Report: Dell Layoffs Are About To Hit and Could Be Huge

[CommanderFrank]

Inside sources have reported that Dell is about to begin a massive layoff of its employees in the US and Europe. The total number of layoffs is unknown, but the total could run into tens of thousands.

When necessary, we’ll continue to make tough decisions to help ensure our long-term success – some of these decisions may affect our workforce.

 

[Insula Gilliganis]

From Oct 6, 1997..

And at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97 here today, the CEO of competitor Dell Computer added his voice to the chorus when asked what could be done to fix the Mac maker. His solution was a drastic one.
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders," Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.. others, like Dell, appear to think that Jobs's expanded role isn't helping

Steve Jobs has always made Michael Dell look like a punk

in 2006, Steve Jobs Jobs sent an email to Apple employees, which read: “Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn’t perfect at predicting the future. Based on today’s stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve.”

Fast forward to 2011 and let’s help Steve update that email:

It turns out that Apple is now worth more than ten times more than Dell. 10x!

Apple’s market cap today: $310 billion

Dell’s market cap today: $30 billion

 

[PinchedNerve]

No problem, Democrats have them completely covered. There will be plenty of unemployment checks, well fare, obama care, obama phones, and I am sure there is more I am totally unaware of. They'll be fine, just vote Democrat and you need not think or work the rest of your life.

 

[Ducman69]

No problem, Democrats have them completely covered. There will be plenty of unemployment checks, well fare, obama care, obama phones, and I am sure there is more I am totally unaware of. They'll be fine, just vote Democrat and you need not think or work the rest of your life.

You're actually quite right. They will receive a whopping $426 a week in Texas (nearly as bad as Washington's $604 a week for sitting on your hands), with virtually no oversight as long as you "pretend" to be looking for a job, for up to two years.

While unemployed, you are also eligible for an ungodly amount of discounts, especially if you have kids, so Texas' low cost of living gets REALLY low.

Honestly, if I weren't concerned with how horrible it would look to be unemployed for a whole year gap on my resume, I would have just taken a really long vacation when I was laid off.

It simply blew my mind how much they encourage you not to work. Buddy's live-in girlfriend had one kid and I think was on for 2.5 years or something on extension, even though she was really a stay at home mom and he was the bread winner, lol! She had a lonestar card and discount electricity and internet and wanted for nothing. Pretty sad really.

But unemployed people are just as motivated to work as employed people, and a vote is a vote. So give someone a big handout, and they'll vote for you for life.

 

[kbrickley]

You're actually quite right. They will receive a whopping $426 a week in Texas (nearly as bad as Washington's $604 a week for sitting on your hands), with virtually no oversight as long as you "pretend" to be looking for a job, for up to two years.

While unemployed, you are also eligible for an ungodly amount of discounts, especially if you have kids, so Texas' low cost of living gets REALLY low.

Honestly, if I weren't concerned with how horrible it would look to be unemployed for a whole year gap on my resume, I would have just taken a really long vacation when I was laid off.

It simply blew my mind how much they encourage you not to work. Buddy's live-in girlfriend had one kid and I think was on for 2.5 years or something on extension, even though she was really a stay at home mom and he was the bread winner, lol! She had a lonestar card and discount electricity and internet and wanted for nothing. Pretty sad really.

But unemployed people are just as motivated to work as employed people, and a vote is a vote. So give someone a big handout, and they'll vote for you for life.

Although there certainly need to be controls on things like unemployment I do not think the majority of professional people being downsized are anxious to just sit on their hands ... if Dell is looking at massive layoffs they could be downsizing a lot of engineers and mid level managers (they will save the most money doing this) ... these are people who might make $5-10K a month ... going from say $6K a month to less than $2K is not going to be like a vacation for someone with kids or trying to support a family (especially if you have expenses that are not easily avoided like house payments, car payments, insurance, utilities, and food) ... hopefully the Dell folks can land on their feet ... I only wish them the best of luck

 

[octoberasian]

US Corporations: "Happy New Years! Enjoy your pink slip, all in the name of profitability!"

You're actually quite right. They will receive a whopping $426 a week in Texas (nearly as bad as Washington's $604 a week for sitting on your hands), with virtually no oversight as long as you "pretend" to be looking for a job, for up to two years.

