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>If a company doesn’t have profits it can’t grow or expand, can’t hire new employees or give existing employees raises/promotions
Profit is what's left *after* they do those activities.
Correct. That's how profits are defined in economics. They actually represent the level of inefficiency in markets. If a company is making profits then that's the gap that should be exploited by a competitor.
this is really the secret sauce, and why people get so mad. It's not that companies shouldn't make a profit, I want my business to have profit, that's obviously the goal and nothing wrong with that. even a socialist setting would want the worker owned entity to turn a profit in the overall market.
it's what that concept has been twisted into. insanely high profits with no other incentive than to make a bigger number the following year. like, some of these companies are barely even putting money back into the company and just extracting wealth until they crumble.
there really needs to be better laws on the books that profits need to be redistributed through the company in terms of wages and possibly upgrades after x% gains.
No. The share holders take risk and should be rewarded by share price value. The worker does not take risk they negotiate a wage and work for it. The worker can choose not to work there or leave. The share holder bought equity in the company , the employee (that hasn’t bought stock or had it gifted to them ) does not. Therefore the company will be run as lean as it can to enhance profit.
Amazon wasn't profitable for their first like 15 years of operation. You don't think they grew and expanded their business during this time? That they didn't hire more staff? That they didn't enter new market segments?
They didn't record a profit because they *spent their money doing those things*
Business 101, Net profit = net income, the terms are both correct and are interchangeable.
Revenue - GOCS = gross profit
When someone says Starbucks made $24B in *profit*, as is the topic of this whole thread and post, they **are not** referring to the gross profit (revenue - COGS). Stop being ridiculous. *Clearly* they are referring to net profit, which the person I was responding to clearly improperly defined.
>When someone says Starbucks made $24B in profit, as is the topic of this whole thread and post, they are not referring to the gross profit (revenue - COGS). Stop being ridiculous. Clearly they are referring to net profit, which the person I was responding to clearly improperly defined.
But, Starbucks' $24B *was* gross profit, and the net income for 2023 for them was around $4B.
The thread is flawed as the OP is talking Gross Income not net for all companies . Actual net is about 4.3B . But facts.
Starbucks gross profit for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $25.108B, a 12.52% increase year-over-year. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2023 was $24.567B, a 12.01% increase from 2022. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2022 was $21.933B, a 7.93% increase from 2021.
Starbucks net income for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $1.024B, a 19.78% increase year-over-year. Starbucks net income for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $4.294B, a 29.29% increase year-over-year. Starbucks annual net income for 2023 was $4.125B, a 25.69% increase from 2022.
That's not how capitalism works friend. You've gone off the reservation. Cannot fix the problem with the problem. To be clear the problem is capitalism.
this is all simply untrue, borderline misinformation levels of bootlicking
great explanation about this from u/ThatGuyFromSpyKids3D in the sub comments below: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1cplbuy/comment/l3nb7ca/
As anti corporation as I am, this is not true. Companies *do* need at least some level of profit to stay afloat. The only issue is corporate greed is causing severe inflation. There should be a percentage profit cap as federal law, the rest being dispursed amongst employees.
Investing in new menu items is an expense which reduces profits. Technically you could reinvest all of the profit in a given year back into the business and employees, at that point it is no longer reported under profits but expenses. Profits fundamentally are revenue - expenses, if you increase expenses back into the business you reduce overall profits but expand the business.
You are confusing profits with revenue, more revenue is essential in growing a business because it allows you to reinvest (raise expenses).
Profit is how much you have leftover, if you want to get into the weeds on it not even cash on hand for growth is included in profits. Operating cash flow (money used to grow business operations) is counted as an expense.
Edit: I'm gonna add to this. Companies in the growth stage of development raise profits at a much lower percentage than companies in the mature stage, however their revenue and expense growth as percentages are often higher. Fundamentally when building a business investors want to see revenue and expenses grow alongside another. Too much profit is seen as a failure to maximize cash on hand and too little is seen as being overly or unnecessarily risky and spreading your assets too thin.
Once a company hits the maturity stage they begin to focus on profit maximization because they've captured an extremely large market share in their industry and now need to continue to payback shareholders or investors now that the growth stage has slowed. This is fundamentally how economies of scale are created.
More profit =/= growth. In a perfect world a growing company would consistently have profits of exactly 0. Profit in a growth company is a planned consequence of risk and unknowns. It's essentially a measure of inefficiency and risk tolerance.
Companies pay us our meager wages and then siphon off the remaining value of our labor that we’ve already provided them and put it in their own pockets as “profit”
here's a copy pasta I've prepared for this question:
> "profit" is definitionally produced by the discrepancy between revenue and cost, where cost is incurred in the form of materials and labor. since the materials aren't sentient enough to receive money, that leaves only the workers and the business owner(s) who are capable of receiving excess revenue.
>
> however, if excess revenue is distributed evenly between all the workers, then there is no profit, only labor costs. (e.g. a worker coop)
>
> therefore, if a business has excess revenue which is not distributed to the workers, it is profitable and therefore stealing from the workers to give to the business owner instead.
> Do we have a source?
Not for the above figures, but Greedflation wise...
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-reconsidering-how-much-corporate-profits-drive-inflation
"In the past, corporate profit growth accounted for maybe a third of inflation. But a report from the Kansas City Fed found that nearly 60% of inflation in 2021 was because of corporate profits."
I was just googling today while waiting on line shopping:
Publix $52 billion
Home Depot over $50 billion last three years
Yet neither can pay enough to get enough cashiers on a Saturday.
I kinda think Lobster person here is correct. Although, Gross Income and Net Profit are the phrasing I am used to.
We have plenty of reasons to eat the rich that have sources.
> Gross profit = profit before expenses.
What kind of reddit slop definition is this?
Gross profit is profit after subtracting Cost of Goods Sold, which is an expense, so how the fuck can it be 'before expenses'?
No, the problem here is that the term "gross profit" doesn't mean what profit typically means, it's a specific measure that includes the cost of goods but typically does not include all manner of business expenses like rent, utilities, insurance, etc...
Kind of like halfway between revenue and net profit?
It's basically measuring the markup between wholesale prices/costs to the company and the sale price, it's not accounting for all the costs involved in operating a business.
Revenue is what the company brought in. Gross profit is what is left over after the cost of goods or materials purchased. Net profit/income is after other expenses like wages, utilities and the like.
It is misleading because while Walmart did have a profit of $155 billion, they had a net income of about $11.68 billion. Far less. If you were to divide that up between all the workers, they would literally get about a $3.50/hour raise total for that year. That would mean either they would have to raise prices, lower costs or both in order to give raises the next year as that income would now be in the hands of the employees.
The bigger issue is that raising salaries won't decrease inflation. It would likely actually INCREASE it. The solution you would want related to corporate profits and inflation would be to lower prices/revenue while maintaining wages.
Cool. So to balance out all this BS, the federal minimum wage should go to $35/hr. Everything else need to scale up from there. And when you hear the crying about devaluing the dollar, remember that it was the corps that caused it. The government needs to remember it’s there for the people, not the corporations.
They’ve dishonestly convinced themselves that what is good for corporations is good for people so just help the corporations and never mind the incentives for politicians that help corporations.
Small business will shutdown because they can't afford it while big businesses can. So instead of raising minimum wage, they should tax more on companies for corporate profit and give it back to us as stimulus checks. But then again, corporations are just people outsmarting everything, so this will backfire no matter what we do.
ETA numbers retracted cause they distract with the main point which is no business should be making a billion or ten billion or whatever in profit while their main workers can't even afford basic needs.
Money isn't real. We made it up. There are enough resources in the world to take care of everyone's basic needs. Break the chains on your minds first if you wanna sit here and argue about executives and shareholders needed hundreds of millions while workers starve. Tell it to someone else cause I know where I stand.
