That's a rarer bird than a good full-time job. Realistically, the only enitity that has any good experience is the agency itself.

This is a bigger reason why staffing agencies should be subject to the same laws as labor unions - even if it means that joining a staffing agency isn't a condition for accepting work at a given organization. If it really is about "flexibility" and not benefit-dodging "disposability", then they would welcome the challenge of competing with better forms of work.

The IT/tech world doesn't take well to third party representation, whether it is a staffing agency or a labor union - for the same reasons.

It seems like it's a preventative measure against legislation that would affect staffing agencies.

If they bring in those individuals, they can effectively immunize against the others that aren't brought in from the cold.

Luck, and pumping information to the FSB are the only things keeping him alive, trophy status being a side effect. Illegal disclosures from beyond the grave would only hurt the people doing them.

Do not expect that these deeds will go unpunished by subsequent administrations or that the odds will be in his unending favor.

I do and still end up seeing the same things. Once something gets hit by the ugly stick of globalization, it doesn't matter what you pay - the result is a lesser product.

One would have to throw out the entire case for him to win. That is not going to happen.

He will have to accept some US-side loss in the long run; it is better that it is delivered judicially than extrajudicially by the US or Russia.

Modding would be replaced with DLC packs, none of which would be free.
Any attempts to mod the client or server would be construed as cheating.
The Xbox would be the primary platform and the PC would be considered as second-tier.

Russia's not the country of freedom that some think it would be, as freedom is conditional to having a large amount of assets and/or not showing any opposition whatsoever to the current leader. In the US, the thresholds for such activity are much higher.

Of course, a fair and impartial trial will also require him to accept a very high likeliness of losing the case, based on the current evidence against him.

As an industry, they don't need monopoly power. Their main competitor, labor unions, has less market share due to regulations that only apply to labor unions.

In addition, the staffing industry lives off the idea of regulatory evasion, which has a favorable side effect of increased disposability. Both of these negate the need to pursue specific monopoly power.

If there's freedom in RTW, it can be found by applying it to all forms of third-party/indirect representation.

That kind of action is how labor unions ended up gaining power in the early 20th Century. If similar happens in the 21st, expect a similar swing.

It is also why Northern companies figured out that being reasonable to their own would get rid of 90% of such threats. By "winning the hearts and minds" of the population, it inoculates the company from many threats, without the financial or PR expenses of litigative hit-teams. Unfortunately, the lesson has been lost on the South.

The day that Google or Apple tries that stuff is when their competitors start winning significant market share from both.

In prior times, there was always a go-to industry that replaced the old. In current times, no such area exists long enough to be viable.

There's more manufacturing, but the quality has declined.

Agreed. Companies of Northern/Midwestern states figured that treating their employees with respect was the best and cheapest way to limit (and prevent) unionization.

Unfortunately, most of those states, save Ohio in the Midwest, have been overtaken by political interests that ramrodded the Southern way of business. To undo that will be like Hercules cleaning the Augean stables.

That's not so much Wal-Mart but a prevalent Southern mindset for any company wishing to do business in the South (or in sufficiently Southernized states like Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin). Volkswagen's intent to form works councils was met with political interests that intimidated enough people to vote against it - out of fear. Similar unionization efforts with other employers have received the same "kill it with fire, no matter how much it costs!" philosophy.

The Southern idea is that every resource on Earth and above must be expended to kill off unionization, then follow it up with an employers' union - like a staffing agency or temporary labor service.

On the other hand, RTW overlooks the employers' union (which can be a staffing agency, temporary labor service, or similar).