Belly35;447533 wrote:I’m sorry for cussing …very much out of character
I get very up-set and angry when I see good people losing their jobs and people who put a life time of dedication of service having difficult times and business associates failing ……
I have seen a lot in my life and have seen and experienced failure because of my own personal faults. The Obama Administration is an anchor around my and small business neck, consumer confidence is so low and the fear in owners voices translate to caution of investing in themselves.
As a businessman I was able to have some control over my and my company future and would take that risk….but now we are controlled by the banks, government and out of control regulation….
This is not the Proud America I once knew …
Welcome to wonderful world of Jobless recoveries Belly. For all the bellowing about how anti-business Obama is, corporate profits have never recovered faster or more robustly. All you have to do is look at the earnings numbers from last quarter to see that profits are surging largely acorss the board.
Sadly though about 20 years ago some how business recovery and increasing profits became decoupled from job growth, as shareholders have laregly sent the message to big business to grow profits through cost cutting measures rather than top line revenue growth.
The result is that companies sit on mountains of money and don't hire. It is good for shareholders, as well as management because they get better bonuses and shareholders get better dividends or stock price appreciation.
There was a time in the country a few generations ago that companies took great pride in avoiding layoffs at all costs even in tough financial times. Now companies can't reduce "head count" fast enough in order to keep profits high. Outside of small mom and pop businesses workers have just become a faceless head count number as opposed to a real person.
It makes me sad in a way because while we have always been a capitalist country, there was a time far more consideration was payed to the human element of business decisions than we see now. American corporations had a loyalty to this country and its people that has disappeared in a global business environment of cost cutting at all costs. The idea of a jobless recovery was ludicrous 25 years ago, as businesses couldn't grow in an environment of high unemployment like we have now.
For better or worse, things have changed in this country and I don't think it matters who is in charge. As long as business can make money without hiring, they won't. I have heard quite frequently lately the idea that this is "the new normal", which is not something pleasant to think about if true.