Bloomberg reports today the (entirely unshocking) news that despite the recent rise in corporate profits, wages have stagnated, even dropping below the price of goods and services. No doubt this trend bodes well for the immediate wealth of certain shareholders and CEOs – but it’s bad news for the long-term health of the American economy and middle-class. Without a broad consumer base fueling aggregate demand (read: spending money), any economic growth will simply be unsustainable.

Stories like these smash the fallacy of the “job-creator” myth into a thousand pieces – unlimited riches for the 1% does not translate into financial security for the rest of us.

Why don’t we have CEOs like this guy? Haruka Nishimatsu, CEO of Japan Airlines, who slashed his pay to below that of his pilots in order to save his employees’ jobs: