After 11 straight quarters of declining sales, they tick up for the wrong reason, and net profit plunges nearly 30%. But no problem. “I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made,” bragged CEO Meg Whitman.
The report – released on Friday when everyone was on vacation or getting ready to head out of town, and when no one was supposed to pay attention – was a zinger: US net capital outflows soared to $153.5 billion, the largest ever recorded.
I remember well, the fiscal rectitude of the old Japan: In 1981, as the Reagan White House prepared its radical fiscal plan – famously called “riverboat gamble” – we were visited by high-ranking Japanese officials, in a state of shock.