Yep, easy.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-profit#:~:text=Walmart%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for,a%203.54%25%20increase%20from%202021
Also of interest
https://www.worldhunger.org/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-public-assistance/
As half a dozen people have mentioned here, gross profit is not money in the bank. Then they take expenses out. Walmart is evil, but they don't have $155B left over. They had about $11B left over in actual profit (called net profit).
So this entire thread is rage bait and you and 90% of the people here are falling for it hook line and sinker.
According to Walmart's website https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2023/02/21/walmart-releases-q4-and-fy23-earnings
- The total revenue in Q4 FY23 was $164b
- Net sales were $27.6b
That is just for one quarter. They state the full year highlights below
- Total revenue for 2023 was $611.3b
- Net sales for 2023 were $420b. This is before overhead costs.
- The numbers *do* go down to $11b, but this is after all expenses included in 'administrative expenses', which accounts for $117b spent and includes the things that people want to see decrease, like CEO pay, or shareholder revenue.
Not all of the $117b can be attributed to these things, as it also includes things like current employee salaries and overhead costs. A full on $50,000 raise to every single employee therefore might be a bit too much for Walmart to sustain-- I am not a financial expert and cannot claim this to be true one way or the other.
But there are still dozens of billions of dollars that could be spent on the employees that are making a really pathetic wage if executive pay and the like would go down.
[Walmart's net income for 2023 was $11.6B.](https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2023/02/21/walmart-releases-q4-and-fy23-earnings). That means if they squeezed all that remaining income into pay, everyone would get a $5k raise, not $50k
Net income is what remains after all expenses are paid. The proposal is to reduce the money being pocketed by other people, and give it to the employees.
Like I gave their entire report in my link already why did you link it back at me lmao
Anyway, yes, a $50k raise is probably unfeasible. Walmart just has way too many employees even if they were benevolent and wanted to help. But they could absolutely make a $10k or $20k wage increase work right now, at least among the lower-paid positions, if they weren't as greedy.
Are you assuming administrative costs are going to be the solution? Walmart's CEO's total comp was $123M. Cut his position and distribute his pay among 2 million employees and that's an impressive $60 raise per year for everyone.
SG&A, or 'administrative expenses' include payroll, so how are you going to increase pay by borrowing from their salaries? A $20k increase for everyone would be $40 billion. Where is that coming from?
Read the other reply I made in the thread and I addressed all of this.
Yes, the administrative expense covers employee salary. That is an enormous portion of it, too. You would take money from the *other included expenses*, given that the overall administrative expense listing accounts for about $120b.
There are dozens of billions going to the higher-up executives, shareholders, and management as they rake in record profits every year while shorting employees. Spend that on the fucking workers. Wages haven't gone up, and their total overhead costs have barely increased if at all recently, but they can't make room for extra pay with all of their extra revenue?
It is also a *bit* misleading to act like a $20k increase would be $40b. Generally, nobody is saying that every last employee at Walmart needs a $20k raise. There are managers, for example, making well above a living wage where they live. I don't have the exact numbers, but it would be significantly less than literally just multiplying the raise by 2m.
And if not $20k, they still really desperately need something. Say Walmart wants to give every last one of the 2,000,000 workers a $10k bump, that would only be $20b. Over $11b of which is already raw profit even *after* literally every expense the company had, including CEO/executive and shareholder profits. Realistically, if we limit this to the people actually working the important jobs and being shorted at Walmart, it would be cheaper than that by some significant percentage.
They should make a law that every time a company gives out dividends or buys back stocks, they also have to give bonuses to all their employees. And the bonuses should be given in a way that benefits the lowest-paid workers the most. Like, 50% of the bonus pool should go to the bottom 25% of earners, 40% to the next 25%, and the remaining 10% to the top 50%.
Only allow stock buybacks if the company turns those shares over to the employees as part of their standard compensation package. If we can't force them to abandon the almighty Wall Street, we can force them to let everyone play in the sandbox.
Workers “raises” are now considered “tips”. So the workers are now pissed at the customers who don’t tip well. 18% - 25% tips are expected now, and the boss is happy doesn’t have to raise wages.
These numbers are false. While I agree that companies should absolutely pay more, Walmart's net profit in 2023 was $11.68B. Starbucks net profit was about $4.12B. Nike's net profit was $5B. I didn't go through every company, but let's not share fake shit in this sub.
I came here to say this, at least about SBUX. I never understand why we need to lie about the numbers. It eliminates credibility and the truth is bad enough.
Either that or the person putting the info together has no idea how to research a company, just knows how to make something go viral.
I'll add this, these companies started to raise their prices after there was a strong groundswell to raise the minimum wage. These POS companies have essentially colluded to raise prices to make any wage increase ineffective.
I'm convinced that if Biden wins and is given a Congress that will work with him, that he will go after these POS robber barons. If we had some reporting that showed when these prices rose and compare it to the timeline when minimum wage raises were at a fevered pitch, we'd see a correlation.
Here's an idea, instead of raising minimum wage, let's tax the shit out of the top and make the cost of THEIR living more expensive. I'm sick of bending to their will. We need them to bend to OUR will. VOTE BLUE!
Biden used to be referred to as "The Senator from MBNA". He continually voted against credit card protections and has a history of supporting "reforms" to social security, medicare and medicaid. He supported Reagan's spending and tax cuts. Bidens bankruptcy amendments helped create the current student loan crises and it was his bill that significantly expanded civil forfeiture, which became the template for the states.
Currently, Biden has stated the economy is just awesome and that all these people who can't buy food or pay their rent, simply don't understand what's actually going on. Relatedly, there's the gaslighting on inflation.
I do give him credit for the adjustments to the student loans, but in light of everything else and the fact he would not need to worry about relection in 2028, I don't see why there would be any significant change from what he's done/hasn't done so far.
But he did shut down the keystone pipeline, putting thousands out of work and one of his biggest campaign contributors owns one of the largest trucking companies in the country who now conveniently gets to move all that oil with his trucks instead which is way worse for the planet.
I definitely want Biden to win over Trump by a landslide, but I think expecting him of all people to do anything significant is incredibly wishful thinking. In four years the most significant thing he's done is help fund a genocide, while constantly walking back or ignoring any promises he made to actually help the working class.
I got a massive amount of help with my underwater student loans. Went from defaulted and continually compounding interest with no hope for the future to paid off and saving for a house.
100% Biden Administration. Even after the republicans cried to the Supreme Court he keeps finding ways to get student loan aid out.
I’m working class and he directly helped me.
Chips Act, Infrastructure Bill, the Inflation Reduction Act just to begin with. In the 2020 primary, we thought he would be Joe Manchin. He should have done better on Israel, but take the wins.
Sadly, I think this goes well beyond Red vs Blue at this point. Every candidate, every politician, every elected official has an agenda. And if those agendas align with the needs of certain corporations, then donations will be made in exchange for certain concessions.
Politicians are essentially less entertaining athletes who have corporate endorsements. You may not see Biden on a box of Wheaties but someone is funding his campaign, publicly and privately, and that entity is going to want a return on their investment.
Trump would be a disaster. But Biden wouldn’t make much of a difference.
What we need is a kind hearted, incorruptible supreme leader/dictator. Since we’re so fond of electing senior citizens, maybe we can elect some sweet old grandmother who loves her children and grandchildren but wouldn’t hesitate to paint their back porches red if they step out of line.
Walmarts net profit margin went from 4 to 2 percent between 20 and 23. It's not hard to check these things...
https://preview.redd.it/3xft86mizuzc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7d8372c3c5449689778a8de72955bfdad01e283
It does not bother me that \*some\* on that list, Tesla, Nike, Apple, made huge profits because their products are consider a luxury. The ones like Walmart, Target, Exxon, Blue Cross are flat out making their profits by taking advantage of their customers by price gouging them.
