The rich get richer as stock buybacks surge

[dmcowen674]

6-23-2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-richer-stock-buybacks-surge-103954221.html

The rich get richer as stock buybacks surge



As the stock market sets a series of historic highs, investors can thank companies for buying back their own shares at a near-record pace.


In all, corporations increased buybacks by 59 percent to $159.3 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. That's up strongly from the $100 billion for the same period in 2013 and a bit below the $172 billion high set in the third quarter of 2007, just before the financial crisis and market crash that sent indexes plunging 60 percent.

 

[dmcowen674]

and nothing trickles down to the people other than shit.

I had to make an errand today.

Got to the line and there were 7 positions but 5 name plates. But only one person working.

Had 6 people in front of me. 45 minutes later when got to that one person working, I asked where are the other four people? She said they work different days. One person behind the counter is the new normal.

It's horrible out there and getting worse everyday.

 

[QuantumPion]

So... you are saying that it is unfair that companies are using their money to buy back stock from stockholders, instead of, say, just dumping it in the street for poor people? Is that what you are complaining about?

 

[Matt1970]

We were warned decades ago not to buy cheap ass import crap or this would happen. Now we all sit around dumbfounded looking around for who to blame it on. The rich are making money, let's blame them. Wait, weren't they the ones warning us to begin with? Enjoy your $8 blue jeans and $10 toasters.

 

[Engineer]

We were warned decades ago not to buy cheap ass import crap or this would happen. Now we all sit around dumbfounded looking around for who to blame it on. The rich are making money, let's blame them. Wait, weren't they the ones warning us to begin with? Enjoy your $8 blue jeans and $10 toasters.

The rich are making money but the gravy train is running out (i.e. higher revenue streams). The only way to prop the stock price us is MA or stock buybacks, especially with cheap FED money.

The customers (former employees working middle class jobs) are drying up. Just ask Walmart if they're scared about it?

 

[BoberFett]

So it was bad when company's were holding onto piles of cash, because greedy companies. Now that they're buying back stocks to people who will have to pay capital gains taxes on them, it's bad because greedy stockholders?

Obviously there's nothing that anybody can do anymore to make a profit without being hated by jealous little trolls.

 

[Attic]

The rich are making money but the gravy train is running out (i.e. higher revenue streams). The only way to prop the stock price us is MA or stock buybacks, especially with cheap FED money.

The customers (former employees working middle class jobs) are drying up. Just ask Walmart if they're scared about it?

The buybacks provide an illusion of growth by lowing the PS portion of EPS. The cheap FED money is certainly a contributor to the massive buy backs, which aren't a problem on their own, but are particularly troubling when shown in relation to paltry capital expenditures these companies are making. Rather than taking cheap money and investing in new employees/factories/ect, they are taking cheap money courtesy of the Fed actions and buying back huge amounts of stock. Summed up, it means the economy is still quite weak despite all the propaganda pouring out of MSM about a recovery.

Been said for awhile now, but it remains, Don't Fight the Fed. Propping up equities and housing via interventionist measures is a catch 22, bad if you do, bad if you don't, it stands to reason the guys with all the power are not going to let housing/equity values crash again even if it is resulting in massive wealth inequality by pumping asset values of the 1% (mostly the 0.1%) as the main and likely only wealth creation mechanism for the time being.

 

[Zebo]

There are real dangers with goings on in income and wealth disparity. I think we'll go straight up commie as things get worse and worse which is sad because a little balance redistribution we had in past was a pretty good America. I'm talking about basically 1950-1980. You know when CEOs made 40x his factory workers wage not 1000x.

I think it should just get worse. With importing labor when we have high unemployment already which should drive wages down even more. Then you got outsourcing still going on where they can. Should be interesting.

 

[Zebo]

The rich are making money but the gravy train is running out (i.e. higher revenue streams). The only way to prop the stock price us is MA or stock buybacks, especially with cheap FED money.

The customers (former employees working middle class jobs) are drying up. Just ask Walmart if they're scared about it?

