Death of GOP Talking Points

[ccmanuals]

So, the right has been beating up Obama as being bad for business, and worst President in history for the economy and business.

“President Obama himself is the most anti-business president in my lifetime. With rhetoric not befitting a president he has attacked oil companies, banks, airplane users, Wall Street and anyone who makes money,” wrote Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Assoc."

The other favorite talking point is when business is doing well they hire.

Well, this came out today.

The Fortune 500 generated a total of $824.5 billion in earnings last year, up 16.4% over 2010. That beats the previous record of $785 billion, set in 2006 during a roaring economy. The 2011 profits are outsized based on two key historical metrics. They represent 7% of total sales, vs. an average of 5.14% over the 58-year history of the Fortune 500. Companies are also garnering exceptional returns on their capital. The 500 achieved a return-on-equity of 14.3%, far above the historical norm of 12%.

Of course, that return to pre-recession level earnings hasn’t translated into job or wage growth for America’s workers. In fact, inflation-adjusted wages fell last year. Big companies are also squeezing more productivity out of their workers, with annual revenue generated per worker increasing by more than $40,000 over the last five years. CEO pay, meanwhile, increased 15 percent last year.
This data also puts the lie to the Republican claim that corporate tax cuts will spur businesses to hire. If all it took were extra cash, businesses would be hiring like crazy. However, they are clearly not doing so — and the effective corporate tax rate is already at a forty year low.

[John of Phoenix]

Now to get the DNC to start using this kind of info.

[Norman Bernstein]

This data also puts the lie to the Republican claim that corporate tax cuts will spur businesses to hire. If all it took were extra cash, businesses would be hiring like crazy. However, they are clearly not doing so — and the effective corporate tax rate is already at a forty year low.

When those idiots start realizing that reviving the middle class would do more for them than any tax cut, we might see an economic recovery. "It's the customers, stoopid!"

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Stuff like this is why folks like Milo post threads concerning how Obama's "forward" theme is "communistic". They have nothing serious to discuss.

[TomF]

Election year, and the economy has the unmitigated gall to produce record profits for the rich, despite the best efforts of every filibusterer in the Senate.

Let's see some of those American firms roll up their entrepreneurial sleeves, take a larger portion of those record profits, and put "America first" with a bit more job creation.

[Chip-skiff]

Stuff like this is why folks like Milo post threads concerning how Obama's "forward" theme is "communistic". They have nothing serious to discuss.

To paraphrase Albert Camus: Reason is powerful, but one cannot persuade those in the grip of an abstraction.

[SMARTINSEN]

When those idiots start realizing that reviving the middle class would do more for them than any tax cut, we might see an economic recovery. "It's the customers, stoopid!"

They are not idiots, and they do not care so much for reviving the middle class than they do for making sure that their masters are taken care of first. Rmoney, Ryan, Lieberman, and many others are more beholden to the likes of the Koch brothers than they are to you and me.

[Hank Rearden]

So, the right has been beating up Obama as being bad for business, and worst President in history for the economy and business.

“President Obama himself is the most anti-business president in my lifetime. With rhetoric not befitting a president he has attacked oil companies, banks, airplane users, Wall Street and anyone who makes money,” wrote Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Assoc."

The other favorite talking point is when business is doing well they hire.

Well, this came out today.



Of course, that return to pre-recession level earnings hasn’t translated into job or wage growth for America’s workers. In fact, inflation-adjusted wages fell last year. Big companies are also squeezing more productivity out of their workers, with annual revenue generated per worker increasing by more than $40,000 over the last five years. CEO pay, meanwhile, increased 15 percent last year.
This data also puts the lie to the Republican claim that corporate tax cuts will spur businesses to hire. If all it took were extra cash, businesses would be hiring like crazy. However, they are clearly not doing so — and the effective corporate tax rate is already at a forty year low.

Just think how much better they would have done if we didn't have such a clown in the White House.

