Peon= "Boy those Executives sure are stupid! Causing all this grief to us, which makes us less productive and the company to be less successful! And then they go and fire the wrong people during a layoff, instead of getting rid of those guys who do nothing all day."
Executives= "So Bob, how much did you make in stock options during the last culling of the herd?"
"Me? I cleared 15 million after taxes, about what you made right?"
"Yep, sounds about right, same here. Those bonuses for doing the Brass's dirty work sure make it worthwhile! And hey, just wanna thank you for that work you did with ensuring "our people" didn't get the axe. You know there'd be hell to pay if we accidentally laid them off"
"Sure thing, it wasn't hard, not like I know anybody's name down among the riff raff, I just handed the list to some low level manager who himself will be getting the axe next round! HAHAHAHA!"
You see people, the world they live in is absolutely nothing like you think it is. You all seem to be under the delusion that they actually know your name and care about you, and that the success and long term survival of the company is their top priority.
No, it's not. Execs understand the business cycle and how companies have a shelf life, and thus they know when the peak has been reached and when it's time to cash out and let the ship sink.
You guys are clueless about these things, and the thing with ignorance is, it's ignorant. It doesn't know what it doesn't know, so it assumes everyone else is stupid, when the REAL stupid person is looking back at you in the mirror.