Meanwhile, Wall Street knows no shame. The public listens to frantic promises and stays with the sinking ship. But the retirement plans and individual investors have been hit hard. The retirement wealth of America takes wings on the promise of tomorrow's tape. Corporate America twists in the wind buffeted by falling profits, deteriorating balance sheets and tightening credit.
Capital spending is in the tank and sinking fast.
The heavy leveraging of the past to repurchase corporation's stock has left all too many companies mired in debt. The windfall profits that came from stock investing in the Nasdaq run-up and which hugely bolstered earnings exist no more. Business spending and capital investment are going down for the count. You couldn't have a worse scenario. The punishment has hardly begun.