Private Sector Is Doing Fine

Believe it or not, some "people" are doing just great in this economy. "Those people are called 'corporations,'" writes Rex Nutting of MarketWatch. It may have been politically disastrous for President Obama to say the private sector was "doing fine" last month, "but as a piece of economic analysis, the president was spot on. Corporations are swimming in profits," Nutting writes. "Unfortunately, their success means very little to the rest of us."

That's because corporations haven't used this money to buy assets, hire workers, or otherwise invest and expand—they've just given it to shareholders. "To a surprising extent, corporations are now in the business of returning capital to their owners," not putting America's savings to productive use "as described in Economics 101 textbooks," writes Nutting. That may be making them rich, "but they would do well to wonder where next year's profits—or the next decade's profits—are going to come from." Click for Nutting's full column. (More corporations stories.)