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Economist Doug Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget Office, testified before the Senate Budget Committee that President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” package reduced rather than increased employment. “The elemental truth of the matter is that putting money into ventures that generate losses, as was the case for the bulk of the so-called stimulus spending, reduces the resources available to society,” Elmendorf explained. “As resources are reduced there is less economic growth and less demand for workers.” The CBO’s analysis was challenged by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “The fact is, we put money into businesses that the private sector spurned,” Geithner...

Occupiers last seen scratching their heads in disbelief (or possibly because of the lice infestation). Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”: “New government data shows profits for America’s largest financial firms are once again reaching record highs not seen sense before the financial crisis of 2008. In fact, Wall Street firms have earned more in the first two and a half years of the Obama presidency than all 8 years of the Bush presidency. Over 85 billion dollars in profits compared to 77 billion.” Joe Scarborough: “Wait — you mean in the first two years they made more than in eight...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Corporate America's strong earnings have been pushing stocks higher for more than two years now, but there are early signs that the momentum many companies have had in this miserable economy is beginning to fade away. Seventy six companies in the S&P 500 have issued warnings that third-quarter earnings were going to be lower than previously expected, according to data compiled from Thomson Reuters. That's up modestly from the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, stocks have fallen to levels where Wall Street is pricing in little-to-no earnings growth for the rest of the year. The...

The Washington Post has reported a 50% plunge in profits for the second quarter of 2011, as advertising revenue at its print and online businesses suffered double-digit declines. The Washington Post Company, which is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, also reported that its education unit, Kaplan, had a tough quarter, with operating income plunging 82% to $20.5m and revenues falling 15% to $628.7m. Overall profits at the Washington Post Company for the three months to the end of June were $45.6m, a 50% decline on the $91.9m the company reported in the same period last year.

Stocks and bond yields are sinking as Wall Street disses the debt deal and instead focuses on a likely double-dip recession. Everyone is gloomy. But is this pessimism getting a little overbaked? Granted, the economy is sputtering, with less than 1 percent growth in the first half of the year. But if there is a recession in the cards, it will be the first time one occurs when the yield curve is steeply positive (an ultra-easy Fed) and corporate profits are strong. And since we do have ultra-easy money and strong profits, I don't believe we're heading into a recession....

Wal-Mart has seen growth of 4.4% in revenue resulting in net income growth of 3% in its world-wide operations, thanks particularily to successes in Mexico, China and Chile. However, corporate growth has been pulled down by its US operations, which have seen sales drop by 1.1% in the same period. Despite good news in its world wide operations, the drop in US sales remains a cause for concern since 62% of the retailer's revenue come from US shoppers. Although the economy within the US, especially rising gasoline prices, have hurt the retailer's domestic growth, that doesn't completely explain Wal-Mart's troubles....

To gaze upon the world of American corporations is to see a sunny place of terrific profits and princely bonuses. American businesses reported that third-quarter profits in 2010 rose at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion, the steepest annual surge since officials began tracking such matters 60 years ago. It was the seventh consecutive quarter in which corporate profits climbed. Staring at such balance sheets, you might almost forget that much of the nation lives under slate-gray fiscal skies, a place of 9.4 percent unemployment and record levels of foreclosures and indebtedness. And therein lies the enduring mystery of this...

Ever wonder how people go to Congress and become millionaires? A new academic report clears it up for us.A report from four scholars, Alan J Ziobrowski; James W Boyd, Ping Cheng; and Brigitte J. Ziobrowski, titled Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives,  shows that between 1985 and 2001 members of Congress enjoyed a considerable advantage over members of the public in their investment returns.The article was published by Berkeley Electronic Press and is a follow up to a similar study done on investments by US Senators. “A previous study suggests that...

It’s no secret that members of Congress qualify as political insiders, but a new report strongly suggests that they also may be insiders when it comes to trading stocks. An extensive study released Wednesday in the journal Business and Politics found that the investments of members of the House of Representatives outperformed those of the average investor by 55 basis points per month, or 6 percent annually, suggesting that lawmakers are taking advantage of inside information to fatten their stock portfolios.

This is out of control. On May 3 I wrote about how the left, President Obama and Democrats can’t admit that what they refer to as major “subsidies” are simply ordinary business expenses. Now Obama has used the word “giveaways” in a direct email campaign looking for donations. ... "The CEOs from the five major oil companies — which together booked $36 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2011 alone — went to the Senate on Thursday to try to justify the $4 billion in tax giveaways they’re receiving this year." Read more...

