Now is a great time to be running a multinational corporation, and a terrible one to be running on empty.

Big businesses are enjoying what’s been called “a golden age for corporate profits,” by squeezing everything out of worker productivity in the U.S. and by taking advantage of strong growth in emerging economies like China and India.

As of the third quarter of 2012, corporate profits as a percentage of national income rose to 14.2%, representing the largest share at any time since 1950, according to The New York Times. However the percentage of corporate income that went to employees, 61.7%, is close to the lowest it’s been since 1966.

CEOs also have been delighted by the increase in corporate earnings, up to an annualized rate of 20.1% since the end of 2008. The boom in corporate profits has not been accompanied by an increase in jobs in the United States and overall personal income has only risen 1.4% per year over the same period.

As Nelson D. Schwartz put it in The New York Times, “although experts estimate that sequestration could cost the country about 700,000 jobs, Wall Street does not expect the cuts to substantially reduce corporate profits—or seriously threaten the recent rally in the stock markets.”

Meanwhile, the sequestration budget cuts taking effect in Washington are going to have a negative impact on many poor Americans who rely on federal programs for help.

These programs include those that give vouchers for housing to the poor and disabled and others that provide fortified baby formula to the children of poor women. Housing programs also will be hit hard by sequestration, resulting in 125,000 individuals and families facing the risk of becoming homeless. And emergency shelters and federally-subsidized housing may have to turn out 100,000 formerly homeless people because of the cuts.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

To Learn More:

Recovery in U.S. Is Lifting Profits, but Not Adding Jobs (by Nelson Schwartz, New York Times)

As Automatic Budget Cuts Go Into Effect, Poor May Be Hit Particularly Hard (by Annie Lowrey, New York Times)

Corporate Profits Soar under Obama (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Corporate Profits Rise…but Wages Fail to keep Pace with Inflation (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)