I agree, though my only corporate experience is in Finland, which I would say is not a typical business country.

You can't be me, I'm taken

I read that if you remove energy and banking, S&P earnings stayed flat (or slightly decreasing) on average this year (that says a lot...).

I guess your right, I was exagerating somewhat - but living in a Pharma cîty, where the companies seem to reorganize and restructre continuesly (might be an exageration again, but it feels that way) letting go of people to save money, make those they keep work more and then read in the news paper that the profits have raised again and the top people get bigger boni (though not as big as in the US) it just makes me a little cynical.