HayekSmith

Manufacturing Collapse Reminiscent of Great Depression's Beginning

Your article provides a clear view of the current situation.

Throwing in a little history from this point in the Great Depression, FDR discouraged employers from hiring anybody by adding new rules, increasing taxes and sticking it to any entrepreneurs who wanted to start a business. "That great sucking sound" was the wealth of the nation being vacuumed to Washington D.C. with measures like the April 5, 1933 Gold Confiscation and the January 30, 1934 devaluation of our currency wiping out 41% of U.S. savings accounts in one terrible swoop.

When the Obama administration realizes just how far federal revenues have fallen, we'll see how much of the wealth gets "spread around" to private citizens and how much he really just wants to feed loyal government employees.

I agree, this economic cataclysm has just barely begun...

Manufacturing Activity Hits a 28-Year Low

It is no wonder our markets have tanked. Prosperous markets are free markets that respect voluntary trade without coercion from governments.

CEO's that try to rig the system in their favor are about as welcome as an NFL team owner who makes big money making side bets on games. Take the CEO of Nucor, for instance. He is asking for the Obama "stimulus" bill to include a 'buy America' clause. It takes brazen balls and a solid lack of good sense to plead that the feds to interfere more in free markets than they are already.

No wonder most big investors in the market have taken their ball and gone home.

Despite New Products, Palm Still Lags Behind RIM

anon... - What difference does that make versus RIMM's 100%-plus gain? Palm is getting smacked for two reasons:
1. RIMM has the advantage of baked-in corporate servers. Palm has some, but barely measurable compared to RIMM's installed base.
2. Palm HAD an advantage in usability, web-browsing and versatility. They threw that advantage away when they chased MS Windows systems and let Blackberry catch up in terms of features.

Palm should have run down the path of the iPhone, but that's 20-20 hindsight. Now, they may be too late on either front. With the market growing as fast as it is, maybe if they could FOCUS, they could produce a meaningful product contribution and return to profitability.