Tweety mentioned it today - "Corporations Sit On $1.8 Trillion Until They Get Their Way"

[Pirate Smile]

At the end of a segment during today's Hardball, Chris Matthews asked if Business/Wall Street will sit on their $$$ for two more years just to hurt Obama.

Here is a post from back in July on this issue:

Corporations Sit On $1.8 Trillion Until They Get Their Way

By karoli

Back in early 2008 when the primaries were heating up between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, a friend with contacts in high corporate places whispered a secret in my ear. The secret he told: Money sources will tighten and corporations will hoard cash in an effort to make whichever Democrat is elected a one-term wonder.

At the time I shook it off as wishful thinking. After all, he's one of those corporate guys, and saw the handwriting on the wall. Knowing he wouldn't get another Republican administration for awhile (If I had my way, it would be forever), he was just whispering silly scare threats in my ear to suppress any enthusiasm I might have had for a Democratic President.

Fast forward to July, 2010 and his words practically scream at me. Anyone who doubts what is happening in this country right now should go read Fareed Zakaria's column about why corporations are hoarding cash. Hoarding to the tune of nearly 2 TRILLION dollars, by the way.

Economic uncertainty was the primary cause of their caution. "We've just been through a tsunami and that produces caution," one told me. But in addition to economics, they kept talking about politics, about the uncertainty surrounding regulations and taxes.

Note to those who insist on Obama's corporatist stature: Corporations aren't happy. They're kind of angry, actually, because after all the years of freedom from regulation, they're being regulated. And they're being regulated by a Democratic administration, which means they're actually being effectively regulated.

Some have even begun to speak out publicly. Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, complained Friday that government was not in sync with entrepreneurs. The Business Roundtable, which had supported the Obama administration, has begun to complain about the myriad laws and regulations being cooked up in Washington.

Awww, and listen to what they're saying:

One CEO told me, "Almost every agency we deal with has announced some expansion of its authority, which naturally makes me concerned about what's in store for us for the future." Another pointed out that between the health-care bill, financial reform and possibly cap-and-trade, his company had lawyers working day and night to figure out the implications of all these new regulations.

Now, the CEOs have some core beliefs, and Obama just doesn't fit the mold of the corporate go-to in the Oval Office for these guys.

But all think he is, at his core, anti-business. When I asked for specifics, they pointed to the fact that Obama has no business executives in his Cabinet, that he rarely consults with CEOs (except for photo ops), that he has almost no private-sector experience, that he's made clear he thinks government and nonprofit work are superior to the private sector. It all added up to a profound sense of distrust.

To restate their concerns: There are no CEOs in his cabinet, he has no private sector cronies, and he believes in good government. See? Those are core Democratic values. Republicans, on the other hand, worship at the Altar of the Bottom Line, think CEOs should run the country and the world, and DROVE US INTO THE DITCH WITH THEIR BUDDIES CHENEY AND BUSH.

Anyone who thinks the unemployment situation is a product of poor governing on the part of this President can't recognize a class war when they see it. The real issue on the table here is corporate power and control.

Consider the recent Luntz-style attacks on the unemployed. Rather than addressing the reasons for the stubbornly high unemployment rate, they choose to demonize those who are unemployed. We're too stupid, too lazy, or we want to be paid too much to rehire.

Of course, none of these things are true, but they offer cover for CEOs to duck the true questions about why they'd rather simply sit on the cash and forego expansion for now. They'd rather do it because they can. Because they can afford to wait until they have a puppet in the oval office who will do their bidding, who will call off the regulatory dogs, and who understands unique corporate challenges.

So what are we to do? Well, one possibility is looking to (or creating) small businesses. The problem there is that small businesses are concerned about hiring people when consumers aren't buying anything. And consumers aren't going to buy anything if they have no money because they have no job and their unemployment benefits have run out.

It looks to me like it's time for the President and the Congress to start listening to Paul Krugman. After all, what is government for if not to be the safety net for people when out-of-balance power players such as the top 500 corporate CEOs decide they're going to outwait the unemployed until they write the rules?

