JP Morgan CEO quote of the day...

[katty]

"Corporate America is in great shape."

[aquart]

1. He meant Corpulent America.

Too big to tighten a belt.

[cutlassmama]

2. well no shit. in the meantime the average joe lives in a tent city and starves

[katty]

5. right...but, no matter.... whatever makes JP happy

[kenny blankenship]

3. And furthermore the top 1% of income earners are experiencing no measurable rise in unemployment

But for the bottom 1% of income earners unemployment is now up to around 30%

[dickthegrouch]

4. By what measure????

Sure, the DJIA is back above 10,000; but how many corporations are expanding? Increasing profits? Hiring? On a sustainable basis?

A few Corps have vast sums in the bank and a few have vast (risky) paper wealth, but the Market Capitalization is no rational representation of the corporation's value or borrowing power. If the market dropped again, many would be finished.

How many of those big corporate mergers of the late 90's have produced enduring results and increased actual corporate value (rather than market cap) through today? Are there any?

Apple just reminded us of its $40,000,000,000 in cash. I hope they become a lending bank next. They'll stand a far better chance of increased value doing that than by any other strategy I can think of.