The trade and economy mega-thread (3 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Is there a trade deal with China? Is it really a deal or just a pull-back to status quo ante? Is Trump advancing US interests in this well-executed trade battle plan or was this poorly conceived from the start . . . and harmful?

I think the jury's still out, but I haven't seen that the Chinese are offering much in compromise - and it's not even clear if there's going to be an agreement. But it's clear they are working on something and I'm sure Trump will sell it as the greatest trade deal ever. The proof will be in the details.

 

[efil4]

@Sendai @TampaJoe

Both of you need to take a class on a concept called CSR "Corporate social responsibility". There are books, and for you, youtube videos that go into WHY corporations engage in this behavior.

To put it simply for both of you: Al Capone ran soup kitchens. Was he a good guy?

You are personalizing corporations. They are profit making organizations. The fact you are both arguing for "good" corporations means you fundmentally don't understand the world you live in.

They understand it just fine.

They simply will defend their careers regardless of what the truth really is. It made their careers, so they simply won't speak in a bad tone about what led them to provide for family and ultimately retirement.

In a way I get it. I'm in insurance. If folks think Allstate or State Farm spend all that money on gitchy commercials, sports sponsorships etc because they are altruistic, then the marketing worked.

Until their policy gets non renewed because they live in a region the company took a loss on in a cat event.

 

[TampaJoe]

@Sendai @TampaJoe

Both of you need to take a class on a concept called CSR "Corporate social responsibility". There are books, and for you, youtube videos that go into WHY corporations engage in this behavior.

To put it simply for both of you: Al Capone ran soup kitchens. Was he a good guy?

You are personalizing corporations. They are profit making organizations. The fact you are both arguing for "good" corporations means you fundmentally don't understand the world you live in.

I understand that corporations are run by human beings. They are owned human beings. They employ human beings and they serve human beings. It’s not all that different from government or unions or any other organization run by humans.

You argue as if it’s impossible for them to have any concept of social responsibility. It isn’t. Just like anything involving people, some are better than others.

So you can keep your books and YouTube videos. I’m not gonna deny that profit isn’t a motivation. I’m not gonna argue that is is the primary motivation. Again, I will simply point out that it isn’t the only motivation and the profit and being a good socially conscious corporate citizen is not mutually exclusive. You are welcome to believe otherwise. We simply do not agree on that point. We don’t have to.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

I understand that corporations are run by human beings. They are owned human beings. They employ human beings and they serve human beings. It’s not all that different from government or unions or any other organization run by humans.

You argue as if it’s impossible for them to have any concept of social responsibility. It isn’t. Just like anything involving people, some are better than others.

So you can keep your books and YouTube videos. I’m not gonna deny that profit isn’t a motivation. I’m not gonna argue that is is the primary motivation. Again, I will simply point out that it isn’t the only motivation and the profit and being a good socially conscious corporate citizen is not mutually exclusive. You are welcome to believe otherwise. We simply do not agree on that point. We don’t have to.

Yes, it is vastly different, as has been explained to you. Please attempt to understand the points being made before spewing the same crap ad nauseam.

 

[efil4]

I understand that corporations are run by human beings. They are owned human beings. They employ human beings and they serve human beings. It’s not all that different from government or unions or any other organization run by humans.

You argue as if it’s impossible for them to have any concept of social responsibility. It isn’t. Just like anything involving people, some are better than others.

So you can keep your books and YouTube videos. I’m not gonna deny that profit isn’t a motivation. I’m not gonna argue that is is the primary motivation. Again, I will simply point out that it isn’t the only motivation and the profit and being a good socially conscious corporate citizen is not mutually exclusive. You are welcome to believe otherwise. We simply do not agree on that point. We don’t have to.

Lol it's like a broken record. Attempt to move the issue (profit is THE driving factor) to something more palatable ( it's A factor, but other factors and social responsibility is just as important).

Not one person here said they "can't be socially responsible". Every top 500 company has an entire division for projecting social responsibility. It's called marketing.

But everything a corporation does is for one reason only...profitability.

If the division you worked in for your company wasn't profitable, it gets shut down. If your division had 100 employees and 50 get repurposed and 50 laid off, where is the social responsibility for the 50 laid off? Severance pay?

