Should I become an Anarchist?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Historically I have always been a capitalist. I thought I believed in free markets and I know I believe in my personal sovereignty. But something happened yesterday which makes me stand up and shout WTF.

Six weeks ago I was informed by my present employer that we would cease work on developing new software to replace the old legacy system because local management decided to change direction and go with a 3rd party external software solution instead of the custom solution we were building. They laid off a whole bunch of IT staff and kept myself and a few others on board until May of 2010 to help migrate the legacy data to this 3rd party provider. Naturally I was disappointed that I would be losing my job in a few months and that all that work I did would be thrown away. But I (sort of) understood why local management did what they did. I am okay with myself losing my job. It is sort of the norm in the IT world.

But the parent company did something on Monday that makes me shake my head. The parent company has decided to close the entire operation here in Calgary Alberta and move everything to North Carolina and new people there will be hired to take over what the folks here used to do (using the 3rd party solution). There is not a single person who is being offered a transfer, the entire operation is to be closed. But I am not telling you the entire picture here. The company I work for was a startup company here in Calgary (I was not working for them when they were independent) and the startup was purchased a few years back by the parent North Carolina company. To make matters worse, we the local company are a profitable entity. In fact we are the only entity in the entire suite of companies owned by the parent company who is currently making money. But here some braniac corporate CEO is taking away jobs from many people who helped to build this company and moving these jobs to North Carolina. I am not whining about my job. I work in IT, I can't tell you how many times I have been downsized in IT, it is just something that happens in the IT world. But I can't believe these people in North Carolina are fucking over some long time employees who helped make our local company a profitable entity.

I sure as #### am not a commie. But there is something wrong when a small group of corporate dweebs can take jobs away from people who built a successful business entity.

So what is an old time capitalist to do? Suck it up? or does anarchy sound like it might be fun?

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Meso 38]

Do it! Though good luck at not being labelled a terrorist ;)

In all honesty though, that is the problem with the work force, essentially your entire life depends on the guy at the top. Your life and livelyhood is owned by someone else.

Essentially any working man that isn't the owner of a company is someone's bitch.

Anarchism is actually good in theory and when practised correctly equally as effective. Though we all know how politics sound in theory and end up in practice (Communism's theory sounds great to me).

[skydiver604 0]

That's actually pretty common, if the companies aren't moving operations south of the border they're going to Mexico and China.

Happened here in Ontario in Sept 2007.
The company I worked for (originally Canadian) was purchased by an American company, who closed our plant down and moved production to the parent company in Michigan, then at a later date moved more operations to Mexico, Just a sign of the times.

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo

[dreamdancer 0]

it's your only real choice

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[hwt 0]

I don't know if you are in a union or if your government imposes a lot of overhead on business there to pay for their employees but i do know that where they moved to has about the lowest wages in the U.S.
In America our manufacturing is going to Mexico and China in the masses and there seems to be nothing we can do about it .
G.M. went bankrupt because of the high overhead demanded by the unions .
Russia failed because of socialism
I do know that the bigger the government becomes , the more corrupt it becomes and the less freedom we have .
Capitalism has its faults , but it is what made the U.S. so prosperous . By the way i used to own a CNC machine shop until the economy collapsed and a lot of my suppliers went under or outsourced their work to China .. Blue Skies!

[Gawain 0]

Sounds like you have quite a bit of knowledge to start-up a competitor if your release this spring leaves loop-holes in the non-compete clauses...

North Carolina has been drawing a lot of high-tech companies for a long time. Even RIM is building a large operation there.

Unfortunately, I don't have any "silver bullet" ideas for you, but I'm fairly certain you'll land on your feet.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[rhys 0]

Quote

I sure as #### am not a commie. But..

That comment is the result of a vast amount of brainwashing decades ago... Questioning ethic is not communist it is lawful and patriotic.

The 'reason' you had to put that comment there is a large contributer of the problem you are currently contemplating.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Anarchy Rules

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[justinb138 0]

Quote

So what is an old time capitalist to do? Suck it up? or does anarchy sound like it might be fun?

Hmm...

[wayneflorida 0]

Start your own company.

[BikerBabe 0]

err, not to be a nit (ok, maybe to be a nit)...

Anarchy is the lack of *government*. Communism and capitalism (in their pure forms) are *economic* systems. I'm not saying they aren't intertwined, but theoretically it would be possible to have an anarchic, capitalistic society.

This is a common mistake I see.

Why not both, eh?

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

But I can't believe these people in North Carolina are fucking over some long time employees who helped make our local company a profitable entity.