While unemployed, you are also eligible for an ungodly amount of discounts, especially if you have kids, so Texas' low cost of living gets REALLY low.

Honestly, if I weren't concerned with how horrible it would look to be unemployed for a whole year gap on my resume, I would have just taken a really long vacation when I was laid off.

It simply blew my mind how much they encourage you not to work. Buddy's live-in girlfriend had one kid and I think was on for 2.5 years or something on extension, even though she was really a stay at home mom and he was the bread winner, lol! She had a lonestar card and discount electricity and internet and wanted for nothing. Pretty sad really.

But unemployed people are just as motivated to work as employed people, and a vote is a vote. So give someone a big handout, and they'll vote for you for life.

It's always been a wonder why the government-- regardless if Democrat or Republican-- are not willing to motivate these people to work or help them find work.

Because they want the extra votes? Lack of available jobs out there?

Why would something like subsidizing education to train for extra skills such as technical and computer skills to get them a job that's in demand wouldn't work? We spend a lot already on unemployment. I can understand if someone is physically unable to work. And, I hate to sound like a Republican, but it's not helping the government or the economy out by giving out handouts to those physically able to work.

A program not to put them through a 2 or 4 year college course, but just to give them a boost in order to get a job in a year. Train them for computing skills or something that's in demand, and requiring that they find a job within one year after unemployment or get reduced unemployment checks the next year after.

Then again, it may sound harsh to do that, but I understand that finding a job is not easy lately. You have to ask yourself: Where are the jobs in the US lately?

Yeah, where are they? The food service industry? Help desk? Customer service?

Manufacturing in the US isn't as big as it once was, and a lot of it is now shifting to service-type, non-skilled labor type of jobs.

At the same time, the government has to work on the other end and find a way to get businesses and companies to hire more Americans to work. Unemployment in the US is down to 6.7% as of a few days ago. That's nearly 17 million people out of a population of nearly 250 million Americans. Are there not 17 million jobs out there?

A lot of corporations have been shifting manufacturing overseas as always due to lower costs of labor. They're also taking advantage of Visas for overseas graduates. Is there a preference for a foreign graduate over an American graduate other than the fact that the foreign graduate is willing to work for lesser pay? I've said it before in other threads, Americans are too expensive for many businesses and corporations to hire, but there has to be a compromise or unemployment is going to be pretty high for a long time. 6.7% may not seem like a lot, but it's still a lot of Americans unable to find work due to businesses and corporations being so damn picky over who they hire especially if they have the skills and experience for the job.

I've read the New Years Resolution thread here a few weeks ago, and there are people looking for a job or a new one this year, but where are these jobs? And, which company is willing to hire more Americans over a foreign one?

Regardless, both sides of the equation-- the unemployed especially those unwilling to find work and the businesses unwilling to hire more Americans-- have to find a compromise. The US government and the economy can't survive long enough like this for an extended period or we'll go further and further into debt until there is no more funding for government or anarchy is going to start happening in this country.

"No empire or nation lasts forever..."

 

[TekRok]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

 

[Ducman69]

Although there certainly need to be controls on things like unemployment I do not think the majority of professional people being downsized are anxious to just sit on their hands ... if Dell is looking at massive layoffs they could be downsizing a lot of engineers and mid level managers (they will save the most money doing this) ... these are people who might make $5-10K a month ... going from say $6K a month to less than $2K is not going to be like a vacation for someone with kids or trying to support a family (especially if you have expenses that are not easily avoided like house payments, car payments, insurance, utilities, and food) ... hopefully the Dell folks can land on their feet ... I only wish them the best of luck

Correct, but higher income people generally have savings accounts, and such a low income compared to what they were making isn't enough to keep their lifestyle afloat regardless so its pointless.

Generally with very big layoffs, we're talking about the regular middle to middle-low income jobs, as there are generally hundreds of these positions for every upper level manager. Back when I was working helpdesk, we had some guys that were out of work (and I promise you, they can NOT have been trying) for over a year when I checked in on them. The only real downside for those people is that its harder to find a good job when you have such a tremendous gap on your resume, as personally I don't even want to look at a resume if they've been out that long and if its otherwise good its certainly one of the first questions I ask. Naturally your career progress is also put on hold.

