Strong corporate profits amid weak economy - What's up with that?

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 10:35 AM

Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: March 28, 2011 12:17:21 PM

WASHINGTON — U.S. corporations continue to post strong profits quarter after quarter, even as the unemployment rate remains high and the U.S. economic recovery plods along in fits and starts. What gives?

Corporate profits grew 36.8 percent in 2010, the biggest gain since 1950, according to Friday's latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. No sign could be more clear that U.S. companies see the so-called Great Recession in the rearview mirror.

The strong profits, however, mask the continued difficult terrain for businesses. Yes, profits are high, but that doesn't mean business is strong.

"It's not that they're fake, it's that they're generated through a bunch of economic anomalies that are not the normal course or normal factors that generate profits," said Martin Regalia, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, America's premier business lobby.

Regalia and other analysts think several factors are behind the strong profits, which seem to contradict other indicators of an underperforming economy, especially the 8.9 percent unemployment rate. These factors include record low interest rates since late 2008, muted demand for borrowing by companies and a surge in productivity that has allowed companies to do more with the same number of workers or fewer.

Profits aren't rising solely because companies are making and selling more widgets to keep up with customer demand, which would be the case in a healthy, booming economy. Instead, they're more profitable because it now costs less to make the same widget, often because there are far fewer workers needed to make it.

"We've been able to generate record profits on very, very low volume and very weak economic growth," Regalia said.

That's not to say things aren't improving. Over the past six months, the economy has gathered steam, and demand is picking up — from factory orders for parts needed in assembly, to a rebound in automotive manufacturing, to consumer purchases rising.

That's a healthy growth trend, but the bigger part of the story remains workforce reductions, technological advances, low lending costs and minimal borrowing. All have combined to give companies unusual control over their balance sheets, and thus their profits.

"If you are looking at where profits are coming from ... cost control, strong capital discipline, strong control over the balance sheet, that's why you've seen this extraordinary recovery in profits, even though top-line growth hasn't been spectacular," said Aaron Smith, a senior economist at forecaster Moody's Analytics.

Another factor in today's strong corporate profits also might mask how sluggish the U.S. recovery has been — the growing percentage of profits from foreign sales by U.S. corporations.

That number climbed steadily over the past decade and peaked at 45.3 percent in 2008. That underscores how globalization has made it harder to define winners and losers. Americans are wrestling with high unemployment, but overseas sales have boosted U.S. corporate profits. That, in turn, lifts the stock market, which lifts the wealth of workers with 401(k) retirement plans and company shareholders alike.

"Earnings from abroad have become more important to U.S. companies. That trend has been in place for a couple of decades now, but really in the past decade we've seen the share of earnings coming from abroad as a share of the total increase rather dramatically," said Smith.

Whatever the reasons, there's no getting around the fact that profits are super-sized.

"The profits recovery during the past two years is among the best, if not the best, ever. Profitable companies expand. They hire workers, buy equipment, and build more plants and offices. Capital spending on equipment has been recovering along with profits. It is up 18.6 percent over the past six quarters. Employment gains have been lackluster, but are picking up," Ed Yardeni, a veteran market analyst, wrote in a recent upbeat note to investors.

For now, the question on the minds of most Americans remains — when do increases in corporate profits actually translate into hiring? Traditionally, profits lead hiring in an economic recovery.

"Normally, profits lead by a couple of quarters both job creation and capital spending. They've been leading this time. We've had job growth, but it just hasn't been as much as we might like," said Richard Rippe, an economist with ISI Group Inc., who added that employment and capital spending are both up. "It looks like the normal dynamics are working, but it would be good if they were working a little more decisively."

Another explanation for strong corporate profits has been growth in productivity, or hourly output per worker. The Labor Department reported on March 3 that annual average productivity rose by 3.9 percent in 2010. Aside from that strong productivity growth, unit labor costs fell during the same period by 1.5 percent. That reflects that worker compensation didn't keep pace with rising output. Put another way, businesses produced more than compensation rose.

Normally, companies can squeeze only so much out of workers before they must hire more of them or fall behind competitors. Many economists thought hiring would have picked up by now as productivity rose, yet job creation continues to lag.

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence from surveys that consumers and businesses remain cautious, especially given concerns about Europe's debt crisis, conflict in the oil-rich Middle East and the crippling disaster in Japan, the world's third-largest economy.

