Manufacturers Invest Less as Trade War Continues

[RandySF]

Wall Street Journal: “U.S. manufacturers are investing less in their factories and workforces as the trade dispute with China makes it more difficult for executives to anticipate costs and demand. The shifting contours of the tariffs that the U.S. and China have applied to each other’s goods are prompting some companies to put business plans on hold. Others are cutting back investments as trade volumes and economic growth slow around the world.”

“These companies are buying fewer machines for their factory floors and shortening shifts. The knock-on effect means lower sales for those suppliers and less pay for workers, contributing to slower U.S. economic growth.”



https://politicalwire.com/2019/09/08/manufacturers-invest-less-as-trade-war-continues/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Resulting in a contracting economy, less consumer activity, and businesses laying off employees.

[elleng]

2. 'more difficult for executives to anticipate costs and demand,'

UNCERTAINTY will do them (and us) in.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Pretty much the story.

As long as there is cheap money,Corporations will continue to pay dividends and load up their balance sheets with debt. And continues to do buybacks of their stock.

Back in the Nineties,it was called Balance sheet Engineering,notice how buy outs are done with cheap interest bonds and mega leveraged loans. When this sucker really starts to go South,and with the major Corporate Bent Bankruptcy Laws,just what could go wrong.