As share of GDP, profits soar and paychecks plummet
NARRATIVE #1:
Barack Obama is a socialist, secular Marxist who hates business and wants to steal from the producers and give to the “takers.” Through overregulation, high taxes and “uncertainty,” he has made it all but impossible for American business to make a profit.
————————
NARRATIVE #2 (in graphic form) :
Source: New York Times, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
As Floyd Norris notes in the New York Times:
“In the eight decades before the recent recession, there was never a period when as much as 9 percent of American gross domestic product went to companies in the form of after-tax profits. Now the figure is over 10 percent.
During the same period, there never was a quarter when wage and salary income amounted to less than 45 percent of the economy. Now the figure is below 44 percent.
For companies, these are boom times. For workers, the opposite is true.”
Now, which competing narrative should you accept? I suppose it’s like shopping for a new car or television set — it depends on what you want in a narrative. If you are less concerned with attributes such as accuracy and hard data, but more in emotional satisfaction and confirmation of pre-existing bias, if you like to believe that government taxation and regulation are killing the economy and you don’t require data to sustain that notion, you’d go with Narrative #1.
On the other hand, if you like your narratives to be data-driven and fact-based, you might find Narrative #2 more to your liking. In addition to the charts above, Narrative #2 is supported by the fact that total corporate taxes as a percentage of corporate profit are considerably lower than at any time in the past 50 years, and that personal taxes as a percentage of personal income are also much lower than the 50-year average.
Some words of warning, however:
Should you subscribe to Narrative #2, you have to confront the fact that the long-term trends documented in the charts above show no signs of abating. To the contrary, there is every reason to believe that wages and salaries will continue to fall as a proportion of economic output, and that corporate after-tax profits will continue to increase.
And should you subscribe to Narrative #1, there is again every reason to believe that wages and salaries will continue to fall as a proportion of economic output, and that corporate after-tax profits will continue to increase. But you will be blissfully unaware of such things.
– Jay Bookman
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252 comments Add your comment
Stevie Ray
November 28th, 2011
1:32 pm
SOOTHSAYER.,
Can you direct me to that article?
Paul
November 28th, 2011
1:32 pm
Brosephus
Well, I had a bit of hope, but now, it’s on to mocking!
Strawman
I believe Jay merely lifted narrative 1 from what we read posted here day after day after day – then provided the data to ask ‘can you please reconcile your views with the data?”
Midori
November 28th, 2011
1:36 pm
He is weak and very left (though not out in lunatic territory like some of those here)
and just yesterday someone was telling me how he powerfully twisted arms and exacted his will over the entire senate.
you morons need to get your stupidity straight.
godless heathen
November 28th, 2011
1:39 pm
Granny,
So you measure Obama’s success by what he does not do? Well, we can agree that the less he does the better.
A dad
November 28th, 2011
1:40 pm
And we wonder why Congress can’t get along. In reading the opinions expressed herein, the bloogers are simply a macroism of Congress. Yup, we’re hosed for sure/
Finn McCool
November 28th, 2011
1:42 pm
Well, at least Lipitor goes off patent on Wednesday – that should lower one cost for a whole lot of folks.
Woody
November 28th, 2011
1:43 pm
well you &^%$ liberals can let yourselves be hijacked by the tyranny of facts, but I will not indulge myself thus. there is a higher truth to which we subscribe.
Stevie Ray
November 28th, 2011
1:45 pm
POLITICS, noun: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage….
POLITICIAN, noun: An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared to the statesman, he has the distinct advantage of being alive..
Libertarian
November 28th, 2011
1:45 pm
I guess Obama doesn’t care about the working man.
joe
November 28th, 2011
1:47 pm
Reason leads one to believe that if profits “soar” more is produced and more are hired. Also, my paycheck has not decreased, so once again, your slanted point of view is negated…as usual.
joe
November 28th, 2011
1:48 pm
BTW, has anyone ever said you look like Ray Romano before?
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
1:48 pm
Since Obama hasn’t been campaigning on his record which of course he can’t I guess we’ll see more and more fog on the blog.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 28th, 2011
1:51 pm
Reason leads one to believe that if profits “soar” more is produced and more are hired
There is a directly proportionate profit to employment ratio? Oh do please explain the “reasoning” with real information (accurate of course).
