Who benefits from the "recovery"...? Hint: It ain't "We, the people"... 2.7M will lose unemployment in April...

in typical u.s. news media fashion, this nyt article, while it at least does call some attention to the sufferings being endured in this latest rape and pillage of the middle class, neglects to focus on the super-rich elites who are still raking it in...

Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

maybe i was too hasty... here's what the article actually does say about who is reaping the benefits of the recovery...

Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll. The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees. Factory work and even white-collar jobs have moved in recent years to low-cost countries in Asia and Latin America. Automation has helped manufacturing cut 5.6 million jobs since 2000 — the sort of jobs that once provided lower-skilled workers with middle-class paychecks.

“American business is about maximizing shareholder value,” said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. “You basically don’t want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them.”

ay, and therein lies the rub... that lovely euphemism, "maximizing shareholder value," is really code for keeping the rivers of cash flowing to the already obscenely wealthy and to hell with anybody else... what i wonder is what are the rich going to do when there's nobody left to buy their shit...?

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