It turns out that people hate rich assholes who threaten to cut back employees' hours

[phantom power]

I'm hardly the first person to mention this, but I'm so old I remember when business owners were smart enough to keep their mouths shut and focus on the task of exchanging their goods and services for customers' money.

Comeuppance for Loudmouth CEO's

It turns out that people hate rich assholes who threaten to cut back employees' hours so they can avoid taking responsibility for their health insurance. Who could have guessed that publicly ripping on ObamaCare would cause Olive Garden and Red Lobster to downgrade their quarterly profits outlook or cause Papa John's to beg for mercy and plead misunderstanding? It sounds like one large loud-mouthed franchisee crippled Applebee's whole brand.

I avoid corporate food because it's bland and unimaginative. It looks like other people are avoiding it because they don't like their politics. Whatever works. Buy local.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/12/6/201935/327

[peacebird]

1. Buy local, support mom&pops instead of chains wherever possible.

[jberryhill]

12. ...which are exempt from health insurance requirements

[FSogol]

2. I think this is due to social media and the net. Hopefully this attitude will continue

to spread and we'll see a new age of support for local businesses.

[tridim]

5. Yep, human culture is changing rapidly because of social media.

I admit I didn't expect it, but that's mostly because I used all the early forms of social media starting in the mid-80's.

It took 25 years before social media matured into a culture-changing technology.

[Pisces]

3. Unfortunately for Papa Johns, people can get cardboard pizza from a lot of different establishments.

[OnionPatch]

4. I avoid it for both reasons

At first I just wanted to support Mom and Pop, local businesses. After hearing these stories, I've doubled my conviction to NEVER eat in a corporate food place if I can choose something local.

[Sheepshank]

6. The responses were great too :) n/t

[ReRe]

7. I just hate rich assholes...

...period.

[sarcasmo]

14. +1

[abelenkpe]

29. +1000 nt

[Squinch]

53. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I even find middle-income assholes difficult...

[ReRe]

55. Hello. Squinch.

...... going out on that limb a little too far, aren't you?

Risk-taking type. Life on the edge rings your bell.

[Squinch]

61. I thought long and hard, and then just took the dive...

[MissNostalgia]

8. I must say

Buying local has helped me realize that a lot of these restaurants here are supplied by local farmers , I expected more of the same of canned and frozen food reheated.

[humbled_opinion]

9. I find this a very curious conversation

Do you think that company's that haven't actually said they will cut back hours, salary's etc aren't going to do it?
In other words as healthcare costs rise, new regulations take effect, taxes are increased, how do you think all company's manage those things? Especially in a down economy where their profit margins are not normally where they are in better years.

[DirkGently]

15. The ones talking the loudest mean it the least.

First, no, I haven't seen anything suggesting that Obamacare is actually such a burden on businesses that they'll be dropping like flies or milk will go up to $12 a gallon. Maybe it will cost enough that business interests will get behind universal healthcare though.

Second, the more general point is the big bullshit of the whole "going Galt" hot air we hear every time about how if businesses have to pay taxes or follow rules, or not poison something, or treat employees better in any way, we'll all pay, and our pretty dogs too. We hear this story every time the minimum wage goes up or someone has to install a fire exit or a wheelchair ramp.

Business don't have to fire employees or raise prices every time there's a tax or a regulation. They can accept lower profits, pay a CEO less, or become more efficient. What we're hearing is a few blowhards stamping their little feet and threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue.

Turns out that not only is no one buying their threats, but that just being an asshole about it actually costs money -- more money than Obamacare, in all likelihood.

[humbled_opinion]

23. Accept Lower Profits and Pay CEO's less?

Seriously, if the rich where altruistic we wouldn't be having this conversation. You can't seriously believe that Business owners and the rich in general just eat the tax increases, regulations and anything that costs them more, if that were true than they wouldn't be such bad folks afterall.

Sadly they do pass these costs on to consumers and their employees, everyone feels the pain and the pinch.

[Ikonoklast]

32. Nope. That argument ignores the vaunted Free Market.

You are making the false assumption that in any given business sector, there is only one business supplying the goods or services, and no competition to keep any eye on.

