Lizzie, in Thursday's Investors Biz Daily, page A2, a stat I hadn't heard anywhere else,
"Unit labor costs dived at a revised 5.8% pace, the biggest drop since '83"
This means these profits are coming from people getting hammered, more layoffs, less pay, more hours. Employment isn't really up since new jobs aren't being created fast enough to absorb new jobseekers.
That's worse than Bush the First's "jobless recovery", it's a "job-loss recovery".
This can't continue very long. If it gets bad enough, anything will set it off, a mortgage-rate hike, local tax hikes, etc., and there will be a spiral of strikes, inflation and protests, if there isn't a change in policy and leadership. |