How can walmart be scared? They are shop for the broke and have seen business boom last 20 years. You can cash your SS/welfare check right there. I'd think Dillards and other fine establishments would be scared.

 

[dmcowen674]

So it was bad when company's were holding onto piles of cash, because greedy companies. Now that they're buying back stocks to people who will have to pay capital gains taxes on them, it's bad because greedy stockholders?

Obviously there's nothing that anybody can do anymore to make a profit without being hated by jealous little trolls.

The "Jealous Little Trolls" are Americans that you hate.

The Americans that were the backbone of this Country, the ones that worked hard and bought things like cars with their hard earned money.

Now that is gone due to you and your ilk greed.

Ford knew the people had to be able to afford what he was producing.

Forgetting that will not only be the downfall of the Country but of you and your ilk as well.

 

[Engineer]

How can walmart be scared? They are shop for the broke and have seen business boom last 20 years. You can cash your SS/welfare check right there. I'd think Dillards and other fine establishments would be scared.

Walmart is seeing same store sales drop for the first time in their history other than recessions (and I'm not sure that they saw drops during recessions). That's the very reason that Walmart started the bring back manufacturing to the US campaign and promised to buy billions of dollars worth of USA made stuff again. They realize that their customers are losing wages and therefore, Walmart is losing sales.

Same store sales are down
Net sales for Wal-Mart rose 1.6% for the company overall, and 2.4% in the U.S. Same-store sales, however, dipped (0.2)% and (0.3)%, respectively. Clearly the company has relied on new store growth to keep the top line growing; the obvious issue is the decline in same-store sales growth.

In the most recent earnings report Wal-Mart blamed same store sales declines on a host of issues that included "lower consumer spending primarily due to the slow recovery in general economic conditions, and the 2% increase in the 2013 payroll tax rate." In other words, customers have less money to spend, so sales are down.

This may seem overly simplistic, but it has become a common problem among discount retailers. Target and Big Lots had a particularly bad year in 2013 as they reported negative earnings growth, while Big Lots reported negative earnings on top of negative earnings growth.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/07/3-reasons-why-wal-mart-is-in-trouble-in-2014.aspx

It's pretty obvious...if your customers can't grow their wages (or have declines), they aren't going to spend as much....from the "DUH" department.

 

[1prophet]

So it was bad when company's were holding onto piles of cash, because greedy companies. Now that they're buying back stocks to people who will have to pay capital gains taxes on them, it's bad because greedy stockholders?

Obviously there's nothing that anybody can do anymore to make a profit without being hated by jealous little trolls.

How about invest in the country and its people(customers and employees) that helped make these companies the success that they are, sure you might not see a payback next quarter or next year but you will definitely see one in the next generation,

unless you care only about immediate profit gratification, let every one else eat cake.

 

[Attic]

How about invest in the country and its people(customers and employees) that helped make these companies the success that they are, sure you might not see a payback next quarter or next year but you will definitely see one in the next generation,

unless you care only about immediate profit gratification, let every one else eat cake.

Fortunately or unfortunately Wall Street is run on increasing share holder value at any cost. We might see a reason for increased share holder value aligning with supporting domestic labor and economic conditions, but i'm not holding my breath. Walmart is making a push to support USA manufacturing, but there also lobbying for more EBT and other forms of corporate welfare.

 

[BoberFett]

There are real dangers with goings on in income and wealth disparity. I think we'll go straight up commie as things get worse and worse which is sad because a little balance redistribution we had in past was a pretty good America. I'm talking about basically 1950-1980. You know when CEOs made 40x his factory workers wage not 1000x.

I think it should just get worse. With importing labor when we have high unemployment already which should drive wages down even more. Then you got outsourcing still going on where they can. Should be interesting.

A CEO no longer runs a factory of a few hundred people. They run international corporations with tens of thousands of employees. The amount earned per employee from small business to international conglomerate isn't all that different, it's just a matter of scale. Companies are simply bigger now. Do you really think it's realistic that the CEO of a company with yearly revenues nearing half a trillion dollars would only make $500K/yr just because the janitor only makes $15k/yr?