The recent climb in oil and gasoline prices, now approaching $4 a gallon in some areas, is holding back consumer spending on other goods and renewed business activity. Fresh evidence of falling consumer confidence came Friday when the ThomsonReuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment for March dropped to its lowest level in five months. Coupled with the protracted slide in home prices, Americans aren't ready to loosen the purse strings.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday released results of an unusual follow-up survey on family finances. Given the economic shock from the Great Recession, Fed researchers wanted a better read of the impact on family balance sheets from 2007 to 2009. Its conclusions weren't surprising — those with more financial assets saw a larger hit to their wealth. But survey respondents across all income levels expressed a need for more precautionary savings.

"The data show signs that families' behavior may act in some ways as a brake on reviving the economy in the short run," the Fed report concluded.

Cautious customers don't bode well for business activity. That helps underscore how other factors explain how corporations are so profitable amid today's sluggish growth.

"Part of this is business being much more lean and mean. It's hard for me to imagine that this is going to work in reverse," Smith said.

ON THE WEB

News Release: Gross Domestic Product

**phosphor** · 03-28-2011, 10:38 AM

**Big Smoothy** · 03-28-2011, 10:52 AM

^ What is your point?

LAM, a worthy thread that is worth discussing.

**PainandGain** · 03-28-2011, 12:16 PM

Moral of the story? Work for a big corp.

**phosphor** · 03-28-2011, 12:19 PM

^^^ Groundhog day, LAM style. That's my point. If it's so interesting, why not talk about this worthy subject than reply to me.

**REDDOG309** · 03-28-2011, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by PainandGain

Moral of the story? Work for a big corp.

Why? so the CEO can pull down 26 mil a year while they lay off the little guy
and double the workload of the little guy left still working. Pffft.....

**PainandGain** · 03-28-2011, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by REDDOG309

Why? so the CEO can pull down 26 mil a year while they lay off the little guy
and double the workload of the little guy left still working. Pffft.....

Don't be the little guy. Some are always gonna have more, and some less. Be the one with more... Maybe if you make it to the top, you can be the one to change it.

I don't like it, I hate it in fact. But at this stage, what's the use in feeling bad about it?

**KelJu** · 03-28-2011, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Shut the fuck up you annoying redneck partisan republican cock sucking mother fucker.

LAM contributes articles, stories, information, and data. I don't agree with everything he says, but he brings up topics and poses questions for discussion. You post nothing but conservative talking points and rhetoric. You contribute nothing.

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by PainandGain

Moral of the story? Work for a big corp.

working for a big company doesn't even guarantee an increase in pay unless you are at top management levels.

"Another explanation for strong corporate profits has been growth in productivity, or hourly output per worker. The Labor Department reported on March 3 that annual average productivity rose by 3.9 percent in 2010. Aside from that strong productivity growth, unit labor costs fell during the same period by 1.5 percent. That reflects that worker compensation didn't keep pace with rising output. Put another way, businesses produced more than compensation rose."

************************************************** **********************

and stop electing officials that sell bull shit like tax breaks for big company's promote job growth, when there is no recent historical economic data that supports these statements at all....

people need to know that the jobs are not coming back and why they really left (globalization). and that the dept. of commerce fully supports outsourcing which weakens the "middle class".

"Earnings from abroad have become more important to U.S. companies. That trend has been in place for a couple of decades now, but really in the past decade we've seen the share of earnings coming from abroad as a share of the total increase rather dramatically,"

************************************************** **********************
people also need to know that giving tax payer dollars to big corporations is a literal transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, which is insanity. yet people still support this because of an "ideology" that holds no water in the reality that we live in.

Read more: Strong corporate profits amid weak economy - What's up with that? | McClatchy

**PainandGain** · 03-28-2011, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

working for a big company doesn't even guarantee an increase in pay unless you are at top management levels.

"Another explanation for strong corporate profits has been growth in productivity, or hourly output per worker. The Labor Department reported on March 3 that annual average productivity rose by 3.9 percent in 2010. Aside from that strong productivity growth, unit labor costs fell during the same period by 1.5 percent. That reflects that worker compensation didn't keep pace with rising output. Put another way, businesses produced more than compensation rose."

and stop electing officials that sell bull shit like tax breaks for big company's promote job growth, when there is no recent historical economic data that supports these statements at all....

people need to know that the jobs are not coming back and why they really left (globalization). and that the dept. of commerce fully supports outsourcing.

