Loyalty?

I was about ten years old when I first heard the word lay off .At that time, my father worked at a lead plant for about 14 years before he got laid off. The  type of plant he worked for produced the lead that was used as an additive for gasoline. But later the Federal government decided that lead would no longer be used in gas, so the plant services were no longer needed. After hearing the pending news of his lay off, I remember him telling my mother that there was no loyalty in the world. After my father got laid off, he began to cut the neighbors yards to make extra money, until he was able to land another job and my mother also went to work. Back in those days women didn't work, it was up to the man to work and provide for the family. I could tell that loosing his job was hard on my father, because very soon after that he began to smoke and drink lot. Raising a family of six, paying for a newly built house and paying the monthly bills would be hard on anybody , especially for a family dependant on one source of income.  Some how we all made it through it and now that home that both my father and mother had built  is paid for today. Even though my father was laid off over thirty years ago, companies in the seventies and eighties were more loyal to their employees. Companies back then cared about the people that worked for them and rewarded them for their work. There was many talks of lay offs or outsourcing as it is today.
Which brings me to today's time, with so many companies laying people off or closing one has to wonder is there any real loyalty? In these companies there are many people who have been working or employed for the same company twenty years plus ,only to later find themselves out of work. Many people get laid off, not because of their production or because of the companies ability to make money, but because of their age, which doesn't seem fair. While both large or small corporations rack in large sums of cash, while cutting workers pay and laying off others just to save some cash. Even the rich are not safe from being fired or from being told that their services are no longer needed. The only difference is that they are rich and therefore they don't have to suffer or face the same problems as the average American.  Question, why should the American worker stay loyal to a company when the company they work for is not loyal to them? Shouldn't every employee, still look or seek out other employment  even while they are employed? Shouldn't we all look or seek a company that treats their employees with respect? Some companies might think that doing so, is disloyal or that the employee is not loyal. Loyalty? Really? Since when has loyalty meant very much to these companies in today's time? Write in and give your thoughts or opinions on the subject.
Chuck