If I decide to pass cost increases for whatever reason onto my customers, and my competition decides to run leaner, smarter, and more efficiently and therefor keep their prices either lower than mine or at the same level as before, I lose business.

Because of that, I have to weigh one against the other, and see which course of action will hurt me the least.

Increased costs of doing business are not automatically passed onto the consumer.

That is a right-wing meme.

[humbled_opinion]

38. LOL

Leaner, smarter, more efficient... Those are code for laying off employees or reducing their hours....

The number one expense in any business is labor.

[Ikonoklast]

41. What is your point? You ignore everything else involved.

Do you disagree that other businesses who might have a more efficient physical plant, better management, closer inventory and cost controls in place, better logistics and supply chain providers just might be willing to take your market share and run you out of business, because you are forced to raise your prices but they don't have to, all the while retaining their profit margin?


This happens every day.

Inefficient operators in any given sector of this economy usually run themselves out of business due to being short-sighted.

And leaner, smarter, more efficient can also mean expanding the business and reap economies of scale, as their customer base also expands.

That means hiring people.

[humbled_opinion]

42. What are you talking about?

Do you actually believe that a capitalist who realizes cost savings and higher profit margin because of more efficiency is going to somehow just part with that money and give it up to the government?

If what you believe was true than why don't they just donate more to government now?

Don't you understand that capitalist business model is specifically about greed.... Why would a business want to give more money to government? Government is the least efficient manager of money than any private sector business, that is a proven fact.

[Ikonoklast]

50. Those that assert, must first prove.

"Government is the least efficient manager of money than any private sector business, that is a proven fact."


Prove it.

Go ahead, show your work.

You can't do it, what you offered as a "proven fact" is no such thing.

That is a right-wing bullshit meme, it is the argument they use for privatization.

[humbled_opinion]

56. I am the fact

I spent 22 years in the Navy part of Supply... The MIC has a huge grasp on government and I know the inefficiency that is part of it but in case you need it from better sources here is American Progress showing some improvement during Obama's years but showing you that this is in fact real not some made up B.S.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/open-government/report/2010/03/15/7403/improving-government-efficiency/

If the private sector operated with the inefficiency of government capitalism would be destroyed.

[Ikonoklast]

59. Really. You realize you are arguing against yourself, right?

That for political reasons forced on them by those in government connected to private industries, the federal government is forced to over-pay private contractors?

That military contractors that have a monopoly over certain weapons systems manufacture or procurement are wasteful and inefficient?

Oookay, you got me!

I agree with you, private military contractors are massively inefficient.

I thought your argument was that private industry fails when operating in that manner...seems they would without being forced to be subsidized for political reasons.

[humbled_opinion]

63. It was actually more than just wep systems

i.e., large screen TV open purchases government doesn't look for what is on sale at best buy it buys at the upper end price range always, GAO does force some things to be better managed but my point was exactly that private sector doesn't operate like that, private sector has to remain competitive so efficiency is built into their operating model, the more efficient the higher the profit margin the bigger the wife's vacation is this year.

[DirkGently]

34. They can try. But non-assholes are free to compete.

That's the big logic-hole they're asking everyone to leap over. Business A raises prices. Business B cuts executive pay. Who's going to sell more?

The pretense is that any loss or cost to any business results in a immediate and equal cost to consumers. This is the argument for zero-taxing businesses.

It's bullshit. Sure, if all costs go up equally, industry-wide, AND everyone decides to handle them exactly the same way, the costs are passed on. When wheat goes up, bread costs more.

But that doesn't hold for every cost increase of every kind. There's no indication that Obamacare is going to devastate either prices or employment. Big business just doesn't like being told what to do. They're big, greedy babies.

Thus, the tantrum-throwing.

If Papa John's wants to charge $5,000 a pie because boohoo Obamacare, they can try that.

If they think people won't buy another kind of pizza, that is.

You can only make threats like these if you control the entire market. One jerk who owns an Applebee's doesn't really get to say how many hours restaurant workers get.

Add the cost of backlash in the era of instant communications, and suddenly even the empty threat of "going Galt" is even emptier.

