Thanks to Doug for reporting Anwar Shaik's evaluation of profitability.
But its interesting to note that today's Financial Times (29 October, p.
14) carries an article by someone called Ricahrd Waters, which says:
'Leaving aside the effects of lower taxes and declind interest rates, the
profits miracle looks much less impressive. A return on sales of about 25
per cent before interest , taxes and depreciation leaves the profitability
of the average US company below the peak levels hit in both the 1970s and
1980s. ... The likelihood that earnings growth is about to slow has already
been a source of unease on Wall Street.'
Also, Andrew Glynn has an article on profitability in the September 1997
issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics, in which he produces figures
showing that the profit share and the profit rate in the US have risen
since the early 1980s, but that they are still considerably below their
level in the mid-1960s.
Trevor Evans.
