Sung Sohn Business Quotations

Business spending is the Achilles heel of the economy, ... The economic baton needs to pass from consumers to businesses.

This report is a slow boat to China, reflecting continuing business caution about hiring people. Facing unprecedented competition from both domestic and foreign sources, businesses are still focused on productivity gains with as few employees as possible.

Both consumer and business confidence is depressed because of uncertainty surrounding the war, ... If we can somehow bring closure to the war situation, I would expect confidence to improve dramatically, taking with it the economy and the stock market.

The third cylinder of economic growth is beginning to fire, ... The other two cylinders are inventory swings and consumer spending. Outside of telecommunications and airplanes, business capital spending has begun to improve already, beginning in the first quarter.

This cut ... won't do much good to perk up economic growth, ... Now, bond yields should be trending up. The Achilles' heel of the economy, business spending, won't be affected much by this cut.

But if things start to go wrong -- if business spending doesn't pick up, or state and local governments lay off more people than anticipated, or auto sales fall off, or interest rates go much higher -- then a combination of these factors would really affect the economy going forward.

The loss of confidence in the financial reporting of Corporate America could hurt both consumer and business spending, ... The reduced availability and higher cost of credit, as well as the desire to strengthen the balance sheet, could cause firms to postpone capital spending plans and accelerate layoffs.