[humbled_opinion]

39. I don't disagree however

It is common sense that the higher taxes and more regulations i.e. obamacare etc will have to be paid for are you arguing that somehow these evil business owners are actually altruistic?

I didn't think so, the point is you increase the costs of doing business and the business either increases prices or lays off workers if there were more efficiency to fix the problem a savy business owner would already have factored that in for higher profit margin..

This is free market capitalism you can't have it both ways, either they succeed and that means getting rich or they go out of business, now don't get me wrong I would argue there are probably many business owners that are altruistic and think of the greater good but they are the minority in this capitalist world.

[sendero]

48. I will gladly pay...

.. 14 cents more for a pizza or a dime more for a hamburger to facilitate the fair treatment of the employees. This raping of the employee by paying them the absolute lowest possible wage is KILLING THE ECONOMY and folks are too fucking stupid to see it.

[humbled_opinion]

57. sure a dime here and a nickle there

suddenly your talking about real money and what about the people that have limited budgets so it's fair now that I won't be able to afford various things and on a macro scale what do you think that does to the economy overall...

Think.

[sendero]

49. I would gladly pay.....

.. 14 cents more for a pizza or a dime more for a hamburger to facilitate the fair treatment of the employees. This raping of the employee by paying them the absolute lowest possible wage is KILLING THE ECONOMY and folks are too fucking stupid to see it.

[phantom power]

16. consider Papa Johns as an example...

They're now infamous for kicking up a big tub full of llama drama over an issue they could have easily resolved (if they needed to 'resolve' it at all) by increasing the price of their pies by 25 cents.

It's been established, over and over and over, that taxes are at most a distant second-order influence on business hiring decisions. Businesses hire when they have demand and they lay off when demand decreases. So when asshole business owners start vocally threatening layoffs if this or that tax increases, that's exactly what it is: a threat. And if they then go through with it, it's vindictiveness. It's not an inevitable consequence of liberal tax policy.

[humbled_opinion]

24. Some like Papa John's et.al.

have been vocal about their intent but I agree they didn't need to say anything they would do like the other 90 percent of business will do and just pass the costs on to consumers. In the end consumers pay for everything in some form or fashion that is simply the capitalist free market business model. There is no compassion, no rich guy cutting back so that he can continue to offer the same salary's or benefits to employees or to keep costs low on the products or services that he delivers that would take some type of altruism.

I always wondered what happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" It's way past time to get the spirit of JFK back in America, sadly that patriot meme usually comes after a costly battle for the very survival of the nation i.e. Civil War and WWII.

[DirkGently]

36. No. They're screaming because they CAN'T pass it all on.

That's the point of the tantrum-throwing. If it was a real thing, there'd be no need to grump about it. The bottom line wouldn't be affected, because we'd all just pay.

The truth is that we'll pay, and they'll pay. This vision of the free market where only businesses profit and only consumers pay no matter what is a fantasy.

[humbled_opinion]

40. So you too are arguing that somehow

these business owners will just eat the tax increases and the regulation requirements by cutting back on what buying their summer home or their new Jaguar... get real all costs are passed on to consumers this is the rule of Capitalist economics.

[Ikonoklast]

51. And yet once again, you ignore competitive market forces.

You are so wrong as to be laughable.

I see that you don't own or run a business, and if you do, it must be a monopoly without competition, and supply and demand are irrelevant in your world.

[humbled_opinion]

58. I am not disagreeing on the supply/demand

side of the equation but you seem to put blinders on to the sheer fact that these business owners are greedy.

[Ikonoklast]

60. I am a business owner.

I own and run a business that is both highly regulated by government and is in an extremely competitive sector of the economy.

Profit margin gains based upon increased efficiencies and adapting improved technologies can be measured in hundreths of percent.

If I don't stay out in front of improving my physical plant in order to operate at least as efficiently as my competitors, I must either take less in profits, or eventually fail, as I just cannot raise my rates and still expect to remain in business.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that I cannot pass along every cost increase onto my customers, as much as I'd love to be able to, and neither can any other player, large or small, in my industry.

