Well, this is interesting (The Post):
Group of top CEOs says maximizing shareholder profits no longer can be the primary goal of corporations
The organization representing the nation’s most powerful chief executives is rewriting how it views the purpose of a corporation, updating its decades-old endorsement of the theory that shareholders’ interests should come above all else.
The new statement, released Monday by the Business Roundtable, suggests balancing the needs of a company’s various constituencies and comes at a time of widening income inequality, rising expectations from the public for corporate behavior and proposals from Democratic lawmakers that aim to revamp or even restructure American capitalism.
“Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity,” reads the statement from the organization, which is chaired by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Staying ahead of the mobs and pitchforks is a good strategy! They’re hoping to convince us we don’t need something like the Accountable Capitalism Act — corporate titans have realized the current system leaves out some constituents (i.e., everyone but themselves and fellow rich people) and will henceforth play nice out of the goodness of their hearts. I don’t believe it for a second.
Meanwhile, Trump just waved a magic wand and solved wealth inequality:
“Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut, and they’re loaded up with money.”
Trump is conflating his golf buddies / Mar-a-Lago members with the average consumer.
— LiA (@LibsInAmerica) August 19, 2019
As of now, disbelieving the evidence of your own eyes and ears isn’t enough — you have to add fictional zeroes to your personal bank account totals too. No doubt there are people who are stupid and/or brainwashed enough to believe even this gigantic whopper, but I think we’re seeing a preview of the central flaw in the “Keep America Great” campaign argument.
In 2016, Trump could lie about what he was going to do. In 2020, he has to pretend that he did all this shit that he didn’t do. I’m no expert political analyst, and God knows I don’t want to underestimate the stupidity of tens of millions of our fellow citizens again. But that seems like a tougher sell to me.
schrodingers_cat
What’s good for Wall Street is not necessarily good for Main Street.
JPL
Is it time for Katie Porter to question Jamie Dimon again?
TenguPhule
Sadly this means fuck all because there is a legal precedent that shareholder profits are the only legal duty they have and anything that might make them less bloodthirsty assholes can get them sued if it reduces immediate profits in any way.
Lapassionara
@TenguPhule: can you give the citation for that?
Cheryl Rofer
Hungry Joe
That’s always been Costco’s business model: shareholders, customers, and employees as equal factors in their calculations. Costco doesn’t gouge customers even when there’s an opportunity (they have a maximum markup, even if the item is scarce and in demand) and treats employees pretty well (they never seem put-upon, frazzled, or unhappy). Wall Street is forever after Costco to cut wages and benefits, and goose up prices, in order to increase profits for a quarter or two or three; the CEO and the Board refers to their constant profits over many years, and tells Wall Street to take a hike. I hate shopping, but I love that joint.
germy
Steve in the ATL
@Lapassionara: Dodge v. Ford Motor Company, 204 Mich. 459, 170 N.W. 668 (Mich. 1919)
J R in WV
OK, the front page says there are 3 comments, yet when I click on the “3 comments” link, I get the original post with zero comments. I’ve heard about this, but never seen it myself. Now I know it exists.
I think you’re a fine political analyst, and what’s more, I agree with you — what Trump has done amounts to buckets full of slaughterhouse tripe, after setting out in the hot August sun for for a couple of weeks. And now they have to try to sell that as a good job of governing, when we can all see and smell the rotting tripe.
Plus a fascist windbag… Now let’s see if other people have commented, as I bet they have!
FelonyGovt
Telling Americans how rich they are seems like a badly losing strategy to me. Even people who are comfortable never think they have enough.
Brachiator
Jesus HW Christ!!
I can’t. I just can’t.
So, Project Greenland Nirvana is off the table?
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
Good job, 11 minutes from asked to answered! Thanks, legal beagle!!
Where you headed this week?
MattF
My rule: be sure to continue to check whether your pocket has been picked.
waspuppet
“Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut, and they’re loaded up with money.”
If any other president said this, especially a Democrat, we’d have about 30 “Well, here in a diner in East Heroin, Pennsylvania, the patrons aren’t so sure about that” stories by sundown.
Spoiler alert: We won’t. It’s just Grandpa talking again; pay him no mind.
germy
@Brachiator:
That one’s strictly for mineral and oil extraction, not gated, guarded communities.
germy
@waspuppet: Didn’t a journalist accuse him of rape a few months ago? Why has that been forgotten?
