Corporate Profits Are Booming. Maryland Workers Should Ask Where Their Share Went.

By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews

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Corporate America is having a very good year.

U.S. corporate profits reached an annualized $4.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, a record in dollar terms. At the same time, workers’ share of national income has fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s.

That does not mean capitalism is broken.

It does mean Americans should be asking whether we still have competitive capitalism — or an economy increasingly tilted toward large corporations, entrenched incumbents and businesses with the scale or political connections to absorb costs that smaller competitors cannot.

Maryland is a useful place to look at that tension.

The state finally had a strong July, adding 11,700 jobs, including 10,900 in the private sector. Maryland has added 29,800 jobs through the first seven months of 2026, giving state officials something real to point to after a difficult stretch.

But one good month does not erase the larger structural problem. Maryland remains unusually dependent on Washington.

That vulnerability is showing up in real time. Amentum is cutting 382 jobs in Hanover after losing federal contract work. Crosby Marketing Communications is laying off 20 workers in Annapolis after losing a government contract. One decision in Washington can wipe out hundreds of Maryland paychecks almost overnight.

That is not a healthy level of dependence.

Maryland has spent years benefiting from proximity to the federal government, and there is nothing wrong with federal contracting itself. Those jobs are often well-paid and highly skilled.

The problem is when federal spending becomes a substitute for building a broader, more resilient private-sector economy. And that matters even more when corporate profits are soaring while workers’ share of the economy is shrinking.

The answer is not to punish profitable companies just for being profitable. Successful businesses create jobs, investment, innovation, and retirement wealth.

The answer is to make it easier for more people to compete.

Maryland should be lowering barriers to starting and expanding businesses, reducing unnecessary regulatory costs, encouraging manufacturing and technology investment, and making the state less dependent on government-connected growth.

• Small businesses should not have to compete against giant firms that can spread compliance costs across thousands of employees.
• Workers should not have to wonder whether their jobs disappear the moment a federal contract changes hands.
• Entrepreneurs should not need political access to survive.

This is the difference between capitalism and cronyism.

• Capitalism rewards risk, innovation, and productivity.
• Cronyism rewards scale, access and connections.

Maryland should be aiming for the first.

Record corporate profits are not inherently bad news. But they should come with a broader question:

Are ordinary workers, small businesses and entrepreneurs sharing in the upside — or are they increasingly watching from the sidelines?

Maryland does not need more dependence. It needs more competition, more private-sector depth, and more room for people to build something without waiting on Washington.

That is how you turn record profits into broad prosperity instead of another reminder that the biggest players keep getting bigger.

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