It's always interesting to see how little actual faith senior executives have in their own company, and in their ability to manage adequately. Firing people in order to bolster the bottom line during a recession is easy but also quite stupid. A lot of institutional knowledge is lost, not just person-hours of potential work. If those people weren't needed then why hire them in the first place? If they were needed, why panic and get rid of them merely to prop up the share price for a quarter or two?

The lack of longer-term thinking, and the lack of courage, among senior executives is truly a sight to behold. In good times they imagine themselves to be geniuses and fearless leaders, but the moment there's a problem they all panic like frightened children and scramble to save themselves by throwing others overboard.

It's pathetic.