Neshi

Why do the big corporations fire people because they didn't make as much of a profit this year then the last.
When they make a 200mln profit this year, compared to a 300mln profit last year, it is seen as a loss, and people have to be fired to make up for it.
Isn't that twisted business? Can someone explain it to me?!

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Tyrsonswood

Legal obligation to their investors to make a profit.


Not saying it's right, but that's why

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SFOSOK

yep, basically.


Stocks go down, people get fired.

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*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

Judas

it's referred to as "good business" which is just retarded

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Neshi

but they are making a profit, just not as much as the year before..

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

CDsDontBurn

you just answered your question right here. this is reinforced by Tyrsonswood's earlier statement.

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Neshi

but isn't it inevitable to hit a wall? A point where you just can't make any more money than before?

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

CDsDontBurn

with capitalism, you find a way to make more money....like, letting people go to save the company money, therefore, increasing profits.

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Neshi

It's a sad world..

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

CDsDontBurn

it is, but it's a way of life in capatalistic societies.

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OmegaRED

I feel the exact same way about this. Companies (or maybe just the investors) just won't accept that the market has a limit for how much it can grow nor will they accept a limit on how many corners to cut before producing an inferior (and often unsafe) product. The end result of this kind of greed is melamine in our food and who knows how many products just to keep profits up.

To me, consistently high profits should be good enough

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Zelig

Legal obligation to maximize profits.

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Neshi

I just can't wrap my head around it. Like Omega said, If I made a profit every year, no matter how big, I would be a happy business man.
(But probably a bad one.. )

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

dawgXdenta

Regardless of whether you believe that Zeitgeist guy (a lot of people are shrugging him off as a conspiracy theorist). Fact is he raised some important questions one that he stated is that governments make laws to protect the interests of large cooperation's. Profit over people is a wrong and disgusting culture and mindset.

What i don't like is when people raise the question of ; isn't there something better than capitalism they shout:
"communist! you would rather have share and give away our stuff that we worked for"
I reply: no, we need something better than what we have don't we?

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Today's world is of public opinion and the fates of nations are determined through its pressure. Once the tools for building public opinion are obtained, everything that you asked for can be done. --- Osama bin Laden when relating how global media has the minds of the masses.
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http://dawgxdenta.deviantart.com/gallery/

Tyrsonswood

As long as those pulling the strings are still making tons of $$$$$ they would say "NO"

Me? I'd say we needed something better a long, long time ago.......

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Judas

this is precisely why it is enevitable for it to fail because if inflation doesn't go up.... there is no way to perceive to be making more money.... however if it goes up..

It's a catch 22... at some point there cannot be any sum of money that would satisfy anyone company under this ideal.


it cannot be done...... even with marginal population increase.... the funds aren't available.. and in printing more.... it just makes it worse.... it can't work..... the system gets beyond the realms of being to patch worked together for it to continue on. To many people... to many companies.... everyone trying for the same thing.

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Tinkerhell

Several things here.

To the OP - it all depends on LOTS of factors. Which industry you are in, what the terms were for the big CEO's type when they sign on, what else is going on in the rest of the economy & specific segment of the market the business is in. What the board of the company is trying to do. The variables that affect it are endless.

It's not always about making more money than last year. Sometimes a company wants to grow in size so it invests in itself - maybe instead of claiming profits they build a new plant. Maybe instead of sending a huge dividend they double manpower to increase production. Again the list of variables in vast & all highly dependent upon what the business is actually doing.

I will say this. I don't think you are going to find many examples where the "get er done" workers are going to be fired because a company has 2/3 the BOTTOM LINE profits this year over what it did last year. If the ceo has a contract that says he's out the door unless he increases that bottom line then maybe the CEO is gone but you won't see many of those either. Usually it just means that CEO won't see a bonus or raise.

Normally a busines won't cut back unless they have lost money, or are expecting to. Many companies have a plan that almost demands them to have large profits to pay for future expenses. Again it starts getting complicated because you can measure "profits" in any number of ways. It's really something you'd have to look at on a case by case basis.

dawg - I agree Capitalism isn't perfect. But then no system devised by man ever will be. Until you can show me something better, I say capitalism is the best we've come up with so far. The biggest problem the US has right now is that we've spent the last 60 years or so creating lifetime politicians, a large dependant segment of the populous, and the whole system has grown so large, cumbersome & complex that the average person doesn't even come close to understanding it & so they are removed from the process. The average person just votes with the guy that has a "D" or an "R" next to their name because the average person imagines that their party is doing things in the manner that is best for the average person. Which is of course BS the average politician is corrupt, isn't doing much of anything except trying to bring home as much money as they can and get themselves re-elected. Damn the country in the process.