I mean, Reagan was teflon, but why are they protecting 45 PEETUS?
Brachiator
A little reminder
None of this happened. None of it. The Democrats should grind Trump into the dust demolishing his bullshit.
https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2019/08/the-failed-promises-of-2017-tax-cuts.html?m=1
Ocotillo
Back in my day when I was working on my degree (BBA), one of my professors asked us to rank who deserves attention the most and rank them in order, shareholders, employees and customers?
He said the proper ranking was/is: 1. Customers 2. employees 3. shareholders
His logic was if you take care of one and two, three will be taken care of as well. How quaint.
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV: Chattanooga and Ravenna, Ohio! It’s like I won the lottery.
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV: I remember studying this case in law school, when I was far more conservative than I am now, and even then thinking it was horseshit.
Mag
The CEOs want to maximize their executive pay, perks, and benefits instead. It’s BS that they care about employees. That’s just their fig leaf to continue to ignore shareholders.
Yutsano
@Hungry Joe: Friend just got a job at Costco. He is loving it so far. I think his only major issue is that he doesn’t have a generous leave structure, but I don’t have any details on that. Getting bumped to $15 an hour in suburban Minneapolis with full benefits doth not sucketh for him.
Mary G
The CEOs see Elizabeth Warren rising in the polls and are panicked into producing a bandaid.
JPL
@germy: They are afraid of the tweet. It might surprise me, but not shock me if he had dirt on different individuals.
lurker dean
@Hungry Joe: i love that costco doesn’t hire b-school graduates and pays it’s CEO a reasonable salary.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2013/06/09/the-secret-of-costcos-success-revealed-hint-no-mbas-need-apply/
Chyron HR
@waspuppet:
To be fair, if anyone did ask Billy-Bob if the Trump tax scam made him rich, he would swear up and down that he’s now a millionaire.
waspuppet
@germy: Yes of course. It all just slips away. It goes from “only an America-hating librul could believe such a thing” to “pfft — old news, everybody knows that” in the course of about two days. It used to take years (cf. Vietnam, Iraq, gay marriage).
Chris Johnson
They are, of course, right.
If they don’t successfully restructure what they’ve got, it will be restructured for them, taken from them, or burned the hell down. These people are no smarter than anybody else, but not intrinsically stupider, and part of their job is situational assessment. They’re faced with the inherent impracticality and inefficiency of the ‘we’ll all live in New Zealand’ solution.
Their heads will be on pikes if they can’t thread this needle (or at least show they made a serious attempt). They are NOT as bone-stupid as Trump.
Martin
I think quite a few companies have realized this for a while. Maximizing shareholder value is really what defines private equity, not so much large corporations. Yes, they have to respond to it, but it’s a bit more of a balance, whereas private equity is much more about looting the shit out of institutional value. Many big corps have been worried for some time about how short-lived many large cap firms are. In the 60s, an S&P 500 company could expect to be on the exchange for over 3 decades. Now it’s less than 2, mainly because there’s so much pressure on successful companies to not invest in longevity – anything after the next 90 or 360 days. That’s fine for traders, but not institutional investors.
Pensions only really work when a company lasts as long as an employee, and that’s not going to happen often now, which is why pensions aren’t a thing. It means that workers are going to be more frequently displaced, etc. Focusing on that balance should help the US in the long term, and help workers somewhat.
If they really care about this, though, let’s see their commitment to net zero emissions and minimum wage. Let’s hear them back MFA. Some of the companies on the statement do support those things, but it really needs to be a much bigger push.
Elizabelle
@Mary G: Yes. That’s exactly it. They want to head off Elizabeth Warren, and like-minded reformers in the Democratic party.
Bernie is an empty, shouting suit. Elizabeth Warren is the real deal, and she connects with voters. (All the more reason to talk about her being a “school teachery” type.)
TenguPhule
@Lapassionara: eBay v. Newmark
Elizabelle
Without commitment to customers, employees, making a really good product: the companies are just financial instruments.
And they can blow away in the wind.
ruemara
I think this is math done in private reminding the little dears that 1. money is made off the proletariats you disdain. 2. we can’t escape this planet. 3. If you have to hire some peasants to protect you once you destroy everything, eventually, they’ll kill you and take your stuff.
James E Powell
@germy:
The protect and promote him because he is the best thing to happen to them since 9/11. And bonus, their owners love the tax cuts.
