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【单选题】With U.S. companies sitting on an estimated $1.8 trillion in cash, it raises the question: Why aren’t they deploying more of their hoard to expand their businesses Or one might channel John Maynard Keynes to ask: Where have the "animal spirits" goneAlthough capital spending in the U.S. is up 12 percent since the lows of early 2009, it’s still running $88 billion below the peak of $1.34 trillion reached in the first quarter of 2008, says Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist atDeutscheBank. He doesn’t expect capital spending to catch up to that peak level and officially start to expand until the second quarter of 2011. (LaVorgna’s definition of capital spending includes physical equipment and software, but not structures such as new stores or manufacturing plants. Spending on structures is about 2 percent of gross domestic product, one-third the size of capital sending’s contribution to GDP, he says.)
"The trend and momentum have definitely turned and it’s just a matter of time before you see other companies give way to capital spending, and eventually that will result in hiring," says LaVorgn
A、But with spending running $88 billion below peak, he says employment "should be farther along than it is."Companies that have built up a lot of cash are starting to take some chances such as expanding into new markets, which requires hiring new workers, says JohnChallenger, chief executive officer ofChallenger, Gray &Christmas, an employment consulting firm. U.S. companies have announced the hiring of 118,209 new employees throughAugust, according to data collected by the firm.
So who’s stepping up to the plate Some companies refuse to be cowed and are taking big, if calculated, chances, including ambitious capital projects, hiring new workers, and expanded investment in research and development, according to growth-oriented mutual fund managers contacted byBusinessweek.com. If there’s a common denominator, it’s a perceived opportunity and confidence in sustainable demand, whether due to new trends in technology or to new markets that need certain products. Other names came from a list of the top-hiring U.S. companies through July 2010 compiled byChallenger, Gray &Christmas.
"We don’t spend capital unless we have a new contract to supply oxygen, nitrogen, or hydrogen to our customers," says James Sawyer, Praxair’s chief financial officer. "Those are 15-year contracts with minimal take-or-pay clauses written into them, which ensure we will get a good return on our capital investment, regardless of how the rest of the economy is doing."
Some younger outfits with entrepreneurial managers who have lived through a few business cycles think their companies may be able to steal a march on competitors more reluctant to spend, saysAram Green, manager ofClearBridgeAdvisors SmallCap Growth FunD、"There’s clearly been a decision by management that ’This is not the time to take our foot off the accelerator. In fact, it’s time to push harder and further distance our product from the competition.’\
We can learn from the first paragraph that______.
[A] U.S. capital spending will reach $1.34 trillion in the second quarter of 2011
[B] U.S. companies are reluctant to invest due to the product surplus in the market
[C] Keynes restricted the "animal spirits" of U.S. companies
[D] U.S. companies have not used their capital effectively
网考网参考答案：D
网考网解析：
[试题类型] 具体信息题。 [解题思路] 根据题干关键词the first paragraph定位至第一段。该段首句提到美国企业拥有大量的闲置资金，因此人们质疑，为什么他们不充分利用资金来扩大业务(Why aren’t they deploying more of their hoard to expand their businesses).选项[D]“美国公司没有有效地利用它们的资金”是原文的同义表达，故正确。 [干扰排除] 由第一段第四句可知，直到2011年第二季度，资本投资才会正式开始扩张(officially start to expand until the second quarter of 2011)，而不是到那时资本投资会回到最高值，故排除选项[A]。第一段指出，许多公司拥有大量的闲置资金，却不用于扩大业务，但该段并没有提到其中的原因，故排除选项[B]。第一段提到，许多人对于企业有大量资金却不用于投资提出质疑，并希望凯恩斯问问这些企业为什么失去了干劲，并不是凯恩斯限制了企业的干劲，故排除选项[C]。 document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>