Timberwolves Start Laying Off Employees
"While the Minnesota Timberwolves continued the process of hiring arguably their most important employee, they told some on the business side of their operations that their services won’t be needed during the NBA lockout.
The Timberwolves laid off at least 11 business side employees on Tuesday, many of them in the sales department, as the effects of the NBA lockout start to sink in across the league.
A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press of the moves. The person requested anonymity because the Timberwolves are not discussing personnel matters. So far, the basketball side of the operations have been spared, with president of basketball operations David Kahn bringing in Mike Woodson on Tuesday to interview for the head coaching opening.
The Wolves are at least the third team in the league to start laying off employees. The Charlotte Bobcats laid off at least seven last week, including radio play-by-play announcer Scott Lauer. The Detroit Pistons fired 15 employees earlier this month."
- By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, AP Sports Writer
10 months ago
TimAllen
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This is the part of the lockout that pisses me off the most.
The fight is between billionaires and millionaires but a bunch of people with normal jobs get hurt the most in the process.
by Madison Dan on Jul 20, 2011 10:18 AM CDT reply actions 4 recs
And some of their salaries could have been paid with $ instead spent paying fines
"All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner." -Twain
by Tangerine dream on Jul 20, 2011 8:41 PM CDT up reply actions
Someone needs to give these Job Creators
more tax breaks, then these layoffs would never happen…
Derrick Williams was going to Bust...but then he was selected by the Timberwolves!
by Ebomb on Jul 20, 2011 11:00 AM CDT reply actions 12 recs
Welcome to the club
Good luck finding anything worthwhile.
by BenchRider on Jul 20, 2011 11:35 AM CDT via mobile reply actions
When I first started writing resumes in 1988
the biggest fear laid off workers had was that they’d have too many jobs on their resume. A two-page resume was considered to be the kiss of death.
If you’re under 30, you may not realize it, but the USA today is nothing like the USA us older folks grew up in, not even close.
Back in the ‘70s the right started up their insane mantra that we needed a CEO president. Well, we’ve had a few of them now, and things keep getting worse.
Congress could fix this country, but the bastards are all owned by the rich (who really hate this country).
NBA players do smoke marijuana...smoking weed in the off-season sometimes is my personal choice and personal opinion...I don't think that's stopping me from doing my job — Josh Howard
by TMiss on Jul 20, 2011 12:17 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Last time I checked....
I didnt remember any poor people creating jobs….
"But this one goes to eleven..."
Last time I checked
wealthy people were moving jobs overseas despite record-breaking profits.
"Of what use is a philosopher who does not hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes of Sinope
by Cynical Jason on Jul 20, 2011 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions 6 recs
This is true, but it is complicated
It used to be manufacturing mostly. American manufacturing jobs replaced by cheaper workers overseas. I wonder if looser environmental regulations in developing countries made it a ‘double win’ for corporations, who could run potentially dirtier and cheaper operations outside the purview of the EPA.
Now it is hitting other sectors. I work in IT, and lots of jobs are going to India and China. It is scary. Part of it is cheaper labor, but part of it is high level company strategy. Explosive growth is assumed possible in the BRIC – Brazil, Russion, India, and China. Companies want to start getting footholds there so they can sell product and see explosive growth. Growth in mature markets like the US and Europe may be difficult. For example, what is easier – getting some number of Coke drinkers in the US to switch to Pepsi, or getting 100x that many people drinking Coke in another country.
The long term issue, though, is what jobs will be left? Who is to say that middle management is not the next job class that is viewed as more productively done overseas. If all the workers and their managers are there, why not the next level or two. Pretty soon do you end up with a CEO in New York who ostensibly is running a “US” company, but everyone else is outside the US and doesn’t listen to what he says anyway?
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Jul 20, 2011 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions
Sorry typo in my example
or getting 100x that many people drinking Pepsi in another country.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Jul 20, 2011 1:20 PM CDT up reply actions
Jobs overseas...
The reason thats happening is that we all want our 401k’s to go sharply up. As do most companies. Nothing helps the bottom line like low cost wages. Its definitely a form of greed. (whatever happened to slow and steady growth). As a society we want everything now. I’m NOT a fan of this byt he way…but as Wile Points out below…I’m in IT also and see it every day.