No one should need more than two months to find a job that can pay $426 a week as a stop gop job (just temp contractor somewhere) while you look for a job on your lunch break and after work.

 

[Ducman69]

Why would something like subsidizing education to train for extra skills such as technical and computer skills to get them a job that's in demand wouldn't work?

I don't believe in subsidizing education either, because you're still using force of arms to take money away from one person to give it to another person, with no benefit to himself and no reasonable obligation either. If you don't have money for education, which plenty of us do not, get yourself an education loan like everyone else.

Hell, we have what did they say around 12 million illegal aliens in the United States, many of which are guys from Mexico that don't even have a highschool education nor speak the language, and even they can still somehow manage to find all of these jobs despite the risks to businesses to employ them, but Americans somehow can't.

I can understand if someone is physically unable to work. And, I hate to sound like a Republican, but it's not helping the government or the economy out by giving out handouts to those physically able to work.

Honestly, there are VERY few people who are literally physically incapable of doing any work. Having lived in SE Asia, you can really appreciate how productive someone can be even with what we consider very heavy handicaps. I bought beautiful hand made jewelry from an old lady that was blind and extremely hard of hearing. Any time I see someone really trying, just trying to do the best that THEY can do, then I just feel like throwing money at them and supporting them as I can. But here people get overly fat from lack of self-control and a lazy inactive lifestyle, complain about diabeetuz and can't walk etc, get a handicap plate, get a massive investment in healthcare free, own a big pickup truck, live in a house, own a TV, and yet still live off welfare and complain that they have nothing and "can't work". Even if I only was able to sit in a bed with a trackball at my side and an internet connection, I could still do a lot of non-physical work.

Its simply about a lack of motivation and enough handouts to where they get comfortable doing nothing. And once that person is dependent on you, they are going to be your most staunch political allies so the problem feeds on itself like a cancer.

 

[kbrickley]

Correct, but higher income people generally have savings accounts, and such a low income compared to what they were making isn't enough to keep their lifestyle afloat regardless so its pointless.

Generally with very big layoffs, we're talking about the regular middle to middle-low income jobs, as there are generally hundreds of these positions for every upper level manager. Back when I was working helpdesk, we had some guys that were out of work (and I promise you, they can NOT have been trying) for over a year when I checked in on them. The only real downside for those people is that its harder to find a good job when you have such a tremendous gap on your resume, as personally I don't even want to look at a resume if they've been out that long and if its otherwise good its certainly one of the first questions I ask. Naturally your career progress is also put on hold.

No one should need more than two months to find a job that can pay $426 a week as a stop gop job (just temp contractor somewhere) while you look for a job on your lunch break and after work.

I agree there are people that abuse the system and that anyone willing to relocate (or take a pay cut) can find work quickly ... but even for skilled positions in this country we have a lot more applicants for positions than there are jobs ... right now the job market remains very competitive (especially if you are older or have skills that are easily outsourced) ... Although I am sure that Dell has some low level jobs they can eliminate I suspect they are like Apple, IBM, and others and have already moved many of their low level jobs off shore ... I recently left Flextronics to go to a new employer but Flextronics and Foxconn both did a lot of the manufacturing for Dell already ... I would suspect that a massive Dell layoff will hit any remaining customer service jobs they still have in the USA, warehouse jobs, and tons of managers, engineers, and other support personnel (buyers, planners, etc) since these are all jobs that can be easily outsourced ... I doubt they have few manufacturing jobs left to outsource

They might also be doing like IBM did in the 90's ... getting out of the sales and design business (two services that are easy to outsource now ... since most manufacturing got outsourced long ago) and moving into the vertical integration and support business (which has worked well for IBM) ... however IBM laid off about 40,000-50,000 professional workers when they made the transition ... I wouldn't write off a switch like this as only affecting their low level workers

 

[kbrickley]

I don't believe in subsidizing education either, because you're still using force of arms to take money away from one person to give it to another person, with no benefit to himself and no reasonable obligation either. If you don't have money for education, which plenty of us do not, get yourself an education loan like everyone else.