There are two categories of stories the press/media love: 1) what Trump said or did and 2) how Democrats are failing to deal with what Trump said or did. Anything else has, at most, a 24 hour life and is generally presented as nothing to be concerned about.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
And she will be the first to call bullshit on this “revelatory statement” from the Roundtable.
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
They actually have a lot more leeway than they often claim to have. Among other things, the time from for profit maximization is not this week or even this year, but over the long run. If a company says “we’re foregoing a big profit today because we’ll make more money in the long run,” then the shareholders don’t really have a valid complaint. As someone noted above, that’s how Costco approaches its business.
Brachiator
@Martin:
I do work with a very large corporation that absolutely sings the gospel of maximizing shareholder value. In the past they swallowed up smaller companies that had great relationships with customers, and it has been a battle to maintain that customer focus.
randy khan
If Trump mentioned the tax cuts every day between now and the 2020 elections, it would make me very happy. In fact, I’d be happy to pay him $10 for every day when he talked about them, and an extra $10 if he mentioned just how much money one of his “friends” saved. ($4,000 to $8,000 would be a great investment, given the likely payoff.)
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV:
You can’t trust what the site says about number of comments any more. And sometimes you have to go to the comments, go to the last one, and then refresh in order to get the REALLY last one.
Lapassionara
@Steve in the ATL: thanks.
Miss Bianca
@ruemara: Yep.
Congrats on the impending citizenship, btw! Pleased as Punch to have you on board! Now, if we can just wrest the controls away from Captain Queeg before he drives us onto the shoals…
Roger Moore
@Martin:
Looters are only one part of private equity. There are private equity companies out there that buy companies with the goal of increasing their long-term value; we just don’t hear nearly as much about them as we do about the raiders and looters.
Baud
Hippies.
debbie
O/T, but I’m thrilled to hear Eric Gardner’s murderer at long last has been fired. Even better, Sean Lynch is all pissed off about it. Have a coronary, you asshole!
Fleeting Expletive
I had come to appreciate Nicole Wallace @ MSNBC in the afternoons, but John Heileman is subbing this week. I had had him pegged as a star-fucker from back when Michael Avenatti was the hotness, because he was just all a-flutter about the latter giving him a ride in his sports car. Anyway, his panel spent an inordinate amount of time chewing over Elizabeth Warren’s Pocahontas problem and I wanted to scream. Lordy, Warren freaking owns Native American issues, or she can and is trying to. She can steer a lot of conversations towards land conservation, water and resources, women’s welfare in policing, poverty and all of that. With Trump’s tens of thousands of horrific and pernicious lies, we just can’t get over an undocumented Indian ancestor that an Oklahoma family’s folklore remembers.
If that don’t take the cake. Lost respect for the lot of them, what little I’d been clinging to.
mary s
I’m with Dean Baker: It would be a lot better if CEOs stopped maximizing CEO pay. (He also says that returns to shareholders haven’t been all that high over the past couple of decades).
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/ceos-say-they-will-stop-maximizing-shareholder-value-be-better-if-they-stopped-maximizing-ceo-compensation
lurker dean
neat, someone posted this link to the full 1619 project so you don’t have to do the browser paywall dance:
http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
as i mentioned in another thread i actually bought the times yesterday specifically for the insert but it wasn’t in my copy!
azlib
@Brachiator:
I always thought the Greenland play was to build the Trump Thule resort. It has a nice ring to it. :-)
JPL
@lurker dean: I wish I had gone to the store and purchased yesterday’s NYTimes.
Baud
@Fleeting Expletive:
They will Hillarize any prominent Democrat.
JPL
@lurker dean: WUT
I might call tomorrow and see how to buy the magazine as a stand alone.
TenguPhule
Pompeo can choke on a bag of salted dicks.
TenguPhule
FUCK! Planned Parenthood has officially withdrawn from Federal funding.
Redshift
One thing that gives me some comfort in the face of stories about how “a good economy” will help Trump is the decades of political science research showing that people vote on how the economy is affecting them and people they know, not “the economy” in general.
So even if Trumpists screw with government statistics and go on TV to try to convince people everything is fine, it probably won’t make any difference. (They’re not the first, the Bush administration did some of the same stuff; conservatives never seem to learn.)
JPL
@TenguPhule: They didn’t have a choice.
Lapassionara
@Baud: Yes. this.
