AT&T Preps For Even More Cuts After $42 Billion+ In Trump Tax Cuts And Regulatory Favors
from the ill-communication dept
It seems like only yesterday that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was promising on live television that if Trump followed through on his tax cuts, the company would dramatically boost investment and add thousands of new jobs. Not "entry-level jobs," mind you, but "7,000 jobs of people putting fiber in the ground, hard-hat jobs that make $70,000 to $80,000 per year." Each $1 billion in new investment spurred by government favors, AT&T insisted, would result in 7,000 new jobs. "Lower taxes drives more investment, drives more hiring, drives greater wages," Stephenson said.
The same rhetoric was a common occurrence as AT&T lobbied to have net neutrality (and FCC oversight in general) stripped away, insisting this would result in significant job creation and a massive surge in investment. The amount of money AT&T saved from turning the FCC into a glorified rubber stamp for industry is likely incalculable. The tax cuts were more easily calculated, with CBS suggesting the cuts should net AT&T around $42 billion.
Here on planet Earth the exact opposite of what AT&T promised occurred: the company actually decreased its 2020 CAPEX by some $3 billion, and unions say the company has cut more than 37,000 jobs since the Trump tax cuts took effect.
This week, AT&T announced it would be conducting another $6 billion in cuts that will include additional "headcount rationalization," which in human language likely indicates even more layoffs:
"The effort may include layoffs. Stankey didn't specifically mention that word, but instead said the operator would enact a "headcount rationalization," a term that could include layoffs as well as reductions by not hiring replacements for workers who retire or leave. That program, he said, would reduce the operator's labor expenses by 4%, or roughly $1.5 billion, by the end of 2020. He added that the reduction would target employees in AT&T's call centers, management structures and distribution strategy. AT&T employed roughly 252,000 people at the end of September."
It's odd that when news outlets discuss AT&T's cost-cutting and layoff strategies, they fail to mention we just got done throwing tens of billions in regulatory favors and tax cuts at the company in exchange for absolutely nothing. In fact, we apparently paid AT&T to do the exact opposite of what it repeatedly promised to do. It's particularly galling given that most of AT&T's current problems stem directly from spending too much money on harmful megamergers and bumbling its entry into the online streaming video space.
But as usual, the end result isn't AT&T executives paying any sort of penalty for incompetence, it's the company's workers and customers who have to pay for the mistakes -- in more ways than one. And it's all being subsidized by American taxpayers who, thanks to a general press unwillingness to call a duck a duck, often don't understand the scope of the grift directly underfoot.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: competition, jobs, layoffs, monopolies, subsidies, tax cuts
Companies: at&t
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Bodeyface! Bodeyface! Big Mean Karl is a Bodeyface! That's what you get for supporting filthy pirates, McBodey Bodey Bodeface.
Shiva might not have been able to deal with you, but Pai will. You wait! Just you wait! He doesn't take kindly to people who doubt the corporate genius of CEOs who run ISPs. There will never be someone who supports net neutrality in politics, sorry! Up yours too, Masnick!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
you didn't label it. What kind of fanfic is this again?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Considering the self-aggrandizing tone, the constant use of "Bodeface", the irreverent worship of Ajit Pai's FCC... If this is a spoof, it's really hard to tell from the real deal.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisonin
If you get your shit & giggles from pretending being an idiot, don't be surprised when you are placed in the same company as the real idiots.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol pois
Look up Ken White's Rule of Goats
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol pois
How do you tell apart Richard Bennett from a spoof? The spoof is more honest!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisonin
Welcome to the internet.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
You should would worry about alcohol poisoning because you being out of your mind on a dangerous amount of vodka is the only thing that explains that post. Unless it's acid? Are you on acid?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Home brewed and he always does the taste test on the first dram or so.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Well at least in one post this year he didn't call a telco an ISP.
Must be some good stuff...
E
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Seriously: please stop spoofing various trolls. It's not funny. It's not good. It's just lame.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
Dicky doesn't need any outside help to make himself look the fool.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Every time Karl writes a post I get alcohol poisoning
The only thing sadder than the usual troll contingent is the people who get their kicks from pretending to be them
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
More like disastrous customer retention.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
i think a look at those politicians who have gained from AT&T getting tax cuts would be in order. that wouldn't have happened unless the cuts were voted in, surely.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Really both groups should be taken outside and pilloried.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
" if Trump followed through on his tax cuts, the company would dramatically boost investment and add thousands of new jobs. "
Yeah, in the unemployment sector.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]