[the invisib1e hand]

OK, so someone tell me why this is different than ANY OTHER business cycle we’ve been through?

1. debt burden squeezes profit margins, forces "productivity" at the expense of...you name it: quality, customer service, etc.

2. outsourcing. not new to this cycle, but to this generation.

3. the myth factor. not all "productivity" is productivity. For example: you wait on hold for tech support for an hour, because there is simply not enough staff. That's hours that a company doesn't have to pay, that's "the same output with less labor," from their perspective. But what's your hour worth? They've outsourced tech support partly to you. Their productivity at your expense. What a country!

[jdsteel]

Really, details may differ slightly, but my point was that I have read this same headline over and over and over through the years.