Rape of the Union: Corporate Profits and Lost Jobs

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Looking ahead to tonight's economically-themed State of the Union address from Barack Obama, one encounters conflicting numbers. In some significant ways, the US economy has appeared to recover, returning to non-recession levels in many measurements, and exhibiting growth as well. Corporate profits have soared, with major corporations and businesses posting their highest third quarter ever in fall of 2010 and increasing their share of the total economic output at the same time. Halliburton--can't forget about them--just reported the doubling of theirprofits. What's all this downer talk about a recession anyway?

Yet for most of the country, the economy seems to be in more of a hobble than a gallop, with unemployment--one of the more palpable measurements of economic viability--still above 9 percent, more than double the roughly 4 percent joblessness in 2000. 47 million people currently live below the poverty line, and we're not talking about a high bar here: $22,400 for a family of four. What on earth is going on? Much has been made about rising inequality in the United States--a recent statistic showed that 44 percent of the wealth in New York City was owned by the top 1 percent. Obama himself has come under fire for being beholden to big business and the interests on Wall Street repeatedly since the bailout, and many considered his appointment of Jeffrey Immelt yet another sign of his alliance with the big guys. Is the job market merely lagging behind big business's earnings? Or is part of the reason for the windfall profits the shedding of American jobs? There was once a quaint idea called the American dream, with the small business as its corner stone. Is it now just a dream? A few economic commentators weigh in, addressing the issue of big corporations shifting jobs overseas: