Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (133182)	10/20/2001 12:41:49 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Morris shorted the sluts well before Sept 11th until he btc today.. Where no wise man would fear to tread because they're America's profit machine. >Merrill Lynch is to offer a severance deal to all its 65,900 employees on Monday, a move that is likely to result in Wall Street's most sweeping lay-offs as the securities industry contends with a slowing economy and falling profits. The severance package, which could total more than a year's salary to employees if they agree to resign by early November, is part of an effort by the world's largest brokerage to restructure its far-flung operations. It also is the first decisive action that Merrill has taken to reorganise itself after the broker's top executives had said in recent days that they were considering a restructuring that could result in thousands of job losses. Although voluntary severance packages have been common on Wall Street this year, none has been on the scale of the Merrill package. Merrill reported a 52 per cent fall in third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Like other Wall Street firms, its investment banking revenues have dried up as mergers and acquisitions activity and equity underwriting have gone quiet. But Merrill has been particularly hard hit by the fall in the stock market because of the costs associated with its vast retail brokerage business. The broker's staff had nearly doubled during the bull market of the last decade. Merrill said it had already cut 6,800 employees - 9 per cent of staff - since last year's third quarter. The broker took $152m in severance costs during the most recent quarter. Still, David Komansky, Merrill's chairman, said on Thursday that the broker was "sized inappropriately" and that steps would be taken to correct that. All of Merrill's 65,900 employees will be offered voluntary retirement on Monday in exchange for what the company calls a "generous" severance package. The percentage of annual salary that they receive will depend on their length of service with the firm. They will also receive a "significant" portion of their 2000 bonus. The offer will expire in early November, and employees must have the approval of their manager to participate. Merrill has already taken aim at its overseas private client units in Japan and other markets, which have been slow to develop in the current climate. It is likely that many long-time brokers in the US who prospered during the recent bull market will want to sit out the current slump. Other Wall Street rivals have been trimming staff throughout the year to cope with the slump in the securities business. Credit Suisse First Boston and Bear Stearns have both announced deep job cuts since September 11. Although voluntary severance packages have been common on Wall Street this year, none has been on the scale of the Merrill package.

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (133182)	10/20/2001 9:09:28 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

why, you want your half? ;-)

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (133182)	10/20/2001 9:35:32 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Alan Keyes on Free Trade Q: What area of international policy would you change immediately? A: Our entry into the WTO. I think we gave away a portion of our sovereignty that we should never have surrendered. It violates the fundamental principle of our way of life: no legislation without representation. I’m not interested in protectionism or withdrawal. But folks ought to be paying a premium price to enter this market, or else giving us something concrete in return that’s of tangible benefit to the American people. KEYES [to Forbes]: I’m very concerned with the surrender of America’s national sovereignty. Joining the WTO subjects the American people directly to decisions that will be applied without the intervention of elected representatives. Would you join me in a pledge, to withdraw from the WTO? FORBES: If the WTO can’t get its act together, let it stay on the side & we take direct action in reducing trade barriers with our partners starting with the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, with Ireland & Britain. And we should do the same thing with Australia & other countries in the Pacific Rim. That way we can stop this discrimination against our products and the WTO can go its own way. KEYES: [The WTO] violates the constitutional principle of no legislation without representation. Will you withdraw us from this unrepresentative body? FORBES. I’m not going to withdraw us from that body. it’s supposed to be there to help reduce barriers. If it doesn’t, then we bid it goodbye. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everybody else is busy arguing about whether China should be in the WTO. I look at an organization that is unrepresentative, elected by no one, where dictators and tyrants have the same right to send representatives to make substantive decisions that will affect our jobs & livelihood in a fashion totally contrary to our constitution. The question isn’t whether China should belong to the WTO. The question is whether the US should belong to an organization that violates our constitutional principles. KEYES [to Bauer]: The WTO is an unrepresentative body based on an illegitimate principle of government; it is not a body that contains entities that are based upon consent. And yet it could make decisions that affect our lives & jobs. Our Constitution says that our representative bodies are supposed to be composed of states based on republican forms of government-consent not dictatorship. How can you support our membership in the WTO without violating our constitutional liberties? The income tax should be replaced [by] taxes on things we buy and that we pay only when we decide to buy them. By restoring tariffs and duties to their proper role we will also make foreign populations who benefit from access to the US market share the burden of supporting the governmental system that guarantees its existence.