Free Republic

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

Second-quarter earnings reports are coming in, and they’re making Wall Street smile. Corporate profits are up. And big American companies are sitting on a gigantic pile of money. The 500 largest non-financial firms held almost a trillion dollars in the second quarter, and that money pile is growing larger this quarter. Profits that plummeted in the recession have bounced back. Big businesses have recovered almost 90 percent of what they lost. So with all this money and profit, they’ll start hiring again, right? Wrong – for three reasons. First, lots of their profits are coming from their overseas operations. So...

Why is there a remarkable stock market rally in the midst of the worst recession (depression) since 1930? While we hear explanations of every day's rise and fall of the indices (e.g., the "whatever" numbers were not as bad as expected, or they were better than anticipated), the obvious answer is that a few serious investors have studied their (arcane) National Income and Product Accounting. The stock market is rising because extraordinarily high corporate profits are just around the corner. The late Michal Kalecki, an obscure Polish economist, formulated the explanation in the early 1930s, summarized in his Selected Essays...

In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Senate War Investigating Committee called hearings in an attempt to publicly shame and excoriate industrial titan Howard Hughes. Hughes was accused of wasting taxpayer money on his F-11 and HK-1 projects. The hearings backfired as the stubborn Hughes accused the Senators of corruption and blackmail and of being beholden to his competitors, and he detailed the millions of his own dollars he spent on these projects. The committee, embarrassed by the unexpectedly effective defiance of the infamous recluse, disbanded without filing a report. Don’t expect that kind of defiance from the...

Longtime Internet users will recognize the phrase “All your base are belong to us.” It’s a comically stupid but popular English translation from a late ’80s Japanese video game. In a nutshell, it is a declaration of dominance – everything of yours is now mine. That sentiment has emerged in Washington – from Hillary Clinton. The presidential candidate used it when she made her feelings about private property known at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting. Clinton must have been shocked that the free market works so well that some Americans actually profit from dealings other than Whitewater. So she...

The paradox of the year is why so many Americans tell pollsters they feel bad about an economy that's been so good, with solid job growth and corporate profits, rising wages and home prices, and a huge decline in the budget deficit. Perhaps one reason is because the media keep saying the economy stinks. That's the conclusion of... the Media Research Center, which finds that so far this year 62% of the news stories on the Big Three TV networks have portrayed the U.S. economy in negative fashion. The "negative full length TV news stories on the economy outnumbered positive...

Bushite betrayal of working America Posted: December 29, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. On Christmas Eve, a story and column in the Washington Post caught the eye. For they tell much about the two Americas we are becoming under George Bush and a Democratic Party that has cut its roots to working America. The front-page story by Mike Allen describes a Bush initiative on "immigration reform." Seems that U.S. employers would post jobs and the wages that go with them on a Department of Labor website. If no Americans came forward to take the jobs, the...

US Q3 after-tax profits rose 10.1 pct Tuesday December 23, 8:42 am ET WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Commerce Department estimates of profits by U.S. corporations, with comparisons. Profits from current production include adjustments for inventory valuation and capital consumption. They do not reflect tax law changes that would affect profits as reported to tax authorities. Data are seasonally adjusted. Percent changes from preceding period: . Q3'03 Q2'03 2002 From current production 9.9 10.3 17.4 Corporate income taxes 9.0 -1.2 -3.0 After Tax Profits 10.1 13.8 24.6 HISTORICAL/NOTE: Beginning with the annual revisions of Dec. 10, profits after tax now...

US Q2 final after tax profits fell 5.0 pct Friday September 26, 8:29 am ET WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Reuters) - Commerce Department estimates of profits by U.S. corporations, with comparisons. Profits from current production include adjustments for inventory valuation and capital consumption. They do not reflect tax law changes that would affect profits as reported to tax authorities. Data are seasonally adjusted. Percent changes from preceding period: . Q2'03 Prev Q1'03 2002 From current production 9.9 10.8 2.6 7.6 After Tax -5.0 -3.4 3.8 -4.0 Before Tax -3.8 -2.8 4.8 -0.7 Tax Liability -1.5 -1.6 6.9 7.0

US Q2 corporate profits fell 3.4 pct Thursday August 28, 8:33 am ET WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Commerce Department estimates of profits by U.S. corporations, with comparisons. Profits before tax include inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments. Data are seasonally adjusted. Percent changes from preceding period: . Q2'03 Q1'03 2002 After Tax -3.4 3.8 -4.0 Before Tax 10.8 2.6 7.6 Tax Liability -1.6 6.9 7.0