Impossible to even comprehend these numbers....

[Romero]

It's on!

[Anonymous]

It's on!

I am not in the ring, we all understand that right? I tapped out. OK, I wussed out of this challenge.

[Romero]

Understood!

[Anonymous]

^^Hard to say who I would put my money on if I was in Vegas. It'll be a close match IMO.

[Renee]

It's on!

I am not in the ring, we all understand that right? I tapped out. OK, I wussed out of this challenge.

No problem.

[Anonymous]

It's on!

This like the Seinfeld episode where they bet who could go the longest without masturbating.

[Romero]

I think we can all agree that 2010 wasn't the best of years. After all, unemployment at midyear was still bordering on 10 percent, home foreclosures were at a record high, and profits per employee at US corporations only rose 24 percent. Now, go back and read that last one again. As it happens, U.S. corporations were on their way to record profits in 2010, raking in more money at the same time as they were cutting both staff and benefits.



Think that's a fluke? Profits per employee jumped another 22 percent in 2011. That's as layoffs reached record heights and 312,000 jobs were eliminated. The year 2011 also marked another record year of profits for U.S. companies. Not only did Fortune 500 corporations pocket a record $824.5 billion, they generated earnings at a rate 23 percent percent higher than the historical average. By the end of that year, Apple alone had $76 billion in the bank, after generating a profit amounting to half a million dollars per employee.



The most shameful thing out of all these numbers may be this: Walmart could quite easily afford to pay its workers a living wage.  It could do so without threatening its ability to operate. It could do so without slowing its relentless expansion. It could do so without residing its prices one dime. Walmart has ample ability to pay its workers more, because it's not just profitable, it's massively profitable.



If Walmart were to pay all of its employees a living wage—not a poverty rate, but something more like the $45k average that Costco workers earn—if it did that, Walmart's corporate profits would have declined last year from $17 billion, to a mere $12.5 billion.



But this isn't just a Walmart story, it's an American story. Not so long ago, American corporations accepted the idea that they had obligations to their stockholders, but also to their workers and the communities where they did business. They understood that profit was a tool, a fuel that powered the corporation to achieve its goals. But now profit is the goal. It's been fetishized beyond all reason. Many people will even tell you that there's a law requiring companies to generate as much profit as possible. There is no such law. There never was. And the only thing more insane than believing that such a harmful law might exist, is that many seem to think it's a good idea.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/24/1257618/-No-thanks-to-Walmart">//http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/24/1257618/-No-thanks-to-Walmart

[Anonymous]

Strong corporate profits? Thank Asia, not Obongo's struggling US economy.

Industrial, financial and media conglomerate General Electric ge said Friday its fourth-quarter profit rose 4% on strong global demand, and it reaffirmed its outlook for 2008.



For the quarter ended Dec. 31, net income rose to $6.7 billion, or 66 cents a share, from $6.44 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year ago. Earnings from continuing operations totaled 68 cents a share, up from 58 cents.



Revenue rose 18% to $48.59 billion.



Profit met the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, while revenue topped Wall Street's outlook of $47.28 billion. GE had forecast a quarterly profit of 67 cents to 69 cents a share.



The company said more than half of its revenue now comes from outside the USA, helping to cushion GE from a possible U.S. recession.



"Clearly foreign operations delivered the bulk of the strength in the quarter, I think that's a seminal event," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management. "It also indicates there is weakness on the domestic side."

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4161822">http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4161822

[Romero]

Struggling US economy? Corporate profits and stock markets are at record highs. The 1% has been doing better than ever in American history.



Socialism! Corporate socialism.

[Anonymous]

The U.S. economy is still struggling

https://theweek.com/article/index/252500/dont-be-fooled-by-gdp-growth-the-us-economy-is-still-struggling">https://theweek.com/article/index/25250 ... struggling">https://theweek.com/article/index/252500/dont-be-fooled-by-gdp-growth-the-us-economy-is-still-struggling

The US economy is in trouble and consumers are not spending more. American corporations and other businesses owe their profits to places like China. Punishing them for their overseas success is akin to rewarding their Asian competiton. A very stupid thing to do.

[Romero]

States That Raised Their Minimum Wages Are Experiencing Faster Job Growth



Think a higher minimum wage is a job killer? Think again: The states that raised their minimum wages on January 1 have seen higher employment growth since then than the states that kept theirs at the same rate.



The minimum wage went up in 13 states — Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The average change in employment for those states over the first five months of the year as compared with the last five of 2013 is .99 percent, while the average for all remaining states is .68 percent.



All but one of those states are experiencing increases in employment, and nine of them have seen growth above the median rate.



Massachusetts went the furthest, raising its wage to $11 by 2017, but three — Hawaii, Maryland, and Connecticut — passed the $10.10 minimum wage being pushed at the federal level by Democrats and Vermont increased its wage to $10.50. And some cities have gone even further, with Seattle enacting a $15 minimum wage.



Progress in raising the entire country's minimum wage has stalled, though. Republicans blocked a bill that would have increased it to $10.10 an hour.



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increase-employment/">//http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increase-employment/

Dow Tops 17,000 For First Time After Positive Jobs Report



Wall Street's holiday-shortened session ended with multiple records on Thursday, with the Dow topping 17,000 for the first time after the June jobs report came in much stronger than expected.



Both the Dow and S&P 500 ended at their third consecutive record highs. The Nasdaq ended at its highest since 2000 and rose for a third straight week. The three major indexes wrapped up a week of solid gains on the day before the Independence Day holiday, when the U.S. stock market will be closed.



The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in June, racing past the 212,000 that economists had expected. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent, the lowest since September 2008.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/03/dow-jones-17000_n_5555751.html?1404414804">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/03/dow-jones-17000_n_5555751.html?1404414804

[cc]

Eggs Actly.



Stock Market 101 - When economic prospects are bad, businesses invest in stocks rather than in expansion = reduced employment and reduced contribution to country's economy.



For the very same reason that markets were high in summer of 2008 (and we all know what happened in September), they are high now = country's economy not looking good at either time.

[Romero]

Eggs Actly.



Stock Market 101 - When economic prospects are bad, businesses invest in stocks rather than in expansion = reduced employment and reduced contribution to country's economy.

Hmm. According to the article, stocks are up because employment is up and there is confidence in the economy.

[cc]

"According to the article" ... huffpoo, lol



Total employed ... the only number that matters  is at 45 year record low - Index is gives a false impression for the suckers as it is meaningless ... does not include those who gave up looking



huffpoo & all of O's minion press like to quote the official  monthly unemployment Index # as it does not tell / hides  how few actually work today



You are aware that the first quarter +1 (not good) GDP initially put out by his minions has been corrected and is now officially -3 .. .that's not -0.3 .. .its -3.0 ... = really really really  really really  bad  ... = businesses do not expand = why the market is so high ... so wtf BS  is huffpoo & yoo trying to sell us?



As I said - Market usually trends opposite to economic conditions  .. see Market 101 above

[Anonymous]

U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-25/economy-in-u-s-shrank-in-first-quarter-by-most-in-five-years.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-2 ... years.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-25/economy-in-u-s-shrank-in-first-quarter-by-most-in-five-years.html