Tim Armstrong just keeps doin' the thing

They don't "need" to. I was just responding to your assertion that AOL could use this proposed cut as some sinister incentive to let people go. If I'm a CEO, I will cut matching entirely before I cut people, because cutting matching doesn't hurt the product.

 

Meh. Likelihood is you'd have been cut loose along with most of the company at the end of last month anyway, so you'd have been gone before Armstrong made his comments.

 

Been that way since the dawn of labor, and there are only a couple of ways around it:

--- Be the employer, not the employee.

--- Possess or develop skills so unique and valuable that you are in constant demand.

Some of my former newspaper colleagues have amazed me with the careers they have made since leaving the business. College professor, air traffic controller, MRI technician, foreign service officer with the State Department, etc.

 

What the hell do people think the point of insurance is if not to protect against catastrophic medical conditions like the one this poor child has? Anyone read the comments to this article? Pathetic. The whole reason to have insurance is to protect against major loss, not to make your yearly trip to the MD cheaper.

 

Armstrong has previously demonstrated that he has no use for the womens and their difficult babies.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/tim-armstrong-has-a-history-of-targeting-pregnant-emplo-1519815257

According to the lawsuit, Armstrong promoted Elwell to Google's national sales director of North America in late 2003 and even singled out her contribution to Google going public in 2004. In April 2004, Elwell told Armstrong she was having medical problems with her pregnancy that would prevent her from traveling for a "few weeks," which is when Armstrong fell off the rails.

He demoted Elwell the same month that she lost two of her unborn children. He told colleagues she was moved to operations because she could not travel, he called her an "HR nightmare" and said he no longer wanted her in the New York office, and eventually fired her over the phone. To inform her about the demotion, "Armstrong showed Elwell an organizational chart from which Elwell's position had been deleted."

AOL is presenting a conference beginning today that promises to "reset the agenda for women in the workplace in the 21st century." Armstrong is supposed to speak.

 

Megan McArdle:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-10/what-aol-s-tim-armstrong-got-right.html

 

Armstrong should have thought before opening his mouth and making said decision.

But I'll give him this: He's not the one responsible for sending out all those floppy disks and CDs that now take up space in landfills.

 

AOL reported personnel costs of around $649 million on its most recent 10-K. I find it very hard to believe that: 1) it had no stop-loss-like protection; and 2) a $2 million hit would make that big of a difference. We're almost talking a rounding error here.

 

But, but Obamacare!