Strike at Deere plants in the US, more supply chain shortage to come

[DieselBound]

General Motorsto wipe out current shareholders


I'm certainly open to see proof that the stock shareholders were made whole by GM or taxpayers.

Tax write-offs?

 

[DieselBound]

The biggest problem with examples like that is that they are companies of which most haven't heard. Thousands of new businesses start up with a dream of being 'better' in some way. Laudable goals, but the laws of Economics are not going to change any more than the laws of Physics.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to compensate all employees is to include a profit sharing component. If the company does well, everyone makes more. Ultimately, though, supply and demand will dictate what levels of pay accrue to each job. Imagine the outrage among skilled positions if the company paid unskilled workers the same...

"laws of Economics are not going to change any more than the laws of Physics. "

Why thank you for bringing up this subject [again]!

The Laws of Physics says that we cannot have perpetual growth on a finite planet. A mathematical impossibility. The Big Brains (all the CEOs) love and push GROWTH; "investors" rely on it; and, yes, so do pensioners. The failures are baked in and no one is willing to admit it. And, really, pretending that the "smart" guys are worthy of more profits off of labor when they're not smart enough to understand such simple math?

 

[ArlyA]

The biggest problem with examples like that is that they are companies of which most haven't heard. Thousands of new businesses start up with a dream of being 'better' in some way. Laudable goals, but the laws of Economics are not going to change any more than the laws of Physics.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to compensate all employees is to include a profit sharing component. If the company does well, everyone makes more. Ultimately, though, supply and demand will dictate what levels of pay accrue to each job. Imagine the outrage among skilled positions if the company paid unskilled workers the same...

I've worked for about 5 different company's who claimed "we don't pay that much, but instead we do profit sharing checks instead!". Most of these are small operations but one was a mid sized with 100's of employees. In the years of working for these various company's, I didn't see enough of these checks to make a single house payment, in total.

Great idea, but never gets applied.

 

[Torvy]

I worked for Gateway and when things were good, before 2000, it was like getting an extra weeks pay every month.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I'm talking about Union paid strike benefits. I suspect the strikers aren't getting unemployment compensation.

we did not get unemployment when we went on strike,
appx 1977.

 

[mo1]

And why AREN'T we talking about WHY the healthcare costs are so high? Instead we're trying to be thankful that they're high and that our overlords are "helping" pay the bills? (of course, they've got their hands in the everyone's pockets via helping jack up prices, but we ought not look at that)

DISCLAIMER: I don't work FOR or AGAINST the healthcare "industry," nor do I have a heavy draw on the system (being very healthy). I'm just amazed at how anyone can defend the crappy system.

I do work in that field and to make a very long story short, the prices are high because of the federal government's involvement. Even the parts that don't appear to be directly associated such as the mountain of overpaid suits employed by the conglomerated monopoly/duopoly "health systems" or their billion-dollar overly fancy buildings are in fact a direct consequence of federal laws and regulations.

 

[PuffyC]

And why AREN'T we talking about WHY the healthcare costs are so high? Instead we're trying to be thankful that they're high and that our overlords are "helping" pay the bills? (of course, they've got their hands in the everyone's pockets via helping jack up prices, but we ought not look at that)

DISCLAIMER: I don't work FOR or AGAINST the healthcare "industry," nor do I have a heavy draw on the system (being very healthy). I'm just amazed at how anyone can defend the crappy system.

I always thought this was one of the biggest lost opportunities of the covid crisis. What a perfect time to have a national debate on healthcare affordability and accessibility for all us citizens. But nope, we decided to take a different path based on a statistically questionable narrative that will fix nothing and only serve to divide us further. The cynic in me half way thinks it was deliberate, at least by the politicians. The last thing they ever want is to get cornered into talking about real problems that will require difficult and painful solutions.

 

[ruffdog]

The auto bailout was small change compared to the banking bailout. In this chart, look how much we have gained over what was spent on the bailout. Interesting:

Bailout Tracker

 

[Snobdds]

General Motorsto wipe out current shareholders


I'm certainly open to see proof that the stock shareholders were made whole by GM or taxpayers.

Nobody ever said stock shareholders were guaranteed to made whole, but they never got wiped out.

Maybe your confusing the difference between debt and equity shareholders. Debt shareholders get wiped out when a company goes bankrupt, unless they hold convertible bonds. Equity shareholders may lose a lot of value in a reorganize bankruptcy, ala GM, but they never lost total value.

Equity or debt shareholders take a risk when buying any company. In the case of GM, the risk was transferred to the US tax payer to keep GM solvent. So in effect, in keeping them solvent, GM shareholders were bailed out by the taxpayers.

 

[rScotty]

In my opinion, one of the best ways to compensate all employees is to include a profit sharing component. If the company does well, everyone makes more. Ultimately, though, supply and demand will dictate what levels of pay accrue to each job.

Imagine the outrage among skilled positions if the company paid unskilled workers the same...

I agree that honest profit sharing would be the best way to compensate everyone. And I think that is what any successful business owner starts out to do.

I was tempted to disagree with your last statement because I never did understand and still don't understand why any worker - skilled or not - would care at all about what another worker makes.

But then I thought back to my own business so many years ago....and you are right. My own employees not only cared, they got all worked up about it. Seemed strange to me, but I'm afraid you are correct.
rScotty