America should be mad as hell

[wu_shizzle]

Corporations only care about profits, workers only care about their paychecks. Nobody cares about the consumer.

If you want to continue to make profits or paychecks you have to care about the consumer.

[1979Shocker]

Find a way to make a profit and I guarantee that the local, state or federal government will find a way to take a cut of it from you or somebody will come after you for some type of legal claim that will make you question why you didn't just sit on your ass and find a way to take a government hand out. We (Our Country) has forgotten what made it so great. It certainly wasn't government handouts, that's Greece you're thinking of.

I haven't seen that happen in Wichita. In fact they've given companies large tax break just to keep them here. But even that doesn't guarantee they won't leave. Look at Boeing. They got all these tax incentives to stay here, but with operating costs higher here, even those tax incentives didn't help.

[SB Shock]

I haven't seen that happen in Wichita. In fact they've given companies large tax break just to keep them here. But even that doesn't guarantee they won't leave. Look at Boeing. They got all these tax incentives to stay here, but with operating costs higher here, even those tax incentives didn't help.

Boeing military problem was the split-up of Boeing commercial becoming Spirit. Their overhead then skyrocketed.

[Wu du Nord]

If you want to continue to make profits or paychecks you have to care about the consumer.

Actually, this is false. Quite false.

You (specifically) don't have to care about the consumer provided enough others care about the consumer.

Game Theory 101

;-)

[Wu du Nord]

Thank God for corporations. If government burdens weren't so great we would probably have a lot more of them. If we had more of them prices would probably be lower, unemployment would be lower and employment packages would be better.

But let's just keep taxing and regulating the bejesus out any company that wants to provide a product or service to somebody until there's not a single one left to hire anyone. I speak from experience. The profits better be good or it's just not worth it to put up with all of the legal and regulatory bs to be a business owner.

Find a way to make a profit and I guarantee that the local, state or federal government will find a way to take a cut of it from you or somebody will come after you for some type of legal claim that will make you question why you didn't just sit on your ass and find a way to take a government hand out. We (Our Country) has forgotten what made it so great. It certainly wasn't government handouts, that's Greece you're thinking of.

Er... WTF, mate?

This is crazy.

[Wu du Nord]

Do you mean to say that corperations have to hire people, have to provide jobs and wages in order to generate their products?

Or this...

Fifty years ago, the four most valuable U.S. companies employed an average of 430,000 people with an average market cap of $180 billion. This year, the four largest U.S. companies employ an average 120,000 people with an average market cap of $334 billion. The titans of 2011 have twice the the value of their 1964 counterparts with a quarter of the employees. (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...s-like/237589/)

[JohnnieBallgame]

Or this...

Were Thompson's numbers adjusted for inflation? I don't have time to follow the link right now.

Isn't the current value of the US dollar about 20% of the 1964 dollar? I'm not sure, only guessing.

I also think that if a corporation or a company does not treat customers and employees well, another company will take both from them. I know from my experience in operating a business, if I don't take care of good employees or customers that some other business will. If I can't make a profit, I can't continue to operate my business. If government penalizes/taxes my hardwork/profit to the point that it is no longer worth the hassle, I will find another place to invest my resources or stop placing them at risk.

[1979Shocker]

Here's an inflation calculator.

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

[WuDrWu]

Should I do more with less, or less with more?

I'm beginning to think the problems we face have much more to do with smart idiots than the entitlement crowd.

[Kung Wu]

Or this...

Wow. Just wow.

Go to that article and look at the two charts at the bottom. The 1964 chart has 10 companies while the 2011 chart has 9. Why? From his own footnote, the 10th company is Walmart which employees 2.1 MILLION employees. Add in Walmart and the top ten companies are employing 61% MORE employees! Then take his $180 billion valuation for the top 4 companies and with inflation adjustment that would mean the companies in 1964 were worth $1.25 TRILLION, yet the 2011 companies only make $334 BILLION -- earning WAY less than the top 4 in 1964, yet employing 61% MORE PEOPLE.

His argument is not only 100% completely wrong and backwards but it's so wrong it's laughable. It wasn't convenient to include Walmart, now was it? Why, because somehow it doesn't compare with any of the 10 companies from 1964? SEARS in is the 1964 list for the love of God!!

And this a-hole is a senior editor. Just embarrassing.

[Wu du Nord]

Just so we're clear, the answer is more people working at Walmart?

American people. Walmart employees.

Bazinga.

[Wu du Nord]

I also think that if a corporation or a company does not treat customers and employees well, another company will take both from them.

Your understanding of basic economic principles is rather underwhelming.

If government penalizes/taxes my hardwork/profit to the point that it is no longer worth the hassle, I will find another place to invest my resources or stop placing them at risk.

Yes, every tax is a penalty against your hard work.

Cry me a river.

[Kung Wu]

Just so we're clear, the answer is more people working at Walmart?

American people. Walmart employees.

Bazinga.

Correct. Hard working Americans doing work you're too good to do. That is indeed the answer.

Edit: Actually that's only half the answer. The other half is the federal goverment staying out of those hard working Americans' pockets so they can put some money aside for their future.

[Wu du Nord]

Correct. Hard working Americans doing work you're too good to do. That is indeed the answer.

Edit: Actually that's only half the answer. The other half is the federal goverment staying out of those hard working Americans' pockets so they can put some money aside for their future.

I'm not too good to hock cheap Chinese products at lower costs than American producers can ever possibly hope to match... and therein create a scenario in which more and more American manufacturing jobs are moved overseas.

I'm not 'too good' for that. I am just not sure that's the solution to an improving American economy and a sustainable middle-class.

YMMV.

Edit: YES, the only difference is tax burden.

[Kung Wu]

I'm not too good to hock cheap Chinese products at lower costs than American producers can ever possibly hope to match... and therein create a scenario in which more and more American manufacturing jobs are moved overseas.

I'm not 'too good' for that. I am just not sure that's the solution to an improving American economy and a sustainable middle-class.

Well, I am definitely sure that employers employing is a big part of the solution. The other half is to allow the employee to put enough money away to retire so that the socialists will have more elderly capitalists to kill with government death panels. I crack myself up.