According to revised statistics, the US economy grew at a faster rate

than first expected, up to 2.5%. Earlier growth in Q3 2010 was

estimated at 2%. But the entire problem with looking at this topline

number is reflected in these three paragraphs:

But the most recent increase in GDP

still isn’t strong enough to make a dent in the country’s high

unemployment rate, stuck at 9.6% in recent months. Analysts say GDP

growth of at least 3% is needed to bring down the jobless figure, but

many don’t expect the economy to perform that well in the fourth quarter

or early next year. The Federal Reserve’s latest economic outlook, to be released later

Tuesday, is likely to reflect concerns among policymakers that

unemployment will remain very high in the U.S. for the foreseeable

future. American corporations, on the other hand, have rebounded robustly

from the recession. Tuesday’s report showed corporate profits jumped 28%

in the third quarter from a year earlier, to an annualized total of

$1.66 trillion. That’s a record high and reflects deep cost-cutting in

the past and increases in demand for goods and services.

That’s right. Despite record unemployment, and no hope for reductions clearly in sight, corporations have experienced all-time record profits,

the highest since the Commerce Department started tracking the figure

60 years ago. They’ve learned to produce as many or more goods without

workers.

This is something of a dream for corporate America – bigger profits

without those meddling workers to pay. This is the seventh straight

quarter of corporate profit growth, with none of those benefits being

shared with the working class. “Uncertainty” is blamed for the lack of

job growth, but corporations are sitting on giant mounds of cash while

they bask in the glow of their strategy to increase their profit margins

by cost-cutting.

The other part of this is that multinational corporations are reaping

profits from increased consumer spending in China and India. Their

markets there have expanded greatly in the past few years.

In the other side of the funhouse mirror, American workers continue

to have little hope for returning to the job. They are anxious about

their future prospects, and while they continue to spend on necessities,

they have trouble with the more substantive payments. Foreclosures and

defaults continue unabated, and home sales have dropped, which will probably lead to lower home prices.

But capitalism is working, and the great malefactors of wealth are happy. Happy Thanksgiving.