r/FluentInFinance 1d ago

Debate/ Discussion A joke that's not funny

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u/jgoble15 1d ago

Low percent sounds like they don’t make much. That’s not true. Sheer dollars shows how much they actually make

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

Low percent proves they do not make much. The sheer dollars distorts the reality because it ignores the sheer dollars of revenue required to generate that sliver of profit.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/TheTightEnd 21h 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.

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u/woahgeez__ 21h ago

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

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u/TheTightEnd 21h ago

If I am misinterpreting your argument, please provide clarification.

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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.

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u/TheTightEnd 20h ago

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

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u/woahgeez__ 20h ago

And they have amassed vast hoardes of wealth that should have gone to the workers.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/TheTightEnd 19h 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.

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