3 ms·

Corporate profits hit highest share since WWII, as worker payouts wilt

138 points by marojejian 2mo ago

marojejian 2mo ago
free w/ signup, but here's the archive anyhow: https://archive.is/wU0s9 https://archive.is/wU0s9 Pretty impressive long-term charts, and dramatic surge in the last years. Of course there are lot of other relevant details (e.g. more people own capital, and this is pre-tax numbers). But overall this seems pretty consistent with the story Piketty tells in Capital in the Twenty-First Century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce...
- jampekka 2mo ago
  For us banned from archive.is: https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/6f3ada65-c56c-499c-8eb6-008fac58949d https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/6f3ada65-c56c-499c-8eb...
  - purplecats 2mo ago
    how do u get banned from archive.is
    - jampekka 2mo ago
      They banned all of Finland, presumably due to a spat with a Finnish blogger, although the story seems a bit murky. https://lobste.rs/s/z0mdor/archive_today_is_directing_ddos_attack https://lobste.rs/s/z0mdor/archive_today_is_directing_ddos_a...
    - pipes 2mo ago
      My UK mobile phone provider blocks it, presumably unless I tell them I want adult filtering off
      - inigyou 2mo ago
        Why haven't you told them that?
        pipes 2mo ago
        I honestly can't be arsed, I have a VPN so I switch that on if I come across blocked links.
        inigyou 2mo ago
        You should do it. Slightly increase the cost to them of having this default filter.
- raffraffraff 2mo ago
  Looking at the relative sizes of the dotcom crash, '08 financial crisis and covid is interesting...
nojvek 2mo ago
Automation can’t be taxed. Servers consuming electricity in data centers to generate what the next ad someone will click isn’t the same as paying employee salary. It’s not taxed. So Trump cuts tax on the rich, and the rich cut out human workers or depress their pay. The debt will have to be reckoned with if the govt ain’t getting their share to build infrastructure. On the other hand US has the highest participation of people who own stock. Unlike China, where the median Chinese doesn’t benefit from growth of state run companies.
- triceratops 2mo ago
  > Automation can’t be taxed. Sure it can. Take shares in companies. Put them into a sovereign wealth fund.
  - cactacea 2mo ago
    Well that just sounds like communism with extra steps.
    - triceratops 2mo ago
      What's your point? I only showed a way to tax automation. The labels are left as an exercise for the reader.
    - idiotsecant 2mo ago
      Ooh spookey
    - AngryData 2mo ago
      That doesn't seem like much of a threat anymore with China as an industrial powerhouse and contries like Norway sitting on state owned industries.
  - lazide 2mo ago
    That isn’t a tax by the normal definition, just seizure.
kerblang 2mo ago
Are corporate profits actually at a peak, or just their percentage share of national profit (per the article)? Not in denial about the wealth gap, just wondering where profit growth is coming from.
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
sershe 2mo ago
Large part of the reason is stock compensation and pass thru https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/why-the-labor-share-keeps-falling https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/why-the-labor-s... https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/another-reason-the-labor-share-keeps https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/another-reason-...
thelastgallon 1mo ago
Corporate profits are an exact mirror image of the US deficit and household debt: https://www.hussmanfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/comment/mc251028f.png https://www.hussmanfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/comment/mc25... https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc251028/ https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc251028/

138 points by marojejian 2mo ago

free w/ signup, but here's the archive anyhow: https://archive.is/wU0s9 https://archive.is/wU0s9 Pretty impressive long-term charts, and dramatic surge in the last years. Of course there are lot of other relevant details (e.g. more people own capital, and this is pre-tax numbers). But overall this seems pretty consistent with the story Piketty tells in Capital in the Twenty-First Century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce...

jampekka 2mo ago
For us banned from archive.is: https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/6f3ada65-c56c-499c-8eb6-008fac58949d https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/6f3ada65-c56c-499c-8eb...
- purplecats 2mo ago
  how do u get banned from archive.is
  - jampekka 2mo ago
    They banned all of Finland, presumably due to a spat with a Finnish blogger, although the story seems a bit murky. https://lobste.rs/s/z0mdor/archive_today_is_directing_ddos_attack https://lobste.rs/s/z0mdor/archive_today_is_directing_ddos_a...
  - pipes 2mo ago
    My UK mobile phone provider blocks it, presumably unless I tell them I want adult filtering off
    - inigyou 2mo ago
      Why haven't you told them that?
      - pipes 2mo ago
        I honestly can't be arsed, I have a VPN so I switch that on if I come across blocked links.
        inigyou 2mo ago
        You should do it. Slightly increase the cost to them of having this default filter.
raffraffraff 2mo ago
Looking at the relative sizes of the dotcom crash, '08 financial crisis and covid is interesting...

nojvek 2mo ago

Automation can’t be taxed. Servers consuming electricity in data centers to generate what the next ad someone will click isn’t the same as paying employee salary. It’s not taxed. So Trump cuts tax on the rich, and the rich cut out human workers or depress their pay. The debt will have to be reckoned with if the govt ain’t getting their share to build infrastructure. On the other hand US has the highest participation of people who own stock. Unlike China, where the median Chinese doesn’t benefit from growth of state run companies.

triceratops 2mo ago
> Automation can’t be taxed. Sure it can. Take shares in companies. Put them into a sovereign wealth fund.
- cactacea 2mo ago
  Well that just sounds like communism with extra steps.
  - triceratops 2mo ago
    What's your point? I only showed a way to tax automation. The labels are left as an exercise for the reader.
  - idiotsecant 2mo ago
    Ooh spookey
  - AngryData 2mo ago
    That doesn't seem like much of a threat anymore with China as an industrial powerhouse and contries like Norway sitting on state owned industries.
- lazide 2mo ago
  That isn’t a tax by the normal definition, just seizure.

kerblang 2mo ago

Are corporate profits actually at a peak, or just their percentage share of national profit (per the article)? Not in denial about the wealth gap, just wondering where profit growth is coming from.

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

sershe 2mo ago

Large part of the reason is stock compensation and pass thru https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/why-the-labor-share-keeps-falling https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/why-the-labor-s... https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/another-reason-the-labor-share-keeps https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com/p/another-reason-...

thelastgallon 1mo ago

Corporate profits are an exact mirror image of the US deficit and household debt: https://www.hussmanfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/comment/mc251028f.png https://www.hussmanfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/comment/mc25... https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc251028/ https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc251028/