ABSTRACT
Downsizings in corporate America typically result after newly appointed CEOs, or tardily alerted incumbents, confront and resolve a harsh dilemma: either heed the message transmitted by their corporate profit-and-loss accounts, or be replaced by someone who will. Resolution of the dilemma usually results in a situation that can be summarized by a parable. This explanation can be described in various ways that differ in clarity and tact, but are essentially similar in content and meaning. For example, one can say simply that the firm has become more efficient. Or that waste has been reduced or eliminated. The developments create acute problems that reverberate in the country's quotidian politics and rhetoric. The problems concern the diminution of job security, and the proper role of corporate responsibility in the downsizing scenario. While the value of shareholders' "equities" goes up, dismissed workers and the communities in which they live find that their "equity" has gone down.
