Judging from tales about the rise and fall of empires, there is always a point when things are going so well that the emperors doubt that anything could ever go wrong. "Thrift," warned Nero’s adviser Seneca, "comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse. " In the Old World, nations grew fat and then lazy, until they collapsed under their own weight. But that was not to be our story. American greatness—the vision of the founders, the courage of the pioneers, the industry of the nation builders—reflected a mighty faith in the power of sacrifice as a muscle that made young nations strong. Banks were like gyms for the soul: the first savings banks in Boston and New York were organized as charities, where "bumble journeymen" could exercise good judgment, store their money and not be tempted to waste it on drink. Architect Louis Sullivan carved the word THRIFT over the door of his "jewel box" bank nearly a century ago, for it was private virtue that made public prosperity possible. That virtue died with the baby boom, but it had been ailing ever since the Depression, argues cultural historian David Tucker in the Decline of Thrift in America. That crisis, he writes, invited economists to recast thrift as "the contemptible vice which threw sand in the gears of our consumer economy. " A White House report in 1931 urged parents to let children pick out their own clothes and furniture, thereby creating in the child "a sense of personal as well as family pride in ownership, and eventually teaching him that his personality can be expressed through things. " Somewhere along the way, thrift did not just stop being a value; it became a folly. Saving was for suckers; you’d miss the ride, die leaving money on the table when you could have lived it up. There are no pockets in a shroud, as the saying goes. We once saved about 15% of our income. By the roaring 80s the rate was 4%; now we’re in negative numbers. Bob Hope liked to joke that "a bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. " But that too changed as easy credit bloomed and usury became another of those vices that had somehow lost its juice. The average American has nine credit cards with a total $17, 000 balance. We borrow against our houses and pensions to live in a way that dares us to actually grow old. "Never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon. " Fidelity mastermind Peter Lynch advised, but we embraced all kinds of investments about which we understood nothing except the hollow promise that they would never fail. When the economy began to swoon we kept spending, effectively sending ourselves rebate checks from accounts already way overdrawn, as if it would make us feel better to buy a new TV and charge it to our kids. George W. Bush has never been reluctant to frame policy debates in moral terms, targeting an "axis of evil", casting tax cuts as the removal of unfair burdens on hardworking people, calling tariff reduction a moral imperative. But thrift is one virtue he never invokes, and a restoration of restraint is a strain of conservatism he seldom promotes. In fact, it was after the most tragic day in modern U.S. history, when Bush urged people who wanted to help to go shopping, that profligacy officially replaced prudence as a patriotic duty. There’s no way to tell during this cun’ent distress whether we’re repenting or just retrenching. Thriftstore sales are up. Cats are shrinking. P. Diddy retired his private jet to save on gas. In hard times, people often rediscover the peace that prudence brings, when you try to spend a little less than you have because tomorrow might be worse. But that feels almost un-American; we’re optimists by nature, and we’ve been living large for so long that solvency feels like a sacrifice. It will take some sustained character education—and leadership—to understand that morning in America is more likely to come again if we prepare for midnight. What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage
A. To criticize banks that now indulge people to spend insensibly.
B. To analyze causes of American economic crisis.
C. To raise people’s consciousness of prudent spending.
D. To call for American leaders to learn from nation builders.
甲公司职工人数为120人,全体职工均于2010年3月1日签订了1年期的劳动合同。从2010年9月起,由于市场发生变化,生产经营发生严重困难,甲公司开始拖欠职工工资。 2011年1月,甲公司濒临破产,被法院裁定进行重整。甲公司决定裁减部分职工,裁减人数初步确定为18人,不支付经济补偿。公司要求被裁减人员办理解除劳动合同手续时遭到拒绝。后经公司再次研究,修改裁员方案,裁减人数修改为10人,并按有关法律规定向被裁减人员支付经济补偿。赵某认为自己不应当被裁减,理由是自己还有6年就退休了,为公司已连续工作17年,没有功劳也有苦劳,公司认为其理由不能成立。 2011年5月,甲公司经过重整,生产经营好转,决定重新向社会招聘职工。赵某得知后,要求在同等条件下被优先聘用。 要求:根据上述资料,回答问题。 关于该公司第一次作出的裁员决定的说法中,正确的有( )。
A. 裁员程序不合法
B. 用人单位依照企业破产法规定进行重整,需要裁减人员20人以上或者裁减不足20人但占企业职工总数10%以上的,用人单位需提前30日向工会或者全体职工说明情况,听取工会或者职工的意见后,裁减人员方案经向劳动行政部门报告
C. 因为经营困难,所以用人单位裁减员工可以不用支付经济补偿
D. 用人单位符合可裁减人员规定而解除劳动合同的,应当向劳动者支付经济补偿
某施工单位承建甲市区一幢高层建筑,工程开工前项目部编制了项目管理实施规划,为争创优质工程,并编制了专项质量控制措施计划,施工单位具有质量管理体系(GB/T 19000—2000)贯标认证资格,项目部质量控制组织健全。 根据材料,回答以下问题: 工程项目施工测量控制点需报( )审核。
A. 业主
B. 质量监督机构
C. 项目技术负责人
D. 监理
A企业与业主签订了1#、2#钢结构厂房施工总承包合同,并将基础工程进行了分包。施工中,因重大的设计变更,业主要求停工20天,A企业向监理工程师报送了相关索赔资料,因工期紧,业主同意给予费用索赔,不同意工期顺延。因此A企业决定由原来的1#、2#厂房顺序施工方式改变为两个区域的组织搭接施工。监理企业对该铜结构安装工程实行了旁证监理,当地建设主管部门进行了质量监督。该工程竣工后,各方反映良好,A企业决定申报市优质工程,申报工作由原项目经理主持。 根据材料,回答下列问题: 1#、2#厂房由顺序施工改为每个区域的组织搭接施工的进度纠偏措施属于( )。
A. 组织措施
B. 管理措施
C. 技术措施
D. 经济措施