So do you complain when your 401k goes up?
"But this one goes to eleven..."
I'm one of the lucky ones
without a 401k.
"Of what use is a philosopher who does not hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes of Sinope
by Cynical Jason on Jul 20, 2011 5:19 PM CDT up reply actions
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the possibility of pensions and 401k investments going up
likely has little to do with the the bottom line for corporations shipping jobs overseas. I think you could make a stronger case for corporate managements compensation as being the real reason for it. The management and boards of companies are in no way endangered by what pension funds would like to see for returns, nor are they concerned in any real way by stockholders deciding they don’t like what is happening in the marble palaces of the headquarters. Stockholders no longer are considered as anything more than rubes who hold no real leverage in changing behavior at the top….
There is a real caste system that is now entrenched at the top, and you have no sway in determining what is in their best interests. Sorry, but this is not the America of the 50s or even the 70s anymore. It is a wholely owned subsidiary of the upper crust…
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
by Dogpile on Jul 20, 2011 7:18 PM CDT up reply actions 4 recs
Yep.
Sadly . . .
"Of what use is a philosopher who does not hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes of Sinope
by Cynical Jason on Jul 20, 2011 7:28 PM CDT up reply actions
American Jobs...
Were destroyed by all of the insane free trade agreements that have been established over the past 30 years. Want to fix the american economy start with REAL trade tariffs. It will temporarily cause difficulty but is the only way to fix our internal job market.
Nonsense
See this article I just read at Yahoo.
Plenty of poor people start businesses that create jobs. Small businesses that grow are the best source of job creation. Most wealthy people I work with use their wealth to create more wealth through activites that don’t create jobs like Investment, unless you think buying stock and investing capital in major corporations actually produces Jobs in the US. I suppose you can count the few investment advisors they utilize as Job Creation.
Derrick Williams was going to Bust...but then he was selected by the Timberwolves!
by Ebomb on Jul 20, 2011 1:12 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
And as far as the wealthy creating jobs,
there’s this.
"Of what use is a philosopher who does not hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes of Sinope
by Cynical Jason on Jul 20, 2011 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
With this very telling quote:
The Fortune 500 generated nearly $10.8 trillion in total revenues last year, up 10.5 percent. Total profits soared 81 percent. But guess who didn’t benefit much from this giant wave of cash? Millions of U.S. workers stuck mired in a stagnant job market … we’ve rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans.
It actually sounds very similar to the CBA troubles, and the allegations (from Nate Silver and others) that profits are not down at all, but rather soaring.
...I've been drinking...
by losDelFuego on Jul 20, 2011 3:25 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
This might be a bit off-topic, but is something that should cause us all
to consider whether our empire is really capable of continued expansion as it has been in the past 50 years…
I’ll warn you that it is a 45 minute plus lecture from a historian, “it will not appeal to the television audience”.
I believe we are at the equivalent position of the Roman empire in 150AD, so there is still a generation or so of complexity before the retrenchment, but YMMV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddmQhIiVM48&feature=player_embedded
The first 5 parts as you scroll through are the meat, and the last 2 parts are responses to audience questions.
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
by Dogpile on Jul 20, 2011 9:16 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
I watched the first five.
Definitely worth the time. I especially appreciated the point in the last segment regarding the Roman empire, and see it connected to the current situation in the US. That the steps the emperors took to solve problems led to the collapse of the empire, even though the steps they took were logical and ethical. I see this as the Obama position. On the other hand, not solving the problems would likely have seen an earlier collapse of the empire. This seems like the charitable interpretation of the congressional Republican position.
Obama’s biting the bullet, accepting the costs, and trying to solve the problems. The Republicans either reject the costs as too high or deny that the problems exist. My fear is that the Republicans aren’t doing so out of any conviction, but more due to a Mitch McConnell-style strategy of tying Obama to the costs while denying the (now solved) problems ever existed.
"Of what use is a philosopher who does not hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes of Sinope
by Cynical Jason on Jul 21, 2011 5:47 PM CDT up reply actions 3 recs
I think you are right in how you see Obama's position.
