A friend of mine, who is an airline #pilot, asked me why I took a rather harsh stance against #Boeing in their recent "troubles". The short answer is that I loathe their profit-driven #management philosophy.
The long answer is this. #Engineering inevitably affects lives, and engineering disasters kill not by ones and twos but by the thousands. A company who, for almost a century, have been manufacturing aircraft must hold itself to a higher standard than a fly-by-night web development sweatshop, when it comes to processes, especially those that affect safety. But Boeing, for the past 30 or so years, have raised #profits above #safety. This, I detest, as an engineer.
Nos #ChampionsNationaux, dont les bénéfices s’élèvent à 153,6 milliards d’euros en 2023, sont devenus des groupes hors sol. Leur pouvoir de marché leur a permis de maximiser leurs #profits, faisant porter les conséquences de l’inflation par tous les autres. Est-il encore justifié de mener des politiques publiques qui les favorisent?
Sarah Breedon (BoE Deputy Governor), gets back on to the age prices spiral narrative....
'Some combination of moderation in pay pressures & firms’ margins will be required for services inflation to return to more normal rates'.... given the BoE seldom even mentions #profits, her saying there's a balance to be had in moderating rises is something....
But, while real #wages have fallen significantly, profits have been largely 'maintained', so t now argue for a balance is to hit workers (again)!
If you work for Apple, you’re not getting paid enough — the company averages $609,000 in profit per employee
According to Comparably, the highest salary at Apple is a directory of engineering at about $300,000, and half of salaries are below $150,000. Entry level sales associate gets $35,000
It could be worse — ConocoPhilips earns about $2 million (!!) in profit per employee
Boeing's ongoing #737Max crisis
"SEPT 2019: Boeing board of directors creates permanent safety committee to oversee development, manufacturing & operation of its aircraft.. DEC 2020: #Congress passes legislation to reform how #FAA certifies new airplanes .. DEC 2022: Congress agrees to extend a deadline for new standards for modern cockpit alerts stemming fr 2020 legislation after intense lobbying fr Boeing" #Boeing puts #profits b4 safety & lives because they CAN in USA! https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2719714/timeline-boeings-ongoing-737-max-crisis
Ddespite occasionally admitting that #profits & imports might be contributing to #inflation we're back to the tired old narrative that its #workers are to blame.
The Bank & economists in the City of London are still talking about #wage rises being 'worryingly high' (not their's of course) and so we cannot expect #interestrates to go down any time soon!
Given profits have 'recovered' but real wages remain below pre-2010 levels, I think its fair to say this is about cementing low-wage Britain!
A #BoE deputy Governor is now saying that due to the problems with #ONS data on #wages growth, #interestrates cannot be lowered as the Bank is still unsure about the level of wages rises...
So, despite occasionally admitting that #profits & imports might be contributing to #inflation we're back to the tired old narrative that its #workers are to blame.
Given profits have 'recovered' but real wages remain below pre-2010 levels, I think its fair to say this is about cementing low-wage Britain!
Australia’s banks have announced $6bn in share buybacks after generating windfall profits, part of a trend among large companies that has transferred billions of dollars from customers to shareholders.
Buying back shares from existing shareholders is generally used to distribute a company’s excess capital and lift share prices.
Ten buybacks by major Australian companies have been announced this financial year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data compiled for Guardian Australia.
5,000 #GM employees join #strike: breaking #revenue records for another consecutive quarter, beating #WallStreet expectations, GM’s latest offer fails to reward #UAW members for #profits they’ve generated
One way #classism shows up in discussions of UK #economic policy is the way that regulations that are intended to protect #workers are judged by (and criticised for) the 'burden' they put on #businesses.
However, seldom do we see the pressure to increase #profits & suppress wages described as burden being put onto workers.
All regulation is about trade-offs & balances but not when one side is favoured by an aspiration to relieve it of all 'burdens' while the other's burdens are dismissed
#Cadbury dragging out #union negotiations in the hope that workers will give in and vote for inferior deal
"#Mondelez made more than $2.7 billion in #profits worldwide last year. Paying their workers enough to keep their heads above water and giving them #JobSecurity is the bare minimum this company could do."
The second decade of the 21st century is truly a bounteous time. My backyard has produced a bumper crop of an invasive species of mosquito that is genuinely innovative: rather than confining itself to biting in the dusk and dawn golden hours, these stinging clouds of flying vampires bite at every hour that God sends:
What's the difference between feudalism and capitalism? According to #YanisVaroufakis, it comes down to whether we value #rents (income you get from owning things) over #profits (income you get from doing things):