TenguPhule
@JPL: I know. Doesn’t make the consequences any less awful.
Elizabelle
@JPL: Spoke with my local Barnes & Noble. They don’t get a whole lot of NY Times Sunday papers to begin with, and these sold out lickety split to people who knew the 1619 supplement was in there.
I am thinking the Times might at some point reprint the magazine, given the demand. In the meantime, the content is available on the Pulitzer website. http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf
Either Pulitzer or the NY Times is talking it up as a teaching tool, so I think we might see more copies. Online is great, but a hard copy is even better for studying from.
TS (the original)
@Fleeting Expletive: Jennifer Rubin on it as well in WaPo – her GOP roots are still showing. They are all getting worried about Elizabeth Warren. Her polls must be rising
Spanky
It may be that the masters of the universe have finally noticed that their stock is traded more and more by institutions, your 401k managers. Those fund managers are not looking at how a company does day to day, and (the good ones) take a good look at how the company is really managed over the mid- to long term. Besides hearing the footsteps of that herd of Dem candidates, maybe they’ve started to pay attention to the fund companies’ assessments of how they’re doing.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Re Trump quote tweeted above: I don’t think even MAGAt’s can be convinced that a tax bill was a tax refund, right?
Right?
trnc
@FelonyGovt:
Hell, BILLIONAIRES don’t think they have enough. That’s why the economy is so lopsided.
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
Looks a lot better than Gulf Coast east Texas… perhaps except for the local food, which is pretty good, Creole seafood, for example, and Asian seafood.
SenyorDave
I trust Jamie Dimon as far as I could throw him.
misterpuff
[Verse 1]
I – don’t wanna know your name
‘Cause you don’t take the blame
For what you did in trade
Okay – you think you got a pretty face
But the rest of you is out of place
Separated by the blade
[Chorus]
Pluts on the run
You scream and everybody comes to watch
Take a bag and hide your gold away
Plutos on the run
P-pluty
Pluts on the run
And hide away
[Verse 2]
You – you talk about just every score
But the peeps you rob won’t take it any more
You’ll be taxed just like before
I – don’t wanna know your name
‘Cause you don’t take the blame
The way you steal and whore
[Chorus]
Pluts on the run
You scream and everybody comes a gunning
Take a bag and hide your gold away
Plutos on the run
D-doxy
Pluts on the run
And blown away
Roger Moore
@SenyorDave:
You are far too trusting.
Patricia Kayden
@Brachiator: Some Trump sycophants argue that we should have seen an increase in our paychecks because of the tax cut. I doubt anyone could actually point to any such increase though. Most of us saw severe decreases in our federal refunds. Democrats need to televise panels of regular Americans who have been harmed by Trump’s tax cuts.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@J R in WV:
I agree.
C Stars
@ruemara: how about:
Just because I like the way it sounds…
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Steve in the ATL: Ravenna’s not too far south of Cleveland, which has (oddly) got some very cool parts in/near downtown these days.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
Even worse, my company fixed it so our raises appeared on the same paycheck we were supposed to see these decreases.
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV: Beaumont has shitty restaurants, which is somewhat surprising for a coastal city. Chatt has several good ones. First trip to Ravenna but being near Akron and Kent I’m sure it’s a foodie paradise!
Steve in the ATL
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Greenfield Tavern!
Jeffery
You can fool some of the people all of the time.
cynthia ackerman
@Ocotillo:
There’s a fourth element: vendors/suppliers.
Back in the early nineties a wave of “supply chain management” changed the way big businesses bought goods and services, often to the detriment of those providing.
I’d guess that even kindly Costco has practices which squeeze suppliers without much regard for their practices and priorities.
Mandalay
@Fleeting Expletive:
These days Avenatti is schmoozing with Scaramucci and bad mouthing Beto O’Rourke. A real DINO.
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden:
Some of this is psychological. I work with tax professionals. They tell me that this was a common conversation.
Tax Pro: Your actual tax liability was lower this year. And you made more money.
Customer: But my refund was smaller. This doesn’t feel right.
The people who got screwed the most were lower income immigrants with ITINs or whose dependents had ITINs, people who were not citizens but who file tax returns. They had credits stripped from them and really have no one who strongly advocates for them. The Democrats are never going to put many of these people in front of a camera.
