[quote=harvey][quote=jstoesz]Saying businesses is sitting on tons of cash is like saying, homeowners who HELOC’ed their paid off residence are flush with cash. Yes, they have cash, but net, they have nothing…[/quote]
No, it isn’t the same. Not even close.
Apple computer has more than $27 billion in cash.
Exxon has $17 billion.
We could go on all day with this list – many large companies have similar positions.
No go find us a single HELOC borrower who still has any cash from the original loan.
Brian is right, businesses today have plenty of cash but they are choosing not to invest it.
It’s a so easy to spot a “Tea Party” dimwit these days: They don’t check even the most basic facts. Much easier to spout off whatever mythology they’ve been told to obey on Fox news.
BTW: That “chart” comparing debt vs. cash is a joke of a distortion. Here’s a little homework for ya: calculate the cash/debt ratios for each.[/quote]
Your post is a classic example of cherry picking anecdotal cases to disprove something that applies to the aggregate. I don’t give a flying crap what amount of cash Apple has. They are such a small portion of the overall gdp, it means nothing. I could come up with just as many companies that are being swallowed in debt. Car manufacturers come to mind. If you want to believe everyone who disagrees with you is some brainless zombie, have at it, but I think you are being intellectually dishonest.
The 2 trillion in excess cash meme, seems illusionary, considering companies have the taken on more debt to achieve it. The home owner analogy was just that an analogy.
FYI, I don’t have a cable connection or even rabbit ears, so Fox news is a little hard to come by (2.5mb dsl line is all I can get).
That chart shows the debt to cash ratio to be comparable? So what, is that surprising? If you increase your debt, doesn’t your cash on hand go up by a comparable amount. It sounds quite logical really. What is more interesting than the cash to debt ratio, is the fact that while debt went up by 1.8 trillion, the cash only went up by .5 trillion…
How does that show US companies in good shape to go spend like the like crazy?