Hell, we have what did they say around 12 million illegal aliens in the United States, many of which are guys from Mexico that don't even have a highschool education nor speak the language, and even they can still somehow manage to find all of these jobs despite the risks to businesses to employ them, but Americans somehow can't.

American workers do demand a lot of things that foreign workers do not though ... they expect higher pay and more benefits ... I agree that American workers have priced themselves out of the job market in many of the lower income categories and that is why foreign workers succeed in those areas (and why we need to allow more legal foreign immigration to support those needs) ... we do need to find a way to retrain workers or force them to move where the jobs are though ... otherwise we will allow China to displace us as the top economy far sooner than we should

There are many countries that offer free higher education opportunities or trade education opportunities for their population and we should at least look at the viability of that ... we could also look at countries like Israel, Taiwan, and others where they have mandatory military service requirements for the young ... this would delay their entry into the workforce and allow them to receive training useful to the economy before they muster out

 

[Ducman69]

The United States has become too bleeding heart liberal for a mandatory military training program to be effective. You wouldn't be able to really discipline anyone there that didn't want to be there, and half the people would do what they do in Germany and just say they have a moral problem with war or its against their religion etc to get out of it.

Regarding allowing MORE legal immigration, IMO we shouldn't need ANY immigration when there are so many people sitting at home doing nothing. If you take away their comfortable pillow and enact a program to find them jobs if they refuse to find one for themselves, or face termination of all benfits/subsidies, they will find the motivation to fill those gaps. Quite simply, not everyone has the capacity or the motivation to become a skilled laborer, and we have to get over this entitlement culture where everyone believes that because they are an American they shouldn't have to work in a kitchen or chicken factory etc. And if anything, crappy jobs can actually provide the motivation to start taking some online courses to advance and find a job in a field they prefer.

If we were to actually enforce the laws regarding the sanctity of our borders and deport 10 million people, and unemployment was still around 3% or less, then I would say absolutely at this time you need to import foreign labor.

 

[kbrickley]

The United States has become too bleeding heart liberal for a mandatory military training program to be effective. You wouldn't be able to really discipline anyone there that didn't want to be there, and half the people would do what they do in Germany and just say they have a moral problem with war or its against their religion etc to get out of it.

Regarding allowing MORE legal immigration, IMO we shouldn't need ANY immigration when there are so many people sitting at home doing nothing. If you take away their comfortable pillow and enact a program to find them jobs if they refuse to find one for themselves, or face termination of all benfits/subsidies, they will find the motivation to fill those gaps. Quite simply, not everyone has the capacity or the motivation to become a skilled laborer, and we have to get over this entitlement culture where everyone believes that because they are an American they shouldn't have to work in a kitchen or chicken factory etc. And if anything, crappy jobs can actually provide the motivation to start taking some online courses to advance and find a job in a field they prefer.

If we were to actually enforce the laws regarding the sanctity of our borders and deport 10 million people, and unemployment was still around 3% or less, then I would say absolutely at this time you need to import foreign labor.

Or we do what we did in the 30's during the great depression ... we put all the unemployed people on road crews and working building infrastructure ... the USA has tons of infrastructure needs but we cannot afford to pay the cost to have private companies perform the work (we would still get a big economic benefit if we used raw materials that are found or produced in the Americas) ... if unemployed people had to work 8-10 hours in the sun doing menial labor they would definitely want to find a new job or have earned the money they received ... I am not quite ready to cut people off of social programs cold turkey because of the problems it would cause but I don't have any issues with making them earn the money they get ... unless you can force Americans to take the jobs that illegal immigrants are doing (at the market cost they are doing it for) you can't cut off that spigot just yet

 

[rand4505]

They cant afford to keep anyone around that helped the NSA design the HOWLERMONKEY jtag implants.

Personally I think any company that intentionally sold compromised hardware should DIAF. FU DELL/HP/CISCO.

 

[Gorankar]

If you cut off the spigot, point them at the jobs, they will take them. Are they going to choose to starve rather than cut up chickens, flip burgers, mop floors, or the like?

 

[kbrickley]

If you cut off the spigot, point them at the jobs, they will take them. Are they going to choose to starve rather than cut up chickens, flip burgers, mop floors, or the like?

