The Jobless Recovery - A Simple Explanation

July 25th, 2011

The reason job creation has been largely collapsed for the last decade has never been made more clear than this; via PoliticsUSA:

"In a recent report in a JP Morgan memo to their investors from Michael Cembalest, the chief investment officer he says, “US labor compensation is now at a 50-year low relative to both company sales and US GDP.” Cembalest continues to explain why corporate profits are so strong while the rest of the working class are feeling the pinch, “reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement in margins.” 75% of the increase in profit margins directly correlate with the reduction in workers’ wages."

A little over a decade ago, a fundamental redefining of investment concepts took hold throughout America's boardrooms. A policy of depressing wages, off-shoring profits, extending work hours and decreasing benefits was instituted at a vast majority of our corporations at the expense of both development and expansion. One does not need to be a Keynesian to see that this trend, coupled with the massive Bush 2 tax cuts, has ultimately resulted in a net negative effect on domestic demand.

From the JP Morgan Report

The long term non-sustainability of this posture seems not yet to have dawned on the executives or shareholders involved. Nor, it seems, has it occurred to them that refusal to invest in the very country which has made their fortunes possible is very nearly unpatriotic.