Zero Hedge: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Jobs (In The U.S.)

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-we-dont-need-no-stinkin-jobs-us

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Jobs (In The U.S.)

Global Corporate America has decoupled from the American middle class; its interests are now international rather than domestic.

Global Corporate America has been decoupling from its country of origin for a long time, and the last weak bonds appear to be snapping.

Longtime correspondent Cheryl A. recently submitted this snippet from a recent The Atlantic article The Rise of the New Global Elite and this summary: "This is disturbing on so many levels."

The U.S.-based CEO of one of the world’s largest hedge funds told me that his firm’s investment committee often discusses the question of who wins and who loses in today’s economy. In a recent internal debate, he said, one of his senior colleagues had argued that the hollowing-out of the American middle class didn’t really matter. "His point was that if the transformation of the world economy lifts four people in China and India out of poverty and into the middle class, and meanwhile means one American drops out of the middle class, that’s not such a bad trade," the CEO recalled.

The growing dependence of Global Corporate America on non-U.S. growth and profits, and the concurrent rise of its political power at the expense of the middle class, is displayed in this chart:

Let's look at the number of consumers of global U.S. corporations' goods and services in aggregate. According to the FDIC, about 25% of Americans have little or no access to credit. This is an excellent metric of proverty: in other words, 75 million Americans are too poor to purchase much more than rent (subsidized by Section 8 vouchers, etc.) food (subsidized by SNAP food stamps), minimal healthcare (subsidized by Medicaid), toothpaste, cable TV, mobile phone service and fancy footwear made in Asia. (Every "poor" person above the level of homeless I see on the subway or bus has fancy footwear and a cellphone.)

That leaves about 225 million Americans with enough discretionary income to be more rabid consumers of global corporate America's goods and services.

Alas, the U.S. is a mature consumer economy and the limits of consumer debt and leveraging seem to have been reached. As a result, corporate revenue growth in the domestic market is limited to GDP growth (most of which is generated by Federal borrowing and spending at this point): roughly 2-3%. You can't "grow profits" 10% a year on this sort of tepid growth. So Corporate America's focus on international markets is not just rational but essential: there is no other way to grow revenues and profits.

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[Corcaigh]

I don't see why it's an "either/or" discussion.

But I also there shouldn't be any surprise that simply creating an environment where American businesses can thrive is enough to ensure a vibrant American society and a decent standard of living for its workers.

Without significant value being created here by large numbers of workers, large portions of the middle class will disappear.

[Hubbs]

This correlates nicely with the percentage of income the top 5% make.