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/corporations-sit-18-trillion-until-they-get

edit to add - They acted just like the Republicans did from the second President Obama was sworn in - just sit there and do nothing. So what if the Country is headed off a cliff into another Great Depression - make them deal with it ALONE with no assistance from Republicans or the Business Community.

In fact, try to obstruct everything they do to save the financial system and help all the people effected by the downturn - the unemployed, the bankrupt, the uninsured, the desperate... Then go out and talk about what great Americans you are and how that Obama guy isn't really one of us.

[Life Long Dem]

1. Just another reason the top 2% don't need the tax cut.

On the other hand the consumers they speak of can use a tax cut.

[rsmith6621]

2. And What Happens When Obama Is Reelected......

.....Then What...

[okieinpain]

4. i think eventually they will have to start conducting business. that's

why this midterm is important. if the repugs can really pull off getting control. then we will get two more years of the cash hoarding. if dems can manage to keep control I don't think they can hold off for two more years. but I'm just a little peon so what do I know.

[w4rma]

11. Yup. Force them to understand that Democrats will be in power for a while. (nt)

[Cosmocat]

14. I have said this since early summer ...

They are sitting on it until the mid terms, but there is one truth about business in that if you aren't growing you are shrinking ...

They can't hold out another two years ... If the Rs were to get control of the house, it might "embolden" them more, but they are going to have to start putting money into growth either way ...

They hate Ds, they love Rs, but business is business ...

[deminks]

3. I knew this might be happening. No hiring, No investing, No lending, No recovery

until the thugs are back in charge. That's why the thug governors wouldn't take the stimulus money, or spend it if they got it. That's why the job market is in the toilet. Companies making huge profits but not hiring or lending. They are holding out for Bendy Straws Palin in 2012, or someone equally compliant.

[girl gone mad]

5. It makes for fun television, but it just isn't true.

Our businesses are more leveraged than ever. They are not hoarding cash, they are deeply in debt and extremely illiquid. Now we've got a junk bond bubble to contend with.

“American companies are not in robust financial shape. Federal Reserve data show that their debts have been rising, not falling. By some measures, they are now more leveraged than at any time since the Great Depression.

You’d think someone might have noticed something amiss. After all, we were simultaneously being told that companies (a) had more money than they know what to do with; (b) had even more money coming in due to a surge in profits; yet (c) they have been out in the bond market borrowing as fast as they can.

According to the Federal Reserve, nonfinancial firms borrowed another $289 billion in the first quarter, taking their total domestic debts to $7.2 trillion, the highest level ever. That’s up by $1.1 trillion since the first quarter of 2007; it’s twice the level seen in the late 1990s.”



Interestingly, some observers lament that corporations and some individuals are holding their assets in “cash” rather than spending and investing those balances, apparently believing that this money is being “held back” from the economy. What is preposterous about this is that the “cash” that companies and individuals are observed to be holding is primarily in the form of government securities and base money created over the past couple of years, which somebody has to hold at every point in time until those liabilities are retired. This is not money that is waiting to be spent. It is a stack of IOUs representing resources that have already been squandered, and now somebody has to hold these pieces of paper until they are retired.

In short, instead of directing savings toward investments in real, productive assets that we would observe as physical output, fixed capital, and equipment (and claims on those assets in the form of corporate stocks and bonds), our economy has been forced to choke down a massive issuance of government liabilities in order to bail out bad debt. For every dollar of debt that should have defaulted, we now have two dollars of debt outstanding (the original debt, and a newly issued government security). What appears to be “sideline cash” is simply the evidence of past spending. Again, the crucial consideration is how the government spent the funds in the first place. Rapidly mounting evidence suggests that the answer is “not very well.”


http://pragcap.com/regarding-those-strong-corporate-balance-sheets

[karnac]

6. big government is the ULTIMATE trickle down.

what is it that repugtards can't get?

they should be happy. or f*k off and die.

[Bitwit1234]

7. THEY WANT THE REPUBLICANS BACK IN

that's why they are not creating jobs. If the created jobs the people wouldn't vote for the asinine republicans. And Rassymuffin just came up with a poll that says people trust republicans better than Democrats to get the economy fixed and to create more jobs.

