The primary (and perhaps sole) justification for carrying the levels of risk shown above relates to corporate profits. As shown below, profit margins have reached levels not seen in decades....There are a lot of moving parts in the margin equation, but as shown in the second chart, reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement in margins.
Michael Cembalest, chief investment officer of JP Morgan, in a letter, dated July 11th,to the company's investors. He was attempting to explain how the company was seeing record profits in the middle of a, possible double-dip, recession. Mr. Cembalest would also go on to highlight the fact that JP Morgan's labor compensation to company sales, and labor compensation to GDP, ratios are both at 50-year lows.