What divides America: politics or economy

Putting aside the biggest divide, religious belief and disbelief, Henry Blodgett looks at the big economic divide, which is the result of big money meddling in "both" political isles.

Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low

1) Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high.

2) Fewer Americans are working than at any time in the past three decades.

3) Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low.

The problem is our debt: from government to corporates to households. Our stunning economic "growth" has been a mirage, a floating sea of debt hallucination.

As a percent of total employed people in our economy, the number of government workers is actually far lower than it used to be. About 16% of us now work for the government.

State and local governments have actually been firing people in recent years.
The number of Federal government employees has stayed steady for nearly half a century.

we need to understand that there are two kinds of government spending... The first kind is what we normally think of as government spending: Defense, highways, bridges, NASA, government employee salaries, etc.

The second kind of government spending is what is euphemistically called "personal transfers" -- checks handed out to citizens for a variety of social programs, including Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance..

Over the past 50 years, social-program spending has exploded as a percentage of the economy..

And don't forget what we're really talking about when we talk about "social programs." It's not unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other handouts that some anti-government people sometimes go insane about. They're small potatoes

The real government budget busters are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

See his charts at the article link, then see his other 63 charts and graphics starting here.
Any chance the never shy but now retiring boomers will turn off the tap on ss, medicare and medicaid? Not when they feel they've paid for it and it's their due.

Never mind. In 30 years they'll be gone. But there'll be plenty more rorts and schemes to rise to the top of the next great debt crisis.

Pay attention kids. Next time won't be different, either.