I do find myself wondering at times how a leader with more ability to use the bully pulpit to raise the level of discussion would fare in the current stadium of clowns that exists in Washington. Obama can be a persuasive speaker and leader when he is working on his signature legislation. It is unfortunate that he otherwise is too eager to cede ground and often starts the negotiation by asking for the mnimum and then settles for far less. His read of politics may be much more advanced than mine, but it often appears that he is disinterested in much of the social and structural legislation that is important to his base and to the country. I think it is difficult enough to negotiate with what passes for leadership of the opposition party, one should not concede anything more than absolutely necessary because they will accept nothing less than total capitulation if you do.
The current battle over the debt ceiling will likely be the lens through which Obama’s presidency will be viewed in the future. He is already strapped to the bank bailout, whether that is in any way fair to him or not, he must not allow himself to be tied to the opposition talking points on the debt limit or his will be a failed presidency.
Obama has already moved far beyond where he should be on Social Security, Medicare, and cutting the size of government in an attempt to appear “balanced”. The voters do not support the republicans in any way on the cuts that have been proposed and yet he has given ground eagerly on this. If he had any credibility with his base due to having actually done something about say, the housing crisis that is the base cause of this depression, I would give him more leeway on this position. Sadly though, Obama is likely to end up signing legislation that will cause more hardships for his supporters while doing little to address the real problem. The real problem by the way is the mortgage debt still on the books and the unemployment that results from it. The disturbing thing is that there aren’t any voices in Washington mentioning that fact!
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
I think you are right and wrong
I agree with you on Obama’s strange negotiation style. He knows that opposition is deliberately taking a position that is impossible to implement, and that the sole reason of taking said position is to make him look bad.
Fact is that revenue is down due to the slowed economy and we can not help but deficit spend at this point if we want to avoid making the recession worse. The opposition wants to force his hand into cutting the sacred cow (social security) and thusly making him impossible to re-elect.
I wish he would hold his ground more firmly, but he seems too idealistic to shut down the govt for something as trivial as this. We shall see though.
and I forgot how I thought you were wrong..
so we can just ignore that I said that.
Where I am likely wrong
is in giving Obama credit for being a fool rather than a tool….
When he was elected he appeared to be just to the right of center, in the style of Clinton. When he brought Summers, Rubin, etal on board, he moved both farther right and more aligned with monied interests. When Emmanual left, I was curious to see if his style would change at all. Sadly, it has not….
So, I’m afraid that he will likely go down in history as the Great Appeaser. He was, unfortunately, the wrong man at a time of dire need for the right man. While even FDR or LBJ might not have been able to accomplish much with the parade of corrupt and foolish that is Congress, they would surely have given a much better effort and Boehner and Cantor would have felt their nut sacks under a whole lot of pressure!
So, maybe that isn’t where you though I was wrong, but it is where I sense that we will look back in the near future and wonder how Obama could have been a place holder for Princess Michelle of Waterloo.
And that outcome would be a tragedy that Sophicles would have written……
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
I read an interesting article by Bruce Bartlett today
Positing that Obama is like the Democrats’ Richard Nixon, in the sense that instead of doing what his base wants, he has governed as a moderate conservative to the same degree that Nixon frustrated his base by governing as a moderate liberal. It’s at least somewhat convincing.
"We must always seek the truth in our opponents' error and the error in our own truth." - RN
Yes for example My brother and two other engineers
Started their firm together with a loan and small savings and gradually built the company into one that employs around 100 people year round. The very wealthy by contrast, are often just money oriented and spend a great deal of money and wealth on manipulation to gain even more wealth. A few are themselves still creative usually if they started the company. By owning the media and the politicians they create the little truism that they create jobs.
Trickle Down Economics
has a long documented history of causing recessions. And has never produced jobs; just shifts more money into the stock market.
Will the Real Thor Please Stand Up ... ?
by the Real Thor on Jul 21, 2011 8:13 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Like communism, it would succeed if only we tried it *hard enough.*
So proponents have been telling us since, well, at least 1976. The problem is always that we don’t believe sincerely enough to make an even more radical change.
