Let's celebrate mediocrity!
It's Non-Farm Payroll day and we're expecting to see the obligatory 250,000 jobs added to the labor force, which seems nice – until you realize that's only 3M per year in a population that grew 3M last year and we are STILL missing, 6 years after the collapse, 5% of the Jobs (7.5M) that we used to have.
What's changed to bring unemployment down from 10% to 5%, despite the flatlining total employment, is the stunning decline in people who are bothering to work in the first place. A matching 7.5M people have simply dropped out of the labor force since 2008 – giving us the illusion of low unemployment without having to actually hire more people.
That's why wages have been able to flatline for 6 years as well, despite 6 years of inflation that has eroded the buying power of those few people who do still work in this country.
Less jobs, less workers and the people who are working are making less (adjusted for inflation) than they have made since the 1930s – how exactly are we supposed to be turning this economy around?
Well, from the Top 1% point of view, we can buy our labor (not to be confused with slavery – where we had to feed, clothe and shelter and train our workers) cheaper than ever. This has led to skyrocketing Corporate Profits – especially if you keep in mind that the profits reflected on this chart are only what they report (not counting what they hide overseas or depreciation or other accounting tricks) net of the losses of other corporations and they are still up 150% in the past 5 years while Labor has taken a 10% hit.
Imagine extrapolating this chart and what it means to your children and grandchildren if you do nothing to change things now. If you are in the Top 1%, of course, not only do you NOT want this chart to change but some of you will do whatever it takes to make sure this trend continues. If, on the other hand, you are one of those lazy…
