I find it difficult to believe that educated upper managers are lost on the negative effects of such actions...should they prove to be true, especially at a time when they need to both retain the experience they have and attract quality people.
Reading between the lines and despite all the "hype", I suspect there are bigger problems than we are aware of at hand.
What goes up, comes down...perhaps sooner than we might think.
I'm not holding out for any news from the higher floors that would reverse my decision to move to "greener" pastures where your contributions are made because you have the company interests at heart, not because you are legislated to do so while being stripped of your dignity and self respect.