Scrooge McDuck I mean Corporate America

[GloryofGreece]

Scrooge McDuck. This new Mercantilism will end lovely I'm sure.
Corporations use to be happy with around 20% profits now they want closer to 70%. Sure its not a Kleptocracy/Plutocracy mess.


http://www.janeeckhout.com/wp-content/uploads/RMP.pdf

[C-Mag]

Yeah, I'm a little surprised how much the Left backs the marriage of Corporate business and Government. They applauded Obamacare and look what happened to the medical and pharma profits.

[Okeefenokee]

We document the evolution of markups based on firm-level data for the US economy
since 1950. Initially, markups are stable, even slightly decreasing. In 1980, average markups
start to rise from 18% above marginal cost to 67% now. There is no strong pattern across
industries, though markups tend to be higher, across all sectors of the economy, in smaller
firms and most of the increase is due to an increase within industry. We do see a notable
change in the distribution of markups with the increase exclusively due to a sharp increase
in high markup firms.

One or two other things changed between the 50s and 80s as well.

For instance, how many people had personal computers in their homes anywhere from the 50s to the 80s. Pretty sure they'd consider you and me to be McDucks of our own, as well.

[GloryofGreece]

Never claimed that nothing else changed socially or culturally. Can you respond without using non sequiturs? We're more like the decadent Carthaginian sea empire than the Romans. Even Roman Republic was more virtuous in hindsight. We have mercenaries fighting our wars and mostly just buy/trade shit. Hooray! Man its tough not succumbing to nihilism and resentment. At least I can still go outside without paying a tax to the government or a fee to the local chief.

[C-Mag]

I did respond to the OP GoG.

Obamacare was a perfect example. Barry talked all the time about the evils of wall street and corporate America, and America. All the while he was selling the quality and availability of Health Care to the highest bidder. Obama made that deal to get more control of people through the guise of health care.

Everyone in the Beltway got paid....................... by us.

[Okeefenokee]

Never claimed that nothing else changed socially or culturally. Can you respond without using non sequiturs? We're more like the decadent Carthaginian sea empire than the Romans. Even Roman Republic was more virtuous in hindsight. We have mercenaries fighting our wars and mostly just buy/trade shit. Hooray! Man its tough not succumbing to nihilism and resentment. At least I can still go outside without paying a tax to the government or a fee to the local chief.

I don't know what to tell you. I don't have any mercenaries fighting for me. How much did you pay yours?

Most of us are richer today than we were in the 80s. It's not just the corporations.

I've got a computer that not a single government on the planet could afford in the 1980s. The best computers money could buy in the wealthiest nations on earth wouldn't hold a candle to what I'm typing this on. I guess that makes me richer than Reagan.

You could say the same thing about Pharoahs and shit, but I'm talking less than forty years ago. The people who were fighting the cold war could not have what you and I have no matter what, and we're just regular people. Of course the rich are richer compared to the 80s. We all are. We are all Scrooge McDuck.

Everyone's always talking about someone else having more than they should, but I don't ever see anyone throwing their own wealth out in the street because regular people in the past didn't have all this shit.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

The thing about a non sequitur is that it isn't untrue.

[GloryofGreece]

So in your mind there is no such thing as too much, or out of wack, or not in alignment? No such thing as excessive profits. When the air you breathed was monetized?

[GloryofGreece]

The thing about a non sequitur is that it isn't untrue.

Its a deflection. Lets just talk about every topic in every thread. The first response to any topic should be something unrelated to the title. I can dig the chaos.

BTW the sky is usually blue. Is that true to?

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

So in your mind there is no such thing as too much, or out of wack, or not in alignment? No such thing as excessive profits. When the air you breathed was monetized?

Is this question for me or Okee?