US After tax Corporate Profits are at all time highs and while the inclination is to say this is driven exclusively by programs like QE and ZIRP, the...

US After tax Corporate Profits are at all time highs and while the inclination is to say this is driven exclusively by programs like QE and ZIRP, the pre-crisis profit picture was also very rosy. The corporate sector is actually well positioned: Balance sheets are the cleanest in a long while. Companies are running very efficiently, with limited head count and business intelligence software is allowing firms to make changes on the fly. See the chart here (VIEW LINK)