U.S. corporate profits have increased 21.3% in the past year and now account for the largest share of national income in 40 years… Meanwhile, the share of national income going to wage and salary workers has fallen to 56.9%.
"It's a big puzzle," said Josh Bivens, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute. "If this is a knowledge economy, how come the brains aren't being compensated? Instead, the owners of physical capital are getting the rewards."
While profits are up 21.3% in the past year, labor compensation is up just 5.5%. After adjusting for inflation, population growth and taxes, real disposable per capita incomes are up just 0.5% in the past year.
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If the Democratic Party were a true opposition party, it would specifically address the overconcentration of economic and political power among the corporate sector. Any true opposition party would have to address this (and the true opposition parties- the 3rd parties- do).
Apartheid, communism, monarchies, and dictatorships are all examples when political and economic power was concentrated among the few. It does not matter whether power is leftist or rightist; political ideology is the phantom menace of American politics. The true danger is the concentration of power in too few hands.
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