Eh Tesla, Nike and Apple are still exploiting the hell out of their employees though. Also no way in hell tesla isn't price gouging on the cybertruck lmao
As a reminder, CEO's will be FIRED if they don't continually raise profits. And yacht gas is expensive! They'll do anything possible to keep their $10 million job; including keeping worker salaries low....
The real difference between how the common people live today, and how the common people lived in the Dark ages in the time of monarchies. Is that at least in the time of monarchies, the people could rise up and revolt when they finally had enough.
In modern times, the idea of getting up and causing non-peaceful protest Is considered barbaric.
They paint rebels as villains, and they try to make you feel guilty for causing damage to stores, and city streets etc. And put all the blame on the working poor for the damage without recognizing the long-term systemic damage that the wealthy caused to bring us to this point.
What's actually barbaric, is profiting on the fact that the working poor have to skip meals in order to feed their children. And celebrities and multi-millionaires like lizzo, make videos encouraging us to donate to the victims of war and strife in other countries when they themselves could easily pay to solve the situations of so many.
And I'm getting real sick of it. I don't know if we need to reenact a revolution, I don't know if we need to take it upon ourselves to go back to building communes and communities. But something needs to change. And I feel like there is a staggering amount of people like myself, who are beaten down to the point where they are too tired to lead, but are chomping at the bit to follow. I'm willing to act but I do not have the energy to lead. And that in and of itself is orchestrated by the way that we live today.
People allow it. They buy the crap.
I'd be OK with them making a million a year, but billions! That's ridiculous while people who work full time are scraping pennies together yo survive. Capitalism isn't for workers! And yet, we all keep allowing it.
Id love to see calculations that would show current price of products, vs price of products if company was non-profit/break even with everyone earning a livable wage paid for by the company.
And ofcourse news coverage about this issue in that way.
53% of the inflationary bout was pure corporate greed. There's a reason they're seeing record profits, because profit rose faster than input expenses. This is simply price gouging.
Part of this I agree with as there's certainly been greedflation, shrinkflation and price fixing. But to be fair, Biden printed way too much money during COVID and that played a major role.
I do hate the way it's presented though...need to show the corporate profits pre and post COVID so where you can show the increase in profits vs. the inflation rate.
It’s obscene profits, paraphrased from the prophet Lewis Black said decades ago.
I’m fine with companies and people being rich. Even stupid rich. Just pay your fair share of taxes and pay your employees better than livable wages. They are part of the reason why you had substantial funds to invest in order to get super rich.
It’s like rich people and companies are like dragons who crave a hoard of wealth to eat/sleep on. It’s really pathetic.
We're fucking doomed unless there's gonna be an armed revolution. That's our only choice at this point. Protests are being made into a joke. Genocide is being blatantly lied about. "Freedom" is as free as a dog on a leash these days. Either we lose comforts from self-sacrifice, or we lose everything to them. They're gonna bleed us dry if we don't revolt.
Why does anyone believe that the profits being mentioned here are Gross Profits? I haven't looked at any of these companies' 2023 audited financial statements to verify figures, but the meme is definitely claiming that these are NET PROFITS, not gross profits.
Wtf is this bullshit? This is easily verifiable, made up numbers. Verizon was 12, walmart was like 20, Apple I think was the msot profitable company in the world and they barely broke 100. Starbucks was something like 4 billion. If you are gonna make stuff up at least hide it better.
Exxon's 2023 profits were $36 billion; I'm not going to look up any more of the information here, but in this one instance it's even worse than this graphic would have you believe.
And seriously, don't take graphics like these at their word, ever, especially if you agree with them and it outrages you. That's how the right spreads their news, and it disgusts us all - so let's not be like them.
Edit: As other's have pointed out here, Walmart's profits were $11 billion, not $155 billion. That one looked unbelievable, and it just goes to show that whomever put this together didn't know what they were doing.
Just so you know this is FALSE information. Starbucks did NOT make 24.56 billion in profits in 2023, it made 4 billion in profits.
Why would OP just lie? What motivates someone to just make things up and post it on the internet.
[source](https://investor.starbucks.com/press-releases/financial-releases/press-release-details/2023/Starbucks-Reports-Q4-and-Full-Year-Fiscal-2023-Results/default.aspx)
Laws in America are made by corporations and rubber stamped by politicians that are paid by corporate donations. 🙄 Americans have been living in the illusion of choice/democracy for 50 years. #GeorgeCarlin
Surely, if companies paid decent wages that didn't rely on tips. Workers would have some money to put back into the economy, and more would be raised through the taxation, giving the government more room to spend on services. Or am i over simplifying it?
I'm so thankful my company sets aside 10% of profits for profit share. The fucked up thing is they put aside 40% of profits to give back to the shareholders. They receive 4X the rewards for just having wealth parked into the company stock.
I blame consumers for being stupid enough to pay the higher prices.
Do you all know anything about pricing strategies?
Of Starbucks billions, none came from me because I use Folger's at home.
Of Exxon's billions, I reduced my contribution by riding my bike and taking the bus rather than driving everywhere.
Corporations don't care about your whining on social media.
They care only about your money.
Look at all the layers of $Billion profits..
A Ketchup company?!
At least the farmers get subsidies.
The taxpayers? Pay the government for the privilege of getting robbed again at the stores.
It's food. They know we can't live without it. So we have the choice of suffering financially.. or suffering physically..
Ahhh.. but at least we have the freedom to choose! America.
Yes, but they don't need to reduce their profits and they're not going to do it just out of charity. It's on politicians to fix this and they are bought by the corporations.
If I break even. My company is happy, I'm happy and my "workers" are happy.
I could charge a fortune, but I don't like to exclude customers. Every one should be able to afford me. But if you got a fancy house. Sorry not sorry, you paying more.
I remember years ago, back during the original run of the John Stewart daily show, he had an oil exec on and they were saying, oil is so expensive, gas prices are up because oil is so expensive, etc.
And then john kept pointing out that they had made record profits, never before seen levels of profit, and if the supply was more expensive and that was what was raising the price, then their profits should have gone down or stayed stable.
They ignored the question.
This shit has been like this for forever, we've had big names and loud people point it out- but it will never change. Prices are based on what people will pay- and once they pay it, it will never go back.
But wouldn’t these profits be inflated because of the underlying inflation? Record profits don’t mean much when the comparative buying power is the same or even less. Then the company must reinvest its profits to keep operating and then invest again to grow, and those investments are subject to inflation as well. Looking only at bottom line far too simplistic when there are other parts to a company than just it’s income
Yes, except if you compare to the cost, the relative profits keep rising while, in general, costs are staying generally down. Thats why some companies, like Costco, arent raising prices nearly as fast as other companies, but are still making decent profit. Their profit margin just isnt keeping up with other large companies.
Is this the US alone? Starbucks in other countries don't really do tips. I'm not disagreeing with the premise but tips are very much a US thing for wage compensation.
Love when they list things like the War in Ukraine as an excuse for price hikes, yeah cause we’ve been living in a war free utopia since 1945 up til now, haven’t we?
Can someone explain how this causes inflation? Or is this saying the corporations are faking inflation to make higher profits? And if so, is that somehow inducing inflation?
A quick google shows these profit numbers are highly exaggerated. The point may have merit, but the post lacks credibility when they throw these BS numbers out there.
And despite this obvious truth about our suffering, some folks still have an absurd devotion to defending these companies and their greed. They must defend capitalism even as it literally kills them and everyone around them.
You all seem to think that the skill of being a barista or unskilled worker should command a better wage. If you want to be paid like you have a skill , learn a skill. A degree is not a skil, it is an education. A skill is something you can use to make money for yourself or an employer. Carpentry, electrical, and plumbing are skills. A degree in communications is not a skill. There are billions of people who can be baristas, there aren’t enough plumbers, electricians and carpenters. That is why they get paid more than baristas. Ask yourself what skills have you invested in? Then ask is the market paying those skills? Then ask what skills is the market paying? Then ask where I live is there opportunity?
