Scrooge McDuck I mean Corporate America

[Okeefenokee]

Mercenaries?

And the romans were quite virtuous. Best slave masters ever I heard.

Private contractors that do security work = mercenaries. Theres talk of them taking all the "security" work left to do in Afghanistan.

Yes. Rome was better.

I don't think they are mercenaries in the way that most people think. They aren't really used for door kicking. Highly paid security guards really.

GOG, private contractors do things like flip eggs, turn wrenches, and manage computer networks. They aren't mercs. You sound about twelve.

[Smitty-48]

The only big US company I can think of making 70% margin was Phillip Morris, but most of that was because they sold Anheuser-Busch to SABMiller, that was most of their profit last year, but most big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan, etc, they are making around 18-23% profit margin, so GoG can relax, his 20% margin world is in intact.

You can have smaller companies on a meteoric rise which will post big profit margins in the climb, but once they get to multinational levels of market share, there's not so much room for growth, so 20% is still considered to be very good margin for a blue chip, i.e. Microsoft is at 20%, Apple is at 21%, Google is at 22%, etcetera.

You also have to look at the revenue, because Google took in 22% margin for $20 billion, while Apple took in 21% margin for $45 billion, so Apple actually made a lot more money, in dollars, more than twice as much, and even though Phillip Morris took in the huge one time windfall 70% margin on the beer company deal, that was only for $14 billion in revenue, so Apple still made more money than them too.

So, Apple, at 21% margin for $45 billion in profit, they're pretty much #1 for profitability right now.

[apeman]

Assuming the evil corporations are making massive profits and trampling all over everything else.

you can go on scottrade for $7 per trade and buy a piece, and forever cease your complaining.

For example, my annual dividend from Verizon cover all my cell-phone-related expenses.

Now I know this is not a solution and is pretty much a misdirection of a response, and I acknowledge that the poor do not have this option, but we are not so abused as you might imagine.

[Speaker to Animals]

Poor have DRIP plans available to them.

Sign up for that Union Pacific plan and let the dividends keep reinvesting.

[Smitty-48]

I wouldn't acknowledge the poor as being a justification for confiscation, if somebody is actually poor here in North America, that is not due to someone elses profit, to be poor, there has to be some sort of habitual or behavior isssue which is holding you back, which, just throwing confiscated money at you for, is not going to solve your problem, and you'll likely just blow that money and it becomes throwing going money after bad. Just have to sort yourself out, and when you do, there's enough money kicking around to avoid abject poverty, even if you don't end up being rich.

The vast majority of the poor here, are suffering from mental health and/or substance abuse issues, and we're not going to fix that for them, by confiscating profits from Apple shareholders.

[SuburbanFarmer]

The only big US company I can think of making 70% margin was Phillip Morris, but most of that was because they sold Anheuser-Busch to SABMiller, that was most of their profit last year, but most big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan, etc, they are making around 18-23% profit margin, so GoG can relax, his 20% margin world is in intact.

You can have smaller companies on a meteoric rise which will post big profit margins in the climb, but once they get to multinational levels of market share, there's not so much room for growth, so 20% is still considered to be very good margin for a blue chip, i.e. Microsoft is at 20%, Apple is at 21%, Google is at 22%, etcetera.

You also have to look at the revenue, because Google took in 22% margin for $20 billion, while Apple took in 21% margin for $45 billion, so Apple actually made a lot more money, in dollars, more than twice as much, and even though Phillip Morris took in the huge one time windfall 70% margin on the beer company deal, that was only for $14 billion in revenue, so Apple still made more money than them too.

So, Apple, at 21% margin for $45 billion in profit, they're pretty much #1 for profitability right now.

You're looking at final net profits, not markup at the register, which is what the OP refers to.


Love watching the virtuous descend on the first hint of an economic problem, to remind us all to blame ourselves for our sins- erm, poverty.

[Smitty-48]

You're looking at final net profits, not markup at the register, which is what the OP refers to.

They can mark it up to whatever the market can bear as far as I am concerned, if you have to have an iPhone, that's what it costs, I'm not in anyway poor, and I own AAPL, but I do not own an iPhone, because I'm cheap, er I mean, frugal.

[Okeefenokee]

Just go burn something down.

You'll feel better.

[SuburbanFarmer]

You're looking at final net profits, not markup at the register, which is what the OP refers to.

They can mark it up to whatever the market can bear as far as I am concerned, if you have to have an iPhone, that's what it costs, I'm not in anyway poor, and I own AAPL, but I do not own an iPhone, because I'm cheap, er I mean, frugal.

The problem, of course, is the barrier to entry. This is what happens when you have a state-sponsored monopoly.

The price of iPhones, cheeseburgers, bread, and cars will continue to rise every year, despite cheaper technologies, and more efficient manufacturing, hidden behind clever price-shifting and financing deals. It hath been written in teh Holy Book of Crony Capitalism.

You think anyone would have paid $700 for a fucking iPhone, when the carriers were subsidizing the cost? I paid $100 for mine. Now, I can sign up for low, low payments every month over the next 20 years, for the same product.

Just went to McDonalds for lunch, noticed that my meal was more than the menu price. Looked at the receipt, and apparently a "meal" now consists of the burger and fries. You pay for the sugar water that comes with it.

Where's that money going? Oh right, your fucking dividends.

[Smitty-48]

Well I'll take my dividends where I can find them, but if the United States is inclined to break up large corporations by force of law, that doesn't bother me, but now you've moved the goalposts, and there should be no confiscation involved, and I can still take my dividends sector wide, regardless of how many head offices you impose on it.

And moreover, it wouldn't do anything for the poor, who, again, are mostly suffering from habitual and/or behaviorial issues, generally related to substance abuse and associated criminal activity.