Thursday, December 11, 2014

Is Ebola the bitter fruit of 30 years of slashing and downsizing and "fat-trimming"?

I can't find it now, but a few years ago I came across an article discussing the effects of all the "lean management" we've been subjected to in both business and government organizations ever since the Reagan "greed is good" era began.

In our twin obsessions to cut taxes and increase corporate stock prices, we've seen wave after wave of brutal cuts in staffing and facilities. It's why you have to wait on hold forever for the privilege of talking to someone who barely speaks English when you call tech support. It's why you almost never get to talk to a human when you call a business. It's why businesses almost never do anything that doesn't translate directly to improving the bottom line. And it's why Americans now work more hours than citizens of any other advanced country, very often without getting the overtime pay they are theoretically owed.

A hard core "free marketer" would say that this is how things are supposed to work.

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