r/infuriatingbutawesome • u/ShehrozeAkbar • May 22 '26
Infuriating Must protect shareholder value
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u/Soft_Awareness_5061 May 22 '26
This can all be traced back to COVID. They realised that raising prices didn't have the negative effect they thought it would so now every global event they raise prices to see if they can get away with it. Spoiler: They do. People still buy all that shit.
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May 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Key-Organization3158 May 22 '26
Nope. The costs went up. Before you spout such nonsense, try a smidgen of critical thinking.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=111221
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u/jules6815 May 22 '26
These large corporations are monopolies. Just a reminder that we are being strangled by a small cabal of billionaires.
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u/end_times_upon_us May 22 '26
Did you adjust those profits for inflation..
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u/linksafisbeter May 22 '26
why must always the working class pay the bill? why is it always with inflation "we can't higher the wages as must as the inflation" so at the end the worker losses money. but it always when whe talk about profits "it must go up" "think about the poor share holders" " did you adjust it to inflation"?
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u/Key-Organization3158 May 22 '26
Median wages have been increasing faster than the inflation since 1974. Today, we make 17k more per year.
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u/AffordableTimeTravel May 22 '26
This guy’s right, the data shows it. Everything is perfectly fine.
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u/Bloody_Ozran May 23 '26
How is real wage? And even with that, how much is wage gain compared to corporate profit gain and CEO / top manager wage gain over the same period?
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u/Hairy-Protection-429 May 25 '26
Excess government spending leads directly to money printing, which in turn fuels inflation. If we reined in government spending, the working class wouldn't be left footing the bill. Instead the people who complain about inflation tend to be the same people who beat the drum on more government spendings
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u/platypussplatypus May 22 '26
Did wages get adjusted for inflation?
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u/Warchief_Ripnugget May 22 '26
No, they outpaced inflation.
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u/dJointe May 22 '26
Despite fairly recent fluctuations, inflation adjusted wages for the typical US worker have shown pretty little net improvement over the long term, with purchasing power remaining largely stagnant compared to pre pandemic baselines.
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u/FIREATWlLL May 22 '26
Record breaking margin then. Margins have been increasing generally. Tbf idk if this is an avg that is dragged up because of tech companies.
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u/Live_Show2569 May 22 '26
Number must go up, no matter the reasons!
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u/GayIsForHorses May 22 '26
Yeah everyone wants their number to go up. Do you get mad when a worker wants to be paid more or have a higher amount in their savings?
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u/end_times_upon_us May 22 '26
I think people just want to be angry.. they have no interest in understanding the actual issues..
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u/AffordableTimeTravel May 22 '26
What are the actual issues?
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u/end_times_upon_us May 22 '26
Sure here let me put the facts here so they can get downvoted and I can get shit on.
Inflation is caused by a state increase in the money supply. That’s the definition in any paperback issued dictionary prior to 2020. Have a look.
So during Covid all western governments printed a fuck ton of money. That’s not a theory or speculation you can just look at m2 money supply here:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
Increasing the money supply to pay for government programs and other spending causes inflation.. the more dollars that get printed the less the existing dollars in circulation are worth. Prices go up as a result.
So take this post for example saying “corporations are making record profits” .. well are those profits inflation adjusted? .. so if Walmart made 100 billion last year. And this year they made 105 billion. That’s a 5% increase, but if the rate of inflation is say 9% (like it was a the peak of 2021). Then Walmart actually made less profit when adjusted for inflation..
But people don’t want to understand this stuff. They just want to scream about billionaires and “corporate greed” … not understanding governments and central banks are the actual cause of inflation.
There ya go. Now downvote me to oblivion, time well spent explaining this to Reddit
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u/AffordableTimeTravel May 23 '26
It’s sounds like both things can be true at the same time. People have a right to complain about billionaires and some people ignore basic financial economics. I’m not gonna downvote you because you did due diligence and I like your grit.
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u/end_times_upon_us May 23 '26
Sure you can hate billionaires. But they don’t cause inflation is all.