[humbled_opinion]

62. So what happens when

Taxes and regulations hit industry wide, when every one of your competitors and you take the same hit you all either give up some profit margin and forgo the vacation or new car or whatever out of your own pay because the bottom line is you will have to pay the taxman so what will you all give up and what effect will that have on the general economy? but I already know the answer, you won't be giving up anything in order to pay the increased taxes and regulations nope that isn't going to happen because none of you are altruistic. You are after all capitalists so your operating premise is greed. So my point is valid across the board regulation and tax hikes result in consumers paying more or workers getting laid off or to give your point some credence business finds some more efficient methods and realizes cost savings equal to the tax hike and regulation hit which seriously if that was true why wouldn't you all be finding those cost savings now but I digress. The bottom line that is the capitalist model... Now if government regulated your profit margins that would be a different story but they don't. I would argue they should to stop you greedy capitalists from passing the costs onto the consumers, where is my protection other than I just stop buying your product.

[Major Nikon]

10. Smart business owners avoid controversial topics

Much of this "job creator" and teabagger bullshit has emboldened some of them to their own detriment.

[humbled_opinion]

25. Avoid publically stating it but

lets be real, if Obama had gone out and said, "You know what I won't increase any taxes on the wealthy but I am asking for the good of the country and to lower this deficit please, if you can send in money to the government or forgo some of your tax write offs and pay a little more on your own so we can get this debt under control"

Do you think that would have worked? Personally I would have liked to see it so that then he could say look I tried to be nice about it but people have demonstrated a propensity to be greedy and therefore I now have not choice but to raise the tax rates.

[Major Nikon]

30. What I think would work best is to counter the notion that taxation should be "fair"

Income taxes were never intended to be fair. They were intended to be progressive. The more disposable income you have, the higher your tax rate should be. The Republicans have controlled the tax debate for at least the last 30 years and have proved conclusively that when you give more to the rich than the poor, this indeed does have the effect of making the rich richer and the poor poorer. I think Obama is trying to frame the tax debate into a middle out argument and to that end he seems to be enjoying at least some success.

[humbled_opinion]

31. The Progressivism in the tax code

Is based on the more you make the higher of an overall percentage of the tax burden you pay. The problem isn't the progressiveness of the tax code the problem is that the wealthy have the means to move, hide, claim deductions, losses etc those loopholes are what kill the tax code. My point is that if everyone above a specific threshold paid a set rate with no form of deduction that would take away their ability to game the system. Too many people gaming the system is what leads to the debt we have and that goes for many not even in the top rung of tax payers, those that take advantage and game the system are the ones that cost all of us more.

[Major Nikon]

35. That was the purpose of AMT

The problem is that when the Republicans control the debate on taxes, you can't modify AMT to change with the times.

[Roland99]

11. Darden Restaurants is backing off (for now) on reducing workers' hours >>>>

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-darden-obamacare-announcement-20121206,0,7958482.story

At least for now, Darden Restaurants says it doesn't plan to scale back on full-time workers as a way to avoid paying more under looming federal health-care reforms.

Orlando-based Darden made that assurance Thursday in the wake of a public-relations backlash over an experiment it conducted to limit employee hours at some Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses.

The company "always had a significant number of full-time employees and they are integral to our success. The data we have collected during our test around guest satisfaction and employee engagement has only reinforced this," Chief Executive Officer Clarence Otis said in a news release.

The company would not agree to an interview and did not answer most emailed questions about its staffing, including whether restaurants that had been relying much more heavily on part-timers would now add more full-time staff.

[humbled_opinion]

33. So instead they have chosen

to increase the costs of their food so consumers pay, of course they wouldn't tell you that but I am sure in a year or two many will wonder what happened to the good deals....

[sarcasmo]

13. Open mouth loose money. Greedy people only understand one thing, $$$$$.

[humbled_opinion]

26. It is build in to the capitalist system. n/t

[pacalo]

17. It was unheard of that a greedy, selfish business owner would lay his cards out so foolishly

& tell his customers that he's going to cut his employees' hours just to prevent his employees from getting the benefits they deserve -- & that he's going to raise prices for the customers out of spite.