Three Senate Democrats angry about the high price of gasoline propose to raise taxes on the firms that produce it. No, it does not make any sense to us, either. For Democrats, expensive gas is just the price of scoring a moral victory over Big Oil, and American consumers will be expected to pay any price and bear any burden that Harry Reid & Co. inflict upon them. The “Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act” is a minotaur’s labyrinth of economic illiteracy, with Democratic senators Robert Menendez (N.J.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) lurking at the center of...

A top executive at ConocoPhillips today accused backers of proposals to eliminate certain tax benefits for major U.S. oil companies as distorting the facts and unfairly penalizing a few companies that already are heavily taxed. “We think there’s a real mischaracterization of the whole debate,” ConocoPhillips’ Chief Financial Officer Jeff Sheets told reporters this morning before the Houston oil company’s annual shareholder meeting. The tax breaks and deductions the industry receives are not special subsidies for the oil industry, as critics say, but are widely available to other U.S. companies. Eliminating them would amount to putting “unique taxes” on the...

Exxon's profit soars 69 percent, tops Street 8:34am EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp's quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 69 percent as the world's largest publicly traded oil company benefited from higher crude prices and better margins for its refineries. The Irving, Texas, company reported a first-quarter profit of $10.65 billion, or $2.14 per share, up from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected Exxon to report a first-quarter profit of $2.07 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 26 percent to $114 billion.

Jon Stewart is right. While demonizing unions Conservatives all too often over look the total destruction that Corporations have waged on the American economy and the American Middle Class (see 4:49min video) I am not newcomer to the argument that Corporations are ungrateful, unpatriotic out of control entities that have abused America and the American people to maximize their profits. (see previous posts below) Everything that is wrong in America today can be blamed on an out-of-control corporate environment that will do anything and everything for the sake of the bottom line. Profit!—Alaphiah (source) *** America is bleeding. For decades,...

The new debit card fee rules proposed by the Federal Reserve Board on December 16 could drop interchange fees, paid by merchants, by as much as 84%. Banks and credit card companies will be looking to recover loss revenue – most likely to come out of the pockets of consumers. New recession-influenced consumer spending habits have led to decreased credit utilization. According to the Federal Reserve, debit card usage in the U.S. has exceeded all other forms of non-cash payments. The focus from credit card reform has shifted to the debit card market. The average debit interchange fee in 2009...

One of the most common questions I receive on a daily basis is what investors should do with their Gold and Silver holdings. After all, the two precious metals have been on an absolute tear rising roughly 460% and 500% respectively in the last 10 years.To be sure, we’re talking about some SERIOUS gains here. And it’s not like those who invested in 2010 missed out on the fireworks: thanks to the Fed’s QE lite and QE 2 programs, both precious metals have gone into hyper-drive in the last five months, rising 14% and 66% respectively.Now, no investment can move...

"The worst crime against working people," so said Samuel Gompers, "is a company which fails to operate at a profit." Gompers, of course, is known by the history books as the father of the labor union movement in America. He was founder of the American Federation of Labor. It may seem incongruous for such an important labor figure to say such a thing about profit, but Gompers appreciated something back then that perhaps a few of today's labor leaders don't. An economy without profit is an economy in deep, deep depression. Profit and the self-interest motive behind it were under...

NEW: Prop. 23 Foe Profits From ‘Dirty Coal’ OCT. 28, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI - CALWATCHDOG.COM EXCERPT NO on 23 backer and Democrat Tom Steyer’s Farallon Capital Management Company holds stock in “dirty coal,” nuclear, and oil and gas companies, and in a Chinese solar panel supply company that potentially would rob jobs from Californians, even as the NO on 23 campaign blasts Prop. 23 backers for similar investments.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 14, 2010 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. "Google had an excellent quarter," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Our core business grew very well, and our newer businesses -- particularly display and mobile -- continued to show significant momentum. Going forward, we remain committed to aggressive investment in both our people and our products as we pursue an innovation agenda." Q3 Financial Summary Google reported revenues of $7.29 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, an increase of 23% compared to the third...

NEW YORK (AFP) – US computer chip giant Intel posted a quarterly net profit of nearly three billion dollars on Tuesday and record revenue of more than 11 billion dollars. The Santa Clara, California-based technology bellwether reported third-quarter revenue of 2.95 billion dollars, up from 1.85 billion dollars during the same period a year ago. Earnings per share of 52 cents were slightly better than the 50 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.