I can't say I enjoy American citizens loosing their jobs.

I think that instead of cheering over someone's loss you should do something about american jobs being shipped to China and India. That and the deregulation craze are the root causes of where we are now.

You sound envious.

Eventually the state will realize furlough days and hiring freezes are not what the public is requesting.

Union employees know that those that have been around for a while are low on the "cut" list so they will always vote for someone else to lose their job over taking a pay cut to allow more employees to remain employed......so much for the "we're all in this together" collective.

No service oriented business would approach the problem in this manner. The "product" would be the last thing affected by cuts. The state could learn something from this.

Such sweeping generalizations. My husband's company (private sector), service oriented- did exactly what many others are continuing to do - raise prices for their services- no one in the company took any sort of pay cut to save my husband's job. Now we are all "paying" for it in raised fees every time I turn around- this idea that private sector is somehow doing things better than public is a joke.

W.E. - if you're willing to divulge, I would be interested in what company (or industry) your husband worked for, as in my experiences, that has not been the common approach the private sector has taken.

My company initiated paycuts (not furlough days, real cuts) across the board - every employee was hit. The percentage of the cut was based on an employee's paygrade. Benefits were reduced or eliminated as well. Our product price remained constant, and in all actuallity went down as options customers previously paid for were included for free in order to keep the business.

Private sector companies that just raise prices to cover rising costs typically have a stronghold on the market. And even then there is usually a substitute or new technology/good/service that becomes price effective.
It does happen, it does work - to a point. It's not a long term successful model.....unless you're an oil company.

I'm not happy people are loosing their jobs. The government is approaching the problem the wrong way as,another user said. The mentality is to keep what's in place and just reduce services - it needs to be a how do we do more with less approach. How can tech help improve efficiencies so the government can do more with less. This problem is no different than what private sector companies fight with yearly. It's tough, but survival is dependent on it.

W.E., you've got it all wrong. You're forgetting the fundamental difference between the public and private sectors. I have the ability to vote with my dollars when it comes to the private sector. I can go to Lucky's, or Safeway, and once there, I can buy the fresh tomatoes or the cheaper canned variety. I don't have that choice when sending my kids to school or hopping on BART.

This topic is five years old. Did anything change?

No. And that's the problem