We need to make it advantageous for the companies also ... an illegal worker can work for less than minimum wage (which we are already talking about increasing) and requires few if any benefits ... it is unlikely that American workers will work for the same requirements (and it would be equally illegal if they did under the current laws) ... the government should relax the rules on business and then I agree that we might be able to cut off the spigot at that point

Personally I think we should find ways to encourage more higher level jobs that Americans are willing and able to do and let the low end jobs go to immigrants or outsource them to less developed nations as we currently do ... there are too many alternatives to low priced/unskilled jobs (immigrants, prisoners, developing nations, etc) that make an American workforce undesirable in those areas (especially if that would increase the price of those jobs or the commodities they result in)

 

[MrGuvernment]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

So stop buying their "cheap" lines then and move up.....

like HP and even Lenovo, you buy a cheap sub $500 laptop or computer it is cheap crap..this is why Apple was never going to try and sell "cheap" computers, they can afford to.

 

[cyclone3d]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

Almost every OEM has cheap crap to sell to the cheapskates and people who don't know any better.

Their "higher end" laptops and desktops are quite nice.

The Lattitude series for their laptops, and their OptiPlex series of desktops are pretty nice.

The Precision line of laptops and desktops is even better.

BUT, you have to not get the bottom of the barrel models/options. You can still get a pretty low performance on in any model of Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.

For the corp environment, the nice Dell computers are plenty.

The cheap junk in their Inspiron line is pretty much not near as good as their business oriented lines.

 

[Quix]

Really hope Dell doesn't go under. I've had issues with their XPS line but I really like (except the way it looks) my Alienware m14x R2 and their Ultrasharp monitors are my favorite.

 

[Quix]

I should mention that I have had a few Inspirons in the past (also family members have too) and for a cheap notebook they're not bad, sort of in line with HP and Lenovo's cheap computers. Although if I was on a tight budget now I'd pick up a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, I bought my mother one a few years ago and it's pretty much indestructible.

 

[kbrickley]

Really hope Dell doesn't go under. I've had issues with their XPS line but I really like (except the way it looks) my Alienware m14x R2 and their Ultrasharp monitors are my favorite.

Dell isn't going under ... they just went through the trouble of going private with the stock buyback ... Dell was a profitable company prior to the buyback but a public company has many more restrictions on it than a private company (especially in terms of what the shareholders consider acceptable levels of profit and growth ... and publicly traded companies have more rules on them than private companies as well) ... they are just adjusting to their new market and strategic goals ... it will be painful for some of their workers but Dell as a company should come out of this even stronger (depending on what Michael Dell's goals and strategies are)

 

[Cmdrmonkey]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

Their monitors are some of the best you can buy, and their business/enterprise grade stuff is fine. It's their consumer level stuff that's garbage.

 

[Climber]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

This screams to me "you're a cheap skate".

Dell's enterprise line and some of their higher end products are worth every cent, especially their recent refreshes and their new Venue Pro tablet line are pretty damn nice.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

Or we do what we did in the 30's during the great depression ... we put all the unemployed people on road crews and working building infrastructure ... the USA has tons of infrastructure needs but we cannot afford to pay the cost to have private companies perform the work (we would still get a big economic benefit if we used raw materials that are found or produced in the Americas) ... if unemployed people had to work 8-10 hours in the sun doing menial labor they would definitely want to find a new job or have earned the money they received ... I am not quite ready to cut people off of social programs cold turkey because of the problems it would cause but I don't have any issues with making them earn the money they get ... unless you can force Americans to take the jobs that illegal immigrants are doing (at the market cost they are doing it for) you can't cut off that spigot just yet

i like the cut of your jib.
unions however would dump money like you have not seen into blocking such actions. all that work being done at a fraction of the cost by non union labor?

 

[RigmoroleMotorCo]

don't forget about all the employees making bank while being lazy and incompetent... those people are still out there.

People are not very good at putting themselves and one another to good use... not everybody has had the privilege of developing a productive lifestyle, and aspects of our nature remain fallow when they could be put to good use, bring us greater health and well-being.