A lot of people got tax cuts. It’s just that the rich got much bigger tax cuts. The Democrats can find people who got hurt by the new law, but the Republicans will be able to put together groups of taxpayers who did well, even moderate income people. It’s not a slam dunk.
zhena gogolia
@Mandalay:
I had high hopes for Avenatti but I never got fully on the train. He gave me the willies.
Ohio Mom
@Ocotillo: Customers, employees and shareholders are a start but don’t forget suppliers and the community in which the business is located when considering all who have a stake in a business doing well. Under the community, I’d include the environment.
Walmart is infamous for dicking their suppliers. For one example, they almost killed Rubbermaid. I don’t think I need to cite instances of companies destroying the environment.
ETA: I see that Cynthia at 75 got to the suppliers first.
The Dangerman
I’m disappointed. I was hoping this was a Part B post involving a well fed alligator.
I wonder both who the slowest Plutocrats are (“I don’t have to outrun the alligator; I just have to outrun you”) and what Trump’s 40 time is (probably measured in minutes).
CliosFanBoy
I had coworkers in 1994 that INSISTED that Clinton raised their taxes. Even showing them tax form for that year and the year before refused to sway them.
trollhattan
@SenyorDave: @Roger Moore:
Give me Jamie Dimon, a tall bridge and five minutes….
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah, he turns out to be very pro-Avenatti. Very.
trollhattan
@CliosFanBoy:
My BIL was convinced Barbara Boxer was going to take away his big screen.
zhena gogolia
I wish Kamala hadn’t hired the fundraisers who do the “WE’RE DOOMED!” thing in their e-mails all the time.
Jay
@cynthia ackerman:
You don’t see the Supplier Churn at Costco that you see at WallyWorld, where WallyWorld grinds the product down in quality or steals it and rebrands it.
And Kirkland Brand products are as good as premium brands, because they are premium brands with a Kirkland label slapped on, with the same quality.
Costco also pays every 30 days, not 90 like WallyWorld, they also provide Financial and Tech services to their suppliers.
The only issue with Costco is that quite often, they have a product that is a 1 time buy, bought in bulk, so if you see it, and like it, you have to buy it now, and you don’t know what that product might be.
The big feature for Costco in controlling costs, is bulk and selection. So Balderson Cheddar is only available in the 2 year old, 1 kilo size with their Alder Smoked 3 year old available around Christmas in the 750 gram size. At Cave On Foods, I can buy 14 different kinds of Balderson Cheddar, but only in 500gram sizes or smaller.
J R in WV
@The Dangerman:
Do you really think Trump can cover 40 yards, like, quickly?
‘Cause I see him riding the cart onto the greens all the time… which would be against the rules for everyone who doesn’t own the links …
Jay
@Brachiator:
Truck drivers.
The Dangerman
@J R in WV:
Quickly? Hell, no. But he might get 40 in if he’s inspired by a table of quarterpounders at the finish line.
How that Dude doesn’t have the heart attack from hell is rather amazing.
cynthia ackerman
@Jay:
Thanks. Happy to be shown my error.
Baud
Holy crap, the Bernie Bros have really taken over Reddit.
zhena gogolia
Feel the Bern.
Ruckus
@SenyorDave:
You want to trust him as far as your grandmother could throw him. Either of mine would be about 125-130 yrs old so the distance would be, like zero. The two of them together could have probably tripped him for what, maybe a foot. But then the two of them together has been moot for over 60 yrs.
NotMax
@Jay
FYI, there’s a method to the pricing and tags, including the buy it now because there won’t be any more later items. Know the Secret Costco Price Codes to Save Even More Money
Agree that many of the Kirkland-branded goods are pretty good. There are some, though, which don’t rise above meh. The Kirkland wines can be hit and miss (and often only seasonally stocked). If they’re in an endcap display, that means there’s a large stock on hand, so excellent chance of still being there on your next trip. according to my wine guy there.
Thing I’ve noticed with the Costco here is that the holiday items (including foods) disappear from the aisles the day after. No markdowns on leftover stock. No idea what they do with the stuff.
Redshift
@Jeffery:
About 27%, to be more precise…
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: Susan Sarandon can go to hell.
Ruckus
@The Dangerman:
He does have a rather undemanding schedule.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as a few people have pointed out, Bernie is also not someone who has always been a Democrat, only when it suits him and his ego and his ambition
Steeplejack (phone)
@JPL:
Check at your local Barnes & Noble. They might still have some left (not on display, of course). But do it quickly, next day or so.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow:
Looks as if she’s getting ready to slag Warren if the opportunity arises.
