[RightOnline]

"Who sets trade policy? Offshoring at EDS, IBM and HP had nothing to do with unions. It had to do with Companies deciding they didn't want to pay americans to do jobs in america. More, they didn't want to pay professionals the going rate and decided to bail on America to get a cut rate price elsewhere while re-importing their services at below market cost to undermine the rest of the market and thusly drive wages and benifits down. In short, they have used the rest of the world to their advantage in manipulating our market - subverting it for "higher" profits. Unions didn't do that, they're just one of the lame excuses the treason lobby invokes for undermining the nation for profit."

Nope. You don't get it. No one on this thread has so far, so don't feel alone.

You want to blame someone for "offshoring", etc.? Blame f**king Wall Street. Everything to corporate America...........EVERYTHING...............is "quarterly results". Forget long term growth plans, forget long term strategies, forget what makes sense for the long run............ALL anyone on the Street rewards is the latest "Quarterly Results".

In this age of Information RIGHT Bloody Now, it's the way businesses have evolved: week by week, month by month, quarter by quarter. Two, five, ten years from now.......where will these companies be?

Trust me when I tell you: no one gives a flying f**k.

Cut costs; offshore your talent. Cut benefits. Piss on your employees' legs and tell them it's raining. Try to make them proud to be a force in the "world economy". Wrap up the panic in homilies and platitudes. Make them smile while they're being slowly screwed......but they don't have much choice these days to stay competitive per The Rules of the Quarter.

I should know. I'm in worldwide marketing for a very, very, very large corporation that is a household name.

You get Wall Street and their ilk to change their perceptions of what are the right moves for listed companies, what comprises sound strategies, what REALLY to look for in companies........and you'll see a change. Otherwise, deal with it.

[american colleen]

I got it a couple of posts before you did. OTOH, we are 'Wall Street' --- people scream pretty loud if their portfolio doesn't increase in leaps and bounds - that includes anyone w/ a 401k or a 403b or a retirement account/pension. Which is pretty much all of us.

THe whole thing is like a dog chasing its tail.

[Nowhere Man]

You want to blame someone for "offshoring", etc.? Blame f**king Wall Street. Everything to corporate America...........EVERYTHING...............is "quarterly results". Forget long term growth plans, forget long term strategies, forget what makes sense for the long run............ALL anyone on the Street rewards is the latest "Quarterly Results".

I lay most of the blame there, and the people in power that let them get away with it. I see myself conservative on most things, but I tend to be an economic moderate, seeing such shenanigans by these people have made me such. I am still registered a Republican although I don't see myself as one anymore, it seems like the "checkered pants, golfing, country clubbers" are calling the shots here while the country, the middle class and working class burns. Ir's like me driving my car without my glasses, I can't see beyond the tip of my nose. They don't go beyond the next quarter, what about the next year? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? 100 years? This is where the Red Chinese and general Oriental mindset is ahead of us.

Trust me when I tell you: no one gives a flying f**k.

Plenty of people do but they and we tend to be on the outside, have little or no influence on the movers and shakers.

Cut costs; offshore your talent. Cut benefits. Piss on your employees' legs and tell them it's raining. Try to make them proud to be a force in the "world economy". Wrap up the panic in homilies and platitudes. Make them smile while they're being slowly screwed......but they don't have much choice these days to stay competitive per The Rules of the Quarter.

Well to make it short, "tell a lie enough times, people will believe it to be the truth."

[raybbr]

In this age of Information RIGHT Bloody Now, it's the way businesses have evolved: week by week, month by month, quarter by quarter. Two, five, ten years from now.......where will these companies be?

And the almighty stock market, which is being touted as the savior of all, is no longer looked at as an investment. It is now just there to take profit when it's there and to hell with the corporation's future.

[Sunnyflorida]

The focus on quarterly results comes hand in glove with the liquidity that provides the jobs we have. Without this liquidity the economy would be far worse.

[Havoc]

Trade policy is the pool in which Wall street functions, bud.
And, yes, I'm well aware of the corporatist mindset and how the market plays the game. Employees are the willing dupes in the game - pawns for CEOs and stock holders who split the earnings and make excuses to those gleaning them as to why they aren't keeping up with inflation.. The market has become a protection racket in the same sense as insurance has. And the way to really strike it big is to be handpicked to mismanage a company, take a golden parachute, then wait in queue for your next opportunity to do the same. It's like there's an elite pool from which they choose and it seems to be full of guys that sack companies on purpose.
May just be a perception; but, it isn't a lone perception out here.

[Fury]

You want to blame someone for "offshoring", etc.? Blame f**king Wall Street. Everything to corporate America...........EVERYTHING...............is "quarterly results". Forget long term growth plans, forget long term strategies, forget what makes sense for the long run............ALL anyone on the Street rewards is the latest "Quarterly Results".

I'll need to disagree. Many companies are focused on long-term. An example that comes to mind - Union Pacfic (UNP). They shed their trucking business (Overnite had an IPO 2? years ago), are working to keep their locomotive fleet modernized, etc. The stock has been performing very well over the past 5-10 years...