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American Companies Going Strong

The Great Recession was supposed to be the end of the Anglo-American capitalist model which had dominated the world economy for more than a century. To hear the doomsayers from a few years back tell it, this competitive capitalist model was inherently unstable and prone to collapse; the recession was just the final nail in the coffin.

Four years later, these predictions are looking rather silly. A Wall Street Journal analysis of the American marketplace shows that, rather than falling apart under the weight of the recession, large firms are doing extremely well and have taken advantage of the recession to streamline their operations. Hiring has fallen, but everywhere else firms are seeing gains: productivity is way up, indebtedness is falling, and profits are now higher than they were in 2007. This new success has led companies to begin a new wave of capital investments—which had largely tapered off during the crisis—which in turn could lead to further upticks in profits and productivity down the line:

Deep cost cutting during the downturn and caution during the recovery put the companies on firmer financial footing, helping them to outperform the rest of the economy and gather a greater share of the nation’s income. The rebound is reflected in the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at a four-year high. […]

Overall, though, the Journal found that S&P 500 companies have become more efficient—and more productive. In 2007, the companies generated an average of $378,000 in revenue for every employee on their payrolls. Last year, that figure rose to $420,000.

The Angl0-American model of competitive capitalism’s strongest point is its adaptability to new situations; this is what has allowed it to thrive during a recession that many believed would crush it. We’re not saying things are perfect; small companies, in particular, have not done quite as well at revitalizing themselves. But the American system as a whole has weathered the crisis rather well. Those hoping for the end of Western capitalism may have a bit longer to wait.

Posted: 2012-04-09 13:00:12
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  • BillH

    Elect Socialists and kill this prosperity machine, before it gets out of control and causes the whole economy to grow!

  • Anthony

    “…productivity is way up, indebtedness is falling, and profits are now higher than they were in 2007.” There has been an approximate 11% increase in revenue per employee compared to 2007 (S&P 500 companies). WRM, does this speak to corporate dominance in American commercial affairs rather than crisis weathering?

  • http://aamjanata.com Vidyut

    I don’t think the socialists will deny that large firms do well. As I understood it, they meant that there is a one way flow of money from individuals to corporations. So *people* do worse and worse. That is the whole inequality they talk about, no? The large ones getting better and poor people getting worse. Till a snapping point is reached?

    There is a fair amount of data worldwide that the poor are doing worse off than ever. Also downsizing isn’t a streamlining, but cost cutting to exist. While frivolous expenses got ditched, plenty of layoffs also happened. It isn’t streamlining when entire production units get shut down – DOW for example.

    I agree with the observations, but disagree that they are debunking what the socialists claim. At least the stuff I came across. So far, they fit.

  • http://aamjanata.com Vidyut

    @Anthony

    “There has been an approximate 11% increase in revenue per employee compared to 2007”

    Would this mean people getting richer or poorer when we factor in annual inflation? I don’t understand these things too well, but looks to me that their expenses increased faster than salary.

  • Anthony

    Numbers from article ($378,000/$420,000); just doing quick arithmetic as reference point. Information/metrics you infer outside of article’s analysis – comparison points: corporate revenue per.

  • Anthony

    Sorry, meant for reply: @4, Vidyut.

  • Walter Sobchak

    As David Goldman says: “Welcome to the United States of Belgium”. The established businesses, particularly those with overseas assets, do well. The sector of start-ups and small businesses is dead in the water. They are the engine of growth and change, and the economy cannot get well until they do.

    If Obama loses the election, the economic recovery will start the next day.

  • Jacksonian Libertarian

    “Those hoping for the end of Western capitalism may have a bit longer to wait.”

    The leftists will have to wait forever. It’s the feedback of competition that forces continuous improvements in Quality, Service, and Price in the Capitalist System. Monopolistic systems like Big Government, Big Business, and Big Labor stagnate in the absence of the feedback of competition.
    The reason small businesses are doing so poorly when they are the normal source of the majority of new jobs during a recovery, is the loss of small business investment capital, the vast majority of which comes from American Family home equity. The American Families have lost $6+ Trillion from the value of their homes, this was the American Family’s nest egg, and it has vanished as a source of investment capital, retirement funds, and emergency cash.
    Large businesses on the other hand have access to all the commercial sources of capital including the Stock Market, Bond Market, and Banks both foreign and domestic, and only have to compete with the Government which is sucking $1+ Trillion a year from the capital markets.
    “There is a reason why it’s called Capitalism, as Capital is what fuels it.” Jacksonian Libertarian

  • http://facingzionwards.blogspot.com/ Luke Lea

    “The Angl0-American model of competitive capitalism’s strongest point is its adaptability to new situations; this is what has allowed it to thrive during a recession that many believed would crush it.”

    There is much to be said for the Anglo-American model of competitive capitalism, and this is one of them. However, it won’t cure the maldistribution of income in this country caused by labor-saving technologies and our current trade and immigration policies. For that you need legislation: shorter work-weeks, wage subsidies, progressive taxation to finance those subsidies, and restrictions on mass immigration.

    It’s all about the rules of the game.

  • http://facingzionwards.blogspot.com/ Luke Lea

    I saw a bumper sticker. It said UNIONS — the guys who gave you the weekend

  • http://facingzionwards.blogspot.com/ Luke Lea

    As Reagan once said, “The Earned Income Tax Credit is the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.”

    Forget foodstamps. Let’s expand the earned-income tax credit.

  • elisa

    that was a different era, luke. what have unions done for the people lately?

    i am interested to hear more on how a shorter work week would support a solution to income disparity? the other points i have previously heard championed but that is a new one on me.

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