The greedy corporate profit hoarding has been going on since the days of Reagan, if my observations have been correct, but the in-your-face disrespect for common decency comes from Dubya's mark on our country.

[winterpark]

18. Just a little FYI, Darden was also one of the corps behind the "Orange County Commission & Mayor"

scuttling a paid sick leave referendum on November's ballot here in Orange County. It came to light that a commissioner and the "mayor" were having text conversations on their county owned cell phones with lobbyists for Disney, Darden and a few others to not put a legal referendum on the ballot after the required number of signatures were received. Iwas seriously pissed because I signed that damn thing and it would have done so much for people I work with. Darden, Disney, Seaworld, et al arenot good stewards of Orlando area economy and I hope that their bottom line continues to be impacted. They make billions of dollars from us in tax breaks and the like and pay their people peanuts and treat them like shit and give very little back to our communities

[april]

19. I really don't go the the Big Box Food way ..( corp)

small restaurants who really care about what they are serving

[KansDem]

20. "I avoid corporate food because it's bland and unimaginative."

It may just be me but I seem to notice the same food delivery service trucks delivering products to the variety of "restaurants" in town. I wonder just how different the cuisine could be at each "unique" location.

[phantom power]

21. well, it's not the raw materials, it's how you combine and prepare them

[Mariana]

28. It depends on what kind of "food" they're delivering.

If an outfit has great fresh ingredients, it makes sense for many restaurants to buy from them. Or are they delivering the frozen, freeze-dried, and pre-mixed factory-produced crap that most of the big chains use?

[KansDem]

37. I'm not certain...

SYSCO is one such company I see regularly. However, I'm not sure if it is hauling a variety of fresh ingredients or just the factory stuff. Maybe a variety of factory stuff?

[RedRocco]

45. Sysco

they deliver a full line of food, both fresh and prepared

[santamargarita]

22. Never feel sorry for a rich asshole!

[MediaMan]

27. Obvious: As Unemployment Falls, Biggest Risk To Job Growth Is Self-Inflicted Damage From Bad Policy

Despite steady job growth in November, policies like those being debated as part of the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations in Washington could damage further employment gains, progressive economists and analysts say.

The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs last month, and the national unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008, the time of the financial crash, according to data released Friday by the federal government.
“Despite the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. economy showed remarkable resilience adding 146,000 jobs in November. The economy continues heading in the right direction, though still not fast enough. The biggest risk to a stronger labor market remains the potential for self-inflicted damage from bad policy decisions,” says Adam Hersh, economist at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. “In resolving the fiscal showdown and the debt ceiling, the president and Congress need to focus on accelerating job growth and building a strong economy from the middle out.”

- See more at: http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2012/12/07/as-unemployment-falls-biggest-risk-to-job-growth-is-self-inflicted-damage-from-bad-policy-decisions/#sthash.pATMGj8q.dpuf

[Cha]

43. Thanks phantom power.. I'm with booman.. I don't eat

corporate food, either. I like the riveting way he says that.

It takes an Arrogant asshole to self-inflict like this.. Oh wait..

[Incitatus]

44. Possible solution?

If a business uses so many labor hours, then X percent must be full time. So a company can't have 100 part time workers at 30 hours a week. Once they hit a certain amount of labor hours, 70% must come from full time workers. A law like that would force companies like Walmart to give more employees full time work instead of paying most of their people part time and leaving the government to subsidize their income with various social programs.

[phantom power]

54. that is an interesting idea

For one thing, it seems conceivable to actually enforce it, since the number of employees is a matter of record

[Raine]

46. Not all local "mom & pop" places are noble some can be as evil as the corporate chains. There was a

mom & pop pizza place here in Los Angeles county that supported and gave money to Prop 8 here in CA in 2008. Talk about "biting that hand" that was feeding them as they were in a very gay friendly area. The good news is that they ended up out of business but still you can't assume all local or mom & pops are worth your money.

[blkmusclmachine]

47. .

.

[RKP5637]

52. The typical asshole CEO and their cronies are getting exposed more and more, and

"we the people" are finally waking up to the assholishness of these creatures.