DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus The Economy Part 2

Trump touted low-wage worker pay gains but much of the credit goes to state minimum wage hikes

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...r-boom-due-higher-pay-floors/4682939002/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/14/ppi...percent-in-april-more-than-expected.html

The producer price index, a measure of what producers receive for the goods they produce, increased 0.5% in April and was up 2.2% on a 12-month basis, the biggest gain in a year.

The core PPI also rose 0.5% compared with the 0.2% Dow Jones estimate.

Services prices boosted the wholesale inflation reading, climbing 0.6% and accounting for about three-quarters of the headline gain.

Wholesale prices jumped more than expected in April, putting up another potential roadblock to interest rate cuts anytime soon.

The producer price index, a gauge of prices received at the wholesale level, increased 0.5% for the month, higher than the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. However, the March reading was revised from an initially reported 0.2% gain to a decline of 0.1%.

Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, the core PPI also rose 0.5% compared with the 0.2% Dow Jones estimate. Excluding trade services from that core group showed a 0.4% increase on the month and 3.1% on a 12-month basis, the highest level since April 2023.

On a year-over-year basis, wholesale inflation rose 2.2%, also the highest in a year. The core PPI inflation was at 2.4%, the biggest annual move since August 2023. Both numbers were in line with estimates from Reuters.

Stock market futures were around breakeven following the data while Treasury yields were mixed.

“Sticky inflation looked downright stuck this morning after a much hotter-than-expected inflation reading. But with last month’s numbers revised lower, this report may not have been as much of an upside shock as it first appeared to be,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing for E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Services prices boosted the wholesale inflation reading, rising 0.6% and accounting for about three-quarters of the headline gain, while the final demand goods index increased 0.4%. The services increase was the biggest monthly gain since July 2023, the BLS reported.

Portfolio management helped drive the services costs, rising 3.9% on the month.

Goods prices as measured by the PPI rose 0.4%, reversing a 0.2% decline, led by a 2% increase in the energy index, which included a 5.4% surge in gasoline prices. The final demand index for food fell 0.7%.

The latest inflation data comes with the Federal Reserve on extended hold regarding interest rates. Policymakers have said in recent days that they expect inflation to trend lower through the year but need more evidence that it is convincingly on the way back to the central bank’s 2% goal before cutting rates.

Recent data points have not been encouraging.

The consumer price index, the companion to the PPI that measures what consumers pay rather than what producers receive, has had higher-than-expected gains through the first part of 2024, fueling fears that inflation is stickier than economists and policymakers had expected.

Similarly, the Fed’s preferred measure, the Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price index, also has been running hot and showing inflation running just shy of 3%.

All of the various inflation measures are showing price pressures well ahead of the Fed’s target.

In addition, various consumer surveys have shown expectations running hot. The New York Fed’s monthly survey released Monday showed the one-year inflation outlook at 3.3%, the highest since November, pushed in good part by expectations that housing-related costs will continue to increase.

Someday you lefties will learn that corporations do not “pay” taxes. They collect them from their customers. When a business prices its product in the marketplace it does so by first determining its expenses to produce the product. It takes everything into account. Cost of capital, cost of labor, cost of energy, everything. And that includes the estimation of the taxes they will pay per unit of production. Add in their margin of profit and, voila, the cost of the good to the consumer. Cost of labor goes up, cost of the product goes up. Transportation cost go up, cost of the product goes up. Taxes the company pays goes up, so does the price. Abolish the corporate income tax annd income taxes on small businesses, all taxes people pay but they do so indirectly. Prices would drop but people would pay the same amount directly . When they saw how much they are really paying in taxes I have a feeling some real change in government would come.

Real world example of my point. I inherited two rental homes from my Mom. 25 years ago so they were paying $800 per month at each house. The community they were in passed a tax levy that resulted in my taxes on the each house going up $360 per year. I sent each a letter telling then their rent was going up $30/month and why. There is no independent pot of money that a business uses to pay taxes. It all comes from their customers.

Your point is well taken when it comes to small businesses and rentals, which is supposed to be at the backbone of what our economy was built on in a true, conservative, capitalist sense.

However, that metric completely changes and becomes more complicated when it comes to large businesses, especially public corporations. It's almost a different beast entirely, as I have really learned recently when digging through 10K, SEC filings, and looking at the history of how Jack Welch completely changed the game, for the worst IMO.

The public corporations of today are not the same as the public corporations during the Prosperous 50's. The game has changed, and it's not the taxes. It's the motivations. Now, public corporations are 100% in it for shareholder return. Spreading costs and accounting for those costs in the price of goods and services is surely an element, like what you mentioned, but you also hit on margin, which is another point where we need a deep dive. When mega corps hit margins of a certain percentage and have a windfall, that is good for the shareholders, and then there becomes an expectation that those margins perpetuate. As I see firsthand with companies like Transdigm in the defense sector, sometimes those margins are eye-poppingly exorbitant. So when something like paying additional taxes come up, you could look at it from the lens of "Great, now they will HAVE to increase the cost of their goods to maintain margin" or you could look at it from the lens of "Well, perhaps now they could - or at least should - decrease their margin to a level that is historically reasonable to account for these new taxes." That never happens, though.

In the same line of thought, mega corps also incur costs for a host of other things outside of taxes. Heck, Lockheed Martin, who almost exclusively makes its money off of tax payers, just spent $20B (yes a B, not an M) in stock buy-backs over the last five years. Who do we ultimately think is going to cover those costs? You could also go into other "expenses" too, like C-suite expenses and a CVS receipt long list of expenses that all get rolled up into a company's G&A or other expense pool that ultimately have to get incorporated into the price of goods or services sold. Things like stock dividends, for instance. The bottom line is that we sometimes want to hone in on taxes as being the sole focus for companies raising the cost of their product, but why give all those other expenses a pass?

