Kinnakeet
Well-Known Member
expensive, range-deficient EVs.
You should not have posted that as there is a person on here that wont admit he is buying the BS so he will defend it till the day he dies.
Bidenomics
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
You should not have posted that as there is a person on here that wont admit he is buying the BS so he will defend it till the day he dies.
NBC ran a fishy story yesterday headlined, “Red Lobster closing at least 99 locations as its future comes into question.” The story informed readers that the spicy-biscuit and seafood chain is heading into Chapter 11 with significant debt, unfavorable lease terms, management turnover, and poorly-considered strategies including an all-you-can-eat-shrimp promotion last fall resulting in a jumbo financial loss.
Homer Simpson bankrupted the Frying Dutchman before swimming over to Red Lobster
It might be that the “Homer Simpsons” of America gobbled up too much free shrimp. But the CEO of Thai Union Group, the seafood chain’s largest shareholder, implicitly blamed Bidenomics: “The combination of Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group’s CEO, said in a statement.
Oh, how I love a good sesquipedalian euphemism. “Prolonged negative financial contributions” just slid into my writer’s journal as a top entry. Four long words when one short one — “losses” — would have done fine! That’s one thing neo-Marxism has accomplished, making everything mind-numbingly verbose, bombastic, and pedantic — in other words, it’s just dumb fake intellectualism. Marxists noticed that highfalutin’ edumacated people used big words, so in a classic correlation-causation fallacy, concluded that using big words made them smarter — and now they won’t shut up.
And don’t get me started on the neo-Marxian love affair with Byzantine acronyms. I dare you to find me one single acronym in the entire Constitution or even the Bible.
Anyway, the truth tucked away in the CEO’s overly verbose statement told the real story: the problem is “higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs.” In other words, the cost of a meal at the seafood chain — shrimp or no shrimp — is skyrocketing and diners are eating at home more often. It’s that simple. While Biden defenders and corporate media want to blame Red Lobster’s shrimp bonanza, it took me just a moment’s research to figure out there’s nothing new about the chain’s shrimpy promotion:
Granted, like the rest of corporate America, the chain is also probably suffering from an embarrassingly persistent DEI infection, and it may have been a little too promiscuous around the hedge fund markets, but the economy is what’s now making those pre-existing factors excruciatingly painful and bankrupting the chain.
In a close runner up to his first effort, CEO Thiraphong (if that’s his real name) explained that, because of all the losses, Thai Union was dumping the stock, but he used smarter-sounding words: “After detailed analysis, we have determined that Red Lobster’s ongoing financial requirements no longer align with our capital allocation priorities and therefore are pursuing an exit of our minority investment.”
So it’s bankruptcy. But who’s to blame? Esurient diners? Red Lobster’s terrible management, for tossing free shrimp to gluttonous seafood fans barking like trained seals? Or is the problem actually Biden’s economy? If you listen to Joe Biden, we are enjoying the strongest American economy in history. But sadly, it seems like nobody is noticing.
Things are so disconnected these days that the Trump-deranged morons down at The New Republic are fretting that President Trump might steal Biden’s economic credit:
How on Earth is the New Republic still in business? But I digress.
☕️ LOBSTERING ☙ Wednesday, May 15, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
No more spicy cheddar biscuits or free refills as Bidenomics swirls the drain; Biden's China tariffs are disguised Ukraine war sanctions; the Trump Trial ends phase one on a low note; and more.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Scarlet crustaceans may be dying in all-you-can-eat droves (or at least filing bankruptcy), but Team Biden is doubling down on gaslighting everybody about how well the country is doing. It won’t work. If the economy is so terrific, explain yesterday’s headline from the New York Post, which was nearly-apocalyptic news for frantic fast food fans:
“What is the world coming to??” demanded one random social media pundit quoted for the story. Mind-bogglingly, McDonald’s corporate is recommending chains remove their self-service drink stations, or at least shift them behind the counter. Apparently the great fast-food wheel has turned, and it’s now cheaper to pay a human being to serve people their drinks than to let thirsty guzzlers serve themselves.
It seems to be a trend. According to the Post, Panera Bread customers and grocery store shoppers at Wegmans are watching their beloved self-serve soda machines give Irish goodbyes. McDonald’s, explained the Post, leads the fast-food industry, since everyone assumes the chain that started the whole ball of grease flowing knows what it’s doing.
What McDonald’s is doing, specifically, is jettisoning people who can no longer afford to pay for its increasingly expensive ‘food’ options (using the word ‘food’ in a general sense). Meet Mike Haracz, a former McDonald’s corporate chef and now social media influencer, who said that, in a recent earnings call, McDonald’s official strategy will be to climb higher up the income ladder:
CLIP: TikTok · Chef Mike Haracz on McDonald’s new pricing strategy (1:18).
The chain’s new no-free-drinks and upscale pricing strategy seems a little risky to me. As a middle-class American family, I wonder how McDonald’s could possible entice our little clan into their restaurant. Maybe for the ‘convenience?’ Maybe on a really long road trip with starving kids and no other options for hours. Maybe. Otherwise, no thanks.
It’s not complicated. McDonald’s is struggling through the same headwinds as Red Lobster: “higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs.” Like most businesses, restaurants have only two variable input categories: material and labor. One of their biggest structural fixed costs is debt, which gets more expensive to carry when interest rates increase.
If all variable costs and the biggest fixed cost are rising, then the price of the output product must also rise — everywhere, all across the industry, from crustacean chains to french-fry foodies. In the face of rising prices, simple economics says customers will always consider alternatives — right down to the alternative of not buying anything.
