Yaaaawwwwwwwwwn!
My first Silicon Valley company got bought by a bigger fish, who eventually shut down the facility. I wasn't there for the buy-out.
My next Silicon Valley company got bought by a bigger fish, sold to a bigger fish that merged with another big fish and got bought by a really big fish. I left soon after the first buy-out, and they've probably only had a sales office in the area for the past 20 or more years.
My next Silicon Valley company laid off 10% of the company (I was one of hundreds of 10%ers), got bought by a bigger fish, got bought by an even bigger fish that has not been doing well the past 15 or 20 years.
I could go on much more about little-fish survival jobs and big fish that got clobbered by their own hubristic mistakes and economic downturns. The point is, the days of starting at a largish company and retiring from it 40 or 50 years later started waning in the 1970s and are close to gone. TEB, from his first trucking job, has not been living in the real world if he thought he would retire after 20 or 50 years at the same company with which he started. If he thought that his disillusionment is the fault of his parents, teachers, or union bosses (or some combination thereof), not some President. Further, the several years of Ford were followed by four years of Carter, and the 12 years of Reagan-Bush were followed by 8 years of Clinton. If Ford, Reagan, or Bush really F'ed things up, Carter and Clinton were too stupid and/or indolent to fix things (IIRC, Clinton "helped" the trucking industry by imposing an extra tax on diesel fuel).
But facts don't matter on DU.
TEB
could use his layoff time to clean up Boog's "logs", but he'll probably be hanging out at whatever bar(s) pass as a union hall.