We are holding each other back until we learn to deal with the social problems. People continue to hoard resources, destroy the viability of the environment, etc. We have the potential to do anything, it's just a matter of digging out from our diseased history.

 

[kbrickley]

don't forget about all the employees making bank while being lazy and incompetent... those people are still out there.

People are not very good at putting themselves and one another to good use... not everybody has had the privilege of developing a productive lifestyle, and aspects of our nature remain fallow when they could be put to good use, bring us greater health and well-being.

We are holding each other back until we learn to deal with the social problems. People continue to hoard resources, destroy the viability of the environment, etc. We have the potential to do anything, it's just a matter of digging out from our diseased history.

To a certain extent this is why I would love to see us move into space ... right now we allow petty geographic, morphological, political, philosophical, and other differences to tear humanity apart ... even though we are all one species ... we have created a consumption based society and we really don't face any serious threats (except those due to our own mismanagement)

We need the dangers and possibilities of harsh but promising new environments (Space, Deep Sea, other worlds, etc) ... that is what will ultimately solve our problems of productivity, consumption, and creation

What is the difference between a man and a parasite? A man builds. A parasite asks 'Where is my share?' A man creates. A parasite says, 'What will the neighbors think?' A man invents. A parasite says, 'Watch out, or you might tread on the toes of God... '

I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.

A man chooses, a slave obeys.

 

[Diriel]

For those of you saying that americans should work for far less than minimum wage...you do realize that illegal workers get full health care, food stamps, wick, and cash aid right?

Further, Walmart literally trains their new employees to go apply for cash aid, food stamps etc... So even these so called "workers" are costing taxpayers quite a bit of money!

 

[SticKx911]

Jobs are being automated and/or shipped out of US borders. These are issues that need to be addressed along with unemployment abuse.

Even service jobs are loosing ground.

 

[Thuleman]

No problem, Democrats have them completely covered. There will be plenty of unemployment checks, well fare, obama care, obama phones, and I am sure there is more I am totally unaware of. They'll be fine, just vote Democrat and you need not think or work the rest of your life.

It's true that you don't have to be stupid to be a Republican, but it is true that stupid people are Republicans.

 

[heatlesssun]

Not sure where all of the bizarre stuff about unemployment insurance comes from. In my state I would draw the max of like $375 a week I think it is now. That's just enough to cover the mortgage and little else. It certainly wouldn't be a paid vacation and there's no way I could live on just unemployment for two years and that would be the case for most people that I know.

 

[heatlesssun]

As for Dell and its products, they seem to be doing a doing a better job. Their PCs are getting good reviews and it looks like they had a hit with their 8" Windows tablet in the Venue 8 Pro, though I imagine margins were pretty low with that product.

 

[WBurchnall]

Although there certainly need to be controls on things like unemployment I do not think the majority of professional people being downsized are anxious to just sit on their hands ... if Dell is looking at massive layoffs they could be downsizing a lot of engineers and mid level managers (they will save the most money doing this) ... these are people who might make $5-10K a month ... going from say $6K a month to less than $2K is not going to be like a vacation for someone with kids or trying to support a family (especially if you have expenses that are not easily avoided like house payments, car payments, insurance, utilities, and food) ... hopefully the Dell folks can land on their feet ... I only wish them the best of luck

Shh, stop bringing reason into his rant. That's not very nice when he's attempting to appeal to people's emotions. People making $1.6k a month are really living the high life, don't you know? I mean, if you pay $700 for rent, you've got a whole $900 to spare! If you buy food, maybe $500 (assuming ~12 dollars per day on food or 3 $4 meals). Buy basic household necessities like toliet paper, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent etc, you might have $450. If you need Internet to look for a job (which is probably the most effect way), that's a mere $60 a month. $30-40 for a cellphone plan (as if a workplace can't call you, you probably won't get the job). That's 350 left. $10.00 per day for any unlisted costs like transportation, entertainment, paper/ink for printing resumes, clothing, emergencies, utilities if not included with rent. Pff, that's like a dream come true! Damn Obama and his evil corrupt administration!

Note: I agree Obama is a pretty ineffectual president but disagree that being on welfare would be a 'vacation' where 'everything's covered and wonderful'.