"Earnings from abroad have become more important to U.S. companies. That trend has been in place for a couple of decades now, but really in the past decade we've seen the share of earnings coming from abroad as a share of the total increase rather dramatically,"

Read more: Strong corporate profits amid weak economy - What's up with that? | McClatchy

people also need to know that giving tax payer dollars to big corporations is a literal transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, which is insanity. yet people still support this because of an "ideology" that holds no water in the reality that we live in.

Thank you.

Also, I don't support giving tax payers dollars to big corps. I didn't support the Stimulus.. How can someone like me avoid funding these big corps?
Buy local? What else?

How can I benefit myself and my family in the long run, the most?

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 02:00 PM

in terms of politics the site below gives a lot of info in regards to what company's support what candidates. from that you see the ties between campaign funding and various pieces of legislation, etc. both political parities in the US are bought and paid for but one vastly more so than the other but that is a different topic all together.

OpenSecrets.org: Money in Politics -- See Who's Giving & Who's Getting

for the most part those with modest incomes can only live a very frugal life and avoid revolving debt as much as possible. for most wages are stagnant in most markets, that being the case with the same amount of money coming in annually and energy costs and utilities ever increasing avoiding future debt would be the 2nd top fiscal priority.

in terms of local spending I try to support the actual small business person as much as possible. I don't eat out much but instead of getting my pizza's every time from pizza hut (out of habit) now I get them from the greeks around the corner about 75% of the time.

when I buy things I look at the label and see where they are made and try to buy American as much as possible.

because I am cheap I also utilize ebay to buy things that I need and sometimes little things that I just want. but I figure at least those monies are staying in circulation which is what we need.

**phosphor** · 03-28-2011, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by KelJu

Shut the fuck up you annoying redneck partisan republican cock sucking mother fucker.

LAM contributes articles, stories, information, and data. I don't agree with everything he says, but he brings up topics and poses questions for discussion. You post nothing but conservative talking points and rhetoric. You contribute nothing.

Go team LAM! He searches the net for anti-capitalist manure for those too lazy like yourself to look. Here's a hint of where they are: somewhere the sun doesn't shine. Like your head involving LAM. It's the usual BS, ad nausium, so keep eating your LCD laced shit sandwiches.

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Go team LAM! He searches the net for anti-capitalist manure for those too lazy like yourself to look. Here's a hint of where they are: somewhere the sun doesn't shine. Like your head involving LAM. It's the usual BS, ad nausium, so keep eating your LCD laced shit sandwiches.

anti-capitalist? socializing the losses of for profit company's isn't capitalism

giving tax breaks to company's that short sell against the value of American homes and company's is capitalism to you? in the most perverted sense, possibly...

**KelJu** · 03-28-2011, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Go team LAM! He searches the net for anti-capitalist manure for those too lazy like yourself to look. Here's a hint of where they are: somewhere the sun doesn't shine. Like your head involving LAM. It's the usual BS, ad nausium, so keep eating your LCD laced shit sandwiches.

He posts articles that are thought provoking. Some of them are shit, some of them are pretty good. You however are the new resident republican shitbag. We get a new one about every 4 months or so. You know, shitheads that troll any thread that isn't yay team America and god bless the Republican party. You wreak of the typical "if you are with us you are against us" primitive neanderthal mindset.

I should just be happy that I am not as fucking dumb as you, but it irritates me that I have inhabit the same planet as you fuckers.

**Dale Mabry** · 03-28-2011, 03:52 PM

Ya know, if we give them a tax cut, maybe they'll start hiring. This time they probably mean it. And, if that doesn't work, maybe we should give them a 1 day tax amnesty with a flat 5% tax so that they will bring all of their money over here and invest it in the economy. They have shown time and time again how likely they are to invest in our economy, the Bush tax cuts did wonderfully for moving the economy in the right direction.

**Big Pimpin** · 03-28-2011, 04:22 PM

Corporate America is making big profits because they have cut the fat during this recession to improve share price.

The fat meaning layoffs of course. Look at all the companies that were not only able to survive but are now super profitable after they laid off 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 back in 2008 and 2009.

