F. George McDuffee wrote:
On Wed, 2 Apr 2008 23:00:12 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:
snip
GDP is becoming a less reliable indicator
of how much people are feeling in general.
snip
===============
Indeed, as it is becoming increasingly evident that much of the
reported "profits" either never existed (as anyone in their right
mind would define a profit) or are were not (and never will be)
"repatriated" into the US economy, where they would be taxed.

Many of the "reported" profits seem to have been paper or book
only, i.e. trading a 5 billion dollar cat for 10 billion dollar
dog, and posting a 5 billion dollar "profit" on the transaction.
This goes a long way to "explaining" how the financial services
sector was able to generate 40% of all corporate profits.

The increasingly skewed distribution of the GDP is another
factor. The metric for this is called the GINI coefficient or
index. I know its hard to understand, but no matter how much
money the CEO pays himself, the ungrateful employees still insist
on feeling poor....


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).

April 16, 2008
Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays
By JENNY ANDERSON
Hedge fund managers, those masters of a secretive, sometimes volatile
financial universe, are making money on a scale that once seemed
unimaginable, even in Wall Street's rarefied realms.

One manager, John Paulson, made $3.7 billion last year. He reaped that
bounty, probably the richest in Wall Street history, by betting against
certain mortgages and complex financial products that held them.

Mr. Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, was not the only big winner.
The hedge fund managers James H. Simons and George Soros each earned almost
$3 billion last year, according to an annual ranking of top hedge fund
earners by Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine, which comes out
Wednesday.

Hedge fund managers have redefined notions of wealth in recent years. And
the richest among them are redefining those notions once again.

Their unprecedented and growing affluence underscores the gaping inequality
between the millions of Americans facing stagnating wages and rising home
foreclosures and an agile financial elite that seems to thrive in good times
and bad. Such profits may also prompt more calls for regulation of the
industry.

Even on Wall Street, where money is the ultimate measure of success, the
size of the winnings makes some uneasy. "There is nothing wrong with it - it
's not illegal," said William H. Gross, the chief investment officer of the
bond fund Pimco. "But it's ugly."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/bu...hp&oref=slogin

--

John R. Carroll
www.machiningsolution.com