It's a great time in America--if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Not so much if you are a regular American. The profit gains of the Fortune 500 registered the third largest gain in history in 2010. By contrast, the people continue to struggle.
Even the editors of Fortune recognize the problem:
All told, the Fortune 500 generated nearly $10.8 trillion in total revenues last year, up 10.5%. Total profits soared 81%. But guess who didn't benefit much from this giant wave of cash? Millions of U.S. workers stuck mired in a stagnant job market.
Sure, these corporate profits derived partly from productivity gains, including workforce reductions. And many 500 companies are growing faster overseas than in the U.S. Nevertheless, we've rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans. [emphasis added]
Topping the list of the Forbes fortune: Wal-Mart
This is not really a surprise. Here is the strategy:
Limit wages, even if your workers are productive--partly by killing off unions.
Find the lowest wage possible around the world--with the help of a bi-partisan support for trade deals that are supported by both Democratic and Republicans Administrations and both parties in Congress, no matter who runs the show.
Never give anyone a permanent job, if possible.
The third leg of the strategy becomes clear when you read this, coincidentally in Forbes as well:
It's a glass half full/half empty situation. Well, maybe American employers just stole half a glass from their workers. The rise in temporary worker hires may be a smart business move, insulating employers in a volatile economy, or it could be creating a permanent wedge of cheaper, benefit-less workers that eventually supplants a big chunk of the full-time workforce.
It all depends on how you interpret a sliver of data on temporary hiring from the U.S. Department of Labor, which tracks job placements by temp agencies but not temp hiring by individual companies. The department also doesn't keep tabs on how often companies downgrade positions from permanent to temporary status.
The latest federal data show that 2.3 million people held temporary jobs in March, up from a low in mid-2009 of 1.7 million, as companies seek to satisfy customer demand without making long-term commitments to worker salary and benefits.
And:
Temporary workers are often paid less than full-time workers, and are not likely to receive any benefits. Such workers, according to a recent U.S. General Accountability Office report, are less likely to have health insurance or retirement benefits, or be protected by labor laws. Not providing health insurance means that ailing workers often rely on emergency room treatment or Medicaid, treatment scenarios in which the costs are largely covered by the public, adding to the taxpayer burden -- a charge, for example, that has been made against giant retailer Wal-Mart.
Oh, yes, back to the most profitable companies. Wal-Mart ranks number one:
The retail champ earned its place at the top with a staggering $421 billion in sales. And despite softness in the U.S. market and a nagging class action suit alleging sex discrimination that's currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, Wal-Mart's earnings jumped more than 14%, to $16.4 billion.
Wonder why you are paying high gas prices? Well, you shouldn't be:
But while Wal-Mart has bragging rights, the real moneymaker is Exxon Mobil, no. 2 on the Fortune 500 this year. The oil giant rode soaring global oil prices to an astonishing $35.6 billion in profits — the most of any company on the list.
None of this is a secret. We've known about the Audacity of Greed for a very long time. We don't need new plans or policy papers to point this out.
The only question is: how do we organize to throw off an economic system that is robbing the people?