Surviving The Bottom Line: Open_Notes 2

moving down in an up-economy - extraction of wealth - mean business - immediate gratification - short term - beyond sensible limits - hot stocks - the markets hunger for gain is bottomless and millions of us feed that hunger - imposes too high a cost on society, on ordinary people - profits up - social costs up (jobless, retraining, dislocation, etc.) - hard work, loyalty, now meaningless to workers - THE MIDDLE IS FALLING OUT - betrayal - hollowed out and forgotten - lifestyle shrinkage - temporary contingent workers without benefits (no opportunity for benefits) - short-term, job insecurity, no stability - (vs. self-supporting employment, dignity) - not employers but deployers (contract out, deploy services) - dangling in the dark - anchored to the bottom -- Tantalus [L < Gr tantalos] Gr Myth. a king, son of Zeus, doomed in the lower world to stand in water that always recedes when he tries to drink it and under branches of fruit that always remain just out of reach [SAGE tanta_lust, tanta_lies (tantalize; to tease or disappoint by promising or showing something desirable and then withholding it - tantalization n. tantalizer n. - tantalizing adj. 1 that tantalizes 2 tempting; enticing - tantalizingly adv.)]