The Washington Post is reporting the nation’s major non-financial firms have reserves of some $1.8 trillion — around a quarter more than they had when the recession struck. Despite the higher earnings, most executives don’t plan to increase hiring. In a survey of over 1,000 top executives by Duke University and CFO magazine last month, nearly 60 percent said they don’t expect to bring staffing back to pre-recession levels until 2012 or later. This despite forecasts of a 12 percent rise in earnings and a nine percent boost in capital spending over the next year.