You mean the ones like Enron? The ones that went poof in the night? :-) No offense, but everyone knows that those profits turn right around and are exported out of the country along with any job growth here.
That's true, mainly because companies don't pay dividends any more. The best way for shareholders not to have to worry about what the company does with it's profits (or trust that those profits even exist) is if a significant share of those profits are in the shareholders' pockets. One of the most bizarre rationalizations of the recent bubble was the idea that dividends don't matter any more.