I hate to say it but look around any Fortune 1000 even today and 5-10% of the work force is fucking useless and could easily go.

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

Corporate America is making big profits because they have cut the fat during this recession to improve share price.

The fat meaning layoffs of course. Look at all the companies that were not only able to survive but are now super profitable after they laid off 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 back in 2008 and 2009.

I hate to say it but look around any Fortune 1000 even today and 5-10% of the work force is fucking useless and could easily go.

that is not what any of the data at the BEA really shows. the sole reduction in non-farm payroll is not the cause but one of the factors. historically company's have used recessions to cut non-essential personal to boost profits above and beyond.

**DOMS** · 03-28-2011, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

Corporate America is making big profits because they have cut the fat during this recession to improve share price.

The fat meaning layoffs of course.

Originally Posted by LAM

that is not what any of the data at the BEA really shows.

From the article you posted (emphasis on the most relevant part):

"Regalia and other analysts think several factors are behind the strong profits, which seem to contradict other indicators of an underperforming economy, especially the 8.9 percent unemployment rate. These factors include record low interest rates since late 2008, muted demand for borrowing by companies and a surge in productivity that has allowed companies to do more with the same number of workers or fewer."

**DEATH MATCH** · 03-28-2011, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by KelJu

Shut the fuck up you annoying redneck partisan republican cock sucking mother fucker.

LAM contributes articles, stories, information, and data. I don't agree with everything he says, but he brings up topics and poses questions for discussion. You post nothing but conservative talking points and rhetoric. You contribute nothing.

It sucks to be a Liberal doesnt it

**phosphor** · 03-28-2011, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by KelJu

He posts articles that are thought provoking. Some of them are shit, some of them are pretty good. You however are the new resident republican shitbag. We get a new one about every 4 months or so. You know, shitheads that troll any thread that isn't yay team America and god bless the Republican party. You wreak of the typical "if you are with us you are against us" primitive neanderthal mindset.

I should just be happy that I am not as fucking dumb as you, but it irritates me that I have inhabit the same planet as you fuckers.

Let's go over some of your great contributions to this thread, KelJu: "Shut the fuck up you annoying redneck partisan republican cock sucking mother fucker.", "You however are the new resident republican shitbag", " shitheads that troll any thread" and the eloquent and thought provoking "I am not as fucking dumb as you".
(quoted blatherings are the property of LAM Groupies united™)

I wish to hear more thought provoking words of wisdom,KelJu. Tell me how you really feel.

**KelJu** · 03-28-2011, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by DEATH MATCH

It sucks to be a Liberal doesnt it

I wouldn't know. See, I have this thing called a brain, and I realized long ago that I could generate thoughts and ideas of my own with it. It's pretty cool, so I don't have to play ideological circle jerk with a bunch of douchebags to fit in. You guys don't fight over the cookie, ok.

**oufinny** · 03-28-2011, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by DEATH MATCH

It sucks to be a Liberal doesnt it

I think being liberal is an all too convenient and socially acceptable way to avoid the truth and be "cool" like so many in the media like to be. Newsflash dickwads, they all make a fortune and love the low taxes so they can fund their lavish lifestyles. Oh wait, who makes it so they don't pay 50% tax on their ridiculous earnings from doing very little work, Republicans and those that realize stopping the flow of capital will literally grind a consumption based economy to a halt.

Let me hit you with some knowledge, you all are griping about cutting some 1-2% of your astronomical budget thanks to our President, yet the most recent bi-partisan commission talked about cutting 4 TRILLION over 10 years and it LOWERED all taxes. Seriously, you all need to put down the Michael Moore get fat Koolaid and see the fucking light. We are so fucked, we all made it happen, and the FUCKING HONEYMOON is over. No one party is right, 90% of what is said is bull shit, and we are desperately in need of drastic changes. You trust your leaders, fine, just don't come to me when the austerity measures are put in place and a million government workers are laid off overnight and SS and welfare checks stop flowing. End Rant/

**oufinny** · 03-28-2011, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by KelJu

I wouldn't know. See, I have this thing called a brain, and I realized long ago that I could generate thoughts and ideas of my own with it. It's pretty cool, so I don't have to play ideological circle jerk with a bunch of douchebags to fit in. You guys don't fight over the cookie, ok.

