I think I like it better the other way. Worrying about how to get it all done is better than worry about getting something to do.
In either case, I do my best to trade value for value and not try to abuse those times where I have the advantage. I think my employees know that and they didn’t try to take advantage during the boom times. Of course, we (I have a partner) tried to stay ahead of them instead of waiting for them to make demands. In return, they busted their asses when we got to chrunch time and couldn’t find new hires.
We have not had to lay anyone off... yet. I dread that because I have a really strong group.
As for myself, it was precisely the facets of office life that had no bearing on the job at hand, and conceptual hypocrisy like what I've described that led me to decide the corporate world isn't for me, and I struck out on my own. Nothing but my performance (and the level of demand in the market) has any effect on my compensation. Customers relate to you in a much purer, less political fashion as a contractor. If the work you did works, you're OK, here's your check. Very clean, and based on only proper factors.
The guy at the second place always presented himself as a big free-market conservative, abhored excessive regulation, etc, etc. But he was all for government projects whose beneficiaries he liked. For example, he was a big sports fan, and he was incensed that anyone would oppose municipal funding for a new pro baseball field. My attitude was that if there were a market for a pro baseball team in town, building a field would justify itself. Why should the taxpayers subsidize businesses whose business model is inadequate to the circumstances? So I always though of him as a faux conservative, or at least a fuzzy minded one. I recently learned that he was a big Obama supporter in 2008. Finally showing his true colors I guess.