☕️ LOBSTERING ☙ Wednesday, May 15, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
No more spicy cheddar biscuits or free refills as Bidenomics swirls the drain; Biden's China tariffs are disguised Ukraine war sanctions; the Trump Trial ends phase one on a low note; and more.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Something is wrong with your business model if you cannot offer a nickels worth of Soda in free refiles
It's what has ALWAYS been called being nickeled and dimed to death. No surprise here. Edgar Woodburn the grocer and his wife Isabelle always said watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.
“What is the world coming to??” demanded one random social media pundit quoted for the story. Mind-bogglingly, McDonald’s corporate is recommending chains remove their self-service drink stations, or at least shift them behind the counter. Apparently the great fast-food wheel has turned, and it’s now cheaper to pay a human being to serve people their drinks than to let thirsty guzzlers serve themselves.
It seems to be a trend. According to the Post, Panera Bread customers and grocery store shoppers at Wegmans are watching their beloved self-serve soda machines give Irish goodbyes. McDonald’s, explained the Post, leads the fast-food industry, since everyone assumes the chain that started the whole ball of grease flowing knows what it’s doing.
What McDonald’s is doing, specifically, is jettisoning people who can no longer afford to pay for its increasingly expensive ‘food’ options (using the word ‘food’ in a general sense). Meet Mike Haracz, a former McDonald’s corporate chef and now social media influencer, who said that, in a recent earnings call, McDonald’s official strategy will be to climb higher up the income ladder:
CLIP: TikTok · Chef Mike Haracz on McDonald’s new pricing strategy (1:18).
The chain’s new no-free-drinks and upscale pricing strategy seems a little risky to me. As a middle-class American family, I wonder how McDonald’s could possible entice our little clan into their restaurant. Maybe for the ‘convenience?’ Maybe on a really long road trip with starving kids and no other options for hours. Maybe. Otherwise, no thanks.
It’s not complicated. McDonald’s is struggling through the same headwinds as Red Lobster: “higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs.” Like most businesses, restaurants have only two variable input categories: material and labor. One of their biggest structural fixed costs is debt, which gets more expensive to carry when interest rates increase.
If all variable costs and the biggest fixed cost are rising, then the price of the output product must also rise — everywhere, all across the industry, from crustacean chains to french-fry foodies. In the face of rising prices, simple economics says customers will always consider alternatives — right down to the alternative of not buying anything.
☕️ LOBSTERING ☙ Wednesday, May 15, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
No more spicy cheddar biscuits or free refills as Bidenomics swirls the drain; Biden's China tariffs are disguised Ukraine war sanctions; the Trump Trial ends phase one on a low note; and more.
Something is wrong with your business model if you cannot offer a nickels worth of Soda in free refiles
Behind Rosy Economic Data, Americans Struggle to Make Ends Meet
Consumers Turn to Cheaper Goods
According to a new Adobe Analytics report, consumers are increasingly trading down to cheaper goods to cope with stubborn inflation in major e-commerce categories such as personal care, electronics, apparel, furniture, and groceries.Adobe analyzed the internet shopping habits of consumers from January 1 to April 3. The analysis revealed that low-cost items accounted for a substantial share of online sales compared to five years ago.
The share of unit sales that came from the cheapest quartile of goods rose by 96 percent in personal care, 64 percent in electronics, and 47 percent in apparel.
In addition, shoppers are flocking to store brands to save money.
“Trading down is clearly a requirement if we are to meet our established budget. There are many foods we have just limited from our meals,” Mr. O’Connor said.
Some companies are closely monitoring this trend and have even adjusted their strategy to offer more bargain deals or store brands.
“Customers are shopping but remain cautious, trading down on price when they can and seeking out deals,” Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, said during the company’s earnings call recently.
A shrimpy update. Last week I reported on Red Lobster’s bankruptcy, in a story comparing all-you-can-eat shrimp and Biden’s not-jumbo, shrimp-sized economy. But there is more to the story because, based on the chain’s bankruptcy filing, the seafood giant had been badly mismanaged for years.
Just to pick three points, the chain has had five CEO’s in the last five years, a red flag approximately the size of Austin, Texas. One of the newer owners, Thai Union, is a seafood seller, and suspiciously became the restaurant’s sole supplier of shrimp at above-market prices. And a former hedge fund owner forced the chain to sell off its highly-valuable real estate to a closely-connected company, which leased the land back to the restaurants at much higher lease rates.
On one hand, it looks more complicated than a simplistic explanation of inflation, sour cocktail sauce, and a bad economy. On the other hand, the creamy sauce of a good economy masks many rotten financial fish, and we would expect weaker restaurants to fall first.
We inform, you decide.
☕️ DEADLY FORCE ☙ Wednesday, May 22, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
Trump trial rests and heads toward closings; FBI's shoot-to-kill orders; Lobster update; aging Klaus decamps from WEF's 15-minute city; extreme hail; solar records shattered; good Portland news; more.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Clem72
Well-Known Member
For the most part this guy is right, record profits does not equal record profits margins, but his math skills are not at the level he thinks they are. He says "if a company made 1% profit last year, makes 8% this year, but there's 9% inflation, then they lost money." That's not how percentages work. If they made $1 on $100 in sales last year (1%), this year due to inflation they make $1.09 on $109 in sales due to the 9% inflation, they made the exact same 1% but it was inflation adjusted to be 9% more money. If instead they made $8.72 on $117 in sales (8% profit on 9% inflated costs) they did a hell of a lot better than inflation. But again, I think he got mixed up and meant to say that in absolute dollars they did better, but those absolute dollars include inflation.
Hijinx
Well-Known Member
That is 100% true as is the fact that if Trump isn't elected this Biden outfit will bring on a recession that won't quit.