[U: Heavy Rests The Head Of CEO Rob Davis.] Along With Q2 Results, Merck Has Announced Cost-Cutting Measures -- Including 6,000 Layoffs, Globally...

Updated, on Sunday night: I was woefully remiss in one important aspect of my reporting here. That is, the buck should stop at the Chief's desk. Let us be clear: the responsibility for putting perhaps 6,000 families at economic risk here. . . falls solely, and squarely -- on the shoulders of Rob Davis, Merck CEO. He chose this. The company is wildly profitable, by every sensible measure -- but he wants. more. So he is firing 6,000. That will be his karma to carry. I apologize for this egregious oversight on my part. End, update.

This "news" is a few days' stale now, but I'm still digging out from being away for three solid weeks. Yikes.

We know some of these roles are open positions (thus will simply eliminate empty seats, anyway), but as a veteran of no less than ten rounds of life-science public company layoffs -- and staying employed through all but the last one. . . we feel for the families just trying to keep a roof over their heads, and food on their table:

. . .Merck will reduce its workforce by approximately 6,000 employees in “some areas of our global workforce,” the New Jersey drugmaker told Fierce Pharma. The cuts will affect 8% of the company's workforce.

Word of the dismissals comes two days after Merck revealed a sweeping cost-cutting effort designed to save $3 billion annually by the end of 2027. . . .

We were always very fortunate to have law firm partnerships to return to.

But this cha-cha. . . certainly is an essential evil of a capitalist health care delivery model. To be fair, it is also the reason so many have remained employed in high paying, high skill jobs for decades on end. Doing well -- by "doing good". . . is also a thing.

Yet these (mass layoff announcements) are the sharpest ends of those sticks, to be certain.

Onward, resolutely.

नमस्ते