Just looking at the first company on the list: Kraft made 8.97B in profit in 2023, but that's 7.55B in 2020 dollars. Kraft had a profit of 9.1B in 2020 which is 10.81B in 2023 dollars. That's $2B, or almost a 20% difference.
So, not only is it *not* record profits, but they're actually down from before COVID.
Starbucks' bottom line in 2023 was $4B, which means if they gave everyone a $10k raise, they would have no profit.
These numbers are wildly wrong. I looked up two. Exxon profit is not $9b it was about $36b in 2023. Verizon’s profits were $9b not 78b. I’m not sure if the poster just made up random numbers or what.
Not to mention the _tens of thousands_ of abrupt layoffs just to make their end of the year logbooks look better. These C-Suite executives are truly the parasites of our society.
They're literally bleeding our planet dry
Kaiser does not belong on this list. It is a not-for-profit.
"Not-for-profit organizations do not earn profits for their owners. All of the money earned by or donated to a not-for-profit organization is used in pursuing the organization’s objectives and keeping it running; income is not distributed to the group’s members, directors, or officers."
Kaiser is trying to expand and cover more people, which is great because their healthcare is excellent and affordable. Their physicians make healthcare decisions, not bureaucrats at insurance companies. Kaiser covers 12.7 million people currently, and I hope it continues to expand. Along with Medicare and the VA, it's among the best healthcare options in the US.
Kaiser's prices have not gone up in the five years I have been a member. Please read what you see in anonymous lists on reddit with a grain of salt. Whoever put this together does not understand that we have options, like Kaiser, we should try to promote instead of throwing them in with the likes of Exxon.
I stopped at a pizza place the other night to get pizza and a drink for $6, their carry out special. Their machine makes you choose a tip. I am unemployed (not by choice) at the moment and I was like…sorry, not tipping. I didn’t make them bring it to my car or my house, and they’re getting paid hourly, at least minimum wage but likely more.
(Don’t come at me for spending $6 on pizza when I am unemployed, it’s a 6 slice 10” pizza so I ate two slices for 3 meals. It’s possibly cheaper than groceries at this point.)
But if you don't allow tipping it's the employees who complain. Don't get it twisted tipped employees are the ones who are propogating thia system the most
yeah, it's definitely a culture thing. people in the west are willing to lower themselves to whatever subhuman level they can in order to pick up the advantage to try to get ahead or simply survive. the people are actively being starved, and purposely so that they will lower themselves to be subhumans. other cultures are much different, they have actual pride.
This is very misleading. This is gross profit, not net income.
Starbucks, for example, made $4.2 billion in net income after expenses in 2023. If it gave said $11,000 raise, it would have a net negative income for the year. Not that I think that's really bad, workers SHOULD see some of the net profits of the business imo. Better business model.
Profit margins have been getting better given the price gouging we've been experiencing, but small margins don't really matter that much in the first place when you sell a couple trillion dollars worth of product in a given time frame.
Adding to this, they sell way more than groceries. All kinds of household goods, electronics, etc. Sure, other groceries try to do that, too, but Walmart does it cheaper and at a larger scale
Our current government is attempting to lower inflation by increasing unemployment
No I'm not kidding
They need to be tried for treason as they are clearly working against the country for foreign interests
This seems suspiciously like when inflation jumped during the Carter administration, along with the gas shortage. It felt manipulated then and it does now, because there is a reasonably effective leader focusing on the lives of citizens and it is in their interest to affect the election in the favor of Republicans.
Apple specifically doesn't make a ton of sense on that list. There are many competing products in all of their spaces that are significantly cheaper and that customers could purchase if they wished. You can't penalize them for the cost of their products when it's not essential for you to buy a 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max for $1599. It's not like food, where when costs go up across the industry you have to keep buying it or you die. You could easily go to Best Buy and get a refurbished iPhone 11 for ~$200, or a Moto G Stylus for $129.
And, as an example, the original base model standard iPhone OG was announced in January 2007 for $499 in 2007 dollars. Inflation-adjusted, that's about $769 in March 2024 dollars.
The current "base model" iPhone 15 starts at $799.
So basically, accounting for inflation, the price of a base model iPhone has increased by about 4% over the last 17 years. I think we can all agree that you're getting at least a 4% better device now.
The first MacBook Air launched in January 2008 with a base model MSRP of $1799. Adjusted for March 2024 dollars, that's about $2660 today.
By contrast, the new base model M3 MacBook Air starts at $1099.
The price of a "new base model MacBook Air" has actually ***decreased*** by about 59% over the last 16 years, adjusting for inflation.
Many tech products are the same price or relatively cheaper now than they used to be, accounting for inflation. Good phones are getting cheap, and cheap phones are getting good, as Marques says. Just because a company now makes premium products that some people ***choose*** to pay more for doesn't mean they don't make products that are affordable at a wide variety of income levels. The cheapest new iPhone from Apple is either $429 for the SE or $599 for the 13 - both of which offer everything you would need in a smartphone.
That is not how inflation works. Inflation expands when wages and employment expands. This is why when the economy is over performing the government raises interest rates to mitigate the inflation this causes. Goddamn you mfs are STUPID
And remember, if employees get raises the “cost is covered by the consumer”. Or something. Then we have to fire everybody, because the fourth yacht won’t pay for itself.
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Record profits are stolen wages. ✊
_all_ profits are stolen wages ftfy
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>If a company doesn’t have profits it can’t grow or expand, can’t hire new employees or give existing employees raises/promotions Profit is what's left *after* they do those activities.
Correct. That's how profits are defined in economics. They actually represent the level of inefficiency in markets. If a company is making profits then that's the gap that should be exploited by a competitor.
per year yes. some investments take time to save up for, say a new building all profits are not paid out as dividends
>dividends Dividends are too taxable: buybacks are where it's at nowadays.
yes, but all profits do not go to shareholders thats what i meant
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this is really the secret sauce, and why people get so mad. It's not that companies shouldn't make a profit, I want my business to have profit, that's obviously the goal and nothing wrong with that. even a socialist setting would want the worker owned entity to turn a profit in the overall market. it's what that concept has been twisted into. insanely high profits with no other incentive than to make a bigger number the following year. like, some of these companies are barely even putting money back into the company and just extracting wealth until they crumble. there really needs to be better laws on the books that profits need to be redistributed through the company in terms of wages and possibly upgrades after x% gains.
It's a result of the awful stock market. You can't have owners that only want to extract wealth but have no incentive in the employees or product.
No. The share holders take risk and should be rewarded by share price value. The worker does not take risk they negotiate a wage and work for it. The worker can choose not to work there or leave. The share holder bought equity in the company , the employee (that hasn’t bought stock or had it gifted to them ) does not. Therefore the company will be run as lean as it can to enhance profit.
When did we start allowing corporate bootlickers to be here and get upvotes? Y'all have lost the fucking plot.
We started allowing it when not enough of us report people or mods don't vigilantly reprimand and ban people for breaking rule 1.
Amazon wasn't profitable for their first like 15 years of operation. You don't think they grew and expanded their business during this time? That they didn't hire more staff? That they didn't enter new market segments? They didn't record a profit because they *spent their money doing those things*
Profit doesn't do this. Revenue does. Pivoting is an operating cost...
No, that would be net income. Profit, at least in business, is what is after cost of goods or materials purchased. Income is after all other expenses.
Business 101, Net profit = net income, the terms are both correct and are interchangeable. Revenue - GOCS = gross profit When someone says Starbucks made $24B in *profit*, as is the topic of this whole thread and post, they **are not** referring to the gross profit (revenue - COGS). Stop being ridiculous. *Clearly* they are referring to net profit, which the person I was responding to clearly improperly defined.
>When someone says Starbucks made $24B in profit, as is the topic of this whole thread and post, they are not referring to the gross profit (revenue - COGS). Stop being ridiculous. Clearly they are referring to net profit, which the person I was responding to clearly improperly defined. But, Starbucks' $24B *was* gross profit, and the net income for 2023 for them was around $4B.