I've seen that happened. The disk based digital video startup I worked for was acquired by Avid. They left things alone for a year apart from sending in a new manager from Boston, buying us an expensive video conferencing system, and putting us on their benefit plans. Another group wanted to replace our product with something they were building and I'd guess were getting enough political traction that Avid decided to start the end of life process, close the office, and get Indians to maintain the product.

The engineers had the last laugh in the end when customer demand pushed off the end of life several times and Avid had to hire engineers back as consultants.

Quote

So what is an old time capitalist to do?

Develop better negotiating skills so you take enough money with you once that happens and/or start meeting founders and funding sources so you can start your own non-evil company (probably a "life style business" in the vernacular, where you do OK and treat employees right but will never have a nine plus figure market cap).

[BillyVance 35]

Can you sing or play music, like guitar or drums, etc? Start up a punk rock band and sing about anarchy! Oh well, you'll only be about 30 years late...

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Amazon 7]

Quote

Historically I have always been a capitalist. I thought I believed in free markets and I know I believe in my personal sovereignty. But something happened yesterday which makes me stand up and shout WTF.

Six weeks ago I was informed by my present employer that we would cease work on developing new software to replace the old legacy system because local management decided to change direction and go with a 3rd party external software solution instead of the custom solution we were building. They laid off a whole bunch of IT staff and kept myself and a few others on board until May of 2010 to help migrate the legacy data to this 3rd party provider. Naturally I was disappointed that I would be losing my job in a few months and that all that work I did would be thrown away. But I (sort of) understood why local management did what they did. I am okay with myself losing my job. It is sort of the norm in the IT world.

But the parent company did something on Monday that makes me shake my head. The parent company has decided to close the entire operation here in Calgary Alberta and move everything to North Carolina and new people there will be hired to take over what the folks here used to do (using the 3rd party solution). There is not a single person who is being offered a transfer, the entire operation is to be closed. But I am not telling you the entire picture here. The company I work for was a startup company here in Calgary (I was not working for them when they were independent) and the startup was purchased a few years back by the parent North Carolina company. To make matters worse, we the local company are a profitable entity. In fact we are the only entity in the entire suite of companies owned by the parent company who is currently making money. But here some braniac corporate CEO is taking away jobs from many people who helped to build this company and moving these jobs to North Carolina. I am not whining about my job. I work in IT, I can't tell you how many times I have been downsized in IT, it is just something that happens in the IT world. But I can't believe these people in North Carolina are fucking over some long time employees who helped make our local company a profitable entity.

I sure as #### am not a commie. But there is something wrong when a small group of corporate dweebs can take jobs away from people who built a successful business entity.

So what is an old time capitalist to do? Suck it up? or does anarchy sound like it might be fun?

Aren't you arguing in another thread that CORPORATISM is all good and holy and its great if they can control elections by huge injections of capital.... and hey.. its North Carolina... so wanna BET its a conservative republican board of directors that just BUTT FUCKED you???

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Suck it up cupcake.

[Niki1 2]

The parent company dweebs probably know nothing about your product or the art and craft needed to produce it. They may think it's just "bolting stuff together, putting screws on nuts in an assembly ine." The decision wasn't based on the company's long term benefit but on the individual board members short term benifits. It looks good on paper so they will get some sort of bonus. When the shit hits the fan and it turns out to be a mistake, the board members will blame something else and move on to their next blunder. And probably get a bonus for that fuck up again.

Those board members are like Orson Wells in "The Third Man" at the top of the ferris wheel. "Look down at those little people. Would it really matter if one of them were to fall over and die right now?? They are so far removed from what we think of as the real world they just don't care.

If any of them were to subjected to a similar arbitray secision, they would think themselves ill used.

The Theory of communism sounds great but doesn't work. "From each according to his ability. To each according to his need." Humand nature (at least my nature) wants to be rewarded for whatever art or craft I put into a good product. I think I should be rewarded more than some one else who just goes through the motions in order to draw a paycheck. Just like the Theory of capilalism sounds great, the goal seems to be to develope a monopoly and control the entire market for the benifit of that monopoly. All the Theories sound great (on paper) but I think they all have the same flaw. Politics. 2 or more people conspire for their own benifit to the detrement of some one else. That's where all the Theories break down. Politics.

The Theory of anarchy is the antithesis of politics. Do what YOU think is right, don't look for consenus or go to meetings. Just follow your own idia of right and wrong. Well, there are going to be some problems with that too. You may need help with what you want to do. Convices some one else to help you.

