Charles Hugh Smith | Jan. 8, 2024
No wonder Corporate America added $1.2 trillion in profits to be distributed to the elites of America: everything is diminished, stripped of quality and rendered miserable. Too bad there’s no real competition left in the US economy.
One of the most extraordinary economic marvels of the past decade is the astounding 50% leap in corporate profits, from $2.4 trillion (pre-tax) pre-pandemic lockdown to $3.6 trillion (pre-tax) in the years since the lockdown ended.
Strangely, few seem to ask the source of this astounding 50% leap. Wall Street has certainly cheered this vast increase, but few analysts ponder the source, or ask if the source is a net plus for the economy and nation.
As shockingly heretical as it sounds, the interests of corporate America often diverge from the interests of the citizenry, overall economy and the nation. For example, the wholesale gutting of the US industrial base in the mad rush to lower costs and quality by shipping entire supply chains to China.
Having worked in China a couple years, I saw Chinese quality & engineering surpass that of the USA. It’s not innovation, as that still seems to be given to the White race.