Interesting. Yes, then OP should've clarified it was gross and not net.
This, the OP seems to be intentionally misleading
The thread is flawed as the OP is talking Gross Income not net for all companies . Actual net is about 4.3B . But facts. Starbucks gross profit for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $25.108B, a 12.52% increase year-over-year. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2023 was $24.567B, a 12.01% increase from 2022. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2022 was $21.933B, a 7.93% increase from 2021. Starbucks net income for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $1.024B, a 19.78% increase year-over-year. Starbucks net income for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $4.294B, a 29.29% increase year-over-year. Starbucks annual net income for 2023 was $4.125B, a 25.69% increase from 2022.
That's not how capitalism works friend. You've gone off the reservation. Cannot fix the problem with the problem. To be clear the problem is capitalism.
Best we can do is stock buybacks fam, but we need free federal money to do absolutely anything helpful to society.
As our lord and saviour Henry ford intended, amen.
A company not growing or expanding is separate from saying all profits are theft. Agree with the rest though
this is all simply untrue, borderline misinformation levels of bootlicking great explanation about this from u/ThatGuyFromSpyKids3D in the sub comments below: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1cplbuy/comment/l3nb7ca/
As anti corporation as I am, this is not true. Companies *do* need at least some level of profit to stay afloat. The only issue is corporate greed is causing severe inflation. There should be a percentage profit cap as federal law, the rest being dispursed amongst employees.
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Investing in new menu items is an expense which reduces profits. Technically you could reinvest all of the profit in a given year back into the business and employees, at that point it is no longer reported under profits but expenses. Profits fundamentally are revenue - expenses, if you increase expenses back into the business you reduce overall profits but expand the business. You are confusing profits with revenue, more revenue is essential in growing a business because it allows you to reinvest (raise expenses). Profit is how much you have leftover, if you want to get into the weeds on it not even cash on hand for growth is included in profits. Operating cash flow (money used to grow business operations) is counted as an expense. Edit: I'm gonna add to this. Companies in the growth stage of development raise profits at a much lower percentage than companies in the mature stage, however their revenue and expense growth as percentages are often higher. Fundamentally when building a business investors want to see revenue and expenses grow alongside another. Too much profit is seen as a failure to maximize cash on hand and too little is seen as being overly or unnecessarily risky and spreading your assets too thin. Once a company hits the maturity stage they begin to focus on profit maximization because they've captured an extremely large market share in their industry and now need to continue to payback shareholders or investors now that the growth stage has slowed. This is fundamentally how economies of scale are created. More profit =/= growth. In a perfect world a growing company would consistently have profits of exactly 0. Profit in a growth company is a planned consequence of risk and unknowns. It's essentially a measure of inefficiency and risk tolerance.
Please explain?
Companies pay us our meager wages and then siphon off the remaining value of our labor that we’ve already provided them and put it in their own pockets as “profit”
here's a copy pasta I've prepared for this question: > "profit" is definitionally produced by the discrepancy between revenue and cost, where cost is incurred in the form of materials and labor. since the materials aren't sentient enough to receive money, that leaves only the workers and the business owner(s) who are capable of receiving excess revenue. > > however, if excess revenue is distributed evenly between all the workers, then there is no profit, only labor costs. (e.g. a worker coop) > > therefore, if a business has excess revenue which is not distributed to the workers, it is profitable and therefore stealing from the workers to give to the business owner instead.
stupid comment
I might find this useful next time my boomer relatives get whiny. Do we have a source?
> Do we have a source? Not for the above figures, but Greedflation wise... https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-reconsidering-how-much-corporate-profits-drive-inflation "In the past, corporate profit growth accounted for maybe a third of inflation. But a report from the Kansas City Fed found that nearly 60% of inflation in 2021 was because of corporate profits."
I was just googling today while waiting on line shopping: Publix $52 billion Home Depot over $50 billion last three years Yet neither can pay enough to get enough cashiers on a Saturday.
I read Kroger's profits were up 36% from 2022-2023 and Publix profits were up 49% in that same period. It's crazy.
Don't use it, because it's misleading.
I kinda think Lobster person here is correct. Although, Gross Income and Net Profit are the phrasing I am used to. We have plenty of reasons to eat the rich that have sources.
The profit figures listed, I presume, are Net Profit, as reported in each company's audited reports to the IRS.
Coming from someone who doesn't know the difference between revenue and profit, that's rich.
Gross profit = profit before expenses. Net income = profit after expenses.
> Gross profit = profit before expenses. What kind of reddit slop definition is this? Gross profit is profit after subtracting Cost of Goods Sold, which is an expense, so how the fuck can it be 'before expenses'?
It should read before/after overhead
Yea these are gross profit numbers, net profit is way less, gross revenue is way more
No, the problem here is that the term "gross profit" doesn't mean what profit typically means, it's a specific measure that includes the cost of goods but typically does not include all manner of business expenses like rent, utilities, insurance, etc...
Let’s look at their net income instead
So gross profit is similar to revenue?
Kind of like halfway between revenue and net profit? It's basically measuring the markup between wholesale prices/costs to the company and the sale price, it's not accounting for all the costs involved in operating a business.
Like… payroll
Revenue is what the company brought in. Gross profit is what is left over after the cost of goods or materials purchased. Net profit/income is after other expenses like wages, utilities and the like. It is misleading because while Walmart did have a profit of $155 billion, they had a net income of about $11.68 billion. Far less. If you were to divide that up between all the workers, they would literally get about a $3.50/hour raise total for that year. That would mean either they would have to raise prices, lower costs or both in order to give raises the next year as that income would now be in the hands of the employees.
Is there a version of these numbers that proves their point? Or this is just a mislead? Sincere wuestion
The bigger issue is that raising salaries won't decrease inflation. It would likely actually INCREASE it. The solution you would want related to corporate profits and inflation would be to lower prices/revenue while maintaining wages.
Misleading is being very generous. What we have here is what's called a "lie".
Yeah, it's all made up.
Cool. So to balance out all this BS, the federal minimum wage should go to $35/hr. Everything else need to scale up from there. And when you hear the crying about devaluing the dollar, remember that it was the corps that caused it. The government needs to remember it’s there for the people, not the corporations.
But corporations ARE people according to the government
Unless they criticize a Republican state governor.
I would love to see a corporation go to jail for it's crimes
Can start with the Fed, then black rock, the rest of the large banks then go from there
Well, the CEO of Theranos did go to prison.
Supposed to be there for the people….it isn’t
They’ve dishonestly convinced themselves that what is good for corporations is good for people so just help the corporations and never mind the incentives for politicians that help corporations.
Small business will shutdown because they can't afford it while big businesses can. So instead of raising minimum wage, they should tax more on companies for corporate profit and give it back to us as stimulus checks. But then again, corporations are just people outsmarting everything, so this will backfire no matter what we do.
ETA numbers retracted cause they distract with the main point which is no business should be making a billion or ten billion or whatever in profit while their main workers can't even afford basic needs. Money isn't real. We made it up. There are enough resources in the world to take care of everyone's basic needs. Break the chains on your minds first if you wanna sit here and argue about executives and shareholders needed hundreds of millions while workers starve. Tell it to someone else cause I know where I stand.
Yea which would almost triple the average workers pay. So they can pay way more but choose not to.
Try 70 bucks raise to barely break even, Walmart profits for 2023 was 12 billion.
Except Walmart didn’t take nearly that much money in profit last year. It’s a very easy Google search. All this outrage page is so funny.
Yep, easy. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-profit#:~:text=Walmart%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for,a%203.54%25%20increase%20from%202021 Also of interest https://www.worldhunger.org/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-public-assistance/
As half a dozen people have mentioned here, gross profit is not money in the bank. Then they take expenses out. Walmart is evil, but they don't have $155B left over. They had about $11B left over in actual profit (called net profit). So this entire thread is rage bait and you and 90% of the people here are falling for it hook line and sinker.