The “tyranny of facts” — Dang, that tyranny! It is right up there with the tyranny of reality and the tryanny of words!
Ross Perot
November 28th, 2011
1:52 pm
One of the quickest ways to increase the wages of earners, especially the self employed would be to grandfather in workers comp into obamacare as a lump package, then allow the government to go after cases where negligence was found by the company they work for. People don’t realize what a drain it is on tradesmen, percentage paid in versus earnings made as a tradesman thanks to competing with illegals, as well as amount paid in versus amount paid out in a claim. Most tradesmen wont even use it on smaller claims for fear of rates going up.
Soothsayer
November 28th, 2011
1:52 pm
Stevie Ray: just click on the blue type.
Mick
November 28th, 2011
1:57 pm
Maybe he should campaign on his record:
-got bin laden
-saved the auto industry
-no more pre-conditions for insurance
-stimulus saved or created milions of jobs
-ended iraq war
Republican congress?
-made sure in god we trust was ratified
-caused credit downgrade because of tea party lunatics
-keeps fighting for tax cuts for millionaires & billionaires
-filibusters every jobs bill presented
to name a few…
Mary Elizabeth
November 28th, 2011
2:01 pm
Stevie Ray@ 1:31
I agree that many of the wealthy class have used their wealth to help others get jobs (and for also philanthropic purposes). I have no problem, at all, with a wealthy class existing in our nation. I wish them well. However, we must also have a vibrant middle class, as we had after WWII, so that those in that middle class can sustain and build their own wealth and pursuits, and so that the lower classes can move upward into the middle class. That was how our nation was designed to function.
But that is not happening in today’s America. In today’s American in which CEOs of top corporations have increased their wealth by about 250% to 4% for average Americans in the last few decades, then one must start to realize that our nation’s financial dynamic has been shifted to serve the interests of the wealthy few. Everyone cannot be a Chief; some must be the Indians. Corporations are not inherently bad and they provide jobs for the working/middle class. But when the policies of government are such that wealth is increased enormously for the wealthy but not for the average American, then something is out of whack. And what is out of whack is that the working class cannot save enough money to make their wealth work for them, so they are locked into the prison of their salaried jobs, and those jobs serve to make the corporations’ top brass wealthier. Meanwhile, thanks to policies of cutting the government programs, such as those that Grover Norquist’s no tax increases will insure will happen, the average American will be further hurt by having no financial security in his old age through S.S. and Medicare. Therefore, his life will have been spent serving the interests of the “Chiefs” at the top of the corporate ladder, and he will die impoverished. That is not the American way. Some have been brainwashed. Check out ALEC on “google.”
Soothsayer
November 28th, 2011
2:01 pm
Citizenship requires a person to be actively engaged in the community with obligations to fellow citizens and future generations. Consumerism requires people to love things, embrace debt, worry about what others have, and become driven by the accumulation of possessions and the appearance of wealth. The disgusting exhibition that Madison Avenue maggots have coined Black Friday is the ultimate display of consumerism. In a nauseating display of senseless spending driven by retail conglomerates, Americans act like Pavlov’s salivating dogs by lining up for hours to stampede over and pepper spray other consumers to get the ultimate deal on that Chinese made toaster oven, Vietnamese made laptop, Korean made HDTV, or Mexican made tortilla maker. They don’t seem to grasp the irony of going deeper into debt buying cheap crap made in foreign countries by the workers who took their jobs.
GOD! I love this guy!
yuzeyurbrane
November 28th, 2011
2:04 pm
Don’t confuse Georgians with facts. It will cause a headache. Better to let the Koch bros. do the thinking for all of us.
Corey
November 28th, 2011
2:04 pm
Mr. Obama, why can’t you lift that boulder all by yourself? You know, the one that was teetering on the edge of the cliff 1983-2008 and crashed to the ground in the fall of 08.
saywhat?
November 28th, 2011
2:09 pm
“To be completely honest, I think the entire conservative mindset on things like the economy and climate change are designed entirely to avoid solving a problem simply by pretending the problem doesn’t exist for as long as you can get away with it.”
Ding!Ding!Ding! We have a winner! I have noticed this for years, and the problem has only gotten worse as the right has gotten more delusional and more extreme. One day soon they will have to admit that that government spending creates good jobs in the private sector, and that day is when they are forced to make DOD cuts as a result of the supercommittee failure. All of a sudden, Republicans will transform into rabid Keynesians, protesting the cuts because jobs will be lost.
joe
November 28th, 2011
2:09 pm
Spent more than all other 43 President’s before him in 2 years time
Grew the debt without cutting spending
Practiced Socialism with all the bailouts instead of letting businesses go under
Unemployment still at 9+
Solyndra
Spent 8 million in a stimulus package that resulted in 2 jobs in Oregon
Occupy everything–praised the lunatics
800 rounds of golf
Jay
November 28th, 2011
2:13 pm
Joe, since your very first talking point is wildly wildly wrong, I suppose there’s no need or reason to attempt to discuss the rest of them. You have already made it clear that you will believe anything if it confirms your existing bias.
Granny Godzilla
November 28th, 2011
2:13 pm
godless heathen
so you decide what other people think based on evidence to the contrary.
we can agree on the fact that you can’t accept that President Obama has been effective in getting the clean up of the Bush Recession underway.
godless….it shows
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:13 pm
saywhat?: All of a sudden, Republicans will transform into rabid Keynesians, protesting the cuts because jobs will be lost.
They already have by suggesting they would introduce legislation to avoid the defense cuts in the automatic trigger if the supercommittee didn’t reach a deal. And Obama said NO.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:14 pm
Solyndra! Socialism!
Anyone want to throw in Soros? I have a bingo card ready!
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 28th, 2011
2:17 pm
Hey Mary Elizabeth –
How was wealth proportioned back in the days of the Rockefellers and Biltmores?
The reality is that the super rich have always been a part of American society, in fact when the nation first began there was a much larger gap between the super wealthy and the poor… Let’s be truthful…
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:18 pm
-got bin laden
No he didn’t get OBL. The CIA and SEAL Team Six got him. The intelligence had been developed over several years before Obama even set foot in office. He had no other choice but to approve the mission.
-saved the auto industry
No he saved union jobs not the industry.
-no more pre-conditions for insurance
Big deal, for anyone belonging to a group plan with a pre-existing condition they could change plans without losing coverage. That provision had been in place since the mid-90’s.
-stimulus saved or created milions of jobs
That’s a pipe dream look at the reality of our unemployment issue.
-ended iraq war
No he’s withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq. He’s ended nothing and could very well be creating defeat out of victory by going against the recommendations of the military chiefs.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:18 pm
WOODSTOCK: And then it got so bad that we had the Great Depression, and we passed laws and tax provisions that caused growth and less inequality for 50+ years!
Not a Neal Boortz Redneck
November 28th, 2011
2:19 pm
Solyndra? Socialist?
How about Obama is not really an American? That is a popular one now.
You can draw your own absurd conclusion when you ask such an open question. The right-wing gets more idiotic every day.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:20 pm
Recon: No he didn’t get OBL. The CIA and SEAL Team Six got him.
And Bush didn’t get Saddam, someone else did that. And Bush didn’t start the wars or the tax cuts, that was Congress. And Bush didn’t pass Medicare Part D, only Congress can do that! And Clinton didn’t balance the budget, Newt did (by voting against it)
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 28th, 2011
2:20 pm
Jay makes a clear point about corporate profits obviously not being hindered by over-regulation…
However the chart for personal wage and salary income clearly shows this is not a political issue, it’s a systematic phenomenon… It’s been going down for almost 50 years regardless of who is in control of government…
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:20 pm
Recon: -no more pre-conditions for insurance
Big deal,
Actually, IT IS a big deal.
Not a Neal Boortz Redneck
November 28th, 2011
2:21 pm
Without Obama Seal Team Six would have done nothing. Obama ALONE said he would go into Pakistan without permission.
McCain and Hillary said they would not.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:22 pm
WOODSTOCK: However the chart for personal wage and salary income clearly shows this is not a political issue, it’s a systematic phenomenon… It’s been going down for almost 50 years regardless of who is in control of government…
Now we’re getting somewhere.
So, now that we know there is a problem, without assigning blame, what can we do to fix it? What are the practical things we can do, without naming people who would potentially get in the way or make things worse? What would be the ideal solution, without naming or blaming people or institutions?
Mick
November 28th, 2011
2:25 pm
recon’s fantasy responses:
**The intelligence had been developed over several years before Obama even set foot in office.**
Funny, then why didn’t the previous guy take action?
**No he saved union jobs not the industry**
Do you even have a clue about all the peripheral jobs that go along with cars being made in america? Unions? – keep beating that dead horse of an excuse
**That’s a pipe dream look at the reality of our unemployment issue.**
Just think what the numbers would be without the stimulus
Bottom line is that you just hate the president and that is as far as you can see…
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
“Actually, IT IS a big deal”? Really?… because pre-existing condition portability has been in place since the mid 1990’s.
Where have been? I f you’re going to quote my posts please do so in the complete form.
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
“So, now that we know there is a problem, without assigning blame, what can we do to fix it? What are the practical things we can do, without naming people who would potentially get in the way or make things worse? What would be the ideal solution, without naming or blaming people or institutions?”
How about becoming more educated and competitive as a society? Seems like we have a larger percentage of people now who don’t think they need to work hard, don’t think they need to pay their obligations, don’t think they need to be educated…
If you’re looking for the government to come in and save the day you’ll be waiting for a while…
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
Recon: because pre-existing condition portability has been in place since the mid 1990’s.
Dropping coverage because of a condition invalidates that portability. As does not having a policy in the first place. This law fixes both of those ways that companies have used to get out of covering people.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
Adam,
Once more Bush is no longer in office and after serving two terms cannot run again.
Mighty Righty
November 28th, 2011
2:29 pm
I know Jay is trying to make a point by using only some, not all, of the facts but it is obvious even to a liberal that GDP stands for GROSS domestic income while salaries measure only the EMPLOYED! Therefore the OBAMA caused unemployment of 15+ percent will cause the disparity demonstrated by the graphs Jay is so fond of. The graphs merely undreline the sorry shape our economy is in under the lack of economic understanding of this president. We need a president who undwestands we have a capitalistic based economy not a socialistic one.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:29 pm
WOODSTOCK: How about becoming more educated and competitive as a society? Seems like we have a larger percentage of people now who don’t think they need to work hard, don’t think they need to pay their obligations, don’t think they need to be educated…
I agree with your first statement, but I told you not to assign blame and you went down that road anyway. Please restrain yourself.
The populace should be more educated and our country should be more competitive. How will you accomplish this?
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 28th, 2011
2:30 pm
ADAM –
This Thanksgiving holiday showed me clearly what much of the problem is today. I was at my grandfathers house, he’s lived there since 1962. Doesn’t look like he’s bought anything new for 20 years, no flat screen TV, no leather couch, doesn’t have several computers, doesn’t have a new car, all the while he is sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars. See, people now think they must have so much more than they need and when they can’t pay for it they now blame the rich or the government. How about taking a close look at yourself and understanding what is sensible for YOU to have. Everyone is different, that’s what I see so many not understand these days…
Mick
November 28th, 2011
2:30 pm
Well, looky here, gas prices keep on dropping – let’s blame obama…
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:31 pm
Recon: Once more Bush is no longer in office and after serving two terms cannot run again.
So if you insist that a president doesn’t actually do anything but sit there and sign bills and has no hand in anything, you can only do so by saying we are only allowed to talk about the current one, and all the previous ones are off limits? What a crap argument.
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
“The populace should be more educated and our country should be more competitive. How will you accomplish this?”
People have to decide to do it Adam, the government can only try to assist, if people don’t decide to do it, it will never happen.
saywhat?
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
Adam, part of the solution is to promote domestic job production and higher pay through tax incentives e.g. minimal if any tax credits for low wage jobs, and increased tax credits for higher paying jobs up to a reasonable level (maybe 3 times the poverty level?) , and disincentivize overcompensation by raising the top tax rates to confiscatory levels. Companies will stop paying execs 10s and hundreds of millions if it all gets pissed away on taxes, when their bottom line will look better if they use that money instead to pay their lower level workers more.
saywhat?
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
Adam, part of the solution is to promote domestic job production and higher pay through tax incentives e.g. minimal if any tax credits for low wage jobs, and increased tax credits for higher paying jobs up to a reasonable level (maybe 3 times the poverty level?) , and disincentivize overcompensation by raising the top tax rates to confiscatory levels. Companies will stop paying execs 10s and hundreds of millions if it all gets pissed away on taxes, when their bottom line will look better if they use that money instead to pay their lower level workers more.
saywhat?
November 28th, 2011
2:33 pm
ACK! My first double post ever, I swear!
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:33 pm
WOODSTOCK: Seriously, we need to get off this blame thing if we’re going to solve problems. You’re saying we haven’t really identified the problem unless we explore every nook and cranny of every corner of everyone’s lives until we find every minute reason that we are in a mess, and… then what? Look for more blame?
We need to focus on solving problems, not continually trying to find fault in every aspect of reality.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
Adam, being a cancer survivor for over 17 years I know a little bit about pre-existing condition insurance portability and what your referring to was no more than a tweak that’s been overblown as a crowning achievement for ObamaCare.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
WOODSTOCK: People have to decide to do it Adam, the government can only try to assist, if people don’t decide to do it, it will never happen.
That’s not an answer. What do people have to decide to do, specifically? What does government have to do to assist?
Soothsayer
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
Heck, I’ll see your Soros and raise you a CRA and an ACORN. If you’re not really careful, I’ll go all-in with a community organizer and a Jeremiah Wright! Then, I’ll play the trump card — the Muslim card.
Misty Fyed
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
Mick….Trust me…The prices will be back up in time for the next election.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:35 pm
Recon: And you’re acting like the only good part of the law was this one little aspect we are discussing.
Doggone/GA
November 28th, 2011
2:35 pm
“Then, I’ll play the trump card — the Muslim card”
trump card or Trump card?
Misty Fyed
November 28th, 2011
2:36 pm
I agree with most of you. Obama should absolutely run on his record. PLEASE.. run on his record.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:36 pm
saywhat?: Companies will stop paying execs 10s and hundreds of millions if it all gets pissed away on taxes, when their bottom line will look better if they use that money instead to pay their lower level workers more.
Not sure I buy that this would be the response, but it IS a thought.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:39 pm
Adam, in the opinion of most a “crap argument” is attempting to argue about the irrelevant but I guess you see it differently than most.
JamVet
November 28th, 2011
2:39 pm
How about becoming more educated and competitive as a society?
More competitive? I believe that is a specious argument.
In those forty years of flat lined wages, the productivity of American workers has doubled.
saywhat?
November 28th, 2011
2:39 pm
The bottom line is all they understand Adam. If the bottom line looks better when your workers are paid more than when they are paid less or laid off, which would you do?
Mary Elizabeth
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
Hey back to you, WOODSTOCK MIKE @2:17
I repeat, I have no problem with a wealthy class. I just want to also see a vibrant Middle Class, which you and I are both part of. But, that is not happening today.
I do not know the statistics for wealth variance for our original colonists, but I do know that the author/president who penned the words, “All men are created equal” believed strongly that wealth must not become centralized into the hands of an elite few, or our nation’s very existence as a Democratic/Republic would be in jeopardy. He warned of this on many occasions and within his private letters which I have read. And Jefferson was of the wealthy elite himself; but he valued the ideas of democracy, freedom of thought, and egalitarianism more than he valued class status.
The wealty elite classes basically hated FDR and they called him a “traitor to his class” because they wanted to insure that the powers of government would be used primarily to protect their interests. FDR was a president who put the people’s interests first, and he said that he “welcomed” the hatred that the wealthy, upper classes had toward him. (Notice that today’s Republicans still hate FDR and his policies). Don’t worry about the wealthy; they will always look after themselves and their interests first. Better to put your thoughts into how to force politicians to serve the best interests of ALL of the public instead of primarily the interests of the wealthy elite – who have grown very powerful in the last decades – of which Jefferson so fervently warned against.
Over and out for today.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
Recon: Irrelevant, in whatever case you’re referring to drawn from any post on this blog today, is in the eye of the beholder.
Clearly you see something as irrelevant that I would disagree fits that description.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
2:41 pm
saywhat?: The bottom line is all they understand Adam. If the bottom line looks better when your workers are paid more than when they are paid less or laid off, which would you do?
CEOs and board members are not completely emotionless. If hit with a sudden tax increase, they will panic and likely not react exactly as expected.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:44 pm
“And you’re acting like the only good part of the law was this one little aspect we are discussing.”
