Economic Deception - with Data

This article seems to be an analytical, fact-driven review of our current economic situation. With just a little analysis of our own, though, we find this to be mostly smoke and mirrors. ...Main Street is benefiting from an unprecedented global boom that is stocking our stores with affordable goods... Basically, cheap parts are available because companies are making them in cheap-labor countries - an "unprecedented global boom". Great for companies, not so much for the American worker. After-tax corporate profits have grown $578 billion to $1.1 trillion over the past five years, which is why jobs, the economy, and the stock market have performed so well. Very simply, profitable businesses are creating the jobs that are providing the incomes for families to spend. It’s an enduring story: Second-quarter profits for S&P 500 companies increased more than twice what Wall Street expected. Corporate profits are up, but this does not necessarily mean anything in terms of the average American being better off. While speaking of workers: With a record 146 million men and women working, and the unemployment rate at a historically low 4.6 percent, the American labor force has increased its after-tax real income by a whopping $257 billion. Wow, sounds great. Wait a minute... a "record 146 million men and women working"... could that be due to (gasp) POPULATION GROWTH?? More people working is also the logical result of the need for an increased percentage of dual-income families, in order to meet fiscal needs. Are we to assume that this is a good thing? Unemployment is at a "historically low 4.6 percent"? This data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics seems to suggest that 4.6% is not a "historic low". In fact, it seems that unemployment was at it's recent low during the late 90's - under the watch of an evil, tax-and-spend, and fiscally irresponsible Democrat!! The highest unemployment rates come in the 1980's, under the watch of the father of anarcho-capitalist Supply-Side Economics, Ronald Reagan. To Reagan's credit, though, he was the only Republican president to leave office with a lower unemployment rate than when he entered office. All the other Republican-controlled time periods within the range of the chart (since 1950) have presided over an increase in unemployment. After-tax real income increased by "a whopping $257 billion"? I can't validate this info, but the first simple question is "since when"? Is this a 1 year, a 5 year, a 10 year change, or what? How much of this is due to population growth? More importantly, is this the amount that it should have increased, based on corporate growth? Some more background would help to show this information in it's proper light, assuming this is the goal... this article and data paints a completely different picture. (Click here for a larger image) Also, this unemployment info does not put our status into a global perspective (as compared to the rest of the world), as this data shows. The US sits at #53, behind both small economic powers like Iceland (1.3%), and large powers like England (2.9%), and Japan (4.1%). The US economy's $500B profit growth in the past 5 years has not translated into better unemployment numbers, nor have the salaries of the employed sector kept pace with this growth. I wonder why the NRO article fails to mention all of this? BAAAHHHH!!! (that's the bleating of an Orwellian sheep... get it?)