JPL
@Steeplejack (phone): thanks. I assumed most would toss it.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Bernie always uses surrogates to do his dirty work.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: Yep. The “not someone who used to be a Republican is a big tell.”
Cacti
@zhena gogolia:
I appreciate that the cult was stupid enough to bring High Priestess Sarandon out of hiding.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia:
He ain’t a Democrat either.
@Baud: Haven’t I warned you not to go there, one more time and you’re grounded.
Cacti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bernie has never been a Democrat. He is a longtime Marxist though.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: They can’t let go that Hillary was a “Goldwater Girl”. //
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Won’t grounding me give me more time to go there?
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: It was the same in 2016 – there were MASSIVE Bernie and Trump presence on Reddit that just shouted down everyone else.
Not much you could do about it, and you could see the lies and misinformation being transmitted to people who didn’t know any better. Still couldn’t do anything about it – the Trumpsters would basically shout MAGA at you, and BernieBros would start talking about how you were part of “The Establishment” if you started pointing out that their conspiracy theories were full of shit.
I kid you not, I spent a couple of days having an ongoing argument with a groups of idiots who were convinced that pro-Hillary forces had done something really bad at a convention. It turned out that the Bernie folks were the ones who had done the thing, and they’d been slapped down for literally not following the rules. They’d even apologized, but somehow this was all Hillary’s fault.
I left Reddit political discussion after that. There’s no winning.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: This is 21st Century grounding, NO INTERNETS.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Groundbaud Day!
:)
Booger
@Ocotillo: Some would rank employees first, under the theory that well taken care of employees make for happy customers, and that good employees are precious.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Yep. Knowing what I know now, I also expect a lot of Russian involvement in the discussion.
Eolirin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah except the attack of “used to be a Republican” isn’t meant to be supportive of “is a Democrat”. It’s said by people who think being a Democrat is just as bad.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No Balloon Juice? I believe that violates the Geneva Convention.
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: Some of these guys were just verifiable idiots, but there was definitely a lot of Russian involvement in pushing the narration and specific lies that would then get regurgitated.
Some of the website these guys (and some old friends who went Bro) would consider as credible just blew my mind. They were like geocities pages and were full of pretty insane “Google and the CIA stole this man’s software and now he’s on the run for his life” type articles.
Booger
@randy khan: That goes back to the idea/rule about business judgment. Management has lots of leeway in running a business under the idea that business judgment is subjective and not easily questioned, except by investing elsewhere.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
It’s easy to believe when you want to believe.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Grandpa got back to the White House and his Tivo and saw something that got him excited
japa21
The “used to be a Republican” statement is meant as a slam, but really is a compliment. People who make a major change in world view, i.e. from Protestant to Catholic, from any religion to atheism, from even smoking to non-smoking, tend to be the most dedicated to the new system. If they had been really strong in the old system, the change wouldn’t have taken place. Warren has shown the same dedication to the ideal of the Democratic Party since her change. Meanwhile, Bernie hasn’t shown any change at all except becoming even more curmudgeonly.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
DOJ referred to them as “quaint” about 15 years ago.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good on Hillary.
The full story is even worse. Basically, there’s a google employee who says the search results were biased against conservatives (Narrator: they weren’t actually biased). Someone else had a study on 21 people about how biased results would affect voting patterns, and extrapolated that out to the ENTIRE electorate. The same people refused to look at Republican and media bias, or to examine the russian influence involved.
What Trump gets from all this is “Google cost me 16 million votes therefore I won the popular vote”. It’s a fail parade of stupidity, and on par for our utter nutbag of a President.
Steeplejack (phone)
@JPL:
It’s slightly complicated, and I don’t remember all the details, since it has now been eight (blesséd) years since I worked at B&N. But they have to preserve the ones they don’t sell to show the distributor that they didn’t really sell them and pocket all the money.
Also, as someone pointed out upthread, it can vary from store to store. In trendy, “thought leader” areas the Times sells out pretty quickly, but in backwater stores it doesn’t. Your mileage may vary.
But check soon; the balancing usually happens pretty quickly. At my store the papers were left bundled up at the door each morning before the pre-opening staff arrived. And then the balancing guy would come in once or twice a week to take back the unsold copies and check the numbers. That’s the gap you’re trying to hit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I thought Balloon Juice violated the Geneva Convention.
Jay
MisterForkbeard
@OzarkHillbilly: Nah, just the standards for good taste.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: True, I believe in unicorns.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can see why someone would think we’re a crime against humanity.
FlyingToaster
@OzarkHillbilly:
Nope. Berne Convention, perhaps, sometimes. (Copyright law joke)
TenguPhule
Remember when the media blamed President Obama for the return of ISIS?
Jay
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I told you the pineapple on pizza was a bad idea!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Last night was the last of the member evenings at The Huntington, it was late enough to get a picture of the sunset.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule:
We love it.
bluefoot
@Mary G: Yep. They are rightfully scared of her, her platform, and her potential administration. If she continues to rise in the polls, I expect the MSM owners do what they can to tear her down and CEOs to deploy more smoke and mirrors. To which I say a hearty efg “fuckem.”
Jay
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Seconded.
zhena gogolia
Rick Steves is doing a pretty good program on fascism.
minachica
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yup! For my 13 year old, it’s “No electronics for a week! Go ride your bike or go to the park.” Physically kind of the opposite of “grounding.”
Jay
Gelfling 545
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m so enjoying Hillary now that she doesn’t have to make nice.
Jay
Steeplejack
@JPL, @Steeplejack (phone):
Final beating of the dead horse:
If you pursue this mad scheme, you might have to ask to speak to the manager, because the average register/help-desk drone probably won’t know the story behind the story. They’ll just be like: “Sunday paper?! No way.”
Anotherlurker
@NotMax: @NotMax: I find the Kirkland branded Irish Whisky to ve very drinkable. On a par with the smoothness of Jamison.
Flame away, if you all must! ;-)
Jay
Jay
Citizen Alan
@CliosFanBoy:
I, likewise, know people who swore up-and-down that Obama raise their taxes. Against Stupidity, the gods strive in vain.
Jay
Steeplejack
@Citizen Alan:
I just used this quote (from Friedrich Schiller) earlier this evening in a conversation with a friend about my family’s dynamics (ahem). It is usually rendered as: “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.”
Themselves is important, because “the gods themselves” gets across the “even the gods” idea, whereas the plain “the gods contend [or strive] in vain” has a whiff of “Only the gods?” about it.
Jay
Jay
Another Scott
Speaking of plutocrats…
Zuck and Jack don’t care. But the rest of us should.
Grrr….
Cheers,
Scott.
A Ghost To Most
Way TF OT: So I pick up my sisters (64 and 61) from DIA, and escort them back to the house, and to Mt. Evans. Nice day, but both definitely enveloped in the fascist right. Nice, weird, shitty, fun day. Families are messy. 12 years away is not enough.
Luckily, they rarely drink, so alcohol is not involved.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: Everyone knows Rebecca is a massive plutocrat. Living it up in Montana.
mrmoshpotato
@Citizen Alan: Obummer raised taxes right after he stole, yes stole, everyone’s guns!
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: A new one? Or are you talking about this one.
A Ghost To Most
@A Ghost To Most: p.s. to John: events precluded getting to the post office today. Spoon goes out tomorrow. I did finally see Buffalo Bill’s gravesite after 10 years. Diid you know Buffalo Bill Cody was a Medal of Honor recipient?
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato:
That one. I thought it was new — I’d never seen it. It was on my PBS station tonight.
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: Airdate: September 4, 2018 according to IMDB, so it’s pretty new.
Dan B
@Steve in the ATL: You forgot the snark tag after Akron and Kent cuisine. (Me – born in Akron. Raised nearby.)
Bath township is nearby and used to be upper middle class and artsy. There may be hope.
NotMax
@Anotherlurker
Never tried the Irish whiskey. The Kirkland brand gin is okay in a pinch but wouldn’t choose it over better known brands when they’re on a sale price.
Kirkland brand American vodka: awful, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
Kirkland brand French vodka: All told very nice; just a touch ‘harsher’ than Grey Goose, however. Biggest negative is the attractive but possibly most user unfriendly bottle ever. I refill an empty vodka bottle of another brand with the Kirkland.
Steve in the ATL
@Dan B: I thought the sarcasm was so obvious it didn’t need the snark tags!
Will check out Bath….
Steve in the ATL
@A Ghost To Most: you should have fed them to the goats on Mt. Evans.