Shark Tank

[Brian37]

Is that show where several billionaires consider potential investments in upstart companies.

Now again, I am not against the private sector but sometimes I run into what simply amounts to sheer greed.

So these two guys in one episode made these stupid fucking looking fake fur animal hats, and I mean Trump tower gaudy. Marketed to the Aspin skiers/snow borders crowd. But not even that bothered me. One of the  guys was asked how much it cost to make, he responded "$29 per unit, but we sell it for $99."

That, that right there is the fucking problem. Not the making the profit, but the outrageous gap between cost and charge. The other thing the company claimed was that it donated a portion to helping protect endangered species. Sounds nice on the surface but I don't think many people know how much actually goes to doing that, verse the "donation" going mostly to promotion. Not to mention corporations also get a tax break for that donation, so really they aren't spending a ton of money on it at all.

[Athene]

Well, no actually needs faux fur animal hats.
If the Aspen crowd's got money to burn and is willing to pay 99 bucks for one.....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, better to wait for Xmas.

[Brian37]

Well, no actually needs faux fur animal hats.
If the Aspen crowd's got money to burn and is willing to pay 99 bucks for one.....

Not the point. 

I think the entire idea of "supply and demand" does to much to satisfy personal narcissism, and not enough to promote long term problem solving.


While I am glad they are not using real fur, just like sports cars, and even giant firearm clips, there still are things you need, and things that you simply want to stroke your own ego.

Far too much of marketing is fear based or vanity based. I have my indulgences too. All work and no play would make anyone crazy. But I am talking about global greed at the top, marketing simply to maximize profits. 

Right now, humanity globally needs to solve pollution and famine issues as well as developing a meteor/comet defense system. And as much as I'd love getting to Mars as a species, even that should take a back seat to what I just mentioned.

[Homeless Nutter]

Is that show where several billionaires consider potential investments in upstart companies.

Now again, I am not against the private sector but sometimes I run into what simply amounts to sheer greed.

So these two guys in one episode made these stupid fucking looking fake fur animal hats, and I mean Trump tower gaudy. Marketed to the Aspin skiers/snow borders crowd. But not even that bothered me. One of the  guys was asked how much it cost to make, he responded "$29 per unit, but we sell it for $99."

That, that right there is the fucking problem. Not the making the profit, but the outrageous gap between cost and charge. [...]

Lol... You've only just found out about capitalism? Nike sneakers cost about as much to produce as those hats and sell for $200 - and to a much larger market, than a few rich kids on skiing holidays. 

A small company selling a hat for 3 times the production costs is not really that outrageous. I don't know the details of the business, but if they're not selling massive numbers, they need to make quite a lot more on each, than a huge corporation would, in order to offset all the other costs. That's why Walmart has lower profit margins - and thus lower prices - than small retail stores.

[Brian37]

Is that show where several billionaires consider potential investments in upstart companies.

Now again, I am not against the private sector but sometimes I run into what simply amounts to sheer greed.

So these two guys in one episode made these stupid fucking looking fake fur animal hats, and I mean Trump tower gaudy. Marketed to the Aspin skiers/snow borders crowd. But not even that bothered me. One of the  guys was asked how much it cost to make, he responded "$29 per unit, but we sell it for $99."

That, that right there is the fucking problem. Not the making the profit, but the outrageous gap between cost and charge. [...]

Lol... You've only just found out about capitalism? Nike sneakers cost about as much to produce as those hats and sell for $200 - and to a much larger market, than a few rich kids on skiing holidays. 

A small company selling a hat for 3 times the production costs is not really that outrageous. I don't know the details of the business, but if they're not selling massive numbers, they need to make quite a lot more on each, than a huge corporation would, in order to offset all the other costs. That's why Walmart has lower profit margins - and thus lower prices - than small retail stores.

Has to do with greed, not capitalism itself. 

I am tired of everyone confusing "capitalism" as a form of government. Of course Nike is going t charge what they think they can get away with. NO KIDDING.  But there still is no way to end private business ownership on a planet of  7 billion. The best you can do is prevent monopolies and put a leash on greed. What makes you think I don't have a problem with what Nike charges for shoes, that is bullshit too.

That does not mean I want to end all private business ownership. 

I am saying the world needs an attitude change, not calling for the end of private business ownership. 

The bigger you get the more complicated it gets, the more of a blob you become and you end up with an impractical goal of growing just to grow.

---

One can look at the global market like this...  Right now, global corporate greed at the top is a lot like eating all three meals at the same time, when what is more manageable is splitting the meals up, and eating smaller portions.

FB and Twitter are prime examples of abuse because they are too big to manage pragmatically. There was a day in America that when a business got too big, it got broken up so that if part of it failed, the entire thing would not cause a catastrophic ripple.

[Athene]

Well, no actually needs faux fur animal hats.
If the Aspen crowd's got money to burn and is willing to pay 99 bucks for one.....

Not the point. 

I think the entire idea of "supply and demand" does to much to satisfy personal narcissism, and not enough to promote long term problem solving.


While I am glad they are not using real fur, just like sports cars, and even giant firearm clips, there still are things you need, and things that you simply want to stroke your own ego.

Far too much of marketing is fear based or vanity based. I have my indulgences too. All work and no play would make anyone crazy. But I am talking about global greed at the top, marketing simply to maximize profits. 

Right now, humanity globally needs to solve pollution and famine issues as well as developing a meteor/comet defense system. And as much as I'd love getting to Mars as a species, even that should take a back seat to what I just mentioned.

Ah....Well, maybe focusing on a luxury item wasn't the best way to illustrate your point.

Seems like an odd starting place in making the case for increased regulation, but okay.

[no one]

I was hoping it was a show where the loser has to get in a tank full of great whites.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Is that show where several billionaires consider potential investments in upstart companies.

Now again, I am not against the private sector but sometimes I run into what simply amounts to sheer greed.

So these two guys in one episode made these stupid fucking looking fake fur animal hats, and I mean Trump tower gaudy. Marketed to the Aspin skiers/snow borders crowd. But not even that bothered me. One of the  guys was asked how much it cost to make, he responded "$29 per unit, but we sell it for $99."

That, that right there is the fucking problem. Not the making the profit, but the outrageous gap between cost and charge. The other thing the company claimed was that it donated a portion to helping protect endangered species. Sounds nice on the surface but I don't think many people know how much actually goes to doing that, verse the "donation" going mostly to promotion. Not to mention corporations also get a tax break for that donation, so really they aren't spending a ton of money on it at all.

Why the everlasting fuck do you care WHAT the markup is on a fake fur hat?  It's a luxury item.  If you want go all outrage-y, direct it at pharmaceutical companies, or the ag industry, or baby supplies.

Trust me - the downtrodden masses wouldn't be any worse off if the markup on these hats was eighty thousand percent.  This is a pretty stupid thing to get in a twist over.

Boru

edit:  Umm...yeah, what Thena said.

[outtathereligioncloset]

Random semi-related thought-------does anybody know whether Trump gets any $ per unit for those disgusting Trumpy Bears? I mean, they are using "his" image and it's hard for me to imagine him letting them make $$$ on HIS image unless he's getting something out of it.

(That thing REALLY oughta have a twitter device in its paw, don't you think?)