[smc]

Originally Posted by franalexes

From Emerson?s quarterly earnings conference call August 2, 2011:

Emerson (NYSE: EMR) is a diversified global manufacturing and technology company. Emerson is widely recognized for its engineering capabilities and management excellence. Emerson has approximately 135,000 employees (over 34,000 in the United States) and 240 manufacturing locations worldwide. Sales are estimated to exceed $7.5 billion in 2011. Capital expenditures are estimated to be around $740 million in 2012, (about 2.7% of revenues) as announced by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in Emerson?s quarterly conference call today. He inferred that none of that will be invested in the United States In answering a question from and analyst he went on to passionately criticize the Obama Administration and the ?flood of regulations and taxes?.

Cap-ex plans for 2012

??in the US, they are not really addressing the ?gut? issues. There is a flood of regulations coming at us from the US. The incentive to invest in the US is negative. And from my perspective I have all the clarity I need. They?re spending. They?re taxing. Our tax rate in the US will be over 36% in the US this year. We pay actually pay the US government over $500 million in this year, and they say they want to raise it even more. I run a company. I have a lot of money to invest, but I?m not going to invest it here. And then when you have a company like Boeing, an iconic American company, gets sued by the Federal Government, if that doesn?t get your attention, nothing will. They get sued for investing $2 billion in South Carolina. Last time I saw South Carolina was part of the United States of America, and you get sued for that? I tell you what, as a CEO of a company, you got my attention. And so, from my perspective, people are very nervous about regulation. They have no idea how much healthcare cost is going to get thrown at us. And all I see is things coming at me. The new whistleblower rule, or the new commodity rule, or take a look at everything that is coming at us. You sit there and say how much can you burden companies that want to invest and create jobs? And the answer is, ?I guess it?s never ending,? because they think that we?re going to sit around and take it all. The environment [in the United States] is not very good and I think Washington does not understand how to create jobs. You know they are talking about raising taxes, getting rid of corporate planes, I mean it?s amazing, or doubling the CAF? standards, that?s going to create a lot of jobs. That?s my opinion. And we happen to control a lot of money to invest. We have over 135,000 employees and over 35,000 in the United States.?

Corporations exist to maximize profits to SHAREHOLDERS. If they could do that without making a single thing, or employing anybody who does anything that has any social value whatsoever, they would do so (look at Wall Street).

When the corporate bosses cry that they are overtaxed and overregulated, and then they get special breaks and subsidies from U.S. taxpayers, they're quick to up and leave and take jobs with them the minute they find a place where they can maximize profits for their shareholders.

Maybe we should get rid of all the regulation that hurts the poor corporations. Let's not have any standards to prevent toxic foodstuffs from being sold to retail supermarkets by agribusiness conglomerates. Let's not have a minimum wage. Let's not have requirements for safe manufacturing facilities. Let's not have any limits on what corporations can spew into the air or dump into lakes and rivers. After all, the corporations are people, too -- so says the ridiculous Citizens United ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court -- and since they have much more money than other people, why shouldn't they get all the breaks.

And if regular working people don't like it, they can move overseas just like the big corporations, right?