JP Morgan tells it like it is: we screwed the middle class, and we're running out of room to continu

[elfs]

Mark Celembast, Chief Investment Officer at JP Morgan, says:

S&P 500 profit margins increased by ~1.3% from 2000 to 2007. There are a lot of moving parts in the margin equation, but as shown, reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement in margins. This trend has continued; as we have shown several times over the last two years, US labor compensation is now at a 50-year low relative to both company sales and US GDP.

[JP Morgan's Eye On The Market for the week of July 7, Twilight of the Gods]

Comments

Oh, come now

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

Did you happen to run across this by yourself, or did some socialist idiot point you to it? Because I think you're smarter than this, except when someone else gets you riled up to the point that you don't bother thinking.

Of course labor compensation is dropping relative to sales and GDP. We're importing more finished and near-finished goods! That means that US companies and the economy overall -- both based on the value of sales to consumers-- see higher throughput, but labor costs are lower because a higher portion of the labor-heavy elements of production are taking place overseas.

This certainly doesn't mean that anyone is screwing anyone.

What DOES mean that someone is screwing someone is that US laws are behind the spiraling costs of US labor. When the government makes it more expensive to manufacture goods and provide services, of course the prices of those goods and services increase, and that raises the cost of living for everyone, which the socialists use as an excuse for another round of wage increases and expanded social programs. As the government interferes more with the economy, the prices of goods and services go up, and we go around the spiral again.

Of course, some companies drop off with each pass; the least profitable firms become unprofitable and their workers are sent home forever. This decay always starts with the most labor-intensive industries and slowly eats its way up the food chain. Textile mills, automobile manufacturing, and electronics assembly have been forced to leave the US or adopt new processes that don't require as much labor and thus don't provide as many jobs. Either way, the share of labor costs in the GDP goes down.

The people who have caused the problems you're complaining about are not the people you're blaming, they're the very same people who have always claimed to be friends of labor. But they've never been friends, just exploiters. It's the businessmen you call exploiters who are the real friends of labor. Not because they're buddy-buddy friendly, but because their interests are best served by building big companies that make lots of money, which requires lots of people making lots of money and makes it possible for lots of shareholders to make lots of money too.

. png