Is Everybody Really Worse Off? Certainly not...

[Lynnie]

Seems the bigger corporations are having a great time these last two years:

Profits have surged 62 percent from the start of 2009 to mid-2010, according to the Commerce Department. That is faster than any other year and a half in the Fabulous ?50s, the Go-Go ?60s or the booms under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.​

Read more: Corporate profits' big climb - John Maggs - POLITICO.com​

I know. This is one of the points I discussed with the Economist this week. Until 'access to credit' is balanced, the larger corporations are going to continue to sit fat.

Small business owners can't get the credit they traditionally rely upon and use for growth, expansion and newer technology. Since some people don't like hearing that we should allow free markets to correct with no government intervention, the one way to cure this is to escalate the foreclosures. No one wants to see more people homeless. Since our government is involved of every facet of this economy, we can't readily remove them from the equation....not now, anyway. There are many areas where residential real estate is so upside down, they will never recover and real estate should appreciate at a normal rate congruent with inflation. So, move the property, clear the books and start over. This will help loosen credit in smaller towns (smaller banks), hopefully unemployment will drop and consumer spending will level out.

The good thing happening right now is Americans are saving between 5-6%! In 2006, we saved zip and even went negative one quarter.

 

[Andy A]

Lynnie, what you say makes good common sense but I don't see it happening in the Obama administration as it is responding now. Anyway you cut it, some are going to be hurt in the future. My hope is that it doesn't happen to those who have done it right for decades.

 

[30ashopper]

Seems the bigger corporations are having a great time these last two years:

Profits have surged 62 percent from the start of 2009 to mid-2010, according to the Commerce Department. That is faster than any other year and a half in the Fabulous ?50s, the Go-Go ?60s or the booms under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.​

Read more: Corporate profits' big climb - John Maggs - POLITICO.com​

This is without a doubt the highlight thus far in the recovery. The speed at which they pulled this off is just astounding.

graph

Gross: CEO Crybabies - Newsweek

 

[Matt J]

If you think letting free markets correct on their own is a good idea then I've a got an optometrist with un-medicated epilepsy you might want to see.

 

[SHELLY]

This is without a doubt the highlight thus far in the recovery. The speed at which they pulled this off is just astounding.

graph

Smoke & Mirrors: Profits tend to fall to the bottom line pretty quick when they don't have to filter into the paychecks of 8 million fewer workers.

GM -107,000
Citigroup -73,000
HP -47,500
Verizon -39,000
Pfizer -31,700
Caterpiller -23,000
AT&T -18,400
DOW -17,500
Dupont -17,000
Ford -15,900
Sprint -14,000
Boeing -13,700

...just to name a few.

 

[Here4Good]

Yes, the Newsweek article points out:

The result: America's CEOs collectively reengineered their businesses so they could produce profits with a lower volume of business. They've also continued?and intensified?their longstanding practice of beating the living daylights out of America's labor force.​

It's a bad time to not be at the top.

 

[Lynnie]

Smoke & Mirrors: Profits tend to fall to the bottom line pretty quick when they don't have to filter into the paychecks of 8 million fewer workers.

GM -107,000
Citigroup -73,000
HP -47,500
Verizon -39,000
Pfizer -31,700
Caterpiller -23,000
AT&T -18,400
DOW -17,500
Dupont -17,000
Ford -15,900
Sprint -14,000
Boeing -13,700

...just to name a few.

I love that manufacturing / chemical is profitable....and, cutting workforce is /was part of it, but they shifted gears quicky. We are still exporting more than China right now, which has the largest economy in the world, but when you break it down to per capita, the United States is still tops!!

 

[Matt J]

I love that manufacturing / chemical is profitable....and, cutting workforce is /was part of it, but they shifted gears quicky. We are still exporting more than China right now, which has the largest economy in the world, but when you break it down to per capita, the United States is still tops!!

Are you seriously applauding the making of money off the downsizing of American jobs?

Other than money and jobs, what exactly are we exporting?

Per Capita is on way of hiding it, if it weren't for the 1.2 billion Chinese the hemorrhaging would be more obvious.

 

[SHELLY]

Other than money and jobs, what exactly are we exporting?

The US is the largest exporter of debt to the rest of the world.

.

 

[SHELLY]

Are you seriously applauding the making of money off the downsizing of American jobs?

There are some exceptions...ST JOE still hasn't figured out how to do this.

.