Executives see bright spots, no reason to panic

[Quixote1818]

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However, the jobless lines probably won't get much longer right away because companies are unlikely to lay off workers as quickly as they did during the financial calamity of late 2008 and early 2009.

Businesses are leaner and, even more important, in a stronger financial position than they were three years ago. The companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 now have nearly $1 trillion in cash, up from $648 billion in September 2008. With more money in the bank, companies won't be as apt to take drastic measures.

"We are in a much different situation than we saw in 2008," said Michael Griffin, executive director and head of global research for the Corporate Executive Board's finance division. "The recent market volatility has heightened some of the concerns we had already been seeing, so executives may be starting to do some stress testing of their plans. But I don't think we are going to see as many knee-jerk reactions as we saw in 2008."



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http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2011-08-12-CEO-markets_n.htm

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1. If I was getting paid several million dollars plus stock options, I'd be optimistic too.

[xchrom]

2. By the people who brought us these enduring disasters. Nt

[Imajika]

3. Companies are in much better shape then they were in 2008...

I'd expect the unemployment rate to very, very slowly come down. While corporations aren't adding nearly enough new workers, the economy isn't cratering the way the more hysterical among us claim.

Unless more is done to stimulate demand, we are kinda stuck in a very slow growth, lost decade-like economy. The unemployment rate should come down, but not by nearly enough.

[Quixote1818]

4. I agree with your assessment. Things won't really pick up until real estate bottoms out and starts

to rise. All those excess homes and offices need to be filled before building picks up again.