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Wages Relative To Profits Drop To All Time Low
Getting paid miserable wages? Don't fret - just buy the stock of your (hopefully public) employer, and hope and pray that this time is different, and that light at the end of the tunnel is the not the next latest and greatest (and likely last) stock market collapse, in the ultimate trade off of current pay for capital gains: 19 quarters in and Labor Compensation is flat with where it was when the Great Financial Crisis began but, more crucially, employee compensation is at its lowest on record relative to corporate profits.
As we previously noted,
For those curious what the reason for records corporate profits is (or rather was: we have now finally turned the cycle and Y/Y profit growth is, for the first time since 2009, finally negative), the chart below explains it all.
It also explains why 401(k) plans are now redundant: anyone who wishes to keep up with the growth rate of their employer has no choice but to buy their stock, and generate returns for all shareholders. Because corporations, people or not, now have all the leverage.
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Fuck'm all sideways with a chainsaw.
*Rusty chainsaw.
fixed it for ya.
Thanks! Forgot that part.
Did somone say chainsaw?
I don't think you want this job.
Serfdom at its finest!
Does that "employee compensation" include pay for the top managers? If so, that graph looks even worse.
Also wondering Tyler is chart in nominal or real terms?
Naturally, as most of the profits are derived from the sale of items produced by cheap PRC labor.
ADP was hacked. Maybe that is why their report was so great today.
See end of article http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/technology/security/passwords-stolen/
To paraphrase Beezos Maximus, Profits might be for pussies, but wages should never factor into the bottom line.
I mean it's funny how the farther you get from capitalism and the closer you get to central planning, the worse it all gets. Good job Bernanke, hope you're remembered like the other great socialist/fascist leaders! My favorite part is when the socialists/fascists try to call this current environment capitalism, so that they can explain how their policies of socialism and fascism aren't destroying the world for the average person.
Capital enjoys a tax advantage in this country relative to labor. It is no mystery that people want to use capital rather than labor to make profits. It is no mystery that wages keep getting compressed, since there is a 3-5% disadvantage at the margin for labor. We can reverse this trend if we would just treat capital gains as ordinary income, just like wages. Remove the tax advantage and the economy will rectify itself over time.
This. Only coherant comment here yet, but since it doesn't blame Obama or propose absolute de-regulation as a solution, no one will learn a thing from it.
Sure. Coherent, but erring in the supposition that taxes alone are somehow the solution. Increase taxes on capital gains as suggested, and the gov will continue to expand as a % of GDP regardless. Reduce both taxes, reduce the size of government AND treat labor/capital the same, then we are going somewhere.
How about dropping the income tax to the level of long term cap gains tax?
Come to think of it, WTF are we taxed on our labor at all?
Because Robber Barons wanted it so. We were not, prior to 1914.
I think federal revenues, on the whole, are about right at 19% of GDP. Spending, at 20.5% of GDP is still too high. We can fix the imbalance in a revenue neutral way. It is the imbalance that is distorting the economy.
Without the rule of law, sound money, earning % above inflation on savings, and respect for the labor of the individual and the value of a responsible household - taxes and capital lose all meaning.
I agree that laws must be enforced. I think the rest of the items on your list would fall into line if laws were enforced. Unfortunately, that takes money, which comes from the people against whom the laws would be enforced. They see their interests best served in minimizing capability of government to govern them.
Thank you for your comment, however, the way to correct this is to lower the tax rate on wages, not raise the tax rate on Capital. Raising the tax rate on Capital will simply further depress economic activity or send more of it elsewhere.
Why anybody thinks raising taxes on anything will improve economic activity is a mystery.
I grew up in socialism moved to the US 30 years ago and now socialism found me ! I'm getting my family foreign passports as we speak and off I go where I can hide from socialism for another 30 years!
Have fun suckers with this Naczi socio fucked up government!
Ahhh... hitching a ride on that Chinese moon rocket are you? Besides... we are fascist here, socialism is just a ruse. You should know that what with your past history and experience...
And what non-socialist paradise do you plan to escape to?
Hah so true. Please don't tell me you are now going to suggest that anyone who likes free market capitalism and no government move to Somalia. That is the usual troll follow-up. ;)
But as government inevitably interferes with free market capitalism, or becomes hostage to special interests within it (bankers, cartels, corporations, e.g. lax immigration rules created at the behest of numerous corporations giving D.C. golden showers exacerbating the current wage situation), where else in the world will you find it?
