Blog Posts by Henry Blodget

Yesterday, Google's stock hit a new all-time high. It's up again this morning.

These moves cap an extraordinary run in which Google's stock has surged more than 30% since July, when it traded around $560.

So, what gives?

Why is Google flying?

I did an informal survey via Twitter yesterday, and here's what I heard back (combined with some of my own thoughts):

• Motorola is proving to be less of a disaster than people expected (and Google is selling off some of the really crappy parts)
• Everyone is realizing that Facebook isn't really a threat to Google's core business and that Facebook is not "the next Google."
• The core business, search, is still growing like a weed.
• Android, Google's mobile operating system, is the world leader, and it continues to gain market share at almost everyone's expense.
• Android-based phones are finally as good as Apple phones, and Google's new tablet has also gotten rave reviews.
• Founder and new CEO Larry Page has re-energized the company.
• Stock-market investors

Editor's note: This post originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com

Apple reported on Monday that it sold 5 million iPhone 5 devices in just 3 days since the product's launch -- a new record for the tech giant but also 3 million short of most Wall Street estimates. A good percentage of those phones are made by Chinese workers at Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group's plants.

Millions of these phones are now in the hands of rich consumers in the 7 lucky countries that got the iPhones first.

And, for the most part, these customers love them.

As well they should!

Because, relative to what we all carried around as recently as 6 years ago, the iPhone 5 is nothing short of a miracle.

So, it's time to send a thank-you note to the folks who made our iPhones.

Apple and its shareholders have been thanked already, billions of times over, and they'll get thanked even more in the months ahead. The iPhone is the most profitable product in history. And it has made Apple the most valuable company in

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Fifteen years ago, Apple (AAPL) was left for dead.

Vanquished by Microsoft (MSFT) in the operating system wars, and badly mismanaged in the wake of the firing of founder Steve Jobs, the company was running on fumes.

Then Steve Jobs came back.

And, over the next decade, Jobs led what is probably the most remarkable turnaround in corporate history. Thanks to a host of amazing products that Jobs and his team invented, Apple has become the most valuable and profitable company in the world.

[Related: iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Blow The Doors Off—But Is Apple Losing Its Edge?]

Importantly, though, Apple's current wealth and power makes the company much less sympathetic than it was in the early years of its turnaround.

In those years, the only people who cared about Apple, were its devoted faithful--folks who believed in "Think Different," hated the Microsoft empire, and believed that, with Steve Jobs back at the helm, Apple could pull off a miracle. As Apple

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A new national Wall Street Journal poll found that President Obama has extended his lead over Gov. Mitt Romney, in part on renewed optimism about the economy.

Obama leads Romney 50% to 45% among likely voters, the WSJ says. And Obama's job approval rating has hit 50%.

Importantly, an equal number of those polled now think Obama will be better for the economy. In past polls, Romney has dominated on this issue. We should also note that this poll was taken before Mitt Romney's recent gaffe over how 47% of Americans are dependent on the government.

[Related: Are 47% of Americans Govt. Moochers?]

Helping Obama in the poll was an increase in optimism about the economy: 42% of those surveyed think the economy will get better in the next 12 months, a higher number than in prior polls.

But when you look at what is actually going on in the economy, that number is somewhat surprising, at least from a macro standpoint. China is slowing, Europe is a mess and

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A leaked video of remarks Republican nominee Mitt Romney made at a private fund-raising event set the Internet abuzz yesterday.

In the video, Romney described nearly half the country, or 47%, as people who won't "take responsibility for themselves," who are "dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

The remarks confirmed the belief of many Americans that Romney doesn't understand or care about people on the lower end of the income scale. And it also set off furious debate about whether Romney had simply "told the truth" or whether he doesn't actually understand the makeup of the country he lives in.

It's easy to be frustrated by (and worried about) the rise in the number of Americans who receive benefits from the government (here are 18 charts showing this trend). For one thing, it's

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Apple (AAPL) announced this morning that the first day's pre-orders for the company's new iPhone 5 are more than double the level of any previous iPhone launch.

Specifically, Apple said it sold more than 2 million iPhones in 24 hours.

That's spectacular.

And the iPhone 5 will obviously be a huge hit.

[Related: Apple's iPhone 5: Does It Live Up to the Hype?]

But the biggest manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, Samsung, countered Apple's news with its own this morning: Samsung plans to release its own next-generation smartphone, the Galaxy S4, in February. This release will follow the iPhone 5 by only 4 months, and Samsung will then presumably have 8 months in which to sell a phone that could represent a clear leapfrog of the iPhone 5.

A few years ago, when Apple rolled out a new version of the iPhone, it was generally considered to be a year ahead of the competition. Now, at least in the eyes of some product reviewers, that edge has been lost.

So

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One of the biggest economic problems in the United States right now is the growing disparity between rich and poor.

And one of the factors that is exacerbating that problem is the loss of good-paying middle-class jobs, which have been replaced by low-paying retail and service jobs.

Retail employees at Walmart (WMT), for example, make about $12 an hour, a wage that leaves full-time employees at one of the most successful companies in the world earning a salary that is close to the poverty line. And given the number of Americans employed in these jobs--Walmart alone employs about 1.4 million Americans, or about 1% of the adult workforce--the low wages reduce consumer spending power across the economy as a whole.

One big successful retailer that pays better than Walmart is Whole Foods (WFM).

Walter Robb, Whole Foods' co-CEO, says the company's "Team Members" make an average of $15 an hour. The majority of them also get benefits and stock options,

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Germany's highest court issued an important decision this morning, ruling that the country can support an important bailout fund that is designed to help ease the crisis in Europe.

The conditions the court placed on Germany's participation were also less onerous than many had feared. The Euro and European markets reacted positively to the ruling, with the Euro rising to a four-month high against the dollar.

Pawel Swidlicki, a research analyst at a think-tank called Open Europe, said the ruling was largely what he expected.

Importantly, however, Swidlicki does not think the ruling--or the bailout or recent moves by European Central Bank head Mario Draghi--will mean that the Europe situation is solved. Rather, Swidlicki says, the fundamental problem of having a single currency with countries of varying competitiveness will remain, and political issues will hinder the full fiscal integration necessary for Europe to operate as a unified whole.

On a