Forum Settings
       
Reply To Thread

Down with capitalismFollow

#1 Nov 10 2021 at 7:59 PM Rating: Good
****
4,135 posts
https://popular.info/p/how-concentrated-corporate-power
____________________________
Dandruffshampoo wrote:
Curses, beaten by Professor stupidopo-opo.
Annabella, Goblin in Disguise wrote:
Stupidmonkey is more organized than a bag of raccoons.
#2 Nov 27 2021 at 3:40 PM Rating: Good
GBATE!! Never saw it coming
Avatar
****
9,957 posts
Screenshot


-"The future ain’t what it used to be."
____________________________
remorajunbao wrote:
One day I'm going to fly to Canada and open the curtains in your office.

#3 Jan 11 2022 at 7:38 PM Rating: Decent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts


Do you actually have an opinion on this? Or just wasting virtual ink?

The first clue that this article is written for a low attention space audience is this:

Quote:
In competitive markets, profit margins should approach zero, as long as there are reasonable substitutes available for a given product. But corporate profits as a share of the American economy have risen dramatically over the last two decades, from 5% of GDP to nearly 12%.


Totally non related statements, despite the "but" in the second sentence. You could have a fully competitive market, with profits "approaching zero", and also having an economy in which most or even all of the GDP is made up by corporate profits. Heck. If every single business in America just filed papers changing them into some form of corporation we would see that 100% number. How much profit each corporation makes on each sale is irrelevant to the total percentage of sales/profits/whatever that said corporate profits are of the entire economic picture.

Examine this analogous pair of statements:

"In competitive sports the point difference between the winning and losing team should approach zero" (true statement, the closer the games are, the more "competitive" they are, right?).

"But in the NBA, total points scored over each season has increased by 20% over the last 10 years". (no clue if that's actually true, but we'll pretend it is for this example).

No one in their right mind would conclude from these statements that the NBA has become less competitive, right? Cause you didn't actually point out whether the average point difference per game has changed. Total points in the NBA per season could mean more points per game (maybe rule changes that make it easier to score, but as long as both teams can equally take advantage of the rule changes, it's still competitive). It could also simply be because the NBA expanded the number of teams in the league, or maybe extended the season to more games. It means nothing. Similarly if the percentage of business done in an economy by corporations increase, then the total share of US GDP those corporation profits represent will increase as well. Doesn't tell us anything about how competitive the markets are. Just that maybe more small businesses are incorporating or something.

The article more or less goes downhill from there. I'm not saying that businesses in general (and certainly not something unique to corporations) don't try to increase profits when they can, but that reality is already baked into the cake. They were doing that before now and will continue to do so in the future. The question is what external effects caused this current increase? And yeah, excuse to pad profits or not, it's the inflationary effects going on. Which, in this case, are almost entirely being pushed by incredibly poor fiscal policy by most western governments.

I'll also point out that we're only seeing the first phase of that inflation. The first thing that happens is price increases. And of course, some of that is going to be profit padding. But businesses do that in preparation for phase two: wage increases. What do you think just happened at the end of this last fiscal year, when employees were all looking at 6-7% inflation in the economy, and then staring at their 1.5-3% yearly salary increase? Yeah. Businesses (especially big businesses) are all bracing for the inevitable demand for higher pay to make up for the increased cost of living, which means that they need to squirrel away profits to plan for that.

None of this is surprising, yet some folks seem surprised anyway. These are all normal predictable market responses when you literally pay people to not work, and then wonder why demand is outstripping supply. It's what happens when the political Left actually is able to implement their utopian dream of growing the economy via demand spending. Um... yeah. It "grows". So does inflation. Shocking. Or... not.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
Necro Warning: This post occurred more than thirty days after the prior, and may be a necropost.
#4 Jan 14 2022 at 2:39 PM Rating: Good
****
4,135 posts
My summoning powers are weak, even in this, my place of power. Over a month to get a gbaji sighting. It truly is the end days!
____________________________
Dandruffshampoo wrote:
Curses, beaten by Professor stupidopo-opo.
Annabella, Goblin in Disguise wrote:
Stupidmonkey is more organized than a bag of raccoons.
#5 Jan 20 2022 at 6:45 PM Rating: Decent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
stupidmonkey wrote:
My summoning powers are weak, even in this, my place of power. Over a month to get a gbaji sighting. It truly is the end days!


Let's just say that I was bored and scraping the bottom of the internet.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#6 Jan 31 2022 at 2:22 AM Rating: Good
****
4,135 posts
You still don't get hte last post
____________________________
Dandruffshampoo wrote:
Curses, beaten by Professor stupidopo-opo.
Annabella, Goblin in Disguise wrote:
Stupidmonkey is more organized than a bag of raccoons.
#7 Feb 01 2022 at 11:35 AM Rating: Good
GBATE!! Never saw it coming
Avatar
****
9,957 posts
I honestly thought, hand to God, that gbaji had died.

I gotta say that, despite my revulsion for his politics, I'm kinda glad he's not dead.

Stay classy, San Diego.
____________________________
remorajunbao wrote:
One day I'm going to fly to Canada and open the curtains in your office.

#8 Apr 04 2022 at 2:53 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
644 posts
You are the bottom of the Internet. So... you scraped yourself?
____________________________
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machin ery of night.
#9 Apr 06 2022 at 4:02 PM Rating: Good
****
4,135 posts
a challenger has entered the arena
____________________________
Dandruffshampoo wrote:
Curses, beaten by Professor stupidopo-opo.
Annabella, Goblin in Disguise wrote:
Stupidmonkey is more organized than a bag of raccoons.
#10 Apr 08 2022 at 5:43 PM Rating: Decent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
Grady wrote:
You are the bottom of the Internet. So... you scraped yourself?


False assumptions lead to false conclusions. Classic GIGO. ;)

Or... you could have go with something interesting, useful, and true like "Gee gbaji. That was an exceptionally insightful and intriguing commentary on the linked article in the OP. Let me respond to that with some commentary, opinions, ideas, etc in response!".

I'm not holding my breath though.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#11 Apr 08 2022 at 8:45 PM Rating: Decent
@#%^ing DRK
*****
13,143 posts
Substack is a cancer on the internets
#12 Apr 10 2022 at 5:18 AM Rating: Good
****
4,135 posts
gbaji wrote:
you could have go with something interesting


gbaji wrote:
you could have go


gbaji wrote:
go
____________________________
Dandruffshampoo wrote:
Curses, beaten by Professor stupidopo-opo.
Annabella, Goblin in Disguise wrote:
Stupidmonkey is more organized than a bag of raccoons.
#13 May 25 2022 at 2:45 PM Rating: Decent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
gbaji wrote:
I'll also point out that we're only seeing the first phase of that inflation. The first thing that happens is price increases. And of course, some of that is going to be profit padding. But businesses do that in preparation for phase two: wage increases. What do you think just happened at the end of this last fiscal year, when employees were all looking at 6-7% inflation in the economy, and then staring at their 1.5-3% yearly salary increase? Yeah. Businesses (especially big businesses) are all bracing for the inevitable demand for higher pay to make up for the increased cost of living, which means that they need to squirrel away profits to plan for that.


A month or so ago, the company I work for gave out a 5% pay increase for all regular non-executive positions.

It's like some of us actually understand economic forces and how they affect economic decisions and others are liberals who vote Democrat (then wonder why things fall apart).

In related news, I'm assuming no one here actually bought the Biden Administrations whole "Putin Price Hike" garbage. Right? I mean, we're right here in this thread reading about inflation in a November 10th article, so no one could possibly think that inflation was the result of an invasion that occurred in late February. Right? Right....?
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
Necro Warning: This post occurred more than thirty days after the prior, and may be a necropost.
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 264 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (264)