Why Are Corporations Hoarding Trillions?

Post by bsder » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 9:33 PM UTC

npalli wrote: post #104

Animats wrote: post #88

The US is out of demand. Workers are spent out. Thus, there's no need to increase output, because nobody has the money to buy it. The US has huge excess manufacturing capacity, thousands of malls which could handle more traffic ("there's always parking at Sears", a rather pathetic ad), and services which could handle more business. There's a glut of capital, plenty of available unemployed or underemployed workers, no…

> The US is out of demand How is the US out of demand? Peak consumption years of population are between twenties and fifties and the biggest cohort of US demographics - the millennials - is just getting started. They crossed over the Boomers last year and now are the largest group. Behind them the younger (Gen Z) equally large in size is ready to backfill in another 15 years. It is true that demand from Boomers is do…

Post by edabobojr » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 9:35 PM UTC

seiji wrote: post #120

markdown wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what good is a large population of people in their peak consumption years if they have no money with which to consume? So long as you have a low-paid workforce who have to save their money (either themselves or via insurance companies) in case they get an infected tooth or need to see a doctor for an antibiotic prescription, you'll have low consumption spending and low growth.

even medium to highly paid workforce members aren't entirely capable of spending en masse these days. I'd love to stop paying $3500/month in rent, but any property to buy around here has a median price of $1.2 million. Unless we all move to rural Indiana, housing + healthcare is designed to eat 100% of your after-tax income with no room for further growth. (of course, that's assuming you're just a putz serial employe…

Post by Wingman4l7 » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 9:38 PM UTC

ju-st wrote: post #109

vellum wrote: post #98

According to this Bloomberg article, companies have $2.1 trillion sitting offshore for tax reasons [1]. They're probably waiting for Congress to let them bring home the cash, tax-free. However, the last time that happened (2004), it was done to encourage companies to create jobs. Instead, they spent it buying company stock. [2] 1 - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/u-s-compan... 2 - http://www.theguar…

As far as I know the US taxes the income of its citizens even when they live outside the US. So why can't the US just tax the offshore income of the companies?

Post by BatFastard » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 9:42 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #88

The US is out of demand. Workers are spent out. Thus, there's no need to increase output, because nobody has the money to buy it. The US has huge excess manufacturing capacity, thousands of malls which could handle more traffic ("there's always parking at Sears", a rather pathetic ad), and services which could handle more business. There's a glut of capital, plenty of available unemployed or underemployed workers, no…

Post by taurath » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 9:45 PM UTC

BatFastard wrote: post #147

Animats wrote: post #88

The US is out of demand. Workers are spent out. Thus, there's no need to increase output, because nobody has the money to buy it. The US has huge excess manufacturing capacity, thousands of malls which could handle more traffic ("there's always parking at Sears", a rather pathetic ad), and services which could handle more business. There's a glut of capital, plenty of available unemployed or underemployed workers, no…

Not in my neighborhood. The few malls are packed, have to search for a space anywhere. Commercial real estate is going crazy! 10s of thousands of apartments going up all over. Any place decent to eat has a wait. Demand is rocking in Midtown Atlanta!