Sprint to eliminate 8,000 jobs

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: Marketwatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sprint Nextel Corp. said Monday it will eliminate 8,000 jobs in the first three months of 2009 as part of an effort to reduce costs in the face of a deepening U.S. recession. The job cuts will occur at every level of the company and result in $1.2 billion in annual savings, Sprint said. The company plans to take a onetime $300 million expense in the first quarter related to the layoffs. It's the latest in a series of steps by Sprint under CEO Dan Hesse to reduce costs and make the company more competitive with bigger rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. In related news, Sprint also moved up its fourth-quarter earnings release to Feb. 19.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Sprint-eliminate-8000-jobs/story.aspx?guid={3EC36575-AF50-4BDF-B387-8F50ACA28DB7}

[bdamomma]

1. it just gets worse and worse.

[Auggie]

2. Gotta keep those quarterly profits high

[FarCenter]

3. Why are they spending money on NASCAR?

NASCAR is so over.

[OhioChick]

4. Our unemployment numbers HAVE to be in double digits by now.

K&R

[sarcasmo]

8. Michigan is 10.6 on the books, much higher in reality. A new casino is opening up south of town

140,000 people applying for 1500 jobs, that's almost a 100-1 chance, it's not pretty.

[serrano2008]

5. re: 2004 - Sprint pays $50 Million to name Kansas City Sprint Center

So, not only could they have picked a way cooler name than "Sprint Center" but the money could pay for some of the thousands of lost jobs likely to hit the KC area because of this.

[Azlady]

6. Excuse me, but where does the food line begin????

[eilen]

7. I think the food pantries are out.

The nuns at my friend's ecumenical church board meetings (she is a volunteer at her Methodist church) say they are overwelmed with requests for food vouchers (or just plain food), heat/electric vouchers and help with mortgages in addition to medical bills. They are simply not equipped to handle this level of need.

The government will end up having to step in with gov. surplus (if it even exists anymore) like they used to-- anyone remember the gov. cheese? And the "generic" food aisle? (a whole aisle entirely in black and white, no matter what the product was). Thinking about it now, it seems surreal.

Problem is, with the government supported industrialized farming practices including questionable practices such as GMO's, mad cow, infected/contaminated foods-- who will trust it to eat it? I suggest we plant lots of gardens -- gardens in our yards and public guerrilla gardens. Call someone you know that can teach food preservation techniques in churches and community centers. Form or join existing food co-ops.

Any more days like today, we will be seriously fucked.