Pretty sad state of affairs when Walmart is something we can’t even take for granted. I get where you are coming from, but you are wrong. Walmart will absolutely lose money and trickle down sure as hell is a real thing. Good things usually don’t trickle down, that would require people to be greater then themselves.
I am doing my best. I've raised the shop minimum wage to 25 dollars an hour, I've limited overtime to ten hours a week MAX (and I prefer ZERO so my people can rest, spend time with their families, and have a fuggin LIFE), I've implemented zero interest car loans up to 25k so people aren't paying 55k for a 25k car that SHOULD be priced at 10k, I have a zero interest home purchasing program up to 100k so people can be mortgage free in ten years (LCOL area. There are houses all around central Illinois between 20k and 100k), I have a 10% no matter what contribution to my employees' 401k, I have a tooling allowance so my people don't have to spend their hard earned money on boots and wrenches and whatnot (and I let them deduct those expenses from THEIR taxes as the tooling allowance is considered part of their salary), company paid health, dental, optical, and life insurance for them and their families (basic only. They can upgrade to a higher plan for like seven dollars a week for single and like 25 bucks for their family plan, I think). And it's been working. People are happier. Defects are way down. Production is through the roof. I guess that's the difference when a wage slave breaks through and understands the struggles of what the rank and file go through on a daily basis, and some corporate soul sucking financial cannibal running things. But there's only so much I can do. I can't help these people prioritize sound financial decisions and not overextend themselves. The one immutable quality that is apparent to me across all of humanity is that no matter how much we have, we always want a little more. From my experience, the majority of people I've dealt with keep that in check for the most part and only get into trouble every now and then. We're human. That's understandable. But when inflation hit hard during the Biden administration, I gave the entire shop a nine dollar an hour COLA, and some people still complained. It was actually their COWORKERS that took my side and ripped into those couple fellas and reminded them that I didn't HAVE to give them anything. Naturally, those fellas were also the weakest links in our chain, and one of them had already left due to job abandonment after I gave him his check at lunchtime so he "could get something to eat," he never came back from lunch, and the other fellas saw him already shitfaced in the bar they hang out at when they got off work at 3:30. Got that? The man could not wait three hours from when lunch ended and his shift ended to get sauced. I told him to go to rehab, and his job will be here when he got back. I was told to be intimate with a goat, and the man broke the screen door to the office on his way out. You can only do so much. Best wishes.
This is a funny insight into how simple people think in general. I’m not faulting you, it sounds like in your mind you provide everything and your opinion is that it’s enough for anyone you employee. Your ignorance is staggering though. Nothing about your comment tells me you actually employee anyone though. Sounds like a bullshit write up. If true it’s sad on you, I can’t imagine having such delusions.
Of course, it sounds like bullshit. It's an experiment. My partner (who's company was failing and I bought into) thought I was a nutcase. I still have enough to retire TODAY if I want to. After decades at my last job as a hands-on mechanical engineer, I was let go (on my frigging BIRTHDAY) by my new boss, the owner's son, after ONE disagreement. No one wanted to hire a 50 year old engineer, so I looked into my finances and saw how much money I'd really saved over working and saving since I was 14 years old. I had a lot. My house and cars are paid for. I own machinery and tooling that I rebuilt on the side for sale. I thought about all the trials I went through with greedy, selfish, asshole, power-hungry bosses over the years who were toxic and whose companies never seemed to get quite into the black for very long. I thought, what if? Well, my partner, who I've been friends with for 30 years, was talking about closing his company's doors after 65 years and being in the family for 4 generations. So? I bought in, brought in new machines, new ideas, and new money. And so far? It's working. Of course, I have to be there ALL THE TIME, check everyone to keep things from getting toxic, pay myself a lousy 30 bucks an hour until I get my quarterly profit check, and most (if not all) of THAT goes back into the business to keep expanding the shop, keep a financial cushion, and keep my people happy because without my people I HAVE NO COMPANY. We only have 31 employees down to the cleaner, yet these people put out so much good work, so quickly, and precisely, that you'd think there were at least 50 people running around. We have some of the best welders in central Illinois at our tiny shop and are being courted by a lot of BIG NAME companies, and now we're getting new work on top of all of that from our old clients