Since the recession began, corporations got 88% of the growth in profits. Salaries : 1%

Big corporations sure love ``recessions``...

Winners and Losers From the Great Recession

Between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, real national income in the U.S. increased by $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits by themselves had increased by $464 billion while aggregate real wages and salaries rose by only $7 billion or only .1%. Over this six quarter period, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. The extraordinarily high share of national income (88%) received by corporate profits was by far the highest in the past five recoveries from national recessions.

I think they need more tax cuts.

It really isn't surprising, because corporations are the reason for recessions....imo

reply to post by Vitchilo


This isn't surprising at all. I've always been baffled as to why the Neo Con party thinks that big business will ever pass down the savings or increase wages when they are given tax cuts. That is ridiculous and this proves it.
We all need tax cuts. Cut ALL federal taxes %100. End the Federal Reserve and none of them will be necessary. THEN and only then, will the middle and lower classes ever receive any benefit from tax cuts.

reply to post by Vitchilo


What, you hate shareholders or something?? Rich folks need their fair share too!



While I'm all for people succeeding in life and watching out for their own financial security, I do feel somewhat disgusted by how so many of them apparently don't feel much need to help those who helped them achieve their goals (that would be their employees) do the same thing.

This is why it's important to find and provide business to good companies that do great things, even if they might be obscure. Dr. Bronner's is a great example - they supposedly cap their executive pay at 5 times whatever the lowest-paid employee makes along with a whole host of other benefits to appreciate them for.

Edit:
In fact, reading about them again impresses me so much I thought best to share this:

In total over the last five years, Dr. Bronner's spending on social and environmental causes and charities has roughly matched our total after-tax income, and we intend to keep doing so as circumstances allow.

Total compensation of executives is capped at five times that of our lowest-paid position.

Employees annually receive 15% of salary paid into a retirement/profit-sharing plan, up to 25% of salary as a bonus, and a no-deductible PPO health insurance plan for themselves and their families.

The over 30,000 words spread across all the soap labels were Dr. Bronner's life work of searching every religion and philosophy for "Full Truths" that can be summed up in two beautiful sentences:

1. CONSTRUCTIVE CAPITALISM IS WHERE YOU SHARE THE PROFIT WITH THE WORKERS AND THE EARTH FROM WHICH YOU MADE IT!

2. WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND WE SHOULD TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER AND SPACESHIP EARTH!

In following these principles, the Bronner family dedicates profits to "Human Projects" all over Spaceship Earth - from fresh water wells in Ghana to orphanages in Haiti and China; from helping organic farm projects to donating over 1,200 acres of land to the San Diego County Boys and Girls Club.

In sharing with our workers, we annually give profit-sharing and bonuses totaling over $10,000 per employee for warehouse positions.

Major causes and focuses right now include fighting for organic integrity in personal care, recommercialization of industrial hemp in the US, and promotion of “Fair Trade” certification of product supply chains to ensure fair wages and prices are paid.

Dr. Bronner would be happy to know the business is running better and more socially responsibly than ever.

No, I don't work for them or sell their items. Thinking about it though...I kind of want to. Anyone know any more socially-conscious and good businesses out there I should support?

I feel very sorry for multi-millionaires and billionaires, a lot of them are doing it tough.

Given some accuracy with the info presented in the OP, now that big corps are making big profits, and wage growth has been slow, where are all the jobs?

So go start your own corporation and quit your whining.

Originally posted by surrealist
Given some accuracy with the info presented in the OP, now that big corps are making big profits, and wage growth has been slow, where are all the jobs?

There's too much political & economic uncertainty right now to justify adding new ones.
At least where I work.

Personally I'm not whining because I live in Australia and work in a cushy, easy public service job sitting at a computer all day. But I do make the observation and ask where the jobs are in the US since pro-conservatives are always mounting an argument that where corporations are exempt from taxes and can thrive in an environment where they profit, there will be job creation. Clearly, going by the information in the OP, they are wrong. Profits are the sole objective, not jobs.

Has anyone ever thought of this idea........certain corporations (Oil companies, cell phone companies in Canada) should have a cap on their Return on Equity. After say, 25% the excess has to be invested in salaries, pension plans, onsite day care centers, on site fitness facilities etc). Maybe this would force companies to start reinvesting in their people and not being so greedy.

Originally posted by zookey
So go start your own corporation and quit your whining.

Quit my whining? My father started his little company 25 years back. He just started to live off his company in the last 5-10 years.

Small companies have lots and lots of rules/taxes/etc to abide to... that's why so many die so early.

While big corporation just destroys small companies because they buy the government, have lobbyists, can sell at a loss to destroy small businesses and move job overseas to get even more profits.

Sorry, but the chances of someone right now starting a small company and being able to grow it to a multi-billion corporation is pretty null.

Conservatives are WRONG, and trickle-down economics does NOT work. You can give all the money you want to the large corporations, they are NOT going to share it with their employees.

I've said it before, and I've said it again, there needs to be a wage gap cap. The highest payed employee of a company cannot make more than 10 times the lowest paid employee. This would solve the problem.

Your lowest paid employee only makes $10/hr? Fine, then your highest paid employee only makes $100/hr.

The wage gap is the number one issue with the economy. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer, and the middle class keep turning into poor people. These people are greedy, awful people, that suck the life out of the US's economy. They steal their money off the blood, sweat, and time of their employees, and then don't share any of the profits with those same people.

Originally posted by James1982
Conservatives are WRONG, and trickle-down economics does NOT work. You can give all the money you want to the large corporations, they are NOT going to share it with their employees.

I've said it before, and I've said it again, there needs to be a wage gap cap. The highest payed employee of a company cannot make more than 10 times the lowest paid employee. This would solve the problem.

Your lowest paid employee only makes $10/hr? Fine, then your highest paid employee only makes $100/hr.

The wage gap is the number one issue with the economy. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer, and the middle class keep turning into poor people. These people are greedy, awful people, that suck the life out of the US's economy. They steal their money off the blood, sweat, and time of their employees, and then don't share any of the profits with those same people.

We have let capitalism go too far and live in this mythology that unmitigated gain is good. Their is a whole new area of Crony Capitalism that has developed. All these organizations care about is maximizing shareholders value, plain and simple. It's time that free market economics and capitalism evolved to recongnize these facts.

reply to post by Vitchilo


How did '91-'92 figures, where Corporate Profit Growth had a negative value and Aggregate Wages and Salaries enjoyed 50% return on total value, differ from the other years in the graph?

Were taxes on the individual cut through that recession?

S/F

Record corporate profits yet no job growth and stagnant wages.

Profits create jobs? Nope. Trickle down doesn't work and has never worked.

Wages are a loss to profits...and a loss to share holders. Employ as few people as possible and pay them as little as possible.

How many billions does it take to create a job? Why don't they hire people to push brooms with all of that profit and at least put some people to work? Wouldn't that beat paying taxes to the government????? Isn't that the argument? It doesn't happen because demand for more workers isn't there.

They simply don't give a damn...and that's the truth.

reply to post by Praetorius


Prior to the 1980's when Americans had profits with their American corporations they passed their profits to their American workers.

Why would Globalist shareholders want to pass profits to stinking Americans? Corporations are not American anymore .. the largest and most profitable have more international workers than American workers, and quite frankly feel no connection to them. Therefore the only reason that these Globalist would increase American wages is if they were directly competing to gain their skills .. since unemployment is high, they have no reason to pay us a decent wage.