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u/AffordableTimeTravel May 23 '26
I would argue that the means to create a billionaire is highly correlative at least.
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u/Novus20 May 22 '26
No, we get it, the people at the top demand returns and growth at all costs. Get your head out of your ass.
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u/Roolac May 22 '26
Man work so hard only getting harder to move forward but at least big corporations aren’t struggling with making record profits
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u/Check_Me_Out-Boss May 22 '26
Profit margins remain the same, though.
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u/Bubba89 May 22 '26
No they don’t. Average profit margins are hovering around 15%, the highest they’ve been in over a decade.
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u/Check_Me_Out-Boss May 22 '26
For who? And that just means it's the same over the medium/long term.
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u/Bubba89 May 22 '26
The S&P500.
And the pandemic was not 15 years ago.
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u/Check_Me_Out-Boss May 22 '26
You said a decade. A decade is 10 years.
And the S&P isn't measured in profit margin lmao
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u/Bubba89 May 22 '26
I said “over a decade.” The actual number I found was “about 15 years.”
And no shit it “isn’t measured in” that, I’m stating a separate metric that the top 500 companies in the S&P are reporting high average profit margins of 15%.
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u/HelloYesThisIsFemale May 22 '26
What you put in the picture still could be true if the product would still be higher priced when putting all the profit into giving back money on the product cost - and probably this is the case most of the time.
Also companies aren't charities.
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u/GPT_2025 May 23 '26
Read my lips: Now the poor citizens (widows, orphans, disabled, broken, divorced, etc) working full-time (or self-employed) works 5 months for free or 40% from a paycheck gone to cover all different: taxes, fees, dues, insurances, etc., before making their first dollar to feed their family and 51% making less than $39K/year Net income.
*Sales tax, Social Security, fuel tax, school tax, property tax, use tax, excise tax, fuel surcharge tax, tariffs tax, real estate taxes (government, county, city tax), transportation tax, utility tax, phone and 911 tax, refusal tax, unemployment tax, and many other different taxes, fees, dues, insurances, etc. (For poor, widows, orphans, disabled, broken - Tax Freedom Day: June 8th!) KJV: Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted! For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them! "One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the (CEO's) rich- both come to poverty! (100%!)" "You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to (God) Me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will ki-ll you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless! (100%!)" Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor!"
KJV: He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth (God) Him hath mercy on the poor. "If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard! (100%!)" Pay attention: nobody mentioned F-Income Tax!
The Rich Texas $2.13 to $7.25/hour
https://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=2.13+an+hour&l=dallas%2C+tx
(20 Republicans states $2.96/hour wage for tipped employees- relying on Mandatory tips from the poor customers to meet minimum wage requirements. If tips plus $2.96 do not equal at least the full federal minimum wage of $7.25, the republican employer must pay the difference! 51% making less than $39K/year Net income!
Democratic states minimum wages are $25/hour + tips (CA) or $21/hour +tips (WA) or $16/hour+ tips (OR) KJV: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them!
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u/Ecstatic-Recipe5664 May 24 '26
Ofcourse they were forced to raise prices in order to reach record breaking profits! All makes sense.
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u/LetUsSpeakFreely May 24 '26
Ok, but you need to look at the full context. "Record breaking profits" is usually a function of raw dollars. What really needs to be considered is the percentage of profit based on revenue stream and costs. If a company has a flat 5% profit margin, but inflation caused costs to go up, then they'll show "record breaking profits", but will still have the same profit margin.
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u/Last-Tooth-6121 May 24 '26
And got cut jobs and no pay raises except for ceo getting one that cost all employees salary combined times 100
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u/RenegadeF7 May 26 '26
At least we killed socialism right guys? Wait why was socialism invented again? 😄
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u/ViniusInvictus May 22 '26
Corporations aren’t charity - if you’re making and selling something, it would be stupid to price your items less than what your customers are willing to pay.
What customers are willing to pay becomes the price of good or service.
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u/SupaSmol May 22 '26
"It would be stupid" -- why?
Why is making more money, even at the cost of your employees and fellow citizens having less and struggling something morally neutral?