Chatted about 30 years ago with an old Russian guy who escaped to America. He said:
"What the hell is wrong with you people? I come here for freedom and capitalism and you let the immigrants stream across the border and work like slaves. You pay the Blacks to not work and have children out of marriage. You allow corruption in your politicians and corporations to make the rules! What happened!?!? I thought I was coming to a country where my money was safe, my labor was respected, and corruption was punished. What!?!? Do you want to be like the U.S.S.R.!?!?"
So what planet are you moving to? I fully understand your sentiment, but, realisticly, there is no safe place left on Earth.
Well, Obama today decried the desparity between rich and poor. I know it made my heart go pitter-patter....
Lordfin. Obama is a psychopath and I'm sure you know it, as for the US
It's done the glory days of America was in 1950! China's glory days are now .
China? Good luck with that.
Yeah, he cares so much.
Just like the mandarins on the right.
All creatures of the same game; power, money, and a juicy benefits and retirement package.
Why people can't see that this country is run by the banks/insurers/corporations with the politicians as their stooges to game the populace I don't know.
I guess it is easier to believe in something that isn't true than to face reality.
Well said ebworthen. I think the root of the problem is human nature. We just seem to be instinctively compelled to separate ourselves into groups of "like minded" people and then proceed to loudly proclaim that our group has all the answers and all dissenters need to be "re-educated" and/or eliminated. Sadly, there appears to be no cure for this affliction. Well, other than death anyway.
i propose making the minimum wage the dollar equivalent of one ounce of silver
There is only one answer that will solve this.
Form a national Workers Union. It covers any worker in any job in any state that is not already in a union.
This allows white collar workers to go on strike also - anyone that belongs to a Union has automatic benefits and protections. Its not just the bottom wage earners that get screwed. Those that have significant experience and education are getting hammered also. One can say - well they are far better off anyway - but when you go to school for 10 extra years and then work for another 10-15 at high level jobs you should command a decent salary. Instead the opposite has happened - globalization has outsourced your job to someone from India or Pakistan for 1/5 the cost.
Form a national union of American workers. That will provide for widespread strikes in many industries without fear of firing or reprisal from the employer. The employers can choose to outsource further but bottom line they have to have someone selling at some point. Take that away from them and they cry uncle.
So what you are saying is we should all become French. I am pretty sure the unintended consequences would be quite dire. Kinda like in France right now.
I love how half the comments here blame socialism and central planning and half blame corporatism and tax laws that benefit corporate structure rather than labor.
I love how some people think taxation alone is the issue.
Socialism is the real problem-
the US hasn't practiced REAL free market capitalism for several decades.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/union_votes_no_--_atlantic_...
Without this labor contract, we have no choice left but to proceed with the sale of the all of the company's assets and contracts,"
5500 layed off Union dimwits out of work after dec 31, guess news in Detroit never made it that far east yet.
Surprised that no one here has pointed out that our lax immigration rules (created at the behest of numerous corporations giving D.C. golden showers) is primarily to blame for the current wage situation.
Just our typical case of special interest groups served first and the general public being screwed.
The reason no one here has pointed out that our lax immigration rules are the primary cause of the current situation is because that is simply not the case. Our lax immigration rules are a minor contributing factor at best. The primary cause is unalduterated greed. Period. If the government kept all the illegal immigrants out of the country we would, in short order, experience a food shortage resulting in much higher food prices. This has been demonstrated quite clearly in the past few years.
Big fucking surprise.
When .gov tells the corporate machine they get a pass for a year while telling the citizen to bend over and pay up or you will be penalized by the I.R.S. you know the jig is up.
This country is now "Of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations."
Yes, it is that simple.
It isn't a left or right debate because both sides have colluded to "make it so" (including the Supine Court which has granted corporations the title of "individual" and that there is no such thing as property rights - just reference KELO vs. City of New London, dear peasant).
So...of course the profit of corporations is up while wages are down...THAT IS THE PLAN.
Who the fuck do you think bribes your CONgress Critters religiously to buy their votes?
The Corporatocracy! The cabal of bankers/financiers/insurers/corporations that OWN us!
Forward Kleptoligarchy! May it die a slow death by a thousand knives for the sake of my progeny!
Public sector pay may exceed profit growth. They lump private and public to get their number
Told you so:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/311593-rising-inequality-and-the-economi...
Is it possible that the divergence between the evolution of profits and wages is simply due to the fact that US corporations are more actively producing and selling overseas, thereby generating profits but no increase in US wages?
It is a fact that a corporation wishes to sell goods to Chinese people, in many cases it will have to set up a local joint-venture.
If that's the case, is it bad?