"The Market Wants More Austerity"

[YYZ]

NYT

With millions still out of work, companies face little pressure to raise salaries, while productivity gains allow them to increase sales without adding workers.

“So far in this recovery, corporations have captured an unusually high share of the income gains,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “The U.S. corporate sector is in a lot better health than the overall economy. And until we get a full recovery in the labor market, this will persist.”

The result has been a golden age for corporate profits, especially among multinational giants that are also benefiting from faster growth in emerging economies like China and India...

As a percentage of national income, corporate profits stood at 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2012, the largest share at any time since 1950, while the portion of income that went to employees was 61.7 percent, near its lowest point since 1966. In recent years, the shift has accelerated during the slow recovery that followed the financial crisis and ensuing recession of 2008 and 2009, said Dean Maki, chief United States economist at Barclays...

With $85 billion in automatic cuts taking effect between now and Sept. 30 as part of the so-called federal budget sequestration, some experts warn that economic growth will be reduced by at least half a percentage point. But although experts estimate that sequestration could cost the country about 700,000 jobs, Wall Street does not expect the cuts to substantially reduce corporate profits — or seriously threaten the recent rally in the stock markets.

“It’s minimal,” said Savita Subramanian, head of United States equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Over all, the sequester could reduce earnings at the biggest companies by just over 1 percent, she said, adding, “the market wants more austerity.”

[marco]

Wall Street doesn't care about Labor, only Capital. If Sequestration doesn't cut into Capital then they could probably care less. Just as long as they don't have to pay extra taxes to those poor fucking lazy ass saps in the form of entitlements then they'll be fine. Same shit, different day.

[Schwahalala]

The war between the haves and the have nots is entering the information age. One would think this would favor the have nots. With information at their fingertips they should be able to access the rings to profitability. Just the opposite. The have nots have now moved strictly into so what mode. So what you know we are cheating. We have bought the Politicians and keep a head of any reasonable law. We steal in public and their isn't a damn thing you can do about it. Yeah, we don't deserve what we get, but how are you going to stop it?

[mellanby_equals_grit]

Meanwhile Fox is duping the masses into believing that poor people are to blame for our troubles.

[mellanby_equals_grit]

[Schwahalala]

Should be required viewing

[Sheriff Blaylock]

I really don't get the whole notion that all these greedy corporations are cheating. Now while there are always going to be examples of organizations breaking the rules for the most part the external reporting companies provide has never been more detailed or scrutinized.


Now if you want to say the rules themselves aren't fair then so be it but what do you expect companies to do? In this day and age every competitive advantage is needed so nobody is simply not going to take advantage of what's available. It be like telling the Yankees to not use all that YES money to outspend everyone cause it ain't fair to the Royals.


It's a new world. A world focused intensely on cost control which of course includes salaries. On the revenue side there is just so much you can do, sometimes the market is what it is. So they squeeze more and more out of their employees while keeping salaries flat and cutting benefits. A few years back lots of people lost their jobs and now as things bounce back companies simply aren't re-staffing the positions that were lost. Why have 7 people staff up a specific team when you can get the same mission accomplished with 5 people if you work the shit out of them, it ain't like they pay me...err a fictional person over time.


So in conclusion I don't really think it's cheating but rather companies taking full advantage of the rules while squeezing everything out of their staff....and I'm sure poor people are screwing something up somewhere. (obviously I joke about the poor folks to an extent but one thing they are screwing up is where they happily support the wrong candidates)

[lazydaze]

I really don't get the whole notion that all these greedy corporations are cheating. Now while there are always going to be examples of organizations breaking the rules for the most part the external reporting companies provide has never been more detailed or scrutinized.


Now if you want to say the rules themselves aren't fair then so be it but what do you expect companies to do? In this day and age every competitive advantage is needed so nobody is simply not going to take advantage of what's available. It be like telling the Yankees to not use all that YES money to outspend everyone cause it ain't fair to the Royals.


It's a new world. A world focused intensely on cost control which of course includes salaries. On the revenue side there is just so much you can do, sometimes the market is what it is. So they squeeze more and more out of their employees while keeping salaries flat and cutting benefits. A few years back lots of people lost their jobs and now as things bounce back companies simply aren't re-staffing the positions that were lost. Why have 7 people staff up a specific team when you can get the same mission accomplished with 5 people if you work the shit out of them, it ain't like they pay me...err a fictional person over time.


So in conclusion I don't really think it's cheating but rather companies taking full advantage of the rules while squeezing everything out of their staff....and I'm sure poor people are screwing something up somewhere. (obviously I joke about the poor folks to an extent but one thing they are screwing up is where they happily support the wrong candidates)

And... A good percentage of the unemployed really are unemployable... Meaning that they add zero value to the mission of the enterprise. A round peg in a square hole...

I thinkthat when you discuss cost control, more and more companies, albeit at a still cumbersome pace, are realizing that the wrong hire is worse than no hire at all.

[B.A.]

Should be required viewing

Amen.

Wall Street is a scam.

I firmly believe that this country will see another revolution/civil war in my lifetime.

[ppg shg]

I really don't get the whole notion that all these greedy corporations are cheating. Now while there are always going to be examples of organizations breaking the rules for the most part the external reporting companies provide has never been more detailed or scrutinized.


Now if you want to say the rules themselves aren't fair then so be it but what do you expect companies to do? In this day and age every competitive advantage is needed so nobody is simply not going to take advantage of what's available. It be like telling the Yankees to not use all that YES money to outspend everyone cause it ain't fair to the Royals.


It's a new world. A world focused intensely on cost control which of course includes salaries. On the revenue side there is just so much you can do, sometimes the market is what it is. So they squeeze more and more out of their employees while keeping salaries flat and cutting benefits. A few years back lots of people lost their jobs and now as things bounce back companies simply aren't re-staffing the positions that were lost. Why have 7 people staff up a specific team when you can get the same mission accomplished with 5 people if you work the shit out of them, it ain't like they pay me...err a fictional person over time.


So in conclusion I don't really think it's cheating but rather companies taking full advantage of the rules while squeezing everything out of their staff....and I'm sure poor people are screwing something up somewhere. (obviously I joke about the poor folks to an extent but one thing they are screwing up is where they happily support the wrong candidates)

No one said that they are cheating. The argument is simply with the gutting of labor protection and consumer protection that the playing field is not remotely level, and thus insane corporate profits do not translate into any meaningful wealth for anyone, other than a collective few, and in general, except for banana republics, extreme concentration of wealth is a bad thing.

So change CBA rules, and let people sympathy and wildcat strike. If not, please make the arguments as to why people cannot.

[YYZ]

No, you can't really call it cheating when it has the full cooperation of both parties in the WH and congress.

[Celtic]

Some very valid points that scratch the surface on both sides not including the 'workers of the world unite' faction. That time has past.

Facts and trends are that modern have nots are far better off than the have nots of old. When fat ass to be Honey Boo Boo can run down the halls of her modular home playing Angry Birds on her iPhone while tripping over Happy Meal boxes and Wii games it doesn't really validate the notion that the revolution is right around the corner. Even the poor are too fat and happy to take real notice of their plight.

Why get off the couch to join the movement when you may miss one of the Kardashians fucking the next NBA star? The masses have been put to sleep by their own excess. The generation of entitlement and 'what can the government do for me' has won.

[raise]

Some very valid points that scratch the surface on both sides not including the 'workers of the world unite' faction. That time has past.

Facts and trends are that modern have nots are far better off than the have nots of old. When fat ass to be Honey Boo Boo can run down the halls of her modular home playing Angry Birds on her iPhone while tripping over Happy Meal boxes and Wii games it doesn't really validate the notion that the revolution is right around the corner. Even the poor are too fat and happy to take real notice of their plight.

Why get off the couch to join the movement when you may miss one of the Kardashians fucking the next NBA star? The masses have been put to sleep by their own excess. The generation of entitlement and 'what can the government do for me' has won.

Or, the actual wealth holders have kept them at bay by keeping them fat and uninterested in power and wealth. As the wealth gap gets larger it is pretty easy to see the wealthy have won, the losers just don't care.

[backstop]

Or, the actual wealth holders have kept them at bay by keeping them fat and uninterested in power and wealth. As the wealth gap gets larger it is pretty easy to see the wealthy have won, the losers just don't care.

Hasn't that been the argument since the dawn of time?

[Moon Man]

Hasn't that been the argument since the dawn of time?

Yes. Panem et circenses.

Or, if you want to update it - Chick-Fil-A and iPhones.

Moon