Whoops!! There's Politics again.

A Benevolent Dictatorship sounds great. One person doing everything for the good of everyone. Even if this were possible, who could we trust to not abuse the power?

A book I read once had a thing in it like, "The love of money is the root of all evil." I believe Politics is the tool of all evil. And the really sad part is that I don't think that there's a solution.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

Develop better negotiating skills so you take enough money with you once that happens and/or start meeting founders and funding sources so you can start your own non-evil company (probably a "life style business" in the vernacular, where you do OK and treat employees right but will never have a nine plus figure market cap).

That sounds like too much work. Anarchy sounds much easier.

Oh even though my job does not end until May of 2010, I do have an interview lined up with an even bigger corporation (one of our large Cable companies). There is no guarantee I will get the gig. I am sure I am up against many other qualified candidates some of whom are not contemplating anarchy. If I do end up impressing them and they offer me a chance to join their evil corporation in a quest to make mega tons of money and destroy the world, then I will put on my corporate slave hat and continue on my merry way as I have all these years.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Southern_Man 0]

You can become an anarchist if you want to.

I looked into it for a while, but they didn't have much of a softball league.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Get your tandem rating; I can hook you up.

edited to add: May is perfect. You can use your severance to subsidize your income. Plan on getting a new job in mid October.

[SpeedRacer 1]

When I first glanced at the title I thought it said "Should I become an Antichrist?"



Great. A Canadian Antichrist. You expect some elegant, sinister, powerful character with 666 on his forehead.

Instead you get some guy wearing a snow parka & a wool cap saying, "How's it goin', EH?"


Actually, though, with all the failed apocalypse predictions, you might have as good a shot at it as anyone.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

Should I become an Anarchist?

Absolutely. Whenever you've tried playing a stooge from the Right, people just laughed at you. Might as well give it a whirl.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Quote

When I first glanced at the title I thought it said "Should I become an Antichrist?"



Great. A Canadian Antichrist. You expect some elegant, sinister, powerful character with 666 on his forehead.

Instead you get some guy wearing a snow parka & a wool cap saying, "How's it goin', EH?"


Actually, though, with all the failed apocalypse predictions, you might have as good a shot at it as anyone.

I thought our oil sands were the anti-Christ. That's what Al Gore says anyhow.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

You can use your severance to subsidize your income. Plan on getting a new job in mid October.

In the IT world there are historically two hiring times in a calendar year. Now (January to April) and in the fall (September to November). So depending on how things go I may need to be patient. Fortunately I do not have a large mortgage. In fact if I sold my 911 (which I do not want to sell at this time) I would be debt free. It is after all just a toy. If I am unemployed this summer I may take the free time to continue some renovations I started a while back but allowed myself to sideline. Ultimately I do want to sell my house and downsize into something smaller (haha ... like a trailer in Eloy? or Perris or some other southern DZ? ... no I couldn't do that ... I would be an illegal alien if I did that).

My short term future is safe. I am not whining about my pending job loss. I am just shaking my head at the corporate world. But what do you do? I am not a leftists or a marxists. However how can we not be thinking about where the future of North America and Europe will take us? Hey I live in Edgemont (Calgary) and it is community dominated by the Chinese. I guess I should work on learning their language.

Or just become an anarchist.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[SpeedRacer 1]

or an antichrist. Which might be more fun, with the 4 horsemen & armies & all of that.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[billvon 3,119]

>But what do you do? I am not a leftists or a marxists. However how
>can we not be thinking about where the future of North America and
>Europe will take us?

There's no right answer to that - but that is _definitely_ one of the right questions to be asked.

Often I see people on all sides of the political/economic spectrum (liberal, conservative, libertarian, authoritarian, capitalist, socialist) proposing very simple solutions to problems. Ban guns, we'll end crime! End socialism, we won't have to pay taxes, and people will take responsibility for themselves! End capitalism, I won't lose my job! Arm everyone, and criminals won't stand a chance!

People love those simple, dogmatic, absolute solutions. But like the man said, for every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat - and wrong. Real world solutions are complex, and the best solutions borrow from all ends of the political/economic/social spectrum.

It's always really good to see people say things like "you know, I'm a conservative/democrat/libertarian but . . . . there are problems with those seemingly simple solutions." It means they've started to think outside the box their party/belief structure/social environment has put them in - and that's good thing in the long run (IMO.)

[SpeedRacer 1]

Good point, & exactly why I never feel completely at home with any of the political groups/parties out there.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------