[grey_whiskers]

When you throw your employees overboard in favor of Third World manufacturing (no EPA, no inspections), and then import millions of Third Worlders to do all the White Collar functions, (except C-suite management and, errr, umm, "executive assistants"), while continuing to charge the same prices as always, it's amazing what happen to profits.

When you combine this with artificial inflation of the money supply, without a corresponding increase in productivity, *and* you curtail lending, so the velocity of money slows to a crawl...

and you just came off of a real estate bust, so the money can't go there...

then the money will needlessly inflate stock prices.

[Smokin' Joe]

When you throw your employees overboard in favor of Third World manufacturing (no EPA, no inspections),

When you go where the rules aren't moving targets and politicians stay bought, you can make real money. The EPA has killed more jobs or caused them to be moved offshore than any other agency.