re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!If memory serves me right (a risky proposition, at best) LSI Logic used to have an office in Boulder CO out on East Pearl Street. Over the past few weeks, they have completely vacated, and the suite now sports a big "Space For Lease" sign.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!I'm admittedly not an Economist, but it seems there are some intuitive consequences of the current employment crisis in the U.S.
First of all, wages are relative, interdependent, and cyclic in any capitalist economy. Wages are lower in China and India than the U.S. because those citizens donGÇÖt pay $3.00 for a gallon of milk or $500K (USD) for a two bedroom townhouse. The U.S. economy has grown (or inflated) to certain levels due to factors outside the awareness or control of the average working stiff. But whatever the cause, a dramatic shift in the relative earnings to cost-of-living will eventually decimate the economy and drive everyone (H1B holders included) back to third-world status.
When wages fall, people stop buying G.I. Joe's with the Kung-Fu grip, and Mattel ExecGÇÖs start disappointing shareholdersGÇÖ expectations, and shareholders apply pressure to reduce costs, and reduced costs lead to restructurings and loss of more jobs, which leads to even less people buying G.I. Joe's, which eventually lands that CEO, who thought he was clever enough to beat the system by farming out work or hiring slave labor, and his phat ass on the pavement. And you think Engineers have a tough time finding a suitable job in a bad economy?
But mark my words, the same thing will eventually occur in India, or elsewhere. IndiaGÇÖs middle class is burgeoning, and they are beginning to fully enjoy the fruits of their labor. But what does IndiaGÇÖs government say about skilled immigrant labor? My hunch is that the same paradox is forming (albeit in its infancy) in India, and perhaps other more stable or growing economies.
So as adages go, be careful what you ask for, and what goes around comes around.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!The issue of jobs going to other countries is not the point. As the globalization of the worlds economies goes forward this will be an ever present trend affecting every industry and cannot nor should not be stopped. The point is that American jobs should be first for American citizens. Virtually every worker in the American economy could be replaced by an as qualified cheaper foreign worker. Does anyone really think the country would be better off with 200M unemployed? I think not.
Really useless wasting energy on this board over this subject. Spend the effort where it might do some good.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!Just a couple of notes on H1B and hiring foreign workers. I am located in Mississippi at a start-up next to Miss State Univ. The undergrad engineering program is 80% US citizens while the grad school is 80% foreign. this is now typical of most engineering programs. If you require someone with a advanced degree you are probably going to have to hire a foreign born person at this point
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak! I have heard that Steve Mullaney is no longer the VP of Marketing at Force10. In fact, Force10's website no longer lists him as a member of the E Staff. The question is whether he left on his own or was shown the door by the "butcher of McCarthy". Why anyone would want to work at that place is beyond me. Who would want to work in constant fear of being walked out at any moment?
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!He's still there as of last week. Does anyone have any facts? What would this be, the 8th VP they've shot? If this is true, it's a shame.
I agree with you, the culture of the company is a little strange. CEO is a very smart customer, but ruthless. If it starts at the top, I can only imagine what the rank and file are like.
I still think their box is a winner. And lately, I have become more bullish than ever on them. Extreme and Foundry have absolutely nothing close to even Cisco's pathetic announcement last week, there are no startups behind Force10 and they own the high end of the market, which is where great companies start out.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!If US companies don't hire inexpensive foreign labor, then foreign companies will have fundamental pricing advantages in the US, and Huawei et al will have a field day.
I US companies DO hire inexpensive foreign labor, then the people who benefit will be US executives who run the companies, and their shareholders, who one would presume includes most of us through our mutual funds and retirement accounts. However, it definitely puts pressure on wages in the US. On the other hand, it also lowers prices in the US, so wages don't have to be as high.
If the US government was to attempt to "protect" the US market, then we would all be paying too much for stuff, and need the higher wages we might earn. However, stuff produced here would be uneconomical for sale anywhere outside the US, so our companies' growth would be limited.
The same lessons we learn in Ecology apply to Economy. Same root ("eco"). Same issues. Same dynamics. Same distortions occur from messing with it.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!Worked for a startup who's hr rep put the cops onto poor Wooly for a homicide that had been committed. Recently layed off and taking a vacation poor Wooly had no idea that the Texas cops were looking for the layed off engineer, he was not only unemployed but had become a murder suspect...Whooops, the company locked it's doors and warned everyone that poor Wooly was nuts... Long story short, he was innocent and the hr rep's friend from church had done the crime....what out for hr...
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!Look at Europe:
Europe has for a long time been able to maintain both external competitiveness and a high internal cost structure (high cost of employees due to high wages and very high social benefits cost).
They have done this by producing innovative, well designed, high quality, reliable products and closely managing their business financials. Thus what matters is innovation & execution, which MUST BE MAINTAINED.
Three corrollaries derive from this:
1 - The 1990's in the USA was an aberation. The US cannot expect to experience the "everyone gets rich" boom of the start-up led 1990's on a long term. In addition, the 1990's saw the rapid rise of many young inexperienced people to levels above their true abilities, and of average or below-average managers to very senior poistions. This is no longer tolerated, and you see solid business execs replacing the high-flying, ego-driven, wheeler-dealer Ebbers/Nacchio types. And in addition the US has learned a VERY hard lesson on corporate governance. Thus we will be reverting back to business culture that will require people to earn their stripes, and will not reward every 2nd manager with million $ stock option windfalls.
2 - Americans will have to learn to live more modestly. Just because the 1990's was fuled by so much easily earned cash does not mean that will continue. Americans will have to learn to live within their means, with a basic salary, some small annual bonus, and little MEGA-gains from options - just like Europeans do in fact. Thus it will be harder to afford the house, the cottage, the jet-ski, the resort, the motorcycle and the monster-SUV. But with a massive trade defficit, realistic economics, and massive average personal debt burdens, that is what the future entails.
3 - Too much short-term investment in R&D by US companies and government is what will really screw America. The only way to beat Huawei is to always stay one step ahead technologically. Let them commoditise something 10 years after it is around. Europe & Japan invest heaviliy in government R&D, and corporations tend to be much more steady in their R&D spend with a view to sustaining a long-term competitive advantage. Unfortunately in the US the government has outsourced R&D investment to the VCs, and recent market conditions have all but stopped major corporate investment. If this continues, then there will be a MAJOR problem sustaining US business leadership.
The cheap H-1B labor costs are just a small symptom of a much larger problem.
re: Headcount: Behold! A Wooly Yak!Good analysis zettabit. I agree with your points on observation of U.S. business practices and probably could add a few more. I think that all this can be broken down to just one phrase "I've got mine - f*@# you" or maybe just one word - GREED. I don't think I am ready for the cradle to grave entitlements of Europe to arrive here in the U.S., but I give them credit that their government at least listens to what the every day guy wants. The only person that gets the ear of the U.S. government is the same guy whose saying "I've got mine - f*@# you"
Over the past few weeks, they have completely vacated, and the suite now sports a big "Space For Lease" sign.
I don't know what work was done there.