Posted by Sabrina, a resident of the The Crossings neighborhood, on Sep 11, 2012 at 2:43 pm

Horrible. In the midst of an economic crisis with good estimates of 20 million unemployed, underemployed, or looking for work this is the gift Meg Whitman has to offer "her people." So the private sector's "job creators" are going to pull us out of this crisis? Really?

Posted by James, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Sep 11, 2012 at 3:15 pm

Ironically, had government employment risen like it did at the beginning of the Bush administration, the economy would be in better shape. Public cutbacks at all levels is killing demand.

Web Link

Deficits don't matter when there is this much slack in the economy.

Web Link

Be sure to read the third to the last paragraph if you think we can't afford to put people back to work.

Posted by HP retiree, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on Sep 11, 2012 at 4:57 pm

Blaming Meg Whitman? Not a fan of hers but she inherited the mess created by the 3 previous CEO"s all discharged Carly for poor results, Hurd for bad behavior and LeoA for incompetence; all with huge payouts.

The real blame goes to the HP board that split the company in two in 1999 (Agilent-HP)then proceeded to name a string of outsiders as CEO, starting with Fiorina who attempted to fashion herself into HPs first celeb CEO.. For 60 years the company survived through good and bad times, then was driven into the ground in 10 years.

Bill and Dave must be rolling in their graves.

Posted by Old Ben, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Sep 12, 2012 at 4:53 am

Just wait: reality is just starting to catch up with this Valley.

Hubris, meet Nemesis.

Posted by Look At All Data, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Sep 12, 2012 at 9:28 am

Old Ben, have you ignored all the news about local tech companies doing well and growing? Its tough to claim we're headed for Flint Michigan status when employment and growth are increasing for most local tech companies, but I guess when anecdotal info like this one or a few others pops up now and again, its your only chance to proclaim "The end is near"

Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Sep 12, 2012 at 11:51 am

HP has been in a tail spin for years. I am not sure what anyone could have done to help that lumbering old company.

Posted by Bill, a resident of the Willowgate neighborhood, on Sep 13, 2012 at 10:53 am

I was sad to see HP dump their iPad competitor. It seemed to be really good and could have possibly given the iPad some competition. From what I've read, people are not spending as much money on personal computer desktops as they used to. It seemed like a step for HP in a new promising direction. It got killed before it even had a chance. With HP's famous system support group, perhaps they could have made a foray into healthcare or other big industries.