and fueled this takeover phenomena. reich: we romanticize these characters. the fact of the matter is, these are fat cats, first cousins to the financial manipulators, the robber barons of the late 19th century. these guys are out there, they're trying to make a buck by doing nothing. and they're putting people out of work. kent: economists agree that some unemployment, some hardship is unavoidable, in the vitally important process of making the united states lean and mean again -- what the takeover specialists call corporate restructuring. corporate america needs some kick now and then to become a little bit more efficient, a little bit less entrenched, and that will probably do our economy a lot of good. thursday, goodyear fended off a hostile takeover bid, but victory didn't come cheap. smith: goodyear won by buying back roughly half its stock and taking on a huge debt. plants were closed and workers laid off. the company pays $1 million a day in interest