Businesses are only as good as the people who run them. Employees who know the product and operate in an honest and ethical fashion are irreplaceable and do nothing but help the company’s bottom line.

But business is a tough world. There are inevitable downturns where upper management must figure out how to keep the ship afloat. Often these decision makers are not down in the trenches and can take an oversimplified dollars and cents approach to meeting the bottom line.

The result is layoffs. Instead of figuring out how to make the product better, thus attracting and retaining customers—read $$$—the decision makers take the “easy” way out and simply cut the cost part of the equation. Car companies do it, retail stores do it, media outlets do it, everybody does it.

The Washington Post reported that Circuit City is now doing it. Faced with a necessity to cut costs, Circuit City is firing employees who get paid too much. Before you vilify the company, they are saying that those employees are free to reapply for their jobs after 10 weeks, at a reduced pay rate. The company says the move will allow them to hire cheaper labor to do the same job, and probably thinks that’s going to result in a huge financial turnaround.

But when the 3,400 employees—9 percent of the Circuit City labor force—leave, what’s leaving with them? Not only do they know how to work at Le City Cirquite, but if they’re “too highly paid,” they probably have been there for a while and know their products.

So when you go to Le City Cirquite next week to get a TV and have a question, and the three new guys in that section know less about TVs than your dog, remember that Phil the TV guru is sitting on his couch because he made too much money. And when Best Buy sees a huge increase in TV sales next month—read $$$$$$$$–maybe the suits at Le City Cirquite will realize that sometimes you have to spend money to make money.