 

[WBurchnall]

Not sure where all of the bizarre stuff about unemployment insurance comes from. In my state I would draw the max of like $375 a week I think it is now. That's just enough to cover the mortgage and little else. It certainly wouldn't be a paid vacation and there's no way I could live on just unemployment for two years and that would be the case for most people that I know.

Fox News. Probably.

 

[/usr/sbin]

No problem, Democrats have them completely covered. There will be plenty of unemployment checks, well fare, obama care, obama phones, and I am sure there is more I am totally unaware of. They'll be fine, just vote Democrat and you need not think or work the rest of your life.

Yeah, ten thousand+ people who are currently employed and working just can't wait to be unemployed and face the problem of not being able to pay their bills. Sounds like a grand time!

Seriously, the overwhelming stupidity of some people never fails to deliver. It's almost as if they actually put in significant effort into being a rube.

 

[WBurchnall]

Jobs are being automated and/or shipped out of US borders. These are issues that need to be addressed along with unemployment abuse.

Even service jobs are loosing ground.

When I see things like this, I can't help but wonder how many years it'll be to robot automation becomes skillful enough that you can have a robot basically deep-frying fries, flipping burgers, applying condiments and packaging said products according to a menu-screen like this. If you could get an automated robot down to a cost of say $40k each, it would be far cheaper in the long run than hiring an employee at minimum wage. Plus, the robot theoretically might call in sick less(less downtime -- even after maintenance), work 24 hours a day allowing you to be open longer/more hours, more consistent quality ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBcFebR-kII ) and maybe other benefits.

Of course, I'm sure someone will comment 'But that'll only put teenagers out of work' ignorant of the fact that the mean age of fast food workers in the US is now 29 years old, 1/4th of all fast food workers are attempting to raise a child on that wage and more than 30% have some college experience but were unable to find work in their field of study.

 

[SticKx911]

When I see things like this, I can't help but wonder how many years it'll be to robot automation becomes skillful enough that you can have a robot basically deep-frying fries, flipping burgers, applying condiments and packaging said products according to a menu-screen like this. If you could get an automated robot down to a cost of say $40k each, it would be far cheaper in the long run than hiring an employee at minimum wage. Plus, the robot theoretically might call in sick less(less downtime -- even after maintenance), work 24 hours a day allowing you to be open longer/more hours, more consistent quality ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBcFebR-kII ) and maybe other benefits.

Of course, I'm sure someone will comment 'But that'll only put teenagers out of work' ignorant of the fact that the mean age of fast food workers in the US is now 29 years old, 1/4th of all fast food workers are attempting to raise a child on that wage and more than 30% have some college experience but were unable to find work in their field of study.

Agreed, and just because the decision is better for your bottom line today ignores the fact that when you lay off people, you loose potential customers I bet those thousands laid off and their families will never buy a dell product again. Restructure and actually innovate than maybe you can use those people instead of just flushing them.

 

[nutzo]

Dell makes uninteresting products with terrible design. Anything I have ever picked up by dell screamed cheap.

Everything I've picked up by Apple screams trendy, and form over function.

Don't care much for the Dell consumer line, but their business line is hard to beat, especially with the discount they give us.

 

[nutzo]

It's true that you don't have to be stupid to be a Republican, but it is true that stupid people are Republicans.

At least the Republicans allow everyone to join the party even the stupid.

Stupid is a requirement if you want to join the Democrats.

 

[FearTheCow]

Agreed, and just because the decision is better for your bottom line today ignores the fact that when you lay off people, you loose potential customers I bet those thousands laid off and their families will never buy a dell product again. Restructure and actually innovate than maybe you can use those people instead of just flushing them.

Lets take this back into history a little bit, did the advancement of farming equipment fuck up the bottom line of farmers? Did the creation of the assembly line streamlining a factory fuck up the bottom line of any industry?

 

[tlkimball]

Why are we so quick to start hating on American workers yet hesitate to hold the people actually responsible accountable?

Some people making a decent wage (and spending that money to drive the economy) are probably going to get fired.

Michael Dell is still going to take home MILLIONS of dollars next year. Where is the hatred for him and his ilk? These people are the real villains. They only care about the bottom line while blaming the people actually doing the work for the state or their corporations.