The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports today that corporate profits in the second quarter were up 8.1% compared to 2021. That's true as far as it goes, but nominal thinking doesn't get you very far. Like all of us, corporations are affected by inflation, and when you account for that profits were down 0.4%:
In better news, GDP growth in the second quarter was revised upward a bit. If you use an average of GDP and GDI, economic growth is now estimated at 0.1% in the first quarter and 0.4% in the second quarter. No negative growth quarters at all!
The sky must be falling!!! Quick, change my compensation package!
I think you may be inappropriately applying a crude inflation adjusted measurement here. Ultimately, profits are measured as a percentage. I may be wrong, but that’s my first take.
Yeah - all the money went to the russian, chinese, and saudi governments. Yippee!
It's a bit of a mess if you're adjusting corporate profits to inflation, given how large corporations earn profit overseas and that valuation is largely affected by the value of the Dollar.
Seems pretty crude to apply direct inflation to corporations at the top of the capitalist pyramid. I mean inflation didn't come fully formed from Zeus' head.
No they weren't down. Real corporate profits were higher in 2022 than 2019. You can't use consumer price inflation to deal with real corporate profits.