It’s a little like the children’s crusade. The economic theory won’t save us until we’re willing to put ourselves beyond any other rescue. We’ve got to have faith.
by feral on Jul 21, 2011 8:26 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
My sympathy to the folks such as Lauren and Jonah in marketing
They did a wonderful job trying to build interest in, let’s face it, an inferior product!
No matter what your politics are, I think we can all agree that this lockout is a net loss to the fans and staff members of the Timberwolves. Perhaps it will be a gain for the owners, but abandoning the folks who follow the team is bad business no matter what it does for the bottom line of the management. We can be assured that there will not be a drop of any significance in ticket prices or other fees once this is settled. We can also safely assume that the voters will want no part of financing new stadiums for teams that abandon their fanbase. I personally would be just fine, in light of the effects of global warming, with our becoming, as Sid states it, a colder Omaha!
Much as I enjoy the team, this site does more for my enjoyment of basketball than the actual product than Glenn Taylor and the co-owners have put on the court the last five years…
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
by Dogpile on Jul 20, 2011 7:01 PM CDT reply actions 4 recs
It is time for a violent revolution.
We need to storm the mansions of everyone who put us in this economic situation and hold public trials and public executions in the same hour.
by Fuzzem on Jul 20, 2011 8:36 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
You are about a week late
Bastille Day is July 14th. But I agree:
To the Barricades!!
The Wolves are like the worst meal you've ever had--terrible while you're eating it and even worse later.
by Eric in Madison on Jul 20, 2011 9:40 PM CDT up reply actions
Please note, talking heads: This post here ^ is a slice of what "class warfare" means.
It’s not when someone tries to roll back a share of the tax breaks given to one sector of society over the past four decades of policy. It’s not when we face the terrifying prospect of behaving like responsible human beings when it comes to fiscal policy, rather than dancing and singing and pretending that if we just lower X tax that little bit more economic voodoo will finally occur.
“Class warfare” is when things have gotten so bad that people turn on each other, killing people who live in mansions and breaking up their landed estates. “Class warfare” is when homeless veterans get attacked by the US Army – which has happened.
It wasn't just later in his career that Charles MacArthur
was a colossal Douche Bag! My apologies to the makers and users of feminine hygiene products for degrading them by the comparison.
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
Douglas MacArtur
mental slip.
The “doughboys” were totally screwed and disrespected by the politicians at the time. Similar to Vietnam Vets, they came home, those few who made, it to a country that did not have time to aid their readjustment and were treated as if they were communists rather than heroes. Hoover sending in the troops to prevent paying their promised war bonuses was a low point for the country. Jobless, homeless soldiers who had sacrificed everything were shot at and killed for a paltry bonus that had been promised to them at their enlistment. That moment was the end of Hoover, the liberal republican. It was also the beginning of the reform movement that would become the “New Deal”. Much of what was accomplished by FDR was only possible because folks had seen how nothing would be given to them without a fight.
Timberwolves 2011:
Kahnceptual Performance Art
Before WWI, too, we also had the example of veterans of the Philippines.
If we wanna make a Vietnam comparison, in particular, the experience of U.S. soldiers in the Philippines after the Spanish American War could hardly be more apropos. Because we ignore so much of our history, nobody even remembers those guys.
Detroit turned a profit last year according to the NBA
so why did they lay people off?
In the world of "Profits"
Infinity is less than Infinity plus One
Derrick Williams was going to Bust...but then he was selected by the Timberwolves!
Slightly off topic...
..but I doubt most of you will mind. read this article about possible trades we could make and was especially enticed by the Ben Gordon deal.. Thoughts? http://nyfwc.com/?p=729
But I do care enough to...
Post “I don’t care”
It was just thinking that the Wolves
listed that position not long ago to use stats, fancy math, etc. for the business side of the operation. I wonder if they ever hired anyone and if so, if that person has already been laid off? That would be awfully harsh.
Couldn't they at least keep the Wolves staff working through the Lynx season?
I’m assuming the teams share the same staff. Either way, it’s BS to start laying off people, especially this early into the lockout. It seems like the owners of some teams may be doing this as a publicity stunt at the expense of people’s livelihoods.. Just unbelievable.
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