FedEx offers glum outlook on economic growth

FedEx might offer the clearest look at the disconnect between the soaring stock market and the listless global economy. The world's largest freight carrier posted a 45% drop in its fourth quarter profits and offered its investors a cautious outlook for 2014, noting that customers are looking for lower-cost carriers internationally. FedEx said its outlook was based on expectations of just 2.3% GDP growth for the United States. Read more >>

Boeing to cut 30 percent of management jobs

Boeing Co said on Wednesday it will restructure its defense, space and security business and cut 30 percent of management jobs from 2010 levels as part of a broad cost-cutting drive.

Boeing, the Pentagon's second-largest supplier, said it also will close some facilities in California and consolidate several business units in an effort to trim $1.6 billion in costs by the end of 2015, on top of $2.2 billion in reductions achieved since 2010.

"We are raising the bar higher because our market challenges and opportunities require it, and our customers' needs demand it," Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, told employees in a memo obtained by Reuters and confirmed by Boeing.

He said the total savings of $4 billion would make the company healthier and better able to deal with an increasingly complex and challenging marketplace. Read more >>

U.S. Accounts For 1/2 Of The World’s Arms Exports

In a recent article entitled “America: Arms Dealer to the World,” reporter William Astore wrote, “From 2006 to 2010, the U.S. accounted for nearly 1/3 of the world’s arms exports.” However, in 2010, Astore claimed that, in spite of a recessionary downswing, “The U.S. increased its market share to a whopping 53%.”

As the undisputed masters of war, America shipped weapons to 62 different countries. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, of the top 20 global weapons dealers, 16 are U.S. corporations. These include: (1) Lockheed Martin, (2) Boeing, (3) Northrop Grumman, (4) General Dynamics and (5) Raytheon.

 Rounding out, the biggest arms selling nations in the world include Russia, Germany, France, Britain and China. Taken together with the U.S., these countries supply more than 80% of total weaponry. When asked where the hottest spot on the globe is for this type of nefarious activity, Houston-based international defense attorney Frank A. Rubino replied: “Africa, because of all the warlords and private armies in countries such as Somalia who are always looking to acquire arms.” More...

CEO's Earn More Than Firms Pay in US Taxes

At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The companies — which include household names like eBay, Boeing, General Electric (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal, which is jointly owned by Comcast Corp. and General Electric) and Verizon — averaged $1.9 billion each in profits, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal-leaning research group. But a variety of shelters, loopholes and tax reduction strategies allowed the companies to average more than $400 million each in tax benefits — which can be taken as a refund or used as write-off against earnings in future years. More...