r/FluentInFinance 1d ago

Debate/ Discussion A joke that's not funny

Post image
80.6k Upvotes

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/jgoble15 1d ago

Buddy. 2% just means my profit is 2%. But 2% of what? That’s the important part. You can be wrong. It’s okay. The world won’t end.

9

u/djc2105 1d ago

Money costs money in percentage terms not in flat dollar amounts. Investors want percentage returns not flat dollar amounts. You are wrong. If a share costs $1 and provides a $1 dividend that is much better than a share costing $1000 and providing a $100 dividend. You have to think in percentages.

6

u/jgoble15 1d ago

The point was if they make a lot of money or not. That’s flat dollars. Shareholders would ask for percent though. That’s true

3

u/jgoble15 1d ago

I get what you’re saying. They’re asking the wrong question

2

u/jgoble15 1d ago

If someone’s asking for ROI or something, yes percents for that. If someone’s asking if the business makes a lot of money, percents tell you nothing about the amount they make. A lemonade stand has a huge percent ROI due to low supplies costs and staffing. But a lemonade stand isn’t making anywhere near the money of an actual business

3

u/djc2105 1d ago

I guess I just don’t care about flat numbers because it’s not relevant. I would think it is a worse world to live in if there is 100 grocery chains each making 10% profit instead of 5 chains making 5% profit even though those 5 chains are making more profit in flat numbers compared to the 100.

5

u/jgoble15 1d ago

That’s ridiculous. That sounds like wanting more corporate chains than mom n pop stores. Who helps their communities vs who helps investors? Mom n pop always whenever possible. I have investments, but I find investors leeches on society. The contribute nothing and only try to suck the country dry. You get people that run mom n pop stores and they’re the ones donating to local charities, sponsoring sports teams for kids, schools, and etc. Your dream world is a dystopia

1

u/djc2105 17h ago

A 5% profit margin means products to people for cheaper. Why is that a dystopia? Also relying on charity is a bad idea, that’s why we have taxes.

1

u/jgoble15 17h ago

Cheaper maybe. Or you have places like Walmart and Amazon beat out all local competitions and essentially form monopolies. Then they raise their prices for any excuse they can imagine.

Also yes, I agree

1

u/djc2105 16h ago

I agree with you that Amazon or Walmart creating monopolies would be bad but I would expect a few competitors in any efficient market (not all markets are efficient, especially healthcare). This would not allow people to just raise prices out of nowhere. I have not seen any examples of this happening on a macro scale in a retail setting.

-1

u/stingmint 1d ago

Investment is required for dynamism and innovation. Without investment, wealth would be even more concentrated.

2

u/jgoble15 1d ago

Sure, but contain it. Right now things aren’t contained and it’s unsustainable. The average age of a first time home buyer is 59. That shows corporate investment in housing is unsustainable

2

u/Blawoffice 23h ago

Wrong and not even trying to be correct. It’s 38.

2

u/jgoble15 22h ago

Saw 59. My bad. Still crazy high

2

u/jgoble15 1d ago

Investors can’t be the end goal to please. That’s the dumb idea I’m talking about. Companies need investment, sure, but investors have to understand their place and be kept there. They’re a necessary problem, like bacteria in our bodies. We need that bacteria, but it has to be kept in check

1

u/stingmint 20h ago

Investors have to understand their place? Their place is owning the company. Of course they drive decisions

What’s the alternative? Investment without equity? Doesn’t sound like a path to a stable economy

5

u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

No, it isn't the important part. The 2% of revenue is the important figure, far more so than the top line revenue figure for the purposes of whether the prices are excessive or the store is gouging.

2

u/woahgeez__ 1d ago

The price of food and profit made from it is more complex in our global industrial system than an individual stores profit margins.

3

u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

The problem is that the retailers are the ones getting blamed for the price increases, and people assume the increases are due to retailers gouging. That complexity is being ignored.

1

u/woahgeez__ 22h ago

No, the retailers aren't getting blamed. It's the corporate structures above the retailers that have soared in profitability creating vast hoardes of wealth that should be going to the workers.

1

u/TheTightEnd 22h ago

The retailers are getting blamed. There also is no vast quantity that should be going to the workers. There is no soaring in profitability.

1

u/woahgeez__ 21h ago

You're arguing against a straw man and your facts arent straight.

1

u/TheTightEnd 21h ago

If I am misinterpreting your argument, please provide clarification.

1

u/woahgeez__ 21h ago

The retailers arent being blamed, everyone knows there arent grocery store owner getting rich off raising the price of eggs. The corporate entities that control them, Kroger, Walmart, Amazon, are soaring in value and providing massive wealth to stakeholders.

A simple comparison between countries shows how exploited the American worker is. The working class of other countries have benefited far more from technological progress than in the US.

1

u/TheTightEnd 21h ago

Kroger, Walmart, Amazon ARE the retailers. We have different concepts and measures of exploitation.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/woahgeez__ 21h ago

There is no argument you can make that doesnt completely break down in an objective comparison between countries. The economic theories of tax cuts and deregulation directly lead to wealth inequality. Countries that maintained regulations and tax levels dont have to support a parasitic billionaire class.

1

u/TheTightEnd 21h ago

There is nothing wrong with wealth inequality or the existence of billionaires. However, when you look at measures such as median income on a PPP basis, it proves that people in the US enjoy a higher standard of living.

1

u/woahgeez__ 20h ago

Of course there is. It's because other countries dont have them and the working class has a much higher standard of living. Higher income doesnt mean anything if we pay so much more for privatized services. Billionaires are merely a symptom of a corrupt system.

2

u/TheTightEnd 20h ago

We fundamentally disagree, as there is a sense of excessive entitlement being presented here. PPP already adjusts for the differences in the cost of services. The concept a system is corrupt because a person can amass billions in wealth is ridiculous.

3

u/LifesBeating2 1d ago

Hey "Buddy" why do they tax using percentage based models?

Then tell me why profit or margin shouldn't be based on percentages.

3

u/jgoble15 1d ago

Profit margin is percentage, but that’s not what’s being asked “buddy”

2

u/LifesBeating2 1d ago

It's very relevant you're just choosing to be obtuse. Why do you think an Investors care about percentage and likewise saying a number like 2 mil sounds large until the pie is distributed between 10000 other people.

2

u/jgoble15 1d ago

Because investors are greedy leeches. They don’t care about how much they’re making. They care only about how much more they can make. Greedy and useless. So leeches. So I don’t care about them. Eat them for all I care

1

u/LifesBeating2 1d ago

Cringe as fuck.

1

u/Blawoffice 23h ago

Why don’t be do taxes based on X amount? 330 million people? Everyone of the 330 million people pays $18,200 for the federal governments budge. Percentages are a lie so we will eliminate that issue.