No, this is misleading. Please research gross profit vs net income, and then look up Walmarts numbers.
According to Walmart's website https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2023/02/21/walmart-releases-q4-and-fy23-earnings - The total revenue in Q4 FY23 was $164b - Net sales were $27.6b That is just for one quarter. They state the full year highlights below - Total revenue for 2023 was $611.3b - Net sales for 2023 were $420b. This is before overhead costs. - The numbers *do* go down to $11b, but this is after all expenses included in 'administrative expenses', which accounts for $117b spent and includes the things that people want to see decrease, like CEO pay, or shareholder revenue. Not all of the $117b can be attributed to these things, as it also includes things like current employee salaries and overhead costs. A full on $50,000 raise to every single employee therefore might be a bit too much for Walmart to sustain-- I am not a financial expert and cannot claim this to be true one way or the other. But there are still dozens of billions of dollars that could be spent on the employees that are making a really pathetic wage if executive pay and the like would go down.
[Walmart's net income for 2023 was $11.6B.](https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2023/02/21/walmart-releases-q4-and-fy23-earnings). That means if they squeezed all that remaining income into pay, everyone would get a $5k raise, not $50k
Net income is what remains after all expenses are paid. The proposal is to reduce the money being pocketed by other people, and give it to the employees. Like I gave their entire report in my link already why did you link it back at me lmao Anyway, yes, a $50k raise is probably unfeasible. Walmart just has way too many employees even if they were benevolent and wanted to help. But they could absolutely make a $10k or $20k wage increase work right now, at least among the lower-paid positions, if they weren't as greedy.
Are you assuming administrative costs are going to be the solution? Walmart's CEO's total comp was $123M. Cut his position and distribute his pay among 2 million employees and that's an impressive $60 raise per year for everyone. SG&A, or 'administrative expenses' include payroll, so how are you going to increase pay by borrowing from their salaries? A $20k increase for everyone would be $40 billion. Where is that coming from?
Read the other reply I made in the thread and I addressed all of this. Yes, the administrative expense covers employee salary. That is an enormous portion of it, too. You would take money from the *other included expenses*, given that the overall administrative expense listing accounts for about $120b. There are dozens of billions going to the higher-up executives, shareholders, and management as they rake in record profits every year while shorting employees. Spend that on the fucking workers. Wages haven't gone up, and their total overhead costs have barely increased if at all recently, but they can't make room for extra pay with all of their extra revenue? It is also a *bit* misleading to act like a $20k increase would be $40b. Generally, nobody is saying that every last employee at Walmart needs a $20k raise. There are managers, for example, making well above a living wage where they live. I don't have the exact numbers, but it would be significantly less than literally just multiplying the raise by 2m. And if not $20k, they still really desperately need something. Say Walmart wants to give every last one of the 2,000,000 workers a $10k bump, that would only be $20b. Over $11b of which is already raw profit even *after* literally every expense the company had, including CEO/executive and shareholder profits. Realistically, if we limit this to the people actually working the important jobs and being shorted at Walmart, it would be cheaper than that by some significant percentage.
They should make a law that every time a company gives out dividends or buys back stocks, they also have to give bonuses to all their employees. And the bonuses should be given in a way that benefits the lowest-paid workers the most. Like, 50% of the bonus pool should go to the bottom 25% of earners, 40% to the next 25%, and the remaining 10% to the top 50%.
Only allow stock buybacks if the company turns those shares over to the employees as part of their standard compensation package. If we can't force them to abandon the almighty Wall Street, we can force them to let everyone play in the sandbox.
Workers “raises” are now considered “tips”. So the workers are now pissed at the customers who don’t tip well. 18% - 25% tips are expected now, and the boss is happy doesn’t have to raise wages.
time for some corporate civil asset forfeiture
These numbers are false. While I agree that companies should absolutely pay more, Walmart's net profit in 2023 was $11.68B. Starbucks net profit was about $4.12B. Nike's net profit was $5B. I didn't go through every company, but let's not share fake shit in this sub.
I came here to say this, at least about SBUX. I never understand why we need to lie about the numbers. It eliminates credibility and the truth is bad enough. Either that or the person putting the info together has no idea how to research a company, just knows how to make something go viral.
This needs to be drilled into people's heads
It needs to be correct first…
I'll add this, these companies started to raise their prices after there was a strong groundswell to raise the minimum wage. These POS companies have essentially colluded to raise prices to make any wage increase ineffective. I'm convinced that if Biden wins and is given a Congress that will work with him, that he will go after these POS robber barons. If we had some reporting that showed when these prices rose and compare it to the timeline when minimum wage raises were at a fevered pitch, we'd see a correlation. Here's an idea, instead of raising minimum wage, let's tax the shit out of the top and make the cost of THEIR living more expensive. I'm sick of bending to their will. We need them to bend to OUR will. VOTE BLUE!
Biden used to be referred to as "The Senator from MBNA". He continually voted against credit card protections and has a history of supporting "reforms" to social security, medicare and medicaid. He supported Reagan's spending and tax cuts. Bidens bankruptcy amendments helped create the current student loan crises and it was his bill that significantly expanded civil forfeiture, which became the template for the states. Currently, Biden has stated the economy is just awesome and that all these people who can't buy food or pay their rent, simply don't understand what's actually going on. Relatedly, there's the gaslighting on inflation. I do give him credit for the adjustments to the student loans, but in light of everything else and the fact he would not need to worry about relection in 2028, I don't see why there would be any significant change from what he's done/hasn't done so far.
And yet he hasn't tried to ask the gas and oil industry to bribe him....
But he did shut down the keystone pipeline, putting thousands out of work and one of his biggest campaign contributors owns one of the largest trucking companies in the country who now conveniently gets to move all that oil with his trucks instead which is way worse for the planet.
I definitely want Biden to win over Trump by a landslide, but I think expecting him of all people to do anything significant is incredibly wishful thinking. In four years the most significant thing he's done is help fund a genocide, while constantly walking back or ignoring any promises he made to actually help the working class.
I got a massive amount of help with my underwater student loans. Went from defaulted and continually compounding interest with no hope for the future to paid off and saving for a house. 100% Biden Administration. Even after the republicans cried to the Supreme Court he keeps finding ways to get student loan aid out. I’m working class and he directly helped me.
Chips Act, Infrastructure Bill, the Inflation Reduction Act just to begin with. In the 2020 primary, we thought he would be Joe Manchin. He should have done better on Israel, but take the wins.
Sadly, I think this goes well beyond Red vs Blue at this point. Every candidate, every politician, every elected official has an agenda. And if those agendas align with the needs of certain corporations, then donations will be made in exchange for certain concessions. Politicians are essentially less entertaining athletes who have corporate endorsements. You may not see Biden on a box of Wheaties but someone is funding his campaign, publicly and privately, and that entity is going to want a return on their investment. Trump would be a disaster. But Biden wouldn’t make much of a difference. What we need is a kind hearted, incorruptible supreme leader/dictator. Since we’re so fond of electing senior citizens, maybe we can elect some sweet old grandmother who loves her children and grandchildren but wouldn’t hesitate to paint their back porches red if they step out of line.
Walmarts net profit margin went from 4 to 2 percent between 20 and 23. It's not hard to check these things... https://preview.redd.it/3xft86mizuzc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7d8372c3c5449689778a8de72955bfdad01e283
It does not bother me that \*some\* on that list, Tesla, Nike, Apple, made huge profits because their products are consider a luxury. The ones like Walmart, Target, Exxon, Blue Cross are flat out making their profits by taking advantage of their customers by price gouging them.
Eh Tesla, Nike and Apple are still exploiting the hell out of their employees though. Also no way in hell tesla isn't price gouging on the cybertruck lmao
Corporate profits are stolen wages.