I think these people should be investigated and legal action taken. They should be made to report the name and political affiliation of each person they contact. THEY LIE.

[karnac]

8. where is stalin when we need him?

how dare multinational coprporations NOT invest here? they think they are multinational? how stupid?


dont they know we OWN them?

[w4rma]

12. We made them, we can destroy them, too. (nt)

[BeyondGeography]

9. They're certainly hateful enough to be capable of this

Child monsters with little dicks.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. I just learned the term capital strike from another DUer whose name I can't remember. That's

exactly what's going on.

[Pirate Smile]

13. Add what Wall Street/Business is doing to what the Military did to President Obama during

the review on Afghanistan and it is amazing the amount of s#@t Obama has had to take. I just finished reading the second of the three articles the Washington Post is running on Woodward's book and it just amazes me. He told them to give him an exit plan over and over again and the Pentagon NEVER did. He had to dictate his own plan with an exit strategy himself.

""We support you," Petraeus said. "We're all now committed to this. We'll do everything possible to get the troops on the ground as rapidly as possible and to enable, ultimately, the transfer to begin in July 2011."

Petraeus had privately concluded that the terms sheet was not just to get clarity, but to show that the president was in control. When he later learned that Obama had dictated the orders, he couldn't believe it. "There's not a president in history that's dictated five single-spaced pages in his life. That's what the staff gets paid to do."'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092704850_5.html?sid=ST2010092706361

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. You know, I'm the first one to criticize this administration when I think they're wrong on some

issue or on the so called image managing. But I have to balance it out with my belief that Obama has been set up from day one. By both the military (including intelligence) and the financial sector. If he can survive these attacks he'll come out even stronger. I also think that if the Democrats manage to maintain even slight majorities. Whatever gains the Repukes make will be erased on '12. Which is why this year is very important.

[Pathwalker]

16. Last night on Nightline, they said President Obama writes a personal

handwritten letter to the families of every service member who dies in the wars, and this weighs heavily on him. This was from Woodward's new book, and I think it explains why the President's hair is graying, and he looks sad. Add this to all the other crap that's been thrown at him, and you can see why the man looks so sorrowful.

I am refusing to purchase anything our family does not require, as my small way of helping keep those "poor" corporations down. My family will also tell them what we think by casting our four votes for the Democrats this November. Go Virg!

[txlibdem]

17. They're sitting on enough cash to hire and pay 20 million people $50,000 a year

Do the math. It costs a business approximately $75,000 to pay for each worker earning $50,000 according to the numbers I could find. Divide 1.8 Trillion by 75k and you get over 20 million.

What if there were suddenly 20 million consumers flush with cash in this country? Demand would skyrocket, the economic engine would go into high gear and we would be done with any thoughts of recession for a generation. It would be a new golden age for Capitalism here in America. The rich would be instantly richer (as always happens in this rigged system), businesses would be booming and expansion would be the new phrase of the day.

But they are not doing that. They would rather see the country be destroyed than see the government run by Democrats, even at the cost of their own prosperity.

[Supersedeas]

18. the profit motive trumps the patriotic motive everytime

To many of these people, a nation is just a stable platform for making money. As long as there is a responsive government to abide by their concerns (low taxes) and an authoritative structure to protect their assets (police and military protect -- cheap oil is also a big benefit), these people could care less where they make their money and who the make it off of.

Their allegiance to this country lasts as long as the profits are rolling in. Give them low taxes and cheap oil/energy in Germany or Paraguay or Indonesia, and they would just assume wave those flags as they would the stars and bars. They want security, privileges and entertainment and will invest their capital whereever the numbers look best. Capitalism trumps patriotic and democratic notions everytime. Laissez-faire capitalist have no personal attachments to the well-being of this country, the labor force, or any other humanist cause. The only cause that matters is profits.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

19. I don't buy that for one minute.

These guys are bloodthirsty, and if there's money to be made, they'll go out and make it. It goes against every fiber in their bodies to think they're going to pass up on an opportunity to make a killing just for a political point. Plus, that would be a conspiracy on such a massive scale that it would be entirely unworkable. No way, no how.