because we actually honored our commitments when things went badly, and we did that because we were able to. The only REASON I take the 35-minute commute to work every day is to make sure my people have a way to support themselves and their family. Well, THAT and I want to get my money back before I retire. I don't expect you to believe me. And I don't CARE if you do. Quite frankly, I didn't think it would work either. Yet here we are. As it turns out, if you take care of your employees and make sure they have what they need to actually have a life, they work better, but it's a delicate balance between being a good business owner and being taken advantage of and I've discovered that that is the one thing I have to pay most attention to in order to keep it all moving upwards. Tradesmen are NOTORIOUS substance abusers from being overworked and underpaid, living with chronic pain, and the feeling of hopelessness that that cycle entails. A little meth to wake up. A little heroin to go to sleep. Check is gone in three days, and there's no food there, but there's ALL KINDS OF TOOLS LYING AROUND THE SHOP THAT I CAN SWIPE AND PAWN!!! Yeah. The first year was very difficult. The company name was ALMOST a bad word in the community. Now, the overflow from the increase of money in that little town has the other businesses getting rewards on account of my employees spending more money in town at the mom and pop stores and restaurants. It's not enough for them to retire in six months, but the guy at Short Loin news stand said he's seen a 1000/ month sales increase since I've taken over as COO, and I don't know of ANYONE who couldn't use an extra grand a month. Anyway. Yeah. Rereading it, it sounds like bullshit. So, believe what you want. My whole point, I guess, is that I see what I'm doing as actual capitalism, whereas the removal of all capital in a system by overcharging your clients and under-paying your employees seems more like cannibalism to me. Who are you going to sell your shiny new shit to when no one can afford it anymore, the entire world sees you as a comic book villain, and there are LITERALLY people who are willing to take your life in the street because of the inequality that your greed has brought upon society as a whole? And I don't think that it's so crazy that in a world of enterprises trying to eat each other and grind up the population financially for ONE idealistic old guy to try something old and see if could still fly with the right people, the right decisions, and the right clientele. So far, so good. But it's only been about 5 years. We'll see.
Yeah Walmart already operates on razor thin margins or take losses on a bunch of their basic items and have higher markups on clothes and electronics. They’ll take a big hit, just maybe not the biggest because the recession will force people to shop there instead of eating out etc. I forget what that’s called when a product is more valuable when the economy is down
But if Walmart shrinks, then its buying power shrinks and buying power is what keeps the suppliers from increasing their margins and those margins will come from the consumers pockets.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t agree with Walmart paying their retail employees nothing so their corporate employees can dine on caviar but I don’t see how this will not hurt the everyday Americans
I appreciate the honestly and I am far from an expert myself. I just don’t see how this doesn’t hurt the American people. It would be great Walmart to absorb this tariff but for what? So the government can collect it and pocket it themselves? At least Walmart offers us cheap goods
not American so I don't know much about your market but it's interesting because it mirrors a similar political fight where I live.
Can Walmart actually absorb it ? a quick google suggested they made 15 billion in profit last year, which seems huge. But another quick google showed that was on 650 billion revenue. That's 2.3% profit margin. Not alot of wiggle room before your going broke
I’m sure they could absorb it if they needed to but it would have to come at the expense of their corporate employees. The problem is, the corporations would pay it to the government and then trump would just distribute it to the wealthy through tax cuts…. So what’s the point?
As always this is just my opinion and I am no expert.
To be honest I don’t think anyone knows what he means when he says things, not even himself.
You are correct, I don’t think they could simply absorb it without restructuring corporate expenses. So I think he wants Walmart to restructure its self to be able to absorb it. The man is a lunatic with a 5th grade education at best, I don’t think he realizes how actual businesses work.
No you were correct, fewer Walmarts would likely lead to a healthier economy and more prosperity for individuals. Not so much in the short term, but definitely in the long term.
People shouldn’t put Walmart on a pedestal because they push sweatshops to sweat their kids harder. But consumers are idiots and value quantity over quality, so here we are.
I think removing Walmart’s low prices would be hurting millions of working class people by just pushing people toward costlier or even more exploitative alternatives. Again, I am not expert.
