Didn't companies make obscene profits under the last two Democratic Presidents?

[Boogiemack]

Bill Clinton had surplus at the end of his terms and Obama left Trump a really sound recovering economy. I don't remember a time in my life time where oil, steel, or corporate farmers were crushed into bankruptcy. Coal mining corporations were profitable for the owners and CEOs but not the miners who got sick and died.

This entire BS about trade is so much smoke and mirrors. No question we could and should improve trade for country but that begins with the kind of consumers we have. They prefer foreign goods to our because they are cheaper They are cheaper because they are made with virtually slave labor. We don't want to pay decent wages to our workers because prices would have to increase TO ALLOW CORPORATE OBSCENE PROFITS. Who wants reasonable profits anymore? Not us. We don't want any profits unless they are obscene or we will take our business abroad. Now that the TPP was squashed here, those countries that signed on are doing much better then we are. If it were not for the greed of Microsoft and Apple we would almost have no economy.

[brooklynite]

1. I wasn't aware that anyone was obliged to buy an iPhone or a Windows laptop...

[Buckeye_Democrat]

2. It's been the trend going back to at least...

... the early 70's.

The perpetual growth can't last.

1. Bubbles based on speculation always burst.
2. Profit growth will depend on more STUFF after costs are cut to bare-bones minimum (another general trend).
3. All products require resources, even service industries that require manpower, who need to be kept alive, or robots using energy to operate.
4. There's not infinite resources available to us, so perpetual growth will be mathematically impossible in the distant future.

The "good news" for investors is they might be able to kill off most people and start over with their growth game. Lol.