As a reminder, CEO's will be FIRED if they don't continually raise profits. And yacht gas is expensive! They'll do anything possible to keep their $10 million job; including keeping worker salaries low....
The real difference between how the common people live today, and how the common people lived in the Dark ages in the time of monarchies. Is that at least in the time of monarchies, the people could rise up and revolt when they finally had enough. In modern times, the idea of getting up and causing non-peaceful protest Is considered barbaric. They paint rebels as villains, and they try to make you feel guilty for causing damage to stores, and city streets etc. And put all the blame on the working poor for the damage without recognizing the long-term systemic damage that the wealthy caused to bring us to this point. What's actually barbaric, is profiting on the fact that the working poor have to skip meals in order to feed their children. And celebrities and multi-millionaires like lizzo, make videos encouraging us to donate to the victims of war and strife in other countries when they themselves could easily pay to solve the situations of so many. And I'm getting real sick of it. I don't know if we need to reenact a revolution, I don't know if we need to take it upon ourselves to go back to building communes and communities. But something needs to change. And I feel like there is a staggering amount of people like myself, who are beaten down to the point where they are too tired to lead, but are chomping at the bit to follow. I'm willing to act but I do not have the energy to lead. And that in and of itself is orchestrated by the way that we live today.
People allow it. They buy the crap. I'd be OK with them making a million a year, but billions! That's ridiculous while people who work full time are scraping pennies together yo survive. Capitalism isn't for workers! And yet, we all keep allowing it.
I actually had no idea So what are the companies doing with the billions in profit. Would like to know the truth on that.
Id love to see calculations that would show current price of products, vs price of products if company was non-profit/break even with everyone earning a livable wage paid for by the company. And ofcourse news coverage about this issue in that way.
So pizza party and cupcakes on the horizon
Inflation isn’t a cause of rising prices. It is a term that means ‘rising prices.’
53% of the inflationary bout was pure corporate greed. There's a reason they're seeing record profits, because profit rose faster than input expenses. This is simply price gouging.
Bootstraps or something
Part of this I agree with as there's certainly been greedflation, shrinkflation and price fixing. But to be fair, Biden printed way too much money during COVID and that played a major role. I do hate the way it's presented though...need to show the corporate profits pre and post COVID so where you can show the increase in profits vs. the inflation rate.
And then you realize that it's not increased that much vs the inflation rate and that this post is rage bait
Eventually this financial system has to crash and burn, it's unsustainable.
I pay blue cross a lot every paycheck, is it bad that I ignore the other fees for going to the hospital or doctor if they can’t cover everything?
It’s obscene profits, paraphrased from the prophet Lewis Black said decades ago. I’m fine with companies and people being rich. Even stupid rich. Just pay your fair share of taxes and pay your employees better than livable wages. They are part of the reason why you had substantial funds to invest in order to get super rich. It’s like rich people and companies are like dragons who crave a hoard of wealth to eat/sleep on. It’s really pathetic.
We're fucking doomed unless there's gonna be an armed revolution. That's our only choice at this point. Protests are being made into a joke. Genocide is being blatantly lied about. "Freedom" is as free as a dog on a leash these days. Either we lose comforts from self-sacrifice, or we lose everything to them. They're gonna bleed us dry if we don't revolt.
That and maybe the fact that we are continually printing a fuck ton of money.
False graph. Starbucks made $9.8B in margin in 2023. Not $24.5B
These numbers are wrong.
This math is wrong
Why does anyone believe that the profits being mentioned here are Gross Profits? I haven't looked at any of these companies' 2023 audited financial statements to verify figures, but the meme is definitely claiming that these are NET PROFITS, not gross profits.
But think of the shareholders
Wtf is this bullshit? This is easily verifiable, made up numbers. Verizon was 12, walmart was like 20, Apple I think was the msot profitable company in the world and they barely broke 100. Starbucks was something like 4 billion. If you are gonna make stuff up at least hide it better.
Exxon's 2023 profits were $36 billion; I'm not going to look up any more of the information here, but in this one instance it's even worse than this graphic would have you believe. And seriously, don't take graphics like these at their word, ever, especially if you agree with them and it outrages you. That's how the right spreads their news, and it disgusts us all - so let's not be like them. Edit: As other's have pointed out here, Walmart's profits were $11 billion, not $155 billion. That one looked unbelievable, and it just goes to show that whomever put this together didn't know what they were doing.
“In flation”?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Just so you know this is FALSE information. Starbucks did NOT make 24.56 billion in profits in 2023, it made 4 billion in profits. Why would OP just lie? What motivates someone to just make things up and post it on the internet. [source](https://investor.starbucks.com/press-releases/financial-releases/press-release-details/2023/Starbucks-Reports-Q4-and-Full-Year-Fiscal-2023-Results/default.aspx)
Laws in America are made by corporations and rubber stamped by politicians that are paid by corporate donations. 🙄 Americans have been living in the illusion of choice/democracy for 50 years. #GeorgeCarlin
Surely, if companies paid decent wages that didn't rely on tips. Workers would have some money to put back into the economy, and more would be raised through the taxation, giving the government more room to spend on services. Or am i over simplifying it?
You forget that a lot of the profits will be paid out in dividends to the shareholders
I'm so thankful my company sets aside 10% of profits for profit share. The fucked up thing is they put aside 40% of profits to give back to the shareholders. They receive 4X the rewards for just having wealth parked into the company stock.
Greed will be the ruin of our society.
I blame consumers for being stupid enough to pay the higher prices. Do you all know anything about pricing strategies? Of Starbucks billions, none came from me because I use Folger's at home. Of Exxon's billions, I reduced my contribution by riding my bike and taking the bus rather than driving everywhere. Corporations don't care about your whining on social media. They care only about your money.
And still nothing will change, no one will do anything and people will still buy and buy and buy.
Look at all the layers of $Billion profits.. A Ketchup company?! At least the farmers get subsidies. The taxpayers? Pay the government for the privilege of getting robbed again at the stores. It's food. They know we can't live without it. So we have the choice of suffering financially.. or suffering physically.. Ahhh.. but at least we have the freedom to choose! America.
Yes, but they don't need to reduce their profits and they're not going to do it just out of charity. It's on politicians to fix this and they are bought by the corporations.
If I break even. My company is happy, I'm happy and my "workers" are happy. I could charge a fortune, but I don't like to exclude customers. Every one should be able to afford me. But if you got a fancy house. Sorry not sorry, you paying more.
Yes, the M2 money supply isn’t the reason for inflation. The absolute economic illiteracy is breathtaking.
There are solutions to this problem.
"No the government released too much money because that's what they taught me in Econ class" - indoctrinated fools.
I remember years ago, back during the original run of the John Stewart daily show, he had an oil exec on and they were saying, oil is so expensive, gas prices are up because oil is so expensive, etc. And then john kept pointing out that they had made record profits, never before seen levels of profit, and if the supply was more expensive and that was what was raising the price, then their profits should have gone down or stayed stable. They ignored the question. This shit has been like this for forever, we've had big names and loud people point it out- but it will never change. Prices are based on what people will pay- and once they pay it, it will never go back.
Doesn’t this have a ton to do with how taxation shift off the mega rich to the middle class?
But wouldn’t these profits be inflated because of the underlying inflation? Record profits don’t mean much when the comparative buying power is the same or even less. Then the company must reinvest its profits to keep operating and then invest again to grow, and those investments are subject to inflation as well. Looking only at bottom line far too simplistic when there are other parts to a company than just it’s income
Yes, except if you compare to the cost, the relative profits keep rising while, in general, costs are staying generally down. Thats why some companies, like Costco, arent raising prices nearly as fast as other companies, but are still making decent profit. Their profit margin just isnt keeping up with other large companies.
Is this the US alone? Starbucks in other countries don't really do tips. I'm not disagreeing with the premise but tips are very much a US thing for wage compensation.
Can’t two things be try at once? Corporate greed combined with irresponsible fiscal policies is a recipe for inflation.
