Mass Layoffs by Profitable Firms a 'Horrible Act,' Diller Says

Diller should be commended for his position....in stating the OBVIOUS, yet the obvious seems to have been lost in these times. The millions hitting the streets, might get organized, history repeats itself....all it might need is a match....check out Greece.

Welcome to the GREAT RECESSION - companies are deleveraging - no reason to carry additional employees, never have been never will be. This countries business culture is not lifelong employment - it's all about this week and today. There is an entire generation that that will never retire - this is the ultimate 'fix' for social security - take an entire generation and don't allow them to retire. BRILLIANT! The only ones who will retire in the future will be those who can live WELL below their means today and INVEST HEAVILY. BE ONE OF THOSE.

Diller for Govenor of Illinois !!! how about we let the banks on Wall St go down for mismanaging operations and making speculative investments, shame on companies like Sony. I agree Diller is to be commended. Common sense is not too common these days.

this is powerful stuff. and its true. knee jerk reactions to economic trends are generally speaking not a good decision. that includes buying outside of affordability when things are going up and selling when its affordable when things are going down. however its this knee jerk reaction that fuels things like "irrational exuberance" and "global economic downturns". in effect its part of the human condition. put it this way, of all the people you know, how many would you say are stupid vs smart? remember you are in people's lists of people too. so when people make stupid decisions we all suffer.

Managing out the bottom 5% of employees on an ongoing basis is fine, but that ISN'T a layoff..... the "justification" used is that it might get worse...so let's layoff proactively. Well, when profitable companies layoff workers, they're making it worse.... not to mention jeopardizing employee loyalty of the remaining employees.

Do businesses serve the greater good, or merely the bottom line? Well HELLOOOOO!! Finally something on this blog worth investigating. Not only are MOST companies money grubbing hogs that focus on the bottom line, they worship quarterly results. This obsession MUST change because now you have such heavy government intervention to save companies (AIG, GM, need I say more) HUMAN BEINGS are going to ask: "Why am I left out in the cold? Humans work in these companies not robots, why the HE%% doesn't the government HELP ME?" This current government intervention we see TODAY is going to vastly change the dynamics of what "capitalism" will be be in the future.

Here's something you won't see on this website: Socialist Articles by Karl Max a "Horrible Act"

I love the tech ticker guys! Do they do birthdays?

This guy is an idiot. It is now the BEST time to lay off workers. When the Fed stimulates the economy artficially with its monetary policy and engenders a boom, roundabout lengthy projects with low ROI's seem reasonable and more workers can be employed. When the structure of production inevitably begins to unravel, as it is doing now, the previous malinvestments are revealed. Part of liquidating these malinvestments is laying off employees. Companies that layoff employees to survive the depression we are entering are to be commended.

The people who get laid off are almost never the people who caused the company to be unprofitable. Other countries in the world contain cost without massive layoffs. All employees take a reduced salary, or cut back on work hours. People have had enough of the mindless greed which permeates American commerce. There is a huge difference between capitalism and the selfish acts of many top executives. Companies are going to have to learn to stop using layoffs as a shrt term fix for problems which management caused.

Losing faith, it is lost already. Doing the 'right thing' no longer works and has long been punished. Where is integrity in business, the government or global investment? I want to see a return of ethics, and a society that no longer functions to get 'theirs' at any cost. Greed and unethical behaviors is a recipe for societal destruction. The folks who have behaved frugally with a principled value system are being told that they not only will not be rewarded but will have to pay the bill of those who threw the ideals of business morality out the window.

Layoffs driven, of course, by companies wanting to boost their stock price. Good for Barry Diller saying what needs to be said, workers are not just a bunch of mindless drones.

SPORTS PLAYERS= MILLIONS PER YEAR PER PLAYER. TO THROW /CATCH A BALL SUCH A BARGAIN,,CEOS , DRIVING TO WASH DC. IN A YUGO,,SO THE POT CAN CALL THE KETTLE BLACK,,, BUSINESS/HOME OWNERS,/TAXPAYERS "TAXED "TO FORCLOSURE/ DEFAULT/BANKRUPCY. UNEMPLOYMENT GOING THROUGH THE ROOF, AND GUESS UNEMPLOYMENT MONEY , ITS TREATED LIKE INCOME, ITS TAXED, STATES MAKING MORE MONEY ON THE SALE OF AN AUTO THAN THE MANUFACTURER,"ITS NOT A HOSE OF CARDS ANY MORE"..MORE LIKE A SHIP OF FOOLS,,,,or so it seems

Layoffs driven, of course, by companies wanting to boost their stock price. Good for Barry Diller saying what needs to be said, workers are not just a bunch of mindless drones.

SPORTS PLAYERS= MILLIONS PER YEAR PER PLAYER. TO THROW /CATCH A BALL SUCH A BARGAIN,,CEOS , DRIVING TO WASH DC. IN A YUGO,,SO THE POT CAN CALL THE KETTLE BLACK,,, BUSINESS/HOME OWNERS,/TAXPAYERS "TAXED "TO FORCLOSURE/ DEFAULT/BANKRUPCY. UNEMPLOYMENT GOING THROUGH THE ROOF, AND GUESS UNEMPLOYMENT MONEY , ITS TREATED LIKE INCOME, ITS TAXED, STATES MAKING MORE MONEY ON THE SALE OF AN AUTO THAN THE MANUFACTURER,"ITS NOT A HOSE OF CARDS ANY MORE"..MORE LIKE A SHIP OF FOOLS,,,,or so it seems

Good call, I agree that companies should consider the ethics of mass firings. I think if companies put the employee's 1st, the employees will value this and support management by working harder in tough times.

We Americans by now are beginning to realize that our greatest enemy is not cave dwelling religous zealots a half a world away. Ironically it is the same enemy our founding fathers fought against and warned us about. Thomas Jeffersons Quote “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” sums up the situation at hand in our economy. The elite of that era influenced the king to oppress the working class to poverty. Today our kings are the globalist who drain the wealth from our and other nations then use this stolen wealth to corrupt other governments to allow the same. This becomes more obvious when we see our public servants attack our nations largest manufacturers about corporate jets and perks over a few billion dollars of taxpayer money, but allow bankers to rob us of hundeds of billions of dollars with no questions asked after creating the crisis that brought the demise of our nations manufacturers.

"Not only are MOST companies money grubbing hogs that focus on the bottom line" - Would you prefer them to be inefficient namby-pamby sloths that waste money? "now you have such heavy government intervention to save companies" - It's called socialism - a known failed experiment. Welcome to USSA.

I don't understand, a company can lay-off employees, save on their salary and continue to provide products or service to earn enough to double or triple their profits???? Other than drawing their, salaries what were the employees that were laid-off doing during the work day???? A puzzlement.

I agree with Diller. The real estate companies I have worked for have, during hard times, gone after market share by aggresively adding people, and buying properties. During boom times they would always spend conservatively and trim staff by normal attrition.