[Dan McCosh]

“President Obama himself is the most anti-business president in my lifetime. With rhetoric not befitting a president he has attacked oil companies, banks, airplane users, Wall Street and anyone who makes money,” wrote Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Assoc."


.

Now who did he bail out?

[NiceCatch]

we might see an economic recovery

Looks like we could see that in France.

[hokiefan]

Just think how much better they would have done if we didn't have such a clown in the White House.

Like who, McCain? The self-proclaimed "not expert" on the economy? Give me a break...

Bobby

[BrianW]

The Fortune 500 generated a total of $824.5 billion in earnings last year, up 16.4% over 2010. That beats the previous record of $785 billion, set in 2006 during a roaring economy. The 2011 profits are outsized based on two key historical metrics. They represent 7% of total sales, vs. an average of 5.14% over the 58-year history of the Fortune 500. Companies are also garnering exceptional returns on their capital. The 500 achieved a return-on-equity of 14.3%, far above the historical norm of 12%.

Nice quote, but isn't this the sentence prior to that quote?...

Given the sluggish recovery and a strapped consumer, you’d expect to see corporate America trudging along, not racing for glory. In fact, the Fortune 500 are thriving as a group. Unlike the U.S. economy, they’ve shown quicksilver agility, rapidly shifting their product mix and producing more goods at little new cost. This nimbleness belies the immense size of these companies and, frequently, their advanced age.

So what is important to the American voter? The fact Obama has been a great Republican business President, or the fact they are still out of jobs and have no money to buy stuff?

[skuthorp]

I read Hank's comment as irony, was I wrong?

[Chris Coose]

Republicans in Maine scored big in the last election. This past weekend they held their convention and The Paulianas highjacked the place. The old guard is mortified, the teabaggers were invisible and the Paulianas got their revenge from the caucus debacle from a couple of months ago. Every national convention delegate from Maine will be in Tampa for Ron Paul!

There are a couple writers who see the catastrophe for what it is but most of them think they've got the juice to move "foreward" to crush Obama come November.

They remind me of Angry Birds on heroin.

[John Smith]

When those idiots start realizing that reviving the middle class would do more for them than any tax cut, we might see an economic recovery. "It's the customers, stoopid!"

The fact that they don't realize this is what makes them idiots.

I believe our economy, like everything else, has an "efficiency factor". In industry, this involved the profit margin per unit and the wages paid the workers. If on sells 2 units with a 50% markup, one may find a 35% markup will lead to selling 4 units in the same time frame. Making less per unit can lead to making more money.

Then there's the matter of wages. If the middle class has more disposable income, you can sell more units. If you eat some of that markup, so the actual profit margin drops to 30% and give all your employees a raise, and other businesses do the same, maybe you sell 10 units in that same time frame.

Somewhere there is a most efficient ratio among these many factors. A rising tide does not life sunken boats, and the middle class is a sunken boat.

[John Smith]

They are not idiots, and they do not care so much for reviving the middle class than they do for making sure that their masters are taken care of first. Rmoney, Ryan, Lieberman, and many others are more beholden to the likes of the Koch brothers than they are to you and me.

Which is why these are the bums that need to be voted out.

[John Smith]

Nice quote, but isn't this the sentence prior to that quote?...




So what is important to the American voter? The fact Obama has been a great Republican business President, or the fact they are still out of jobs and have no money to buy stuff?

One of the factors here is the nature of instant response wanted by the public. Another factor is simple dishonesty. Jobs have been being outsourced for decades. That's a chicken that's come home to roost.

For people who need a good job, tax rates are likely not an issue. Only if there's go up and Buffet's don't.

This election, the economy is not the only issue. Womens' rights have become an issue.

National security remains an issue.

Gay rights is an issue.

[David W Pratt]

"Death" or "Dearth"?

[SamSam]

When those idiots start realizing that reviving the middle class would do more for them than any tax cut, we might see an economic recovery. "It's the customers, stoopid!"

Maybe right now they're more interested in consolidating the power they have gained. Maybe they're gettin' while the gettin's good. Then they can turn taxes and regulations on and off like a switch.