Looking at all the news about layoffs and outsourcings that seem to

[CanIgonow]

be happening with increasing frequency,I think we are seeing on a national scale what used to happen at some of the corporations I used to work atAt these places whenever we had a downturn in business, we would dread "pink slip fridays".On those days, people would be called in to their boss's offices, the doors would be shut and guys would be terminated.The guys who were the most vulnerable were the older ones with fatter paychecks and would be replaced by younger lower paid hot shots.The guys who used to play boss would also get their throats slit and it was a big game for all to see who was going to get axed next.People used to pray that the meanies would be cut first.

I bring this up because the corporations now get to play winners and losers on a global scale.In this game, the professionals from the advanced industrial nations,i.e.US,Germany,Japan etc. get their heads handed over to them while the corporations go acourting countries like India, China,Phillippines etc.,where the same professional services can be had for pennies on the dollar.

The ruthless efficiency with which this corporate game is played makes losers of all those who are used to living at high standards in a global context and need the higher incomes to afford such standards.It is almost as though one gets punished for having accomplished much personally and societally.And those who live at a lower standard are the ones that attract the corporation's attention, because they can not merely be the willing workers at lower pay that the corporations are seeking, they also represent a future market when the markets in the advanced societies become saturated and mature.

So, I think my personal experience with pink slip fridays has gone global hastened by the arrival of the internet.The biggest culprits in this dreary saga are the investment banks, which have lent so much money to many corporations that the debt service of these corporations forms a big chunk of their operating costs.Sort of like Uncle Sam in the Bush Era, one might say.