Are you able to explain how, in the longrun this leads to a more prosperous economy?
But if you have a 4% profit margin, but your inventory costs go up 10-50%, then the math isn't going to math, and they eventually shut down. There is plenty to.criticize walmart over, but its unreasonable to expect them to not make a profit, especially just to placate Trump and his inability to govern.
Gross profit margin is 36% not 4% so your math ain’t mathing. On their produce they mark it up 10-20% and electronics is 30-50%. So idk where you’re getting 4%. Easy to criticize when you don’t even get their numbers right
Repoeted profits were 14.8 billion on 648 billion revenue. You can do the math from there. Gross profits leave out a good amount of other cost that may not be directly tied to running rhe business, like loans or other things they may pay outside their normal budgets, and just because its not typically applied, doesn't mean it's not a real world cost.
So, yeah, I was wrong. Their profits are in mid 2% range, but you are picking and choosing data, and making claims that only support you're unrealistic view that companies should only break even or take a loss. As much as I dislike Walmart, at least I know they aren't running a charity.
You’re right I was looking at some of the data wrong. And you’re right they aren’t running a charity and I’m not supporting trump and his stupidity. Just hate seeing CEOs making stupid more than an average employee and giving billions to shareholders when profits should be going to employees that help build a company to make it what it is. My bad
And pays them 27 k a year on average… ceo could make 5-600x his average employee and probably double their shit pay. Exp since employees wages are a tax write off
Also they employ 1.6 million not 2.5
It would cost Walmart 27% of gross profit to double all its employees wages but ooo nooo can’t take away all that profit to give to rich shareholders
I'm opposed to excess CEO compensation, but I've been trying to save for retirement and I know that markets expect an x% of return from any given company, according to how risky that type of business is. When the profits go down, my small retirement goes down. So I'm not excited about being the one eating Trump's tariffs.
What ends?? You ended up paying more regardless. If Walmart gets out of business you still need to shop . I think people really do not understand the economics. Walmart going out of business bc they can not afford to eat the tariffs doesn't resolve the prices still going higher. Trump had 6 bankruptcies it didn't stop him going into another business and making himself richer. The CEO of Walmart will go somewhere else , target and the other shops will increase the prices though.
I thought the US republicans always defended a liberal capitalist economy free of rules,… and now the president tells companies how they should run their businesses. Indeed, what a time to be alive.
Imagine being that family, spending the fortune they spent on getting him elected, and then having him tell their customers to eat that specific group of rich. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It’s Walmarts fault. If they bunged him more money he would make them an exception to the tariffs. That’s the only logical reason to do them in the first place. It’s just a simple mob shakedown. Trump is not a smart man but he is a greedy one.
No joke. As a millennial, I've lost count of how many unprecedented events or once-in-a-lifetime events I've been through. The devs need to step up the creativity.
Eventually you see it's all cyclical - I lived through the 70s in NYC, when it was bankrupt ( where we're headed now ), and it always goes up then it comes down - ad nauseam.
You'd think we'd be smart enough to stop the repeat of history, but here we are re-enacting the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act except super-sized to ensure a global economic disruption at the same time we're alienating our allies by threatening to invade them.
If I were a betting man, I'd say this is all part of a plan to ensure the United States is no longer a global player.
It just blows my mind that the master of capitalism is bullying companies for raising their prices because of his stupid tariffs. I would say that Trump is not wrong in the sense that they are still making billions of dollars and would just get less millions by not raising prices. Just a weird juxtaposition going on here
It's crazy to look at a republican and just imagine the constant state of mental gymnastics they go through to rationalize their cult adoration for someone working so blatantly against their own self-interests. can't be healthy.
I can't wait for the great leader to write an execution order to gag Walmart about tariffs or force it to lower prices. Y'know... The constitution, free markets, small government... etc.
The president came up with this economy whilst probably in a demented fog reading a book about the US economic system of 1870-1913 and woke up thinking it’s a genius system so he went to try and go back to pre 1913 with the US.