Honestly I don't agree with much of what you say, but I applaud you for standing up for your ideas. All too often people roll over and take the easy way out, that has to stop. We will disagree on much I know but I welcome the debate.

**lnvanry** · 03-28-2011, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

working for a big company doesn't even guarantee an increase in pay unless you are at top management levels.

"Another explanation for strong corporate profits has been growth in productivity, or hourly output per worker. The Labor Department reported on March 3 that annual average productivity rose by 3.9 percent in 2010. Aside from that strong productivity growth, unit labor costs fell during the same period by 1.5 percent. That reflects that worker compensation didn't keep pace with rising output. Put another way, businesses produced more than compensation rose."

************************************************** **********************

and stop electing officials that sell bull shit like tax breaks for big company's promote job growth, when there is no recent historical economic data that supports these statements at all....

people need to know that the jobs are not coming back and why they really left (globalization). and that the dept. of commerce fully supports outsourcing which weakens the "middle class".

"Earnings from abroad have become more important to U.S. companies. That trend has been in place for a couple of decades now, but really in the past decade we've seen the share of earnings coming from abroad as a share of the total increase rather dramatically,"

************************************************** **********************
people also need to know that giving tax payer dollars to big corporations is a literal transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, which is insanity. yet people still support this because of an "ideology" that holds no water in the reality that we live in.

Read more: Strong corporate profits amid weak economy - What's up with that? | McClatchy

Have to disagree with you here...I know of several F100 corps that have automatic pay raises of 2-5% all across the board. Some call it merit pay increase, but its a measure to keep up with inflation. If you work at a F100 and your salary stay stagnant during profitable times, you're getting squeezed....I understand small and medium sized companies aren't able to do this, but a large corp should be.

Shameless plug for the defense industry:
-If you want to work in a mainly US centric company (made in the USA) that will not be off shoring its supply chain base, manufacturing, production, R&D etc....then look to defense contracting.

**KelJu** · 03-28-2011, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Let's go over some of your great contributions to this thread, KelJu: "Shut the fuck up you annoying redneck partisan republican cock sucking mother fucker.", "You however are the new resident republican shitbag", " shitheads that troll any thread" and the eloquent and thought provoking "I am not as fucking dumb as you".
(quoted blatherings are the property of LAM Groupies united™)

I wish to hear more thought provoking words of wisdom,KelJu. Tell me how you really feel.

That pikachu is pretty cute.

**danzik17** · 03-28-2011, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by oufinny

I think being liberal is an all too convenient and socially acceptable way to avoid the truth and be "cool" like so many in the media like to be. Newsflash dickwads, they all make a fortune and love the low taxes so they can fund their lavish lifestyles. Oh wait, who makes it so they don't pay 50% tax on their ridiculous earnings from doing very little work, Republicans and those that realize stopping the flow of capital will literally grind a consumption based economy to a halt.

Let me hit you with some knowledge, you all are griping about cutting some 1-2% of your astronomical budget thanks to our President, yet the most recent bi-partisan commission talked about cutting 4 TRILLION over 10 years and it LOWERED all taxes. Seriously, you all need to put down the Michael Moore get fat Koolaid and see the fucking light. We are so fucked, we all made it happen, and the FUCKING HONEYMOON is over. No one party is right, 90% of what is said is bull shit, and we are desperately in need of drastic changes. You trust your leaders, fine, just don't come to me when the austerity measures are put in place and a million government workers are laid off overnight and SS and welfare checks stop flowing. End Rant/

The % of my paycheck going to SS I basically consider lost money. I don't seriously think I'll be seeing much of that in 40-50 years when I'm of age. Too bad I can't write it off as a loss.

**LAM** · 03-28-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by oufinny

I think being liberal is an all too convenient and socially acceptable way to avoid the truth and be "cool" like so many in the media like to be.

Let me hit you with some knowledge, you all are griping about cutting some 1-2% of your astronomical budget thanks to our President, yet the most recent bi-partisan commission talked about cutting 4 TRILLION over 10 years and it LOWERED all taxes.

living in denial that 40 years of GOP lead economic policy hasn't ruined the US is called avoided the "real truth"....

and the budget cuts by a far right extremist like Rand Paul isn't even a consideration and people thought Obama was radical..

