[rsync]

"Record corporate profits are the key indicator here."

I am open minded to the notion that corporate profits indicate the direction of "pain flows" in this economy dominated by inflation concerns.

The first question I would ask is: are current corporate profits breaking records in real terms, or just nominal terms ?

I don't know the answer to that.

It would be disappointing, intellectually, to learn that corporate profits are simply up in absolute, nominal dollars ...

... but I've been disappointed before.