The Left calling out The Left for gaslighting people about crime

[Phoenixmgs]

I am tremendously confused. But it seems to be your organisation being confusing and self-contradictory rather than you. Apologies.

Some people in the hospital IT hierarchy (like managers of sites) work for the hospital. All the IT techs work for R4, which just happened late last year. I got transferred over about a month back. And, I guess, I'm the only one that read the actual R4 offer letter and handbook. Even before I signed my offer letter, I told my R4 boss (as he was my old boss for 5 years already) about it and told him I'll be leaving at 4:30 and he said there's nothing anyone or he could do about it. It's the issue with the hospital IT managers not realizing that working 8-5 for the techs would be technically 8.5 hours of work, plus all the techs are working till 5 (months before I got transferred over) because, again, people don't read shit.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I also just mentioned to me boss that the company is doing overtime illegally. They are currently just giving you comp time for working overtime so say you had to work Saturday and thus 48 hours in the week, they would say you can have whatever future day off (since 8 hours in the example). However, the federal law says you have to pay time and a half on any hours over 40 worked in a week. The company is currently getting out of paying that extra time and half that is required by federal labor law.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

 

[Elijin]

Look, we know you're in a cushy "doesn't bother me" spot where you can get worked up over retail crime. The rest of us don't care. In many parts of the western world there are massive cost of living crisis and huge inflation issues. Yet retailers are reporting record breaking profits. If you put profit over people and drive a bad problem worse, they will start stealing from you, and people at large won't care.

TLDR: With retailers pulling in record profits during these issues, it's pretty clear they're stealing from the public, so fuck em, the public can steal back.

 

[tstorm823]

TLDR: With retailers pulling in record profits during these issues, it's pretty clear they're stealing from the public, so fuck em, the public can steal back.

The world is not a zero-sum game. Someone else doing well doesn't mean that you are losing anything. Someone else getting stolen from doesn't help you.

 

[Kwak]

Someone else doing well doesn't mean that you are losing anything.

It does when the 'someone else' is massive corporations and the 'losing anything' is the tax on that obscene profit that would otherwise be invested in our society and infrastructure.

Or when it's the ongoing funneling of the earth's wealth and resources to less than one percent of the billions of people on this planet.

 

[Elijin]

The world is not a zero-sum game. Someone else doing well doesn't mean that you are losing anything. Someone else getting stolen from doesn't help you.

Given the example here is that someone (billion dollar retailers) is conducting theft via price gouging, then yes. Their success is based of our suffering, and stealing from them so you can eat does in fact balance it out.

Like in a vacuum, your fortune cookie platitude works. But in this example there is direct links and results. The someone else doing well here is retailers upmarking things well above inflation. The losers are regular people who are struggling to afford things, and becoming more open to stealing from retail chains.

I'm flabbergasted you'd come in and drop that useless opinion in direct relation to record profits during cost of living crisis and inflation.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Look, we know you're in a cushy "doesn't bother me" spot where you can get worked up over retail crime. The rest of us don't care. In many parts of the western world there are massive cost of living crisis and huge inflation issues. Yet retailers are reporting record breaking profits. If you put profit over people and drive a bad problem worse, they will start stealing from you, and people at large won't care.

TLDR: With retailers pulling in record profits during these issues, it's pretty clear they're stealing from the public, so fuck em, the public can steal back.

Then don't complain about food and medication deserts. I wonder why the stores closed and left.

Target's profit margin has been pretty steady and less than it was in 2009 (the earliest date on the graph).

Target Profit Margin 2010-2024 | TGT

Current and historical gross margin, operating margin and net profit margin for Target (TGT) over the last 10 years. Profit margin can be defined as the percentage of revenue that a company retains as income after the deduction of expenses. Target net profit margin as of January 31, 2024 is...

www.macrotrends.net

 

[Elijin]

So much to unpack. We start with "You can't complain about a lack of services if you don't like being screwed over by them and they leave!"

Then we roll right along to,
"HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS ONE COMPANY JUST DOING OKAY!"

Let's just skip to the part where we all tell you to shut the fuck up phoenix, it's so much more efficient.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

So much to unpack. We start with "You can't complain about a lack of services if you don't like being screwed over by them and they leave!"

Then we roll right along to,
"HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS ONE COMPANY JUST DOING OKAY!"

Let's just skip to the part where we all tell you to shut the fuck up phoenix, it's so much more efficient.

So you don't actually post in good faith I see.

Is Walmart profit margin cherry-picking too? Where's this massive price gouging and lying about inflation narrative you're pushing in the actual objective numbers? Can you not breathe outside of your echo chamber?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

So you don't actually post in good faith I see.

Is Walmart profit margin cherry-picking too? Where's this massive price gouging and lying about inflation narrative you're pushing in the actual objective numbers? Can you not breath outside of your echo chamber?

View attachment 10866

If Wal-mart is doing so poorly financially they should probably stop spending their profits on stock buybacks.

Sounds like their leadership is running the company into the ground and trying to blame anyone else.

If I remember correctly they announced $20 billion worth of stock buybacks just a year ago.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

If Wal-mart is doing so poorly financially they should probably stop spending their profits on stock buybacks.