"True to his campaign promises, Paul's budget plan calls for eliminating the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development. He'd also repeal the health care law, nix some small agencies and trim the budgets of others."

do you think he has any data or research at all that shows what the short and long term effects of this would be on the US economy?

**Big Pimpin** · 03-29-2011, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by DOMS

From the article you posted (emphasis on the most relevant part):

"Regalia and other analysts think several factors are behind the strong profits, which seem to contradict other indicators of an underperforming economy, especially the 8.9 percent unemployment rate. These factors include record low interest rates since late 2008, muted demand for borrowing by companies and a surge in productivity that has allowed companies to do more with the same number of workers or fewer."

Imagine fucking that.

**Dale Mabry** · 03-29-2011, 06:03 AM

Originally Posted by oufinny

I think being liberal is an all too convenient and socially acceptable way to avoid the truth and be "cool" like so many in the media like to be. Newsflash dickwads, they all make a fortune and love the low taxes so they can fund their lavish lifestyles. Oh wait, who makes it so they don't pay 50% tax on their ridiculous earnings from doing very little work, Republicans and those that realize stopping the flow of capital will literally grind a consumption based economy to a halt.

Where the fuck do you think we are now? I'm pretty sure it has grinded to a halt and taxes are as low as they have been for individuals. Sure, the corporate tax rate is 35%, but they rarely pay half that with the loopholes.

Let me hit you with some knowledge, you all are griping about cutting some 1-2% of your astronomical budget thanks to our President, yet the most recent bi-partisan commission talked about cutting 4 TRILLION over 10 years and it LOWERED all taxes. Seriously, you all need to put down the Michael Moore get fat Koolaid and see the fucking light. We are so fucked, we all made it happen, and the FUCKING HONEYMOON is over. No one party is right, 90% of what is said is bull shit, and we are desperately in need of drastic changes. You trust your leaders, fine, just don't come to me when the austerity measures are put in place and a million government workers are laid off overnight and SS and welfare checks stop flowing. End Rant/

There is no way we are getting out of this by cutting revenue. We overspend by a trillion dollars a year. If we continue to cut $100 billion extra each year without changing revenue we will amass $4.5 trillion more in debt over the next 10 years. Revenue has to be increased and unless jobs are created, the only way to do that is increase taxes, anyone who has taken 8th grade math should be able to make that conclusion very easily. A simple solution would be to jack up corporate taxes by closing loopholes and only replace them with hiring incentives that lead to jobs, but that would be too easy.

**phosphor** · 03-29-2011, 06:10 AM

To bring up LAM's article, it would have you believe that corporations making big profits are evil, while the little guy suffers. I was a corporation that sold part of it's infrastructure to another corporation - in turn it was rid of it's sizeable debt from the smaller corp buying the stake. I wish I was still with the big, evil one - the one I am with has a future biz plan that that looks like my 2 goldfish thought up and it looks like whoever was forced over is going down with it. That being said, there is nothing wrong with people or businesses profiting under a poor economy - whether the country is steered by a democrat or a republican and running it into the ground. The tired old mantra labeling profit as evil is as un-american as anything else I can think of. Many companies have diversified their portfolios into other areas of the world less hard hit, knowing that the dollar continues to get raped and no end in sight on federal spending. This county has a credit rating just above a homeless crackhead.

Sure, capitalism has it's flaws - like the ceo reaping millions while laying off 10000 workers. When they do shady shit like that, you hurt them where it counts - you don't buy their products. Naysayers of big biz like to get on their soapbox and preach about obscene profits and ceo kickbacks, but there are many companies that don't do that and they all get lumped into the same pile if they are making a profit. So, what are they supposed to do - the ones legit anyways, still making profits (or even the ones giving millions to CEO's - if they didn't take bailout money, it's nunya). Give it back? Let their ass hang in the wind, hoping the economy gets better? Or do they save/invest it into areas more stable in case of financial meltdown. This whole article is just a thinly veiled attempt to stir the pot between the have's and the have-nots.

Off topic: Speaking of have's, what's with Trump. I like some of what he says, but whats with the fucking spray-on tan. Does he look at himself on tv thinking he looks good? I cannot stand to look at him and avert my eyes and just listen. Someone send him a bottle of melonotan, stat.

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