American companies have reported record profits for the third quarter of 2010.
“The nation’s workers may be struggling, but American companies just had their best quarter ever. American businesses brought in $1.66 trillion at an annual rate in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. That is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or non-inflation-adjusted terms. Corporate profits have been going gangbusters for a while. Since their cyclical low in the fourth quarter of 2008, profits have grown for seven consecutive quarters, at some of the fastest rates in history. This breakneck pace can be partly attributed to strong productivity growth — which means companies have been able to make more with less — as well as the fact that some of the profits of American companies come from abroad.”
What do you think these profits mean for working people?
Layoffs?
Wage cuts?
Benefit cuts?
More temporary workers instead of full-time positions?
Who should we blame for the hard times facing the American worker?
Muslims?
Obama?
Immigrants?
What a country this is right now.
It’s easy to make a profit when you get free bailout money and free stimulus money and you don’t have to hire anyone or pay your creditors back.
It is also easy to profit when you don’t pay people decent wages and when you don’t hire full-time people who get full benefits and vacation.
Joe your comment makes no sense. You point at banks, AIG and 2 auto companies for bailout money yet this has been wildly successful and has been mostly paid back. While stimulus money had a wider distribution, surely you don’t believe that is the only cause of profits. The reference above points to increased productivity and I personally can attest to reduced benefits despite increased profits. You just don’t get it.
Do you think it should be up to the government how much a business pays it’s employees or if they offer benefits/vacation?
I don’t.
So, from a political POV, these are issues that we can’t do much about. (Obviously there are ways outside of the political arena to have an effect. For instance, you can stop purchasing from any company that treats their employees in a way that you disagree with. If you feel strongly enough, you can organize others to also withhold purchasing from the company.)
However we can have an impact by demanding the govt stop providing corporate welfare in all it’s various forms.
If a business is going broke, it should not be thrown on the public dole, forcing the taxpayers to subsidize it’s bad decisions.
Our company just hired a welder who had moved to SLC from Arkansas. He was laid off from a very profitable steel fabrication company. They had slowed down but were still working. He had been there for 7 years and stated that they laid off and left a skelton crew. The company then began buying up other companies that were having trouble in the recession and taking out their competition. They just called and offered him his job back after 3 years.
But what is interesting was his comment on how he blamed Obama’s election for the company doing this. I told him that the corporations have tons of cash and instead of looking out for the people who helped them earn it. They are tossing them aside and looking out for themselves. I know Joe will say the corporation is just trying to survive. But that isn’t what was happening in this case. They fired everyone and enriched the bottomline and now are tossing lower paid jobs.
Oh I know that getting free money will make you wildly successful.
It’s not so great if you are the competitor of one of the recipients and you have to figure out how to make a profit and not lay off workers without getting free money.
The government shouldn’t be in the business of picking the winners and losers in business.
Americans are all about separation of church and state, and you understand why there shouldn’t be a state sponsored church.
How ’bout a separation of business and state, and a prohibition against state sponsored businesses?
“No more corporate welfare.” Democrats used to believe in that statement.
Where did all those Democrats go? They’re mostly gone, along with the confidence of the public in Democrats.
In their place, there’s mostly hard-left statist Democrats who have no problem with the government subsidizing and taking over entire industries.
That used to be called socialism. Where I live, it still is.
[…] business is being strangled. It’s hard me to figure out how business is being strangled with record profits rolling in. How can business be dying on the vine when they’re not paying any taxes? House […]