Adam, you’re the one who brought up that one little aspect by challenging my comment made to another poster on a much broader subject. I will say since you seem to want to bring it up that I do agree with over 50% of the population that Obamacare should be repealed because there’s not much good in it.
barking frog
November 28th, 2011
2:45 pm
Make a $100.00 purchase at Walmart pay sales tax.
Make a $100,000,000. purchase at the stock market pay no sales tax.
Why?
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:50 pm
Make a $100,000,000. purchase at the stock market pay no sales tax.
Why?
barking frog as I’m sure you know that if you realize a profit on that $100,000,000. stock purchase you’ll pay capital gains tax.
Thomas
November 28th, 2011
2:51 pm
I guess like a piece of art there will be 1000’s of opinions. With the acceleration of globalization our (weak) current and (weak) past President are losing the economic poker game with India/China/Asia. The US has high unemployment and real wage declines while the opposite is happening in the East.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
2:54 pm
Thomas,
You read that right. I agree we’ve been played for suckers in the globalization progression.
Thomas
November 28th, 2011
2:54 pm
Why?
uh- one is a good or service as the other is an intangible not subject to sales tax. You may want to add up all the SEC and other federal fees that go with the stock purchase.
Buy a chevy volt and pay sales tax and have a battery that catches on fire. Don’t pay sales tax to have your wisdom teeth pulled? Why?
barking frog
November 28th, 2011
2:55 pm
recon 2:50 if you resell what you purchase at Walmart you
pay income/capital gains tax on the profit also, and you must
collect sales tax once again in some states.
TaxPayer
November 28th, 2011
2:58 pm
Profits may be soaring but the wealthiest are still paying some taxes sometimes and that just will not do for a Republican. They cannot destroy the US as long as the wealthiest are required to pay any taxes at all. Now, payroll taxes are a different matter. Little people pay payroll taxes and the wealthiest get the benefit from them so payroll taxes need to be higher, not lower. By the way, will the Newt campaign on jobs like his fellow Republican party members did in 2010 or will he just hand out free bars of soap instead.
Thomas
November 28th, 2011
2:58 pm
Recon- I read that unemployment amongst college grads in the US is 4.1%. Also did research on Jay’s much hated method of attracting industry to Ga. Kia in LaGrange should turn a 300mio profit this year. Kias are largely designed and manufactured in the US and LaGrange. 3000 workers. It is just going to take time coupled with strong leadership.
jj
November 28th, 2011
3:00 pm
What really drives wage inequity? Is it the big bad corporation, or the fact that Johnny is unable to read, write, spell, or think for himself. As an employer I am sick and tired of college graduates coming into our business wanting to start for top dollar but willing to do only the bare minimum. What has gotten lost in the inequity discussion is the other half of the equation; are you willing to work hard enough to become the top performer and get paid as such? My experience would incicate the answer to this question is a resounding NO.
I’m sorry if this approach does not fit the liberal agenda, but if you are honest with yourself I think you will have to agree we are in the midst of a generation of takers not producers.
Jimmy62
November 28th, 2011
3:01 pm
Rather than discussing the narratives, let’s discuss the truth. Nearly unending numbers of small and medium sized business owners have said the government tax and regulation environment is making it hard for them to expand or even survive.
They must all be liars because Bookman, who has vast experience running small and medium sized businesses and dealing with government bureaucrats, says they should have no problems at all.
Mick
November 28th, 2011
3:01 pm
thomas
You think kia has any plans to give their employees a raise or should they just be happy to have a job?
Brosephus
November 28th, 2011
3:03 pm
Maybe you should look at through the reality of business economics instead of through the prism of a government job. You might better understand.
Even if I could look through lead lined walls, I don’t see how you can correlate something that’s been going on since the 1970’s and pin it on one administration. However, with the blind hatred of anything Obama, you and others could probably deduce an argument that pins the extinction of the dinosaur to Obama’s administration. I wouldn’t expect anything less than that from you. Also, if you actually remembered anything I’ve posted, I spent 10 years working in the operations aspect of retail, so I do have the “business” experience to see things. I’ve managed stores from a $2 million a year dollar store up to a $25 million a year electronics store.
Anything else??
Obozonomics
November 28th, 2011
3:03 pm
Those evil corporations again making money, maybe we should just have the government run them they will do a better job right? By the way making profit is why you form a corporation, and the shareholders make money also, so if you have a 401K retirement fund then you own parts of cooperation’s and if they make money so do you, that is just evil right lefties?