If you want to talk about companies getting too big, that's an interesting discussion. But just talking about wealth disparity because a handful of people run extremely large companies is not productive.

 

[BoberFett]

How about invest in the country and its people(customers and employees) that helped make these companies the success that they are, sure you might not see a payback next quarter or next year but you will definitely see one in the next generation,

unless you care only about immediate profit gratification, let every one else eat cake.

How about consumers take a little responsibility and support the companies that support them, and stop rewarding companies that don't? How big a company would WalMart be if nobody shopped there? Why is everything the responsibility of the corporations, and class warriors conveniently forget that consumer has any role to play? If the average person is that stupid/greedy/selfish, then I guess they get what they deserve.

 

[Matt1970]

How about consumers take a little responsibility and support the companies that support them, and stop rewarding companies that don't? How big a company would WalMart be if nobody shopped there? Why is everything the responsibility of the corporations, and class warriors conveniently forget that consumer has any role to play? If the average person is that stupid/greedy/selfish, then I guess they get what they deserve.

That x 1000.

 

[BoberFett]

The "Jealous Little Trolls" are Americans that you hate.

The Americans that were the backbone of this Country, the ones that worked hard and bought things like cars with their hard earned money.

Now that is gone due to you and your ilk greed.

Ford knew the people had to be able to afford what he was producing.

Forgetting that will not only be the downfall of the Country but of you and your ilk as well.

You're partly correct, I do despise a lot of Americans, because they're shortsighted, stupid, fat, greedy pigs.

OINK OINK OINK I NEED MORE STUFF, TIME FOR A TRIP TO WALMART OINK OINK OINK


Side note: For all the praise you idiots give Ford, you seem to forget that by making cars cheap enough so everyone could buy them, everyone did. Now we're stuck with hundreds of millions of CO2 producing cars because everybody moved to the suburbs, which you also conveniently bitch about. Waaaaaaaaah, global warming is harming the economy. But buy American cars, because we need jobs. You stupid fuckers with your blinders on don't understand cause and effect, and unintended consequences. Bunch of fucking stupid chickens with your stupid heads cut off.

 

[dmcowen674]

How about consumers take a little responsibility and support the companies that support them, and stop rewarding companies that don't? How big a company would WalMart be if nobody shopped there? Why is everything the responsibility of the corporations, and class warriors conveniently forget that consumer has any role to play? If the average person is that stupid/greedy/selfish, then I guess they get what they deserve.

This is what happens when you decimate the middle class.

The women that were their customer base are relegated to the Dollar store now.

The responsibility is with you and your CEO ilk.

6-23-2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cosmet...212947350.html

Cosmetics maker Avon Products to cut about 600 jobs



Cosmetics maker Avon Products Inc said it would cut about 600 jobs, including in its North America unit, as the company struggles to return to profit.

The direct seller of cosmetics, which has posted losses in five of the past six quarters, had about 36,700 employees, including 4,300 in the United States

Sales in North America fell 22 percent in the quarter as its products faced competition from inexpensive beauty items at drugstores or from chains such as Sephora.

 

[BoberFett]

This is what happens when you decimate the middle class.

The women that were their customer base are relegated to the Dollar store now.

The responsibility is with you and your CEO ilk.

6-23-2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cosmet...212947350.html

Cosmetics maker Avon Products to cut about 600 jobs



Cosmetics maker Avon Products Inc said it would cut about 600 jobs, including in its North America unit, as the company struggles to return to profit.

The direct seller of cosmetics, which has posted losses in five of the past six quarters, had about 36,700 employees, including 4,300 in the United States

Sales in North America fell 22 percent in the quarter as its products faced competition from inexpensive beauty items at drugstores or from chains such as Sephora.

Did you even read what you copied and pasted you headless chicken?

I'll quote it again, buffoon.

Sales in North America fell 22 percent in the quarter as its products faced competition from inexpensive beauty items at drugstores or from chains such as Sephora.

