Where are the jobs?

Since we've been keeping records all economic recoveries, according to the economists, have been led by indicators of rising employment and a buoyant property market in a hand-in-glove type manner - on this occasion these ingredients appear to be totally missing. If we are to perpetuate the present Chicago School economic model surely this would include actually employing those who provide the market for goods and services and paying them enough to afford both them and a house. Sadly this is not the case. Meanwhile many stock-market listed corporations are announcing record profits. How is this possible one may ask. Globalisation is the answer. Around half of the income of a large part of the S&P 500 companies, for example, comes from overseas. Obviously employment and the attached personal income - along with the associated tax base - are not growing in line with corporate profits.

In reality this is not about to change any too soon. Union bashing and the reduction of workers rights are rampant. Wisconsin's anti-union legislation is only one example of retentive corporatist-infused political thinking removing the ability of workers to bargain for improved wages and conditions. Has anybody thought beyond the dogma as to who is going to support a recovery based upon the usual measurements? Isn't "Demand" part of the mix? "Supply" seems to have escaped the formula. Not only has Supply escaped but Globalized supply-chains confused government's statistical agencies to overstate the size and growth of domestic economies — most importantly the growth in productivity, especially in manufacturing. This misinformation has led to a malignant combination of political and corporate wills to hold down wages while blindly hosting the means of their own eventual economic destruction. 

If we continue to allow increasing corporate profits with no accompanying increase in employment or wages then the tax-base cannot support the public services expected from a government collecting taxes - the answer, so far, has been to demand an evisceration of public services and to continue to punish the workers - or middle class as they are now known. What economic model is this based upon? There are countries with strong unions - Germany for example. Funnily enough they appear to be in much better economic shape than the UK or US. Their unemployment is closer to 6% than 10%. Their wages have kept closer pace with corporate profits. Their wealth has, in fact, trickled down despite all the economic ingredients philosophically anathema to the True Believers of the World Bank, IMF, WTO variety.

Seems that a lot of the money given to the Banks to bail them out and "save" the world's economy hasn't made it's way back into it but instead has headed off into Commodities, Food etc. with the undesirable effect of making everything more expensive for the ever-growing number of, increasingly irate, low-wage-earners. Thereby exacerbating the problem. Everything that can be has been "financialised". Are we tackling this problem from the wrong end? It would appear, according to just not me, that the "Global Factory" models for finance, energy, manufacturing and production have run their course and are now counter-productive. Burdening "customers" with huge debt loads in exchange for dubious value - while "finance" maximises it's profit. Without some equitable redistribution of wealth it will only end in tears - the Arab street offers an informative example.

Tackling these weaknesses will require breaking finance's stranglehold over the economy by allowing governments to regulate and limit their more speculative and avaricious activities. I'd have never bailed the asshole out.