TaxPayer
November 28th, 2011
3:03 pm
Rather than discussing the narratives, let’s discuss the truth.
Okay, go ahead.
Lord Help Us
November 28th, 2011
3:04 pm
‘Nearly unending numbers…’
The BS is strong in this one, Luke…
David
November 28th, 2011
3:05 pm
I always love when Jay “I am in desparate needed of a crainialrectalapectimity” Bookman tries to spin things. You have a choice people I am going to present you with a Pear and give you two narritives in one it’s an apple, in the other with COLD HARD FACTS it’s an orange, none of it means anything and one does not relate to the other but who the hell cares. Guess what President Obama is anti buisness, simple look at what he does and what he says. Like Jay Bookman the president believes that all good things come from Government and all bad things from the COLD HARTLESS Private buisnesses. The facts are that the more Obama does what he does the less companies are likley to hire new people or continue buisness in the US. Companies may lower wages, blah, blah, blah, but that has nothing to do with the other side of the coin.
Mick
November 28th, 2011
3:07 pm
david
Can I get some of what you are smoking? You definately are buzzed..
redneckblue
November 28th, 2011
3:08 pm
So, uh-uhum, exactly WHO is engaging in the class warfare..!?!?!?
Adam
November 28th, 2011
3:08 pm
Recon: I will say since you seem to want to bring it up that I do agree with over 50% of the population that Obamacare should be repealed because there’s not much good in it.
So if I run over every single provision that’s good in the bill, and you basically go “well yeah BUT it’s just a little bandaid” to each one, am I to take it that this does NOT mean that the sum of the parts is overall good? And shall we go back to you telling me what’s WRONG with the bill and explaining why, if you agree with the rest of it, legislation can’t be introduced to repeal just the parts you don’t like instead of the whole damn thing?
barking frog
November 28th, 2011
3:08 pm
thomas 2:54 why is an intangible not subject to sales tax ?
Obama is over
November 28th, 2011
3:08 pm
I think your charts represent advances in technology that have replaced human beings in corporate America over the past decade. Entire divisions of companies have been replaced by software programs. It is called disruptive technology. Rather than some nefarious political conspiracy, the decline in wages is an unfortunate function of companies simply not needing as many people. The newspaper industry is a great example of this trend as the way people communicate has fundamentally changed.
Lord Help Us
November 28th, 2011
3:08 pm
‘The facts are that the more Obama does what he does the less companies are likley to hire new people or continue buisness in the US.’
How can anyone argue with that…
Matti's Boycott
November 28th, 2011
3:12 pm
On behalf of vegetable lovers and growers everywhere, I am boycotting the big, greedy, uber-profitable corporation that sells fried chicken sandwiches and lard-filled breakfast biscuits to the obese, self-indulgent masses. They make a billion dollars a year, and they’re picking on independent citizens who grow GREENS on their land — for daring to promote their GREENS for local consumption? Never eating that garbage again, and by the way, those “fries” totally suck.
Thomas
November 28th, 2011
3:12 pm
homas 2:54 why is an intangible not subject to sales tax ?
You would have to ask your local congressman- teeth cleaning- legal fees- your analysis of Wal Mart was wrong as well as a person/institution would have what is called a resale certificate
Mick
November 28th, 2011
3:13 pm
This ongoing myth of obama the socialist, business destroying president, has gone so far off the rails that it has become an hallucination believed by the masses of foolish minds who are weak and easily programmed…
Brosephus
November 28th, 2011
3:15 pm
Kia in LaGrange should turn a 300mio profit this year. Kias are largely designed and manufactured in the US and LaGrange. 3000 workers. It is just going to take time coupled with strong leadership.
There’s a good side AND a bad side to that. As you’ve stated, we’ll benefit from Kia over time. However, that benefit is muted due to the fact that all of their suppliers are Korean companies that set up here as opposed to new companies being created by Americans. The equipment used by Kia and their suppliers comes from Korea and is installed and maintained by Korean workers from Korean companies.
We’re getting jobs and benefits from Kia locating here, but when it comes to secondary and other jobs, we’re not getting nearly the benefit that we would from a domestic manufacturer.
