OT: Intel Laying Off Workers

[Atrocities]

While this isn't exactly new news, News Link, I find it a bit irritating that INTEL, so used to being the dominate player in the chip world, has to whine about loosing market share. Too hell with them, their market tactics, sue your compitition, exasperated pricing, hard handed customer service, and general "we are better than you" attitude that they have and had promoted for a decade has earned them a lower spot on the chip market totem pole.

"Oh my! Our market share has dwindled in the face of competition... poor us." Give me a fricking break! I know many people who work for Intel, and they all say that this is about greed pure and simple. The higher ups want a bonus and the stock holders want results. So how do you keep your six figure and seven figure bonuses and keep the stock holders happy in the face of declining sales? You shaft the workers.

Intels business model did not alow for competition. If competition such as AMD arose, they delt with it by filing lawsuits over such things as copy write violations and intelectual theft. It was an AMD chip that first broke the 500 mgh barrier and that should have been a wake up call for Intel. But instead they went about business as usual and as a result have lost market share. Now they cry fowl and expect people to feel sorry for them.

They lay off workers, and tell government officials that unless they can help them, they will have to lay off more people. WTF! What kind of help does Intel expect the governement to give them? More tax breaks? They pay less for property tax in Oregon than most low income families. No this is just a ploy to by the big wig pencil pushers to pat their bonuses while misleading the stock holders on the actual value of the company and its future earinings.

If Intel cannot deal with competition, then perhaps its time they did go under.

[AgentZero]

Rather odd, given that Intel's latest processor (Core-2 or something) apparently blows every other processor out of the water.

Still, reminds me of a quote I came across playing Civ the other day. "There is but one rule for the industrialist: Create the highest quality goods possible, at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." Seems most corporations out there have ignored everything but the middle bit.

[Atrocities]

What sucks is that all of these corporations, companies, and business get fantastic tax breaks, exploit tax loop holes while exterminating worker wages in the process of expanding the pocket books of those who manage and run the company all the while exploring new and even more cut throat methods of paying less in income tax than an average cocktale waitress working part time in some dead beat back water town in eastern washington.

If coperations were made to pay their fair share of taxes, buy mandating tax reform, closing loop holes, ending exceptionary tax relief and promoting a strong anti corruption mentality while sending the violators to prison and taking all their money, then maybe, just perhaps, people will get the message that greed is bad.

I know that when we were being paid well, had excellent benefits, and the coffee was free, the workers were happy and extremely productive. Then China entered the mix and dumped the market with sub-par cheaply made, low quality semi-conductors and over night the semi-conductor industries here in the US failed. When we had to start paying for the coffee at work, I knew the gig was us. The company I worked for was getting $1500.00 per 8" wafer, and literally over night they had to drop the price to $50.00 in order to stay in business and keep INTEL from cancelling all their orders.

Our company had no choice, they had to let most of the work force go. With them went the quality, the expertise, the knowledge base, and the professionalism that took them decades to develop.

Intel would say, well we can buy these wafers from China for $25.00 each, you need to come down on your prices. We would, and then Intel would play games and only buy half of the inventory that they had ordered. When they violated their contract they simply said, well live with it, or we will stop doing business with you. These cheap chines wafers made it into virtually every electronic device made from 1998 to 2004 when the world electronic suppliers finally realized that the chips they were making from these inferior wafers had a near 77% failure rate within the first year. Chips made with wafers from US manufactures and those from Japan held up far better with less than a 12% failure rate.

Intel played games to get the best price possible from us thus putting a lot of really good people onto the unemployment lines. They then took those savings, jacked their prices and made a killing for many years. So now that they are in trouble, they want us to feel sorry for them? No way! They are reeping what they sowed and I would loving more than too see AMD gain an even larger market share on them.

[Renegade 13]

Go AMD!

Unfortunately, greed is a result of the capitalist society we live in. Without greed, capitalism doesn't work very well...after all, acquisition of personal wealth is essentially what capitalism is. It's just too bad that it's the best system out there that actually works (unlike communism, which is a great idea in theory, but sucks the big one in practice).

[Atrocities]

There is greed, and then there is GREED. Wanting stuff is human nature, but when your already a multi-milloniar limits have to be set.

When is enough money enough? Look at Bill Gates, 50 billion plus and he still tells people that he wants to be the first American Trillionair. That is pure greed and should NEVER be fostered, supported, or encouraged.

When the multi-million and billionairs shaft lower income people, mostly their workers, to make a couple extra dollars, then they are nothing more than SOB's who need to meet a sudden and painful end.

Hell the interest they earn on the money they already have is in most cases sever times that of the annual earnings of any middle class family. Why do they need more when they already have so much? Greed.... this is why greed is one of the seven sins.

Its funny, if your rich and greedy you make millions, if your average joe blow and greedy you never can seem to get ahead. So the old saying that you have to have money to make money is true. There are literally two types of people in this capitalistic world of ours, those who pay interest, and those who earn interest.

But enough with that, Intel has been so focused on profits that they as a business dropped the ball allowing AMD to score big off of their mistake. While I generally dislike AMD chips, and favor Intel's, I hate Intel because of how they conducted busines in the past.

They had a monopoly share of the lions den and did everything they could to prevent fair competition. Instead of allowing it, embracing it, and using it energize their products, they circled the wagons and held firm to a failing business model. Now it has come back to bite them in the *** and in the process several thousand people are going too or have already lost thier jobs.

Such is life. Your livelyhood is not really yours to control. When I bought my home in 98 I was making $45,000 a year and my prospects for success looked unstoppable. Then within a couple of months it was all gone. There are no garrentees in life, no magic pills or teflon shields that can protect you from finacial harm when the very things you have come to relay upon for success fail.

Intel could have done a better job at marketing and working the market to their advantage, but they didn't, and now the workers are going to pay the prices. And ultimately the tax payers as well because Intel will black mail the state in order to get lower taxes. Thats wrong, it should not be aloud to happen.

[StarShadow]

"There are literally two types of people in this capitalistic world of ours, those who pay interest, and those who earn interest."

Well said.

[Will]

Atrocities said:
When is enough money enough? Look at Bill Gates, 50 billion plus and he still tells people that he wants to be the first American Trillionair. That is pure greed and should NEVER be fostered, supported, or encouraged.

Sorry, but can you back this one up? While I don't agree with some of the business tactics Mr. Gates' company has used in the past few decades, this seems a little heavy-handed, and I don't recall a statement from him stating he was going to be the first trillionaire. After the bubble burst, his net worth went down with everyone else's, especially most of his assets being tied into one technology company -- Microsoft. According to the Forbes list, he just this year broke back over the $50 billion line, but, there is something like $25 billion of that destined for the Gates Foundation. It's hard to call someone greedy when they will give away half their net worth to some cause of charity.

I do agree with your sentiments on the general atmosphere of the day, where it seems the general goal is to sell as much as possible, make as much money as possible, regardless of other concerns. And the result is we have a lot of companies that cut back on employee treatment, cut back on quality control, and lose sight of all long-term goals just to make an insane quarterly goal to satisfy the shareholders.