Word: trimming
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Autoworkers have certainly made sacrifices recently as they trim wages and benefits to help make their employers more competitive and to save their jobs. That's part of the normal - and sometimes painful - give and take between employer and employee as companies seek to keep their workforce happy and their product pricing competitive. But when employee concessions become a currency equal in value - or even exceeding - the rights of bondholders, as it did in these latest negotiations, realism is replaced with hopeful illusions...
...reduce homeowners' monthly payments to as little as 31% of gross income - but that only covered first mortgages. This seriously alarmed some investors in mortgage-related securities, since many second mortgages are owned by the same companies that service the loans. The companies were essentially getting paid to trim the amount owed to outside investors while not necessarily taking a haircut themselves...
Less optimistically, firms might be realizing they've let go of so many already, more cuts would hit bone. Also, reducing paychecks during a recession can provide cover for companies that had been looking to trim labor costs anyway. But maybe we should hope for purer intentions. And that the plan for avoiding layoffs works...
...drifting away from retail research doesn't necessarily mean giving up on research line altogether. As institutional investors, particularly hedge funds, have taken a beating in the market and been forced to trim costs including staff, the demand for outside research has in some quarters actually increased. "There are different kinds of independent research," says Argus president John Eade. "As the settlement winds down, the focus is shifting away from ratings and reports to evolving forms, like expert networks and primary sources-meetings with our analysts, our institutional clients and different CEOs and CFOs we've gotten to know...
...House Masters, who said they were frustrated with a “moving target” of budget-cut expectations, added that they would oppose any “fait accompli” (irreversible mandate) calling for staff cuts. The increased—and changing—requirements to trim House budgets have prevented House Masters from finalizing their annual budgets, which are usually submitted in January...