SNIP
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>Companies rationalize, “We owe efficient management and a good return on investment to our investors. We must hold down labor costs to be competitive”!

Tom,

I used to say to myself... "yea, right, only trouble is they never consult with the investor first, so it's really just an excuse to do whatever they wish".
But then I came to realize that they *DO* 'consult' the investors... well, the big institutional investors who actually FORCE 'consultation' on them!

If you asked **individual** (not institutional) bank stock investors, for instance, if the 1.5% profit obtained from SERVICE FEES is worth continuing I'd bet that the vast majority of them would say "h*ll NO - I pay more in service fees than I get as dividends!".
But the institutional investor says KEEP THE FEES - every iota of a percent matters to me!

cheers

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>All this being said while the CEO has a $120 million Golden Parachute.
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>Tom