Jimmy62
November 28th, 2011
3:16 pm
Here’s another thing… I bet if you tested a high school grad in 1970, they would test as more knowledgeable than a lot of current day college grads. So as a population we are less knowledgeable, and probably deserve to be paid less. When you have an urban culture that looks upon hard work and study in school as a bad thing, it should be expected that average wages have gone down.
DawgDad
November 28th, 2011
3:18 pm
Well, narrative #1 contains distortions (”hate”, “impossible”) which obscure the point of the narrative, no doubt why Jay chose it. Obama’s socialist/Marxist leanings are fully documented and on display. Does he “hate” business? Poor choice of words. Is it “impossible” to turn a profit? Poor choice of words. Are we experiencing socialist-leaning government protection for favored corporations and institutions, at the expense of the taxpayer and free-market capitalism? Absolutely.
The Federal Government and the Fed have subsidized extreme moral hazard enabling large financial institutions and favored businesses to recover on the back of the taxpayer and profit.
Brosephus
November 28th, 2011
3:19 pm
When you have an urban culture that looks upon hard work and study in school as a bad thing, it should be expected that average wages have gone down.
So what’s the excuse for the non-urban dragging down test scores?
Jimmy62
November 28th, 2011
3:19 pm
You know who controls vastly more money than bussineses, and holds thbe most wealth of anyone in the entire world? The US government. So when you guys whine about rich people, it’s a wonder you want to hand so much more money and power to the already most powerful and richest entity of the world. And if recent years haven’t demonstrated how little oversight there is to the point where even elections where all the incumbents get booted that nothing changes, then nothing ever will convince you fools that handing more money and power to the government that already has money and power dwarfing all the rich people and corporations in the world is a BAD idea.
Of course it would take logic to realize this.
Recon 0311 2533
November 28th, 2011
3:21 pm
“However, with the blind hatred of anything Obama,”
So you’re saying that because I don’t believe Obama is up to the job as president and that the country needs a change, I harbor a blind hatred for Barack Obama. Did you make those kind of assumptions about people you didn’t even know personally as a retail store manager?
No, there isn’t anything else.
Adam
November 28th, 2011
3:22 pm
Jimmy62: How long did you study and do homework when you were in school? Was it from the moment you got home until you went to sleep, including weekends? No friends at all at any point? Nothing to do except school and study until summer?
You are a LIAR if you say yes that was your life. And yet this is what most expect out of children today. Hard work and study are not looked upon as bad things. They are simply prescribed as the catch all to everything, when the problem isn’t lack of hard work or lack of study.
If the public is so stupid right now, what do you propose to fix it? Perhaps more of a focus on education for all? Or are you going to go with this idea that only people who can afford to go to school and pay all the expenses should be educated? That’ll fix it!
barking frog
November 28th, 2011
3:22 pm
thomas 3:12 you cannot use a resale certificate at WalMart as
they do not wholesale and the intangible is exempt from sales tax
because Congress says it is…another example of ‘fair tax’
GT
November 28th, 2011
3:22 pm
Record setting Black Friday. All that money gets sucked up into the economy and is never seen again by the middle class? It will go to pension funds or stock holders, very little will go to salaries and recycle back into the streets. What we need in America is a small business agenda. Money goes directly into the local economy, new jobs are formed, small banks keep the money local, taxes are paid not gifted to a national or worldwide cancer. What we have in Georgia that prevents this is corruption by local politicians, that are allowed to do this by large corporations that get their zoning or their tax free and rebated state money. Would politicians vote the way they vote if they were Mr. Smith, Jimmy Stewart, I dealt it and there is where our problems lay.
C Dgg
November 28th, 2011
3:23 pm
I have believed this for a while, and I think it is becoming clear to see:
52 billion was spent on Black Friday… our economy should be booming. However, unlike ever before, corporations are getting more and more of the money we spend. The profits don’t go back into the economy except for the $8 an hour jobs and some typical managerial positions, which doesn’t make anyone better off. Instead, the money is going to the countries, like China, that make the products. The rest goes into the pockets of these CEOs and owners. That doesn’t change our economy. I get off at any given exit and all you see is giant companies, the same ones as every other exit, where the money DOESN’T stay in our local economy.
I’m all for capitalism, but this isn’t sustainable. You can’t use the same arguments as 20, 40 years ago… this type of capitalism is unprecendented, and will only continue. Those companies don’t care, they are making billions. It’s up to us as consumers and citizens to change it.