Consumers demanded cheaper items. They could have continued to buy from Avon and support their fellow American but they chose not to.

Fuck Americans, this country will be relegated to the history books, because it's full of ignorant buffoons like you.

OINK OINK OINK I'M GOING TO PUT THIS SOFTWARE ON EVERY COMPUTER MY EMPLOYER OWNS BECAUSE I DESERVE TO USE THEIR ELECTRICITY OINK OINK OINK

 

[Zaap]

All the bizarre finger pointing as this country flushes itself is indeed a strange thing to watch.

Idiots like Dumb McOwned whine about anyone making a buck for decades on end.... and then whine even louder when anyone with a buck is keeping their money as far out of his ilks idiot hands as possible. Its the Darwin Awards contender who's too dumb to even know he won first prize.

We're only reaping the inevitable results of embracing a culture of sheer stupidity, and thinking we could prosper based on birthright and a "participation trophy" (hell, not even that... EXISTENCE TROPHY) level of "know-how".

The answer is, always was, always will be: No.

 

[Engineer]

How can walmart be scared? They are shop for the broke and have seen business boom last 20 years. You can cash your SS/welfare check right there. I'd think Dillards and other fine establishments would be scared.

I just saw a Walmart commercial on TV about this very subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LYI--n-tjE

 

[Zebo]

A CEO no longer runs a factory of a few hundred people. They run international corporations with tens of thousands of employees. The amount earned per employee from small business to international conglomerate isn't all that different, it's just a matter of scale. Companies are simply bigger now. Do you really think it's realistic that the CEO of a company with yearly revenues nearing half a trillion dollars would only make $500K/yr just because the janitor only makes $15k/yr?

If you want to talk about companies getting too big, that's an interesting discussion. But just talking about wealth disparity because a handful of people run extremely large companies is not productive.

That was just one example how US has become a win big lose big society. There are thousands. I mean we can even talk 20yr govt workers who draw 10m in retirement over the lifetime while poor tax payer are stuggling to pay property tax. Point was unless things change we are headed for upheaval.

Unless you think this social welfare system (anti riot payments) and debt associated with them can continue forever.

 

[Zebo]

I just saw a Walmart commercial on TV about this very subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LYI--n-tjE

Thanks e.

 

[Zaap]

I mean we can even talk 20yr govt workers who draw 10m in retirement over the lifetime while poor tax payer are stuggling to pay property tax.

So long as those taxpayers worship the government as their master, that's what they'll continue to get.

Pharaoh wants his pyramid built... slaves will comply and toil their whole lives in poverty to do it, and praise Pharaoh on their (early) deathbeds. In this case its not even to build a lasting physical monument... just the "legacy" of some elected assholes in silk suits. (Which will just be proven to be a mound of shit by future generations who see it for what it is.)

 

[BoberFett]

That was just one example how US has become a win big lose big society. There are thousands. I mean we can even talk 20yr govt workers who draw 10m in retirement over the lifetime while poor tax payer are stuggling to pay property tax. Point was unless things change we are headed for upheaval.

Unless you think this social welfare system (anti riot payments) and debt associated with them can continue forever.

It cannot, welfare is a bandaid, not a solution. But nobody wants to actually solve the problem. There are no easy solutions, they will all hurt. Nobody in the US is actually willing to endure any pain, they'd rather chant slogans and blame the other team, and pretend that if only the other team wasn't in the way everything would be puppies and rainbows.

Tariffs? Can you imagine the temporary economic pain of high tariffs? The poor would with the stroke of a pen be unable to afford ANYTHING, while it will take years for jobs to move back onshore. Until the price disparity of domestic made goods is eliminated almost entirely, those jobs will stay gone. There is no incremental plan with tariffs.

Other solutions are just as painful. And Americans are fat, pasty bastards with no tolerance for pain. Just look at the fuckers who blame their obesity on others. The very fact that we ARE a nation of fat fuckers points to a large part of the problem.

Greedy CEOs? GEOs are no greedier than the average fat American bastard who wants his tub of Marshmallow Fluff and wants to eat it too.