jim wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:
?
? He means that they will continue to patch together old machines, and
? give people overtime rather than invest in new equipment and employees.
? It's obvious that you don't understand how business works.

That would be acting like pouting children if they were losing
sales and profits as a result. In other words, shooting themselves
in the foot. But that is not the case. The reason businesses are
not investing in new equipment and hiring and training employees is
because they don't have the sales prospects that would justify
that investment.



Idiot. They are being responsible by not taking on more expenses.
Machinery is paid for when ordered. Some can take well over a year for
delivery and two years isn't unheard of. Each extra employee adds to
insurance costs, and adds other overhead. If they hire a bunch of
people then lay them off a few months later, they'll have to pay the
unemployment costs. They are just trying to keep the doors open
without going into debt. It's not a matter of justifying, since there
is no possible justification to waste assets. They can't even justify
new tooling, in an uncertain market.


And if you think that situation is bad now, it will get much
worse when Congress tries to reduce the deficit. Businesses
will find it even more difficult to find sales prospects.


So, Congress is going to force more businesses into bankruptcy? Like
I said above, you don't have a clue about business.