...that the multinationals don't totally depend on the US consumer?
I'd bet that fair number of the recently lost jobs will end up overseas?
That's what the "ownership society" thing was all about...you might not have a job...but your mutual funds will still go up when people in other countries use your former wages to buy stuff?
Before the economy and the market tanked...the MSM was all over it....telling us how the Chinese were real happy to have our jobs and how we should feel good about that.
You are a corporate girl and you're living in a corporate world.....??????????
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"This economy won't improve until the fools in their ivory towers have this simple fact brought home to them: no bailout in the world is going to save any company that is out of customers."
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http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/article.asp?id=mwo050109Today, there are those who say the stock market will start rising six months before the economy does. And maybe it will. I don't know. The predisposition of this market is down. Valuations are not at a level that has spawned major bull markets in the past. At the beginning of real bull markets, volume is strong and rising. Now it is weak (modest at best) and shows no real sign of becoming strong, especially going into summer.
Further, this rally has all the earmarks of a major short squeeze. Regulators have recently (and correctly) been enforcing short selling rules that require stock to be delivered and settled on short trades. This may be a one-time event. When the short squeeze is over, the buying will stop and the market will drop. Remember, it takes buying and lot of it to move a market up but only a lack of buying to create a bear market.
Corporate earnings are likely to go even lower, as consumer spending is likely to get weaker in the coming months. Capacity utilization is at its lowest point since they began tracking it. The National Federation of Business says a recent survey shows none of the responders plans to raise prices, which is not a sign of business strength.
Banks are not yet lending, and the past quarter's positive performance was mostly accounting gimmicks.