Free Republic

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — A "resource action," or layoffs, are underway at IBM (NYSE: IBM) under the name "Project Chrome," workers are telling the Alliance@IBM Union. "Bloodbath today," wrote an IBMer in Columbia, Mo. "Me? Yes, RA'd." “At a time when IBM is aggressively transforming, the company continues to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients and to lead in new, high value segments of the IT industry, including cloud, analytics, mobile, security, social and cognitive computing. This is not new news," IBM said in a statement. "IBM announced a $600 million workforce rebalancing charge...

The Act of Rebalancing Is About To Get Real Nasty For Export-Model And Oil Exporter Countries … My outlook for 2009 is this: The U.S. economy could get a lot uglier. But the pain of rebalancing will be even more severe in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. And it will hit those economies a whole lot harder than is now priced into the market. _ In short, the U.S. isn't recycling excess savings from China and oil exporters any longer because China's exports and oil prices have plummeted._ U.S. consumers are starting to save again. And this has reduced spending...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2008 – The nation’s future roles in Iraq and Afghanistan will drive, to some extent, how long it takes for the U.S. military to become a more balanced and ready force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday. Heavy operations in the regions are a drain on personnel, equipment, funds and training time the military could otherwise use to rebuild its force, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, told reporters traveling back to Washington with him after a Navy warship christening ceremony in Pascagoula, Miss. “I think for us to get into any kind of...

DAVOS, Switzerland - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said Friday it was time to "rebalance" the international agenda after the war in Iraq (news - web sites) to prevent the fight against terrorism from worsening global divisions. His warning at the World Economic Forum (news - web sites) preceded a call by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) for the "entirety of the world community" to help eliminate terrorism and establish freedom in Iraq. The aftermath of the war and dealing with the threat of terrorism has been a running theme this year at...