Sounds like their leadership is running the company into the ground and trying to blame anyone else.

If I remember correctly they announced $20 billion worth of stock buybacks just a year ago.

Where's the evidence of them actually making significantly increased profit margins? That would prove they are then indeed price gauging and making up inflation.

 

[tstorm823]

I'm flabbergasted you'd come in and drop that useless opinion in direct relation to record profits during cost of living crisis and inflation.

How's the margin percent? With costs rising and inflation, do those record profits yield record buying power?

 

[Silvanus]

Where's the evidence of them actually making significantly increased profit margins? That would prove they are then indeed price gauging and making up inflation.

Walmart Gross Profit 2010-2024 | WMT

Walmart annual/quarterly gross profit history and growth rate from 2010 to 2024. Gross profit can be defined as the profit a company makes after deducting the variable costs directly associated with making and selling its products or providing its services. <ul...

www.macrotrends.net

"Walmart gross profit for the twelve months ending January 31, 2024 was $157.983B, a 7.06% increase year-over-year."

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Walmart Gross Profit 2010-2024 | WMT

Walmart annual/quarterly gross profit history and growth rate from 2010 to 2024. Gross profit can be defined as the profit a company makes after deducting the variable costs directly associated with making and selling its products or providing its services. <ul...

www.macrotrends.net

"Walmart gross profit for the twelve months ending January 31, 2024 was $157.983B, a 7.06% increase year-over-year."

Their profit increasing year over year does not mean they are price gauging or lying about inflation costs. If they sold more this year than last year, their profits total would be higher obviously, that doesn't mean they are screwing over customers. Their profit margin would go up if that were the case. Per say every million dollars in revenue Walmart brings in, their profit is actually less than it was in 2010 (per the graph I posted earlier).

 

[Silvanus]

Their profit increasing year over year does not mean they are price gauging

This is true. But you can couple this with the fact that prices have demonstrably increased a lot over the last year, and payments to shareholders have risen by >5 billion over the same period.

Big price rises + big profit increases + profit going to shareholders rather than (eg) necessary expenditures = price gauging.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

This is true. But you can couple this with the fact that prices have demonstrably increased a lot over the last year, and payments to shareholders have risen by >5 billion over the same period.

Big price rises + big profit increases + profit going to shareholders rather than (eg) necessary expenditures = price gauging.

Again, why aren't their profit margins increasing then? Also, Walmart's whole strategy is having lower prices than everyone else. If they are price gouging so much, wouldn't people be shopping somewhere else?

 

[Silvanus]

Again, why aren't their profit margins increasing then?

When profit is increasing and profit margin isn't keeping pace with it, then presumably the reason is expenses. But regardless, they have billions in profit, they're in more than a comfortable enough position to avoid increasing prices during a cost-of-living crisis. They're choosing instead to funnel billions more to shareholders.

Also, Walmart's whole strategy is having lower prices than everyone else. If they are price gouging so much, wouldn't people be shopping somewhere else?

Market dominance. Lack of alternatives in some places. Even habit. Who knows? Regardless, it's a demonstrable fact that their prices are rising.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

When profit is increasing and profit margin isn't keeping pace with it, then presumably the reason is expenses. But regardless, they have billions in profit, they're in more than a comfortable enough position to avoid increasing prices during a cost-of-living crisis. They're choosing instead to funnel billions more to shareholders.



Market dominance. Lack of alternatives in some places. Even habit. Who knows? Regardless, it's a demonstrable fact that their prices are rising.

Or there are probably more Walmarts today than there were last year and more Walmarts last year then 2 years ago and so on and so on. Hence, their profit goes up. It's not a cost-of-living crisis, the hyperbole and exaggeration is beyond belief.

There's tons of Walmarts in areas with other options. Let's just say 50% of Walmarts are in areas where they are like the only main grocery store and 50% are in areas where there's plenty of other options. Wouldn't Walmart then be doing worse overall assuming they're price gouging if people are then avoiding 50% of their stores? Or if Walmart is only price gouging in areas of dominance, wouldn't there be massive price differences in the 2 types of areas and obvious evidence of this? Prices raising doesn't mean price gouging.

 

[tstorm823]

Walmart Gross Profit 2010-2024 | WMT

Walmart annual/quarterly gross profit history and growth rate from 2010 to 2024. Gross profit can be defined as the profit a company makes after deducting the variable costs directly associated with making and selling its products or providing its services. <ul...

www.macrotrends.net

"Walmart gross profit for the twelve months ending January 31, 2024 was $157.983B, a 7.06% increase year-over-year."

I googled the corresponding gross revenue numbers for Walmart for the last 3 fiscal years, they were from FY 2022 - 2024 $143 billion, $147 billion, and $157 billion respectively. If you divide the profits listed in your link by those numbers, you get 25%, 24%, and 24%. The profit percentage is consistent across those years, even as inflation ballooned and shrunk. It is unlikely that is a coincidence. If they were price gouging and pocketing the difference, you would expect the profit percentage to spike. Instead, you see a pattern consistent with a company that aims to have a certain margin and marks up from their costs accordingly.