 

[TampaJoe]

Yes, it is vastly different, as has been explained to you. Please attempt to understand the points being made before spewing the same crap ad nauseam.

Please feel free to ignore that which you do not like.

 

[MT15]

Lol it's like a broken record. Attempt to move the issue (profit is THE driving factor) to something more palatable ( it's A factor, but other factors and social responsibility is just as important).

Not one person here said they "can't be socially responsible". Every top 500 company has an entire division for projecting social responsibility. It's called marketing.

But everything a corporation does is for one reason only...profitability.

If the division you worked in for your company wasn't profitable, it gets shut down. If your division had 100 employees and 50 get repurposed and 50 laid off, where is the social responsibility for the 50 laid off? Severance pay?

And they won’t have to spend near as much money on appearing socially responsible now, will they? This admin is telling them to get rid of these efforts and quite a few have already bent the knee. You can count on one hand those corps who have said they will be keeping their diversity programs.

If social responsibility was so important to them, why did they abandon diversity within 2 months of Trump taking over?

Because social responsibility takes a back seat. What more proof would you ever need?

 

[J-DONK]

I understand that corporations are run by human beings. They are owned human beings. They employ human beings and they serve human beings. It’s not all that different from government or unions or any other organization run by humans.

You argue as if it’s impossible for them to have any concept of social responsibility. It isn’t. Just like anything involving people, some are better than others.

So you can keep your books and YouTube videos. I’m not gonna deny that profit isn’t a motivation. I’m not gonna argue that is is the primary motivation. Again, I will simply point out that it isn’t the only motivation and the profit and being a good socially conscious corporate citizen is not mutually exclusive. You are welcome to believe otherwise. We simply do not agree on that point. We don’t have to.

"No, no, no I won't learn anything new today. I would rather continue to argue from my own ignorance."

I put you on ignore for what you did in this reply. You prop up your own ignorant opinion as equal, and then say "We can just not agree". No Joe, you are wrong. I gave you the name of the behavior, and one simple google search would give you all your answers as to WHY. It has nothing to do with "good people" that work in these companies.

 

[TampaJoe]

Lol it's like a broken record. Attempt to move the issue (profit is THE driving factor) to something more palatable ( it's A factor, but other factors and social responsibility is just as important).

Not one person here said they "can't be socially responsible". Every top 500 company has an entire division for projecting social responsibility. It's called marketing.

But everything a corporation does is for one reason only...profitability.

If the division you worked in for your company wasn't profitable, it gets shut down. If your division had 100 employees and 50 get repurposed and 50 laid off, where is the social responsibility for the 50 laid off? Severance pay?

We have lots of divisions that aren’t profitable. They are called “overhead” or “general and administrative”. They don’t have a dollar in sales but the company won’t run without them. They add value that you can’t easily put a dollar figure on.

And yes, you can be socially responsible in how you terminate someone’s employment.

If you are saying that businesses can be both profitable and socially responsible, then we are in agreement.

 

[TampaJoe]

"No, no, no I won't learn anything new today. I would rather continue to argue from my own ignorance."

I put you on ignore for what you did in this reply. You prop up your own ignorant opinion as equal, and then say "We can just not agree". No Joe, you are wrong. I gave you the name of the behavior, and one simple google search would give you all your answers as to WHY. It has nothing to do with "good people" that work in these companies.

If you can’t deal with people who disagree with you then perhaps “ignore” is a good strategy for you.

 

[efil4]

We have lots of divisions that aren’t profitable. They are called “overhead” or “general and administrative”. They don’t have a dollar in sales but the company won’t run without them. They add value that you can’t easily put a dollar figure on.

And yes, you can be socially responsible in how you terminate someone’s employment.

If you are saying that businesses can be both profitable and socially responsible, then we are in agreement.

Lol we aren't talking about administrative line items. Nor overhead.

What we are talking about, and you keep trying to tack to some other argument, is simple.

No profit, no general administrative costs, no overhead.

You just said you are an accountant. Tell me, if you were my accountant and saw I was spending $500,000 annually on being socially responsible and having a $100,000 negative net profit and I asked what I could I do to get to the black, what would you recommend?