A PICTURE IS WORTH ....

Graphs and captions courtesy of Business Insider ~ note that all three graphs cover the same time period, from approximately 1950 to the present.  Click on any image to enlarge.

1)  Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high.  Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before. (And some people are still saying that companies are suffering from 'too much regulation' and 'too many taxes'.  Maybe small companies are, but big companies certainly aren't).

2)  Fewer Americans are working than at any time in the past three decades.  one reason corporations are so profitable is that they don't employ as many Americans as they used to.

3)  Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low.  This is both cause and effect.  One reason companies are so profitable is that they're paying employees less than they ever have as a share of GDP.  And that, in turn, is one reason the economy is so weak.  Those 'wages' are other companies' revenue.

"In short, our current system and philosophy are creating a country of a few million overlords and 300+ million serfs.  That's not what has made America a great country.  It's also not what most people think America is supposed to be about.  So we might want to rethink that."
~  Henry Blodget