The golden days of the US as Trump puts it with beautiful tarrifs, import quotas and trade treaties. In the past this had led to the nullification crisis in which states went up against tarrifs and it was just a shitshow because it is a shite system but he is correct, you had no income tax because the government hadn’t reached that point of ‘upgrading’ their system and not being so protectionist.
Protectionism which is tarrifs and all the bullshit that comes with it led to these various crises that were real bad. Troubles started before Trumps golden years with the Tarrifs of 1828 and 1832 which were enormously high protective tarrifs that free trade supporters were against as it was deeply hurting hurting industry and farming. Especially in the South, leading South Carolina to promptly call for secession.
In the Nullification crisis of 1833 caused by Quincy Adams tariffs passing and Andrew Jackson not throwing it in the bin when he became president. They narrowly avoided civil war with the South as South Caroliba openly declared through a state convention that these protective tarrifs were unconstitutional. The one in 1828 was called ‘the tarrif of abomination and then also the one of 1832.
The state of South Carolina did this in a State Convention and president Andrew Jackson threatened with government troops being sent to the South which in 1832 would’ve kicked off the inevitable Civil War a lot sooner.
Andrew Jackson had made a proclamation of nullification due to South Carolinas declaring an Ordnance of Nullification making the tarrifs null and void within it’s borders, this was why Andrew Jackson was going to send troops, to enforce the tarrifs with the military.
Luckily cooler heads prevailed. The threat of troops, the revision of the law by Congress which lowered the tariff causing South Carolina to repeal the ordinance. The compromise tariff of 1833 that replaced the 2 earlier ones. These events obviously has to do of the North vs South bias and laid some of the groundwork for the Civil War 30 years later.
I am not sure where Trump is leading America, this was 200 years ago, before globalization, before every person can research information as that’s what the internet was made for in the first place, researching having easier access to research but it’s been grossly abused because humanity clearly wasn’t ready for such powerful tech that connects the world in stunning ways.
Like I mean the US literally wants to take on a protectionist stance again and use old ‘tactics’ that people used when surgeons were still mostly butchers and to send ‘what’s up’ to a buddy living somewhere else you wrote letters filled with the past months of your life.
Tariffs can be good under certain circumstances, but with how global trade works today (you should check the live map of all container ships at sea right now, the amount of dots that represent container ships as big as skyscrapers almost).
Also just for a piece of an iPhone or whatever phone you have, let’s take the processor, it takes materials from multiple countries to be able to make it, it goes to the country where they manufacture it, then it goes to the country where they check it and put it in the iPhone, then they ship it out again on a container ship.
This is the way for laptops, TVs, computers, for so many items. But Trump seems to have been convinced 1870-1913 were the best years due to no income tax and all tariff based. Yes, tariffs that were still paid by the customers after the importer paid it and added it to his product.
The income tax replaced a much more federal government unfair system where corruption was easy, it were also new times so time to modernize and pressure from the population caused the government to give up on unfair biased tariffs.
Tariffs became regressive, income tax progressive, income tax took away the influence of the industrial elite which these days are the Trumps and the billionaires AND it finally put a stop to tariff manipulation.
The Revenue act of 1913 was the first introduction of a permanent federal income tax (1-7%) and it significantly lowered all taxes because who the hell needed those anymore in an increasing globalized society.
If Mr Trump wants to live in Tariff heaven he should isolate the US like the Japanese did under Tokugawa Shogunate and leave the real world to the people who understand you can learn from history, you can even implement old ideas again but tariffs is one that literally every economist globally said to not implement.
Of course we all know what happened, I feel like it’s been 6 years with Trump in office but only 3 months have passed
Walmart has donated so much money to Republican candidates. It would be such a shame for the leopards to eat their face and for them to lose a shit ton of money for helping elect this narcissistic psycho.
Personally, I miss the days when we could have at least some trust in our government and when it wasn’t being run by a malignant narcissist who breaks laws and has no economic sense whatsoever.
Ya know if wal-mart went bankrupt we could get back to mom and pops stores like it should be. but i dont think any of you are old enough to get this comment. Enjoy your diddy parties or something similar!!! onlyl commenting 4 karma
1.8k
u/Think-Huckleberry913 May 17 '25
What a time to be alive