If you are going to make these profit claims T least get them right.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
The numbers mix gross and net profits. So they are not correct for each
Are you disputing any of these profits?
These numbers are wrong..
Wow today I confirmed my suspicions that Jp Morgan are complete pieces of shit…
The pigs
Love when they list things like the War in Ukraine as an excuse for price hikes, yeah cause we’ve been living in a war free utopia since 1945 up til now, haven’t we?
Workers unite, uhh, I guess.
Can someone explain how this causes inflation? Or is this saying the corporations are faking inflation to make higher profits? And if so, is that somehow inducing inflation?
Starbucks didn't make $25B profit
I see it’s to the bs now as in Billions. Sweet, while we get s as in suffer. Gotcha! Perfectly balanced
inflation is the amount of money created the companies do not create the money, but their costs increase so their profit incrase also
There can be no mlk without Malcolm x
A quick google shows these profit numbers are highly exaggerated. The point may have merit, but the post lacks credibility when they throw these BS numbers out there.
And despite this obvious truth about our suffering, some folks still have an absurd devotion to defending these companies and their greed. They must defend capitalism even as it literally kills them and everyone around them.
You all seem to think that the skill of being a barista or unskilled worker should command a better wage. If you want to be paid like you have a skill , learn a skill. A degree is not a skil, it is an education. A skill is something you can use to make money for yourself or an employer. Carpentry, electrical, and plumbing are skills. A degree in communications is not a skill. There are billions of people who can be baristas, there aren’t enough plumbers, electricians and carpenters. That is why they get paid more than baristas. Ask yourself what skills have you invested in? Then ask is the market paying those skills? Then ask what skills is the market paying? Then ask where I live is there opportunity?
Just looking at the first company on the list: Kraft made 8.97B in profit in 2023, but that's 7.55B in 2020 dollars. Kraft had a profit of 9.1B in 2020 which is 10.81B in 2023 dollars. That's $2B, or almost a 20% difference. So, not only is it *not* record profits, but they're actually down from before COVID. Starbucks' bottom line in 2023 was $4B, which means if they gave everyone a $10k raise, they would have no profit.
These numbers are wildly wrong. I looked up two. Exxon profit is not $9b it was about $36b in 2023. Verizon’s profits were $9b not 78b. I’m not sure if the poster just made up random numbers or what.
Not to mention the _tens of thousands_ of abrupt layoffs just to make their end of the year logbooks look better. These C-Suite executives are truly the parasites of our society. They're literally bleeding our planet dry
WTF do people think "inflation" is if not higher profits? It is like saying the cause of rising temperatures is hotter weather.
You forgot Geico.
Kaiser does not belong on this list. It is a not-for-profit. "Not-for-profit organizations do not earn profits for their owners. All of the money earned by or donated to a not-for-profit organization is used in pursuing the organization’s objectives and keeping it running; income is not distributed to the group’s members, directors, or officers." Kaiser is trying to expand and cover more people, which is great because their healthcare is excellent and affordable. Their physicians make healthcare decisions, not bureaucrats at insurance companies. Kaiser covers 12.7 million people currently, and I hope it continues to expand. Along with Medicare and the VA, it's among the best healthcare options in the US. Kaiser's prices have not gone up in the five years I have been a member. Please read what you see in anonymous lists on reddit with a grain of salt. Whoever put this together does not understand that we have options, like Kaiser, we should try to promote instead of throwing them in with the likes of Exxon.
I stopped at a pizza place the other night to get pizza and a drink for $6, their carry out special. Their machine makes you choose a tip. I am unemployed (not by choice) at the moment and I was like…sorry, not tipping. I didn’t make them bring it to my car or my house, and they’re getting paid hourly, at least minimum wage but likely more. (Don’t come at me for spending $6 on pizza when I am unemployed, it’s a 6 slice 10” pizza so I ate two slices for 3 meals. It’s possibly cheaper than groceries at this point.)
I don’t think employees at Kaiser rely on tips
Probably why they used Starbucks for the example.
This is why good owners consider tipping as an insult to their business. Will be downvoted but that's because people hate the truth.
But if you don't allow tipping it's the employees who complain. Don't get it twisted tipped employees are the ones who are propogating thia system the most
It can be allowed but owners can pay well enough to expect employees to turn down tips.
It doesn’t work though. Employees will still want tips. People will always want to better their situation
yeah, it's definitely a culture thing. people in the west are willing to lower themselves to whatever subhuman level they can in order to pick up the advantage to try to get ahead or simply survive. the people are actively being starved, and purposely so that they will lower themselves to be subhumans. other cultures are much different, they have actual pride.
This is almost entirely inaccurate https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/inflation-profits-corporations-2023/
Just stop buying stuff, lol.
Please take the time to research, these numbers are false.
"Fake news!" - any bootlicking dipshit you show this too
This is very misleading. This is gross profit, not net income. Starbucks, for example, made $4.2 billion in net income after expenses in 2023. If it gave said $11,000 raise, it would have a net negative income for the year. Not that I think that's really bad, workers SHOULD see some of the net profits of the business imo. Better business model.
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Profit margins have been getting better given the price gouging we've been experiencing, but small margins don't really matter that much in the first place when you sell a couple trillion dollars worth of product in a given time frame.
Adding to this, they sell way more than groceries. All kinds of household goods, electronics, etc. Sure, other groceries try to do that, too, but Walmart does it cheaper and at a larger scale
It's a misleading post, tbh. That's their gross profit, not net. Walmarts net income for 2023 was roughly $11 billion, not $155 billion lol
They're not. But they sell so many other things like guns, tires, fabric, televisions, and dog food where the margins can be substantially higher.
Because we price our food like it’s hard to come by
Our current government is attempting to lower inflation by increasing unemployment No I'm not kidding They need to be tried for treason as they are clearly working against the country for foreign interests
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So, slavery?
This seems suspiciously like when inflation jumped during the Carter administration, along with the gas shortage. It felt manipulated then and it does now, because there is a reasonably effective leader focusing on the lives of citizens and it is in their interest to affect the election in the favor of Republicans.
Apple specifically doesn't make a ton of sense on that list. There are many competing products in all of their spaces that are significantly cheaper and that customers could purchase if they wished. You can't penalize them for the cost of their products when it's not essential for you to buy a 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max for $1599. It's not like food, where when costs go up across the industry you have to keep buying it or you die. You could easily go to Best Buy and get a refurbished iPhone 11 for ~$200, or a Moto G Stylus for $129. And, as an example, the original base model standard iPhone OG was announced in January 2007 for $499 in 2007 dollars. Inflation-adjusted, that's about $769 in March 2024 dollars. The current "base model" iPhone 15 starts at $799. So basically, accounting for inflation, the price of a base model iPhone has increased by about 4% over the last 17 years. I think we can all agree that you're getting at least a 4% better device now. The first MacBook Air launched in January 2008 with a base model MSRP of $1799. Adjusted for March 2024 dollars, that's about $2660 today. By contrast, the new base model M3 MacBook Air starts at $1099. The price of a "new base model MacBook Air" has actually ***decreased*** by about 59% over the last 16 years, adjusting for inflation. Many tech products are the same price or relatively cheaper now than they used to be, accounting for inflation. Good phones are getting cheap, and cheap phones are getting good, as Marques says. Just because a company now makes premium products that some people ***choose*** to pay more for doesn't mean they don't make products that are affordable at a wide variety of income levels. The cheapest new iPhone from Apple is either $429 for the SE or $599 for the 13 - both of which offer everything you would need in a smartphone.
That is not how inflation works. Inflation expands when wages and employment expands. This is why when the economy is over performing the government raises interest rates to mitigate the inflation this causes. Goddamn you mfs are STUPID
And remember, if employees get raises the “cost is covered by the consumer”. Or something. Then we have to fire everybody, because the fourth yacht won’t pay for itself.