Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<The Japanese people, for the most part, are proud people. What many Americans hear about how bad it is for a Japanese person to "lose face", well it is true. Besides taking pride in their work, Japanese tend to also take more personal responsibility for their work, actions, etc.>> I would say honor, duty, and selflessness have been ingrained into the Japanese much moreso than pride, to the point that I can't even picture a Japanese national saying, "I am proud to be Japanese."
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^There are multiple definitions of pride. It could be defined as "honor, duty, and selflessness".
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <It can be hard to maintan pride in your work when the bosses don't share that commitment. The mantra on Wall St. these days is to cut costs, even if its at the expense of quality. < I live this every day of my corporate life - and you are mostly correct -- but also recognize it is pressure from Wall Street that started this snowball downhill. Double digit growth was no longer enough and 'analysts' starte downgrading stocks ....and remember the top mgmt reports in effect to the shareholders...... Only the top .1 of 1% of a company make the outrageous salaries -- whacking middle mgmt does virtually nothing to the bottom line.... Look at the gap betwen CEO / CFO / COO / CIO salaries and either mgmt in general or workers in the last 20 - 25 years -- that is where the issueis. Check out this list starting with CEO's that made over $100M lest year <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/" target="_blank">http://www.aflcio.org/corporat ewatch/paywatch/</a> these are where the cuts have to be made in salaries -- you can off shore and cut all the jobs in between you want -- it is a gnat on an elephants behind on a general ledger to cut a $100K employee.
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^I hear you. There is also much debate about how much is really saved by offshoring a white collar job. But the layoff tsunami continues. And what the media isn't telling us is that while those who are laid off are eventually finding new jobs, those new jobs usually pay less, sometimes substantially less, than the old job. And companies that are making healthy profits continue to lay off employees. And the survivors have to pick up the slack, and since there are only so many hours in a day, corners are being cut left and right. I can see how people in such a situation could become demoralized and lose "pride" in their work.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip That is why I've worked a lifetime at the University of Minnesota. The pay isn't that great and you know it will never make you a millionaire (unless you are a football coach). Even the president's salary is only in the $300K range. But I've always been proud of what the University does and how it treats its students, faculty and staff. That's saying a lot in today’s world.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <^^I hear you. There is also much debate about how much is really saved by offshoring a white collar job. But the layoff tsunami continues. And what the media isn't telling us is that while those who are laid off are eventually finding new jobs, those new jobs usually pay less, sometimes substantially less, than the old job. And companies that are making healthy profits continue to lay off employees. And the survivors have to pick up the slack, and since there are only so many hours in a day, corners are being cut left and right. I can see how people in such a situation could become demoralized and lose "pride" in their work.< Oh yeah -- if people only knew how many jons have left never to return. Don;t boo and hiss at me but this is what I do -- and yes the companies doing it are very profitable -- I have made this statement before, and it is more true today than ever before -- if you hear the phrase around your company -- Shared Services ....be very afraid. And if you are considered 'back office' - without a lot of direct customer contact -- and your job is clerical/administrative/financial in scope -- and can be done remotely....say goodnight Gracie....it's on the calendar to be moved to somewhere much more low cost...even though as you say -- there are hidden 'costs' to all this stuff
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>And if you are considered 'back office' - without a lot of direct customer contact<< I read the other day that 90% of our GDP growth for the past 5 years has been related to construction. This is how hollow our economy has become.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 If the real estate/building market goes ( and the current administration has people working on plans to remove the mortgage deduction - that would do it) -- make sure your money in your 401K is not in stocks or even bonds-- make sure it is in low interest money market type funds -- it would make Black Monday look small.............
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>and the current administration has people working on plans to remove the mortgage deduction<< I have noticed that they aren't talking much about this anymore. I guess the trial balloon popped. Now its lowering the maximum mortgage deduction that they are talking about.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 To steer this back on target -- one has to wonder whether it be the elimination of the mortgage deducation, or scaling back - how the sales of DVC units may or may not be affected also. In those same government plans the loss of propoerty tax deduction also on the table. Just leaving less money in homeowners pockets alone I would think would seriously hinder future DVC sales. If you live in major metro areas where mortgages are huge - and property taxes of $10,000 - $15,000 per year are certainly not uncommon ( trust me on this figure as most of the county I live in is in this range -- and this is not Westchester County NY or the OC ) --that impact is going to hit the economy far beyond housing....and time shares / vacation homes and vacations in genera I would think would take a big hit
