I don't think I'm smart enough to understand. The companies in this article are proud to have shed jobs to become leaner and focused ... on what customers that

I don't think I'm smart enough to understand. The companies in this article are proud to have shed jobs to become leaner and focused ... on what customers that have jobs to buy their products and services? The basic conundrum, to me, is that there is no such thing as an economic recovery with no job growth. If people can't earn money, how do they spend it? If they can't spend money, how does the profits get reentered into the company's balanced sheet so that the company can invest in new products and services to grow? If a company can't grow, how does it employ new workers to buy things? It's not that simple, but really, is it really that difficult to comprehend?