On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 5:46 PM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: > Neoliberalism (Austerity & Repression) has triumphed. There is no economic > crisis. There is no group whose immorality can be blamed. We face naked > capitalism. The crisis, if there ever was one, is over. > > Carrol
============================== The Dark Side of Fat Profit Margins Oct. 23, 2013 11:39 a.m. ET Never before have American companies seen so much of their sales drift down to the bottom line. In 12 months that ended in the second quarter, U.S. after-tax corporate profits as a share of gross domestic product, a measure of profit margins across the entire economy, came to 10.9%, according to the Commerce Department. That was the highest level according to records going back to 1929. Nor are there signs of erosion: S&P Dow Jones Indices estimates profits at companies in the S&P 500 as a share of sales hit a high in the third quarter. It isn't hard to find reasons why margins are so high. The share of sales going toward workers' wages and benefits has declined precipitously. Companies have kept a tight lid on capital spending. Effective corporate tax rates have fallen. Interest rates are sharply lower. Although such factors help explain why the environment has been so good, they leave unanswered an important question: Why aren't historically wide profit margins getting competed away? One reason may be that there isn't a lot of up-and-coming competition. [snip] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304682504579153452514549932?mod=Markets_newsreel_1 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
