Capitalism Sucks

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Or, what’s wrong with the world today:

On the same day that United Airlines reached a settlement with Dr. David Dao, the passenger recently physically dragged off of one of their overbooked flight, Wall Street investors in American Airlines punished the company for increasing the pay of its pilots and flight attendants.

Pending finalized contract negotiations, American Airlines will increase its payment of pilots and flight attendants by a total of nearly $1 billion over the next three years, according to a report by the Associated Press. American Airlines hopes this will quell employee discontent at the fact that their pay tends to be lower than that of employees at competing airlines.

After the plan was announced on Thursday, American Airline Group Inc.’s stock dropped by 5.2 percent, reaching $43.98. …

…As Citi analyst Kevin Crissey told clients in a note, the employee pay increases are “frustrating. Labor is being paid first again. Shareholders get leftovers.”

Torches and pitchforks, I say.

9 thoughts on “Capitalism Sucks”

  1. Without Labor, the Shareholders would get nothing, just a big fat zero. But, torches and pitchforks will do, too.

  2. And tar.
    And feathers.
    (Why should this fun be limited to just politicians?).

    And tumbrels.
    And guillotines.

    If we’re going go that route, why not go ALL THE WAY?!?!?!

    Oh!
    I almost forgot:
    Pikes!

  3. This in-your-face class warfare puzzles me. Exploit the workers, sure, but brag about it in public? Make that brag through the stock market?
    They’re like Marxists, but of opposite polarity.

  5. KC,
    Back in the old days, a great magician had to use distraction, sleigh-of-hand, and terrific showmanship, to sell the rubes that s/he’s sawing the woman in half, or making a rabbit pop out of his/her hat.
    The rubes demanded at least SOME suberfuge, before handing over their bucks.

    Now?
    They don’t care to make the effort to create what looks like magic.
    An their base doesn’t demand any effort.
    No matter what, the GOP base will CREATE – on their own – a defense for the (political) magicians on their side.
    – Show the “tell” in the sawing-a-woman-in-half trick?
    “Ah, only Libtards need to be fooled!”
    – Ditto, if they openly produce the bunny.
    “Only Libtards need to be seduced! WE, on the other hand, know it’s ALL a trick, so, why NOT support their “magic?”

    So, why should the companies and their political lackey’s go through the trouble, when the sucker’s produce their own rational for handing over their money?
    ‘Only Libtards and fools (they repeat themselves) demand some sort of public good.’
    Conservatives don’t care about any public good.
    As long as something makes minorities/women/gays/etc…, cry or pisses them off, well, then it’s ALL GOOD!!!

    Modern Conservatism is only about two things:
    1. Take the opposite position of liberals – this can be changed at a nano-second’s notice, if, people like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama try to placate them by incorporating some things they once said they wanted/needed, into their overall plan.

    2. Do ANY and EVERY THING that pisses-off the Libtards.
    If it makes Libtards cry, scream, whine, protest, then THAT’S THE GREATEST THING IN THIS HISTORY OF THE WHOLE F*CKING UNIVERSE!

    Any thing above and beyond, has to meet those two qualifications.

  6. Lower “labor costs” than competitors is certainly one way to entice investors to toss money at one’s operation, at least until those “cheap” employees realize they are being played.

  8. I was going to bitch about the MBA-ification of the medical profession, where you used to go to a doctor who’d fix you right then and there for a fair price, but now you go to multiple doctors at some corporate clinic that wants to extract the most profit from you and is in league with big pharma and big tech. But this study:

    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1572085

    apparently shows that CEO pay negatively correlates with profit performance. So what the hell do I know?

  9. Labor is being paid first again. Shareholders get leftovers.

    As one of my more knowledgeable friends said, that’s literally how equity works.

    If I sell my house, the bank gets its mortgage money first. I get the leftovers.

    Anyone over age 12 who is not proudly, aggressively stupid understands this.

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