Robert Reich: The Two Categories of American Corporation -- and Why it Matters

[marmar]

from HuffPost:



Some giant American corporations depend on a buoyant American economy and a world-class industrial base in the United States. Others are far less dependent. What comes out of Washington in the next few years will reflect which group has most political clout -- especially if Republicans take over the House and capture more of the Senate this November.

The first group includes national telecoms like Verizon and AT&T that need a prosperous America because most of their sales are here. Same with finance companies like Bank of America and Travelers Insurance whose business strategy has been built around U.S. consumers. Ditto for certain giant chains like Home Depot. Naturally, all these companies were especially hard hit by the Great Recession and its devastating impact on American consumers.

The second group includes companies like Coca Cola, Exxon-Mobil, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and McDonald's, that get substantial revenues from their overseas operations. Increasingly this means China, India, and Brazil. Ford and GM are still largely dependent on US sales but becoming less so. GM sold more cars in China last year than in the US. Not surprisingly, American companies that are less dependent on American consumers have been showing the biggest profits.

Wall Street gets this. Viewing the 30 giants that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, analysts are predicting that the 10 with the largest portion of sales inside the U.S. will show average revenue gains of just 1.6 percent over the next year, while the 10 with the largest portion of their sales abroad will grow by an average of 8.3 percent. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-two-categories-of-ame_b_714012.html

[AnArmyVeteran]

1. Robert Reich always makes so much sense. He could debate any right winger and crush them.

[geek tragedy]

2. Even the ones that allegedly depend on the US worker for their

sales still export their jobs overseas, so I'm not sure there is all that big of a difference.

Citigroup has most of its assets overseas, but I don't see it as any different than BofA.

[Hawkowl]

3. Riech for Treasury Secretary

It is simply a crime that Reich doesn't have some cabinet level job and we are stuck with trickle down/supply siders/bankster whores.