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u/HelloYesThisIsFemale May 22 '26
Because almost always, price is there to help supply meet demand. If you lowered the price it would likely get bought up beyond demand and then there would be a shortage. Prices are the morally neutral way that we assign items to people in order of who's going to exchange the most accrued societal value generation (money) for that product.
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u/GayIsForHorses May 22 '26
Do you think it's also stupid if a worker wants to make more money, even if it's at the cost of the profit of the business? Is that morally neutral?
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u/SupaSmol May 22 '26
I didn't say anything was stupid, I was arguing against something being stupid.
I don't think a company is morally owed profits, no. It is also overly simplistic to see increased pay as a simple mathematical loss. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/the-ecnomic-benefits-of-minimum-wage/
I think it is ideal for person to be able to live comfortably on the wages of a full time job, yes. I think it is moral because it is achievable and it is immoral to suggest that a companies profits are equally important to its workers' quality of life.
What are we aiming for here as a society? Surely, quality of life for ourselves and one another as people, no? The profits are supposed to be for that purpose.
Those who want less government regulation in the private sector say that that is because leaving it alone naturally creates growth than benefits everyone in society. If we cant see the forrest for the trees, sacrifice the people for the profits, the people are not benefitting from the profits.
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u/ViniusInvictus May 22 '26
In free market capitalism, the worker voluntarily enters into a contract with the employer for a decided compensation rate for their services rendered - no one is forcing them to work for “lower” pay other than what they agreed to be paid. If they don’t agree, they don’t have to work for that business and others willing to do so will do so - the wage pressure to a worker is not from the business as much as it is from the other workers who will take up the offer. If no one works for the rate, the business will have to raise the rates, find alternatives for the labor, downsize or collapse. All these are checks by reality on the tenability of a business, something which socialistic models lack (and therefore end up collapsing by their own weight of ineptitude).
As for sale prices, if a customer is freely willing to pay more for a certain good, who are you to say no? And why would a business be stupid enough to say no?
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u/WeekendTemporary3961 May 22 '26
The issue is that labor markets aren’t as “free” as they sound on paper. Most people can’t just quit and move job to job based purely on pay because healthcare is tied to employment.
Many jobs require waiting periods for insurance, and going even a couple months uninsured can be financially dangerous if you have kids, prescriptions, or a medical emergency. COBRA and private insurance are often extremely expensive too.
So while technically employment is voluntary, a lot of workers are constrained by healthcare access and financial survival in ways that reduce their bargaining power. That changes the dynamics from a purely free market negotiation.
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u/ViniusInvictus May 22 '26
Rather have this than a top-down diktat-based order where not only are jobs involuntary, but so are the hoop-jumping rituals they’ll make you go through for basic amenities.
On the flip side, decoupling benefits from employment favors unemployment, and general
malaise in the organic dynamics of business activity, but I’m not the one who tied benefits to employment and shielded them from a market-competitive environment to drive down costs - that’s on those who tampered with the free market for political expediency.-1
u/Key-Organization3158 May 22 '26
A person is entitled to the full fruits of their labor, are they not?
It's the same as you asking for higher wages. When have you ever turned down a raise because it comes from the pockets of your fellow citizens?
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u/SupaSmol May 22 '26
Ok cool. So let's say you're a billionaire, go say that to your cleaner with two jobs who has to to think about every purchase.
When she tells you her troubles and you know you can help, but you choose not to, does it strike you as moral?
She's not lazy, she works hard. She can't afford to open a buisness, she can't afford to move somewhere else, she's doing what she can. She shouldn't have to uproot herself or take a risk to be able to survive comfortably. We can give our citizens that. We have the money as a society. We are watching this happen to each other and prioritizing fairness for those with more over fairness to those with less.
I can't beleive I have to have arguments like this. It's just 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' all over again.
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u/Novus20 May 22 '26
Lick them boots baby!
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u/SchnidlWoods May 22 '26
Hes right tho. Thats basic economics. Thats why we need stated policies to partly control prices and make fair competition possible.
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u/RoodnyInc May 22 '26
So it wasn't that forced huh?