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.

Paul Ryan's Little Ethics Problem

June 22nd, 2011

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been called "a very serious man." Ross Douthat lauded his "honesty." Peter Wehner credited Ryan with restoring the GOP as a "party of ideas." David Brooks called him "courageous." The National Review said that Rep. Ryan was doing nothing less than "pointing the way back toward a republic."

With all due respect, it appears they might have hitched their carts to the wrong horse. This is putting it very politely.

From The Daily Beast:
"The financial disclosure report Ryan filed with Congress last month and made public this week shows he and his wife, Janna, own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan's budget plan."

"Ryan’s office says the congressman wasn’t thinking about himself or the oil companies that lease his land when he drafted the budget blueprint that extended the energy tax breaks. “These are properties that Congressman Ryan married into,” spokesman Kevin Seifert said. “It’s not something he has a lot of control over.”

Nonetheless, the properties have been a lucrative investment for Ryan and his wife, earning them as much as $117,000 last year, and $60,000 the year before, his personal financial disclosure reports show. Overall, Ryan, 41, listed assets worth between $590,000 and $2.5 million, putting him in the top third of the richest members of the House."

An ethical man would have already divested personal holdings that directly benefit from his own legislation. Period. But not Ryan... He apparently thinks this isn't "serious."