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F.O.A.D.

On 5/14/13 9:59 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 14 May 2013 08:40:46 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

I don't equate a business making a reasonable profit with "greed."
Apparently you do. Greed incorporates either the pursuit of or the
making of an unreasonable profit.

What's an unreasonable profit? Depends. Banks are paying about 2% on
savings these days, and, assuming your deposits are under the FDIC
insurance limites, those deposits are pretty much risk free. So, what is
a reasonable profit if you are putting your money at risk? Five times
the insured savings rate? Ten times? Fifty times?

Do you think you could live on 2% of your savings? (pension plan or
whatever)
"Profit" is also return on investment. That is where your pension
comes from. Do you want to take a pay cut on that generous union
pension? I bet not, so you WANT a greedy corporate leader who is
generating big dividends to fund your lifestyle.
They not only need that money to send to you, they also have to pay
the fund manager and the union leaders who make plenty of money, just
to administer your account and recruit more union members (bribe
government officials etc).
Your pension was funded, based on a 10% return PLUS administration and
other fees. The only place you can get that kind of money is by
investing in the most greedy corporations.

1. Could I live on 2% of my savings? No. But that wasn't the question.
The question was, what multiple of the current savings interest rate,
which is paid on money not really at risk, is reasonable as a rate of
profit.

2. Two of the many funds my pension fund invests in average between 8
and 10% a year return to their investors, after expenses, and did so
during the recent recession. These are not huge funds, and they run
their ships pretty tight. I follow both of these funds for reasons other
than my pension. I don't pay attention to my pension fund's other
investments.

3. I don't personally know any international union leaders who "make
plenty of money." I do know some whose salaries are in the $150,000 to
$300,000 range, and a couple of retired international union presidents
who did a little better. Again, these are people who I know personally.
I don't consider salaries in that range for highly responsible jobs as
paying "plenty."

4. If a corporation based in the United States and employing mostly U.S.
workers is earning a 10 to 12% profit, and isn't exploiting its
workforce, then that seems reasonable to me. I would, of course, exclude
the monopolistic companies from that, and the book-cooking companies, too.