What it really boils down to in my mind, is that we have the current era where there is no longer competition at the highest level. It seems only small, local businesses compete anymore. We used to have a whole littany of defense contractors, for instance. Now we have five big ones. What does that result in? Poorer products that are more expensive with less innovation. Competition is the only organic way to ensure companies do their best to keep prices low. In the current era, though, competition seems to be a relic of America's great rise after WW2, especially as exemplified in the post Jack Welch era of "Duty to shareholders and screw everyone else."

I say that as a conservative, too. If you believe in competition on a personal level (reward hard work and whatnot), like I do, then you need to spread that mantra to corporations. We can see how dilapidated those big businesses are getting in terms of finding their "cutting edge" too. They are not as well run as they used to be in terms of putting out a product and overtaking industry. Boeing is perhaps the most glaring example. But as long as they have the funds to fill campaign coffers and dictate to our lawmakers that they are "too big to fail," they won't be properly incentivized to control costs or work to maintain their place at the top of the food chain.

Dawglover, very thoughtful comments you posted. I read your post three times looking for something I could argue with you about but, dang, I found my self agreeing with much of what you said. Just to elaborate a bit.

The zero int rests rates are loved by companies. Wouldn’t you love them if you were a borrower. If you are a saver they are not loved so much. Those low rates suck dollars into the stock market since people cannot make money anywhere else businesses love that which is why every time a rate hike is discussed the market pulls back some. That artificially inflates the market.

Widespread expansion of the money supply results in inflation and most politicians would rather print money than make tough spending decisions. Dems are way worse at that than repubs but I do not give either party a free pass on that. I thought it was very discouraging that after the pandemic politicians refused to give back those dollars, refused to return spending to pre Covid levels. All those “emergency spending levels are now the norm.

Interesting that in my town we passed a bond issue for park modernization and expansion. $60 million. Well as politicians are wont to do they just had to spend more. A good bit more. They found the money of course. You know where. From emergency Covid spending funds. Nothing to do with Covid. And I would bet that kind of thing is happening in communities all over the country.

I think price gouging happens but I believe it is heavily directed toward government dollars as you pointed out with defense contractors. When folks are spending other peoples money , well, they just don’t watch over it as closely as a businessman who is trying to be successful. I think businesses who are dealing with people or other businesses find price gouging way more difficult and I think price gouging is not a business plan that will have much success.

Dawglover, I may have the wrong person in mind, have you confused with someone else, but I think I read a comment that you are, or used to be, a repub, but that the repubs had changed so much you no longer were one. Or maybe it was because of Trump you no longer were.

I’d be interested in having a conversation with you about that sometime.

Good talkin to you dawglover
.

Good talking to you, too, Keith. You are right that I used to be a Republican.

I divested from being a Republican, not because my views had changed, but because I realized the party was not who I thought it was. I think it was jfan on here who I was talking with at the time. Both of us had the moment back during the fiscal crisis bailouts of 2008/2009 when we realized Republicans were diverging away from what it meant to be actually conservative and it's been getting worse since.

I think before that point in time, I felt an innate need to defend them at all costs, and it's honestly been liberating to leave them behind, along with my preconceived notions. Eye opening actually.

How much have corporations cut their prices when they receive those huge tax cuts? I'll tell you. They haven't. It's a one way street. They pocket every tax cut they get and then raise prices sometimes for nothing more than to raise their profit margins. Sometimes for no reason other than that.

It seems you support this lop sided, one sided capitalist system with no checks and balances. Where they never pay their fair share and only serve to gouge consumers.

So what is trump's answer? Give them more tax cuts. Since you seem to be so good at finances, maybe you can explain to me how cutting your income, (taxes for the government), when you're spending more than you are making already, helps your finances? Because that seems to be what the party you support keeps doing. They keep cutting taxes, which is the governments income source and then complain about constantly running a deficit. At least when they aren't spending the money on what they want to.

So apparently you are one of those lefties who subscribe to the “big pot of money” theory, that businesses have this pot to pay their taxes out of, and it constantly refills out of ….somewhere, but it in no way affects the price of the product they are selling. Hmmm. Interesting theory but one perhaps better suited for three hours north of me in fantasy land at Disney world.


So who is the “they” you direct such vitriol and anger towards in your post. Is it the retired couple whose retirement accounts hold stock in one of the companies you seem to dislike so much. You know, the people who get those dividend checks quarterly and are happy as can be when the company has a really good year and that dividend check is larger than expected. Newsflash pit, those folks don’t give a flying flip that you think their company made too much money. They like that dividend.

Or maybe it is the hard working folks in the factory who are “they”. They work hard , want to make more money and want their company to do well. Or maybe the folks in the offices are the ones. They do the books and help run the company.

In truth these people are a part of that onerous “they” that you despise. They all want their company to do well and make as much money as it can. And they sure don’t want a guy like you deciding what the proper profit margin should be for their company or deciding how much the company should pay in taxes.

Interesting side note, the profit a company makes are taxed and with what is left is used partially to pay dividends. Those dividends are then taxed an an individual level.

That's not what i got out of Pits post.... That's more you crowbarring in a narrative that wasn't actually put forward by anyone.

Interesting read .... https://www.growandconvert.com/research/most-profitable-fortune-500-companies-in-2023/

One of the more interesting facts in there being how much profit