GM and Chrysler both went under due to poor leadership. For GM, the CEO (Ron Wagoneer) continued to depend on sales of gas guzzlers such as Hummers long after it was obvious that people wanted something more economical. In Chrysler's case, it was because of internal problems that had existed from the time that Daimler had acquired them - it was a bad corporate fit - and they should have appointed Bob Lutz instead of Bob Eaton, and they wouldn't have been acquired by Daimler.

Ford, on the other hand, saw the gathering storm clouds, and put in place over $20 billion of loans that they could tap to help weather the storm. They even mortgaged their logo. They also trimmed the number of models, and focused more on fuel economy, which is why they didn't need a bail-out. They had smart management and the right product.

And here: Quebec unionized Wal-Mart workers win Supreme Court victory. There is no appeal from the supreme court. Walmart can "review" the decision all it wants, but now it's about deciding proper compensation.

And? Most people won't care, or even notice. Those who care tend to buy their own computers.

Point by point:

1. I am definitely not in the USA. But it's odds-on that the OP is.

2. You are assuming that people are rational in their choices. This is false. Always will be.

3. Wrong - he doesn't want ownership. He wants the right to sell the stuff that his boss has sole title to. He's an idiot.

4. Matter of opinion.

Whatever. Your argument is no different than builders who build homes on speculation. They create jobs through investment (including in themselves) in the hope of making a profit. If they didn't think there would be a buyer, they wouldn't build. Take the buyer out of the equation and there's no more jobs, and no way to keep producing homes. So customers create jobs.

It's an implied threat to get fired if you don't.

If that was the case, then she should be allowed to leave it at the company when she's not at work. This was a change of working conditions for all staff, not just her, and they were instructed to download the app to THEIR phones, and she discussed the legality of it with her co-workers and her boss Stubbs, who said "so what?"

An employer cannot ask an employee to do something illegal, or give up their statutory rights.

The complaint (the pdf in the second link of the story) outlines the laws she alleges were broken. An interesting read.

She also asked for a jury trial, which in civil cases only requires 9 of 12 jurors to agree with her. If the jury decides that the allegations are more likely than not to be true, the company (and the 15 John Does and named defendants) are going to pay. People should always have the option to decide whether they want their private life known, and to who.

There are certain off-work things that an employer should know about - witness the guy who intentionally flew the airliner into the mountain and killed all on board - when it can affect their on-the-clock performance. But there's no reason to track someone 24-7 unless you're paying them 24-7. And in this case, they didn't need to track her at all - they had her on-the-job performance metrics. They only tracked her because they could - even though she told them it was illegal, and her boss told her basically "so what?"

It was her phone. Why would she do that?

What she could have done was uninstall the app while leaving work, then reinstalling it upon arriving. She'd still be able to receive calls, texts, and emails.

Then again, after reading the court filing, the company will probably lose - she's asking for a jury trial, and I can't think of any reasonable person who would find the company's actions acceptable. Being a civil suit, she doesn't even have to convince a majority - just 9 of the 12 jurors.

But you still need the customers - if nobody wants your product (say men's platform shoes, women's peasant dresses, and ultra-wide bell bottoms for both from the '60s), it won't matter how low you get the cost of production, because not enough people are going to want to buy it to make it worth getting out of bed in the morning.