Profit over people isn't the best concept in the world. People over profit isn't the right one either. You can't have one with out the other. There needs to be a balance. I think capitalism with some minor governmental rules put in place (to prevent child labor & descrimination things of that nature) is the best way to go. The current problem is that government has gotten WAY to involved in business.

Tyrson - I say we have what we need, it's just that it isn't being done the way it was originally invisioned. Everyone of our Founding Fathers has been doing backflips in their grave for decades. Fed gov has become soooo powerful & invasive it's not even funny.

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Stupidity should be painful if not terminal.
Darwin for Sainthood!!

Reckless187

Greed. Once you start making that money, you want to keep making that money and more of it. They want to keep people on thier toes so that they know if they start to slip then they're getting replaced.

Tyrsonswood

And this is a problem, a very serious problem that we have in this world. Greed............

Nobody needs to have massive amounts of anything when there are still people that have nothing....... Really!


I mean, you guys realise that 5% of the population of the planet own 95% of it's wealth...... you guys do know that right?

Do you agree with that? Or do you think it's a problem?

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Reckless187

Not much we can do about that tbh. That 5% will keep getting richer and make sure it stays that exclusive. Even if there was a global finacial crash, the cycle would all begin again. Look at all the billionaires in russia, and all after the USSR went tits up.

CDsDontBurn

I do. But I also have the mindset of "the more you have, the more you have to lose." It may not be the best mindset, but that's my mindset.

for example, one who is poor and doesn't have much or anything at all won't care what happens to them when they have done something utterly destructive to one who has "everything money can buy."

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Tyrsonswood

Money can't buy everything

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CDsDontBurn

true, but i didn't say money could buy everything. i said "everything money can buy"

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Tyrsonswood

Wasn't sayimg anything against your statement CD's.... just placing a comment of my own.

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CDsDontBurn

ahh, sorry for the misunderstanding then

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Iria

It didn't used to be this way. It used to be that just making ANY profit was good enough. But if you do not show an upward trend on profits, you don't get the huge bonuses (the execs). Unless you work for AIG.

Iria

That is a problem. But has anyone realized that if everyone were brought up to the standard of even the lower middle class in America, how quickly we would use up our resources?

I'm not saying we should try to keep some countries "down" but I am saying that the Earth could not sustain the population that we currently have if we all drove cars.

It's already straining because of China and India.

We simply have too many people.

Judas

the rich outlive their means..... the poor under.

The US Budget for millitary spending alone would be more then enough to feed the poor/starving several times over..... even provide shelter and clean water.... (that's just an example)

The resources are there.... proper use of it isn't being done, and this isn't due to the average joe blow in any country.... this is due to the profiteers of the big businesses.

It's bad enough Nestle is sucking the fresh water wells dry in one state let alone other companies doing the same thing around the world which just makes the businesses richer.... and employs only the rich which makes the people that were able to get relatively clean water eat mud and die even faster.



take a gander and watch this

FLOW for love of water

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Tyrsonswood

I agree, Iria, we do have too many people, more coming everyday. Also a finite amount of resources that we are burning through as if they were infinite mostly so that upper 5% get's to have more $$$$

Like trees for paper. oil dependence, cutting the rainforest for factory farming, etc. We have ways to replace these things now or do them differently now, the technology is there, but "their" investments are all in the stuff we are distroying so we have to stay on that path.... or "they" might lose a buck....... Oil dependence is a blatant example of this, but there's many others.

Besides the thought process that uses people as a "resource" ....... In a way that is an almost "infinite" supply, but to use people up and throw them away, to fire them so investors get a bigger cut???? That ain't right.....

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Judas

businesses work for bigger dollars... not efficiency... cleanlyness.... or the like... and they'll make a business out of "cleaning" only when it's produces a dollar even when there is FAR better solutions available....

quite often it's ALOT cheaper and easier and cleaner ... but they would rather go with more expensive, harder, dirtier

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