoffs' are coming :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics

[weizilla]

"...There’s no layoffs in the federal government. They print money.”

While it is true that the federal employees have better job security than the average employee, I'm pretty sure the reason isn't simply because the government can just print money.

Also, as a new resident of Chicago, what's this Skyway fund they're talking about?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by weizilla

...Also, as a new resident of Chicago, what's this Skyway fund they're talking about?

The city sold the right (a few years ago) to operate and maintain (as well as receive profits from) the Skyway to a private group.The term is 100 years in return for an upfront lump sum of money for the total leasing cost of 100 years.

[Attrill]

This is just stating the obvious. London, New York, Moscow, Los Angeles, etc... are all facing the same thing. We are looking at a worldwide financial crisis - there will be an f-load of layoffs around the world, hold on tight.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Attrill

This is just stating the obvious. London, New York, Moscow, Los Angeles, etc... are all facing the same thing. We are looking at a worldwide financial crisis - there will be an f-load of layoffs around the world, hold on tight.

Yeah, and lucky me I get to graduate right into this mess. The competition is going to be absolutely cut-throat.

[Lookout Kid]

My industry is seeing large numbers of layoffs right now. It's scaring the crap out of me. Architects are the "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes to predicting economic troubles, and so far it looks pretty bad.

On the other hand, many businesses are still moving forward with expansion projects, and our firm is still bringing in new work. People are still building things--but there has been a very severe shift away from housing.

[chet everett]

Sorry, I don't buy this. While I love the guy, da Mare is sometimes a big fat lying idiot, and this has all the signs of being one of those times.

Key quote:

It’s going to have a huge effect upon all businesses relying off of one another. And for cities, counties and states, your revenue is going to keep coming down….Some of these local governments are going to be in jeopardy. They won’t have enough money to [meet] their payroll.

This, my friends, is da Mare's none-too-subtle way of saying "see, it's not ME, I didn't let the payroll get too porky and ladle out contracts to city workers that there was no way in h377 that there would be revenue to actually cover without raiding the Skyway rainy-day-fund and/or letting Big Brother Billy write us a huge new bond issue over at Chase, no sir-ree, pay no attention to ALL THAT, instead, looky here -- CEOs come over by my office and say "MAN are we ever stupid! We have too many worker to pay!!! We are gonna put people out in da street. But we don't wanna be heartless pigs. Thank goodness Obama is our President becuase now we can slash our payrolls and everything will be cool, 'cause O will just hook 'em up with sweet Fed gigs... RIght? You da MAN! Rock out Richie!!!"

Some how I sorta doubt that in this age of rapidly declined share prices, SOX and SEC scrutiny CEOs tell anything that could be interpreted as "forward looking statements" to ANY pol, especially one so notoriously blabby as his richieness...

Now does that mean that at some Charity Gala where said CEO pissed away $10,000 or more bucks so his wife gets to sit next to Maggie, the CEO doesn't sorta grimmace when Richie asks "how's da bidness world deese days..."? Of course. But I highly doubt any CEO would be any near as specific as Richie would have us believe...

Reductions In Force (RIF): Dos, Don'ts and Other Considerat

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

The city sold the right (a few years ago) to operate and maintain (as well as receive profits from) the Skyway to a private group.The term is 100 years in return for an upfront lump sum of money for the total leasing cost of 100 years.

Strangely, the majority of America's toll ways are owned by companies from other countries...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Some how I sorta doubt that in this age of rapidly declined share prices, SOX and SEC scrutiny CEOs tell anything that could be interpreted as "forward looking statements" to ANY pol, especially one so notoriously blabby as his richieness...

Now does that mean that at some Charity Gala where said CEO pissed away $10,000 or more bucks so his wife gets to sit next to Maggie, the CEO doesn't sorta grimmace when Richie asks "how's da bidness world deese days..."? Of course. But I highly doubt any CEO would be any near as specific as Richie would have us believe...

You mean Da Mare doesn't have weekly briefings with the CEOs of Chicago's largest companies where he's filled in on all staffing decisions? Wow, his power has really slipped. I thought he had a Red Phone with direct connections to all board members of McDonalds, Boeing, Abbott, Kraft, Sarah Lee, Sears, and Motorola.

In all seriousness, it's hard for me to imagine more than one or two business leaders having casual conversations with Daley that are far more benign than the press sensationalism we are seeing here. The problem with these kinds of stories in the media is that the have the potential of creating hysteria and becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. That said, my industry is seeing lots of layoffs!

[chet everett]

Oh, no doubt. There are companies that always flush out people, and others that use those flushes to staff up for projects.

Recently I switched jobs. The place I hired on at is modestly using this opportunity to fill positions at a nice mix of talent/salary.

The press loves to put a microphone in front of Richie. The could not hire novel writers to come up with better lines for the evening newscasts...