Monday, December 2, 2013

The rising tide of profits...

... won't lift an employment boat with a hole in the bottom.

Whenever someone talks about how the "trickle down" from corporate profits will help employment point out what "everyone who's ever run a business knows..."
"..hiring more people is a course of last resort for capitalists. It’s what we do if and only if rising consumer demand requires it." (Nick Hanauer, quoted by Angry Bear)
So the question is not how much money that corporations are making, the question is whether demand is increasing.  Since unemployment (and the employment-population ratio) is stuck, we can presume that demand is not increasing and corporations are merely making more money by improving productivity. Sure, improved productivity can come from investment in new technology (which can support new jobs), but it seems that right now its from cutting wages and benefits to provide the same product/service with a higher profit margin.