Feb 112016
 

A perfect illustration in today’s Seattle Times — and yes, I still read newspapers on dead trees, four a day in fact — how our economy operates today at warp speed.

On Page 1, news that in response to competitive pressure from Airbus,  Boeing will be cutting costs and trimming its payroll in the Seattle area, by attrition if possible, by layoff if necessary.

But in the same section, on Page 10, word that Boeing’s 34,000 blue-collar machinists in Washington and Oregon will receive bonuses equal to 3% of their 2015 gross earnings in their paychecks Feb. 18. That will amount to $77.6 million of additional spending power in the affected markets.

The same story recounts that earlier Boeing announced incentive bonuses for almost 42,000 non-executive salaried employees in Washington, totaling $140 million. The white-collar bonuses will range from 8.25 to 9.75 days of additional pay and will hit paychecks Feb. 25.

I doubt if anyone uses pink slips any more. But how ironic that people getting bonuses in the next couple of weeks may be getting pink slips, figuratively if not literally, later this year. Is you head spinning?

 

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