Post-Speech: Quick Comments on the Business Angle

Getting ready for the morning program so only a few minutes for quick thoughts on the business angles of Barack Obama's speech last night:

1. Obama repeatedly referenced corporations and corporate profits, mentioning their low tax burdens and invoking his idea about a windfall profits tax on the oil companies.   We must remember that corporations are not singular entities with a common brain and purpose.  They are simply large collections of women and men, working hard every day to earn a living and provide for their families.   There has been a tendency to paint corporate America with a common brush.   I am not a tax expert and the tax code is too complex to detail exactly what every company pays.   But I know that the Fortune 500 members employ tens of millions of people, and labor is the single biggest cost on every balance sheet.   I've been doing this long enough to know that when companies face profit slowdowns and higher costs, the first thing they cut are jobs.  If corporate tax burdens rise, profits fall.   Companies rarely add workers in a falling profit environment.

2. He specifically called out insurance companies and noted he would go after them for what he viewed as not paying enough in policies for the care of the ill.    Shareholders be wary on this group.

3. On high gas prices and the automakers Obama noted: "I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America."    Actually most cars sold in America are already built in America.    Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and other foreign automakers make many of their most fuel-efficient models in the United States.   The Accord is built in Marysville, Ohio.   There are also more autoworkers in America than ever before, though there are far few UAW member autoworkers.   There is no doubt GM, Ford and Chrysler have massive problems and that the state of Michigan is struggling, but it is incorrect to suggest that American workers aren't building fuel-efficient cars.

4. More talk about reducing foreign oil dependence and increasing alternative energy solutions.   McCain will also likely hit this theme.   Still need more specifics but in all it seems a long-term positive for companies in wind, solar and possibly even nuclear power.