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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BirdDog who wrote (45071)	12/12/2001 4:16:37 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Applied Materials Announces Reduction in Work Force SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2001--Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT - news), today announced that it will reduce its global work force by approximately 1,700 positions, or approximately 10 percent, in response to the continuing downturn in the semiconductor industry. The Company will record a restructuring charge for the first fiscal quarter, ending January 27, 2002. Employees will be notified beginning Thursday, December 13. Approximately 450 positions at Applied Materials' Silicon Valley operations and approximately 600 positions at the Company's Austin operations will be affected. Employees in selected groups will be offered the option of participating in a furlough program, an unpaid leave of absence during which they will be eligible for certain employee benefits. The Company has implemented several cost-saving programs in response to the slowed demand in the semiconductor and equipment industries, including executive and employee salary reductions, restricted hiring and travel, mandatory shutdown days, a voluntary separation plan and a reduction in the regular and temporary work force. ``Unfortunately, the continuing downturn requires us to make some tough decisions to align our operations with current levels of demand for semiconductor equipment,'' said James C. Morgan, chairman and chief executive officer of Applied Materials. ``While the short-term business environment is uncertain, we are confident in the long-term prospects of our industry.'' Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT - news), the largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry, is one of the world's leading information infrastructure providers. Applied Materials enables Information for Everyone(TM) by helping semiconductor manufacturers produce more powerful, portable and affordable chips. Applied Materials' Web site is www.appliedmaterials.com. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those relating to a reduction in work force and the semiconductor industry's long-term prospects. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to timely align its cost structure with market conditions; the length and severity of the economic and industry downturn; global uncertainties; changes in demand for semiconductors and customer capacity requirements, including capacity utilizing the latest technology; changes in the timing and amount of customers' investments in new technology; the successful and timely development of new markets, products, processes and services; and other risks described in Applied Materials' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Applied Materials, Inc. Jeff Lettes, 408/563-5161 (editorial/media) Carolyn Schwartz, 408/748-5227 (financial community) biz.yahoo.com

To: BirdDog who wrote (45071)	12/12/2001 7:07:21 PM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Please enlighten me on how we have treated them? When did we declare war on all of Islam? When did we vow to destroy Islam wherever it exists? When did we plan, and carry out missions to kill thousands of civilians, anywhere? ...please enlighten me to this imbalance? There are entire books about the subject. None of which I have read. Most definitely, I will not be able to enlighten anyone on the subject. We should be asking the above questions to them, instead. Apparently there is something about us that they are not happy about. Volunteers to pilot a plane into a building would be harder to come by if there wasn't some form of motivation. I've read how part of the problem has to do with our close ties to Isreal. Each missile they fire say's "Made In The USA". So do the war planes and much of their other weaponry. In their eyes we have been at war with Islam for years and years without an official declaration on our part. By no means am I saying who is wrong or right in their argument with each other. But there is certainly a problem. An imbalance. So badly off center that it has erupted into an even larger war. Peace results from the balance of opposites within and around us. We must find a way to appease both sides and find balance. Diplomacy will help our efforts more than bombs will. We must also find methods of making us less dependent on oil. That solution is so incredibly valuable. It should be our greatest investment in research and development. Think of what would come of it. The Middle East would become less of a hot bed without nations jockeying for better position. In addition, it would solve another major imbalance. That is the severe ecological imbalance of the world. This imbalance is even worse than the one in the middle east. But that is an entire discussion in itself. If we can get the world to balance itself spiritually, with it's gross desire for material goods and greed, we can create a world that thrives. Thrives, with all of us living in symbiosis, where we would have a constant relationship of mutual benefit and dependence. Think about it. Isn't that how nature works? Little ecosystems all dependent upon one and other. That could be us. The whole world working in sync. I know it all sounds a little bit too utopian. But if we can educate the world by showing them that something like this is possible, then perhaps more people will be willing to try it. We have to look at the bigger picture. Otherwise we will continue to destroy each other. -Clappy P.S. btw, your reply to Dealer about that dude's e-wave call of a crash, was right on. I agree with you. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Especially in time frames like that. He isn't using the e-wave tool the way it's meant to be used.