Sunday, September 4, 2011

Since 2009, 88 Percent Of Income Growth Went To Corporate Profits, Just One Percent Went To Wages

By Guest Blogger on Jun 30, 2011 at 3:15 pm

After the longest recession since WWII, many Americans are still struggling while S&P 500 corporations are sitting on $800 billion in cash and making massive profits. Now, economists from Northeastern University have released a study that finds our sluggish economic recovery has almost solely benefited corporations. According to the study:

“Between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, real national income in the U.S. increased by $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits by themselves had increased by $464 billion while aggregate real wages and salaries rose by only $7 billion or only .1%. Over this six quarter period, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. …The absence of any positive share of national income growth due to wages and salaries received by American workers during the current economic recovery is historically unprecedented.”

The New York Times adds, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average real hourly earnings for all employees actually declined by 1.1 percent from June 2009, when the recovery began, to May 2011, the month for which the most recent earnings numbers are available.”

So as average wages fall, and nearly 14 million people remain unemployed, America’s economic recovery has almost entirely benefited corporations. This development adds another chapter to the decline of the middle class, whose incomes are shrinking and wages are stagnating. Last year, top executives’ salaries increased 27 percent, while workers’ salaries increased only 2 percent. At the moment, income inequality in America is the worst it’s been since the 1920s, as the richest 1 percent make nearly 25 percent of the country’s income.

Sean Savett

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/30/258388/corporate-profits-recovery/

1,252 Peaceful Protesters Arrested Opposing Tar Sands Pipeline at the White House

by on 09. 3.11
white-house-protest-tar-sands-final.jpg

Today marked the final day in the two week-long marathon of tar sands pipeline protests outside the White House. In all, 1,252 scientists, authors, farmers, activists, students, grandmothers, indigenous people, religious leaders -- you name it -- were arrested out in front of Barack Obama's residence. The arrested include top NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, and the author Naomi Klein. Over 240 more were arrested today alone; organizers believe the Obama administration's decision to cancel the highly anticipated tightening of clean air standards helped drive the high turnout.

A rally marking the end of the weeks of protest was also held in Lafayette Square, drawing hundreds more. The day's events included speeches from Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein, some human aerial art, music, and plenty of good ol' fashioned call-and-response protest chanting from the crowd. Check out some video from the day's events below:

Here's an artist's attempt to orchestrate a 'human tar sands pipeline':

This too was a fun idea:

The goal of the event, in case you haven't been reading TreeHugger for the last two weeks, was to call on the administration to abandon plans to build a 1,700 mile pipeline that would transport extremely dirty tar sands oil from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast. The oil would then be sold on the global market.

Here's Bill McKibben, the author and environmental activist leader who spearheaded the event, addressing the crowd at the end of the rally:

All told, it was a fun, vibrant event that both galvanized environmentalists (whose spirits could surely use some lifting these days) and helped generate some oppositional momentum behind an issue most Americans had likely not even heard of before the week's activities. And it was generally un-hippie to boot!

Check out Tar Sands Action for more information on what might come next in the struggle against the Keystone XL ...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/1252-peaceful-protesters-.php