http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0718-09.htm
So economic data over the past year shows that the gross domestic product increased, i.e. businesses made more stuff, while the number of jobs decreased, i.e. the stuff wasn't made by Americans. This NYT article (conveniently mirrored here by commondreams) attributes the disparity to increases in "worker productivity". One wonders. Could the outsourcing of jobs to lower-wage nations also be part of it?
At any rate, the recession is supposed to be over, but unemployment is just as bad or worse. In addition, the loss of jobs started well before the recession did.
The US is pretty good for business. We do have a superpower's economy, after all. I think the traditional line of reasoning is the US has the infrastructure, the natural resources, and the educated populace paired with lower taxes than any other industrialized nation. That's corporate taxes and individual taxes, both. So companies stand to make more money as American companies, individuals earning money stand to make more money as Americans, and success begets success, and suddenly America has some huge part of the world economy. And, of course, these businesses hire lots of Americans and give them high-paying jobs and everyone wins.
Except it appears that what is pretty good for business is not pretty good for workers.