Whurlpool yesterday took steps to raise money. Their corporate revenue is down 22% and their CEO's renumeration is up 75%. So to save money they are closing a local plant. Yesterday, 600 workers did their part to make the CEO's gold membership more affordable. They clocked out for the last time. The other 550 or so will be doing their part in a month or so. So the next time to buy a Wurlpool appliance, remember, 1100 people left their jobs so the profit margin could be raised and some Mexican workers are getting paid all of a little over $2 an hour to make the high quality appliances you hope won't burn your house down.

 

hate to hear that, there are certainly some major problems in CEO and sports compensation

no one is worth the dollars some of these people draw

 

I have to agree with you there.
FIRE THE CEO!!

 

Welcome to corporate america where the COE's are kings and the workers are just peasants. I know it all to well.

MikeyB

 

I have been down that road before. I hope my new job will keep me from EVER needing to do it again.
Not to make this political, but if the government would stop raising the taxes on these big companies, they would be staying here with great profits.

 

Plus, the CEOs are responsible for the designs and the marketing. The workers just build the stuff according to the plans. If the market colapses, it's the CEO's fault, not the workers. But, the workers are the ones that get the boot.

These days, to be a worker is to be very vulnerable. It's not at all about how well you do your job, it's about being expendable in a new world reality. The CEO's job is to protect himself first and the stock price second. Fire a worker and the profit looks better. If you need another to replace him, you are flooded with applicants, or offers from overseas factories happy to do the work cheaper.

There's more to it than taxes on companies. Goods can be brought to market here that are FAR cheaper than what could be saved through taxes. Far, far less. And goods can be produced for 1/10th the cost in China compared to what it costs here. Washing machines are ridiculously easy to produce and far better designs are available than the traditional Whirlpool design, just for example.

 

Very true. I didn't want to get into the details as that would really turn this political.


The rest of your post is also very right on the money.

 

QUOTE- -Not to make this political, but if the government would stop raising the taxes on these big companies, they would be staying here..

Rockcrawler, read this, then you want have to feel too bad for huge corporations. - - - CORPORATE WELFARE



Most firms pay no income taxes - Congress
Study finds that the majority of domestic and foreign corporations in the United States avoid paying federal income taxes
By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: August 12, 2008


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.

The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.

The GAO report, which did not name any specific companies, said that some corporations reported zero income before deducting expenses while others said they had zero net income after deducting expenses. Either way, those companies reported no tax liability, the GAO said.

But many of the companies the report found had paid no tax were likely small businesses that pay other taxes. Generally, many small firms, because they do not have shareholders, are able to shift corporate income to individual income.

"Small businesses that are going to be liable for a lot of income tax are likely to use other tax forms so they only pay individual income taxes," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
__________________

 

nelrod,

Good post.

 

Anytime taxes are raised on corporations, the expense is just passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices or lower quality. Sometimes, it's even more expensive- the product is outsourced to another country.

Corporations have a responsibility to their shareholders to make money.

If the corporation doesn't make money, the shareholders revolt and vote out the corporate officers. If you want to fire the CEO, buy a lot of stock.

My investment portfolio is centered around stocks that are profitable. It's actually one of the criteria I look for when buying shares of a corporation.

It sucks that Whirlpool is shutting down a couple of plants. There are probably a lot more reasons that it's happening than just the CEO is getting a bit more juice. There's been a debate running in our office about what happens if California requires an employer who has 50 or more employees to provide healthcare. If we have 53 employees, we'd have to sponsor healthcare for 53 employees. If we have 49 employees...

 

Ditto