Free Republic

“Corporate Profits Lose Steam.” That was the headline atop a recent Wall Street Journal article. For those that become indignant about highly successful and profitable corporations, this should be really great news – right? But nobody is celebrating. In fact, the sagging profits reports of the past several weeks are thought to be such a bad thing that some believe they have brought about the downward shifts on the stock market as of late (could it be that the business uncertainty caused by our U.S. government could be the problem on Wall Street instead?). Companies as diverse as Krispy...

The mining industry is at a “breaking point” as calls from governments and workers for a greater cut of profits hasten an investor exodus, Gold Fields Ltd. said. “Governments in particular are seeing mining as a means of putting more into their central coffers,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said today in a speech in Johannesburg. “A lot of it has come about because of the metal boom that we’ve seen.” The “equity model is at breaking point,” he said in an accompanying slide show. Australia, Namibia and Zimbabwe are among nations that have sought to expand their share of...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out a press release today promoting the savings to consumers from Obamacare in 2012. The department claims that the average consumer receiving a refund will get about $100 as a result of rules on how insurers must spend premium dollars. The press release contains the following curious characterization of ineligible expenses health insurers might incur: Created through the Affordable Care Act, the rule requires insurers to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on patient care and quality improvement. If they spend a higher amount on other expenses like...

Breaking news: some of America’s largest corporations have begun to report declining profits. For those that are offended by highly profitable corporations, this should be really great news. But nobody is celebrating. In fact, the sagging profits reports are thought to be such a bad thing that some believe they sent the Dow sliding downward last week, for fear that a global recession has arrived. If profits are such a terrible thing, why aren’t we relieved by their decline? For the record, I have no idea whether or not a recession is eminent. And to the extent that economic activity...

HUSSMAN: Investors Don't Realize How Quickly All Of Their Recent Profits Could Get Destroyed Joe WeisenthalDec. 24, 2012, 7:05 AM In his latest weekly note, John Hussman is very bearish and he blasts the Fed for not correctly fixing the economy. This is very standard for him. One interesting observation regards the fragility of investor gains: The stock market is only a few percent from its 6-month high at present, and even an overextended move to about 1490 would put the S&P 500 at its upper Bollinger band (two standard deviations above the 20-period moving average) on daily, weekly and...

Interesting tweet from analyst Horace Dediu, "Apple's share of operating profits from global mobile phones dropped to 60% in Q3. Samsung now at 39%. HTC 1%. No other companies profitable." A couple of thoughts on this: How is this sustainable for all the other phone makers? What happens to Motorola, RIM, Nokia, LG, et al.? Do they go away? If they go under what happens to Android? If you're wondering why Google is trying to save Motorola, this could be a clue. It doesn't want to be held hostage by Samsung, the only smartphone maker that's profitable. What happens to...

Chick-fil-A has learned upholding traditional values is not just good for the soul; it’s also good for business. Since President Dan Cathy stirred up a firestorm of controversy and protests by daring to say in public that he supports traditional marriage, the fast food chain has enjoyed record sales and increased brand recognition. According to a report by USA Today, consumer use, visits, and ad awareness all rose measurably in the third quarter, despite widespread negative media coverage of Cathy’s remarks to the Baptist Press opposing same-sex “marriage.” A Sandelman and Associates survey of more than 30,000 fast-food shoppers in...

The D.C. Council is poised to lower the cost of speed camera tickets from a maximum of $250 to just $50. The plan unveiled on Tuesday is meant to create the impression that the District has seen the light and has finally decided to go easier on motorists. Considering the source of the latest plan, that’s hardly likely. The District and the for-profit vendor in charge of the robotic cameras dish out more tickets in a year than the city has residents. This has created a pile of loot so lofty that it’s only a matter of time before it...

The International Franchise Association held a convention in Washington this week where most of the Radio Shack, Dunkin Donuts, Curves and other franchisers were grumbling about new federal regulations, especially the impact of Obamacare. Most, said Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David Barr, presumed that the reports about how hard Obamacare will hit them were overblown. "They had their head in the sand," he told Secrets

Count on Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to swim against the tide. As Republicans call for tax cuts and few Democrats advocate more government spending, Dayton says we need to pay higher taxes to meet public needs. "This unwillingness to pay taxes ... is going to be the death of this country if it's not corrected," the Democratic governor said Wednesday, Sept. 12, in a speech at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. A leading Republican tax policymaker quickly pounced on Dayton's statement, saying tax increases would drive jobs out of Minnesota. "It's not that we're taxing too...

Peter Schiff speaks to mainstream DNC delegates who want to see a cap or ban on corporate profits.

Posing as an anti-business crusader, Peter Schiff found a number of DNC delegates and attendees who support explicitly outlawing profitability.

In previous posts, I’ve shared the PC version of the story about the ant and the grasshopper, as well as the modern fable about bureaucracy, featuring an ant and a lion. And I’ve also posted a revised version of Green Eggs and Ham. Now we have a nursery rhyme about the little red hen. But not the old-fashioned version. Here’s the modernized version the President reads to his kids.=====================================================“Who will help me plant my wheat?” asked the little red hen.“Not I,” said the cow.“Not I,” said the duck.“Not I,” said the pig.“Not I,” said the goose.“Then I will do it...

he New York Times disapprovingly writes that Apple avoids billions of dollars in taxes each year. And this is a bad thing? The New York Times reported Apple “paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8%. . . .

The problem is that earnings growth has ground almost to a halt — profits for companies in the S.& P. 500 are expected to grow just 1 percent in the first quarter and 2 percent in the second. That means that the only real hope for additional stock market gains this year is expansion in the P/E ratio, which may be bumping up against a ceiling. “We already got a year’s worth of returns in just three months,” says Mark D. Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, referring to the first-quarter gain of 13 percent in the S.&...

One of the most effective arguments used against the oil industry is that it earns "excessive" profits that must be taxed away. But as with the rest of the left's failed energy agenda, it's based on pure falsehoods. With prices for crude above $100 a barrel, it's no surprise the news media are fixated on oil companies' "record profits." Predictably, Democrats and others on the left use rising profits to bludgeon "Big Oil" and push more subsidies for money-losing "green energy" schemes while working to raise taxes and kill subsidies for oil. "When the price of oil goes up, prices...

I’m asked this question a lot. And I know a lot of drivers ask themselves this question when they pull up to the pump. The answer is based on the economics of supply and demand and how products are manufactured and sold – along with what the government takes in taxes. Let’s take a look, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s breakdown of the estimated average price of a gallon of gas in December 2011, which was $3.27.

Washington (CNN) - Former president Bill Clinton enjoyed his most lucrative year ever on the speaking circuit in 2010, capping a decade of paid speaking events that has earned him $75.6 million since leaving office in 2001, according to a CNN analysis of federal financial records. Clinton received $10.7 million for 52 paid speaking engagements last year, a sizable increase from the 36 paid speeches he delivered in 2009 for a total of $7.5 million. The most the former president had previously earned in one year was in 2006 when he earned $10.2 million for 57 events. His 2010 speaking...

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits. The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit. The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100...

According to an IBD review of various economic data, while corporations and Wall Street investors have made significant gains under Obama's economic leadership, average Americans have seen their fortunes steadily decline. Since the start of the Obama administration, corporate profits have climbed 68%, and are now 19% above their pre-recession peak, according to the latest Commerce Department data out Tuesday morning.