With $85 billion in automatic cuts taking effect between now and Sept. 30 as part of the so-called federal budget sequestration, some experts warn that economic growth will be reduced by at least half a percentage point. But although experts estimate that sequestration could cost the country about 700,000 jobs, Wall Street does not expect the cuts to substantially reduce corporate profits — or seriously threaten the recent rally in the stock markets. “It’s minimal,” said Savita Subramanian, head of United States equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Over all, the sequester could reduce earnings at the biggest companies by just over 1 percent, she said, adding, “the market wants more austerity.”



@nomiprins via web Wall Street Bonuses: Up 8% last year. Average US Personal Income: Down 3.6% last month. Sequester Inanity Quotient: Unchanged

Here's another measure for the corporations-over-people trend : In the third quarter of 2012, corporate profits were the highest percentage of the national income they've been since 1950, while personal income was around its lowest point since 1966. As if massive income and wealth inequality among individuals wasn't enough. Don't look to corporations to give a damn about wage stagnation, unemployment, or really anything going on in the American economy:Everywhere you look, there's another measure of the massive inequality that's reshaped our society, leaving 90 or 95 or 98 or 99 percent of us out in the cold. It's a blend of corporations that care about nothing but short-term profit even at the expense of long-term economic stability, policymakers who write the primacy of corporations and the wealthy into law at every turn, and a too-quiescent public. Here's another reminder, teeing off from the expiration of the payroll tax cuts At this point you'd almost have to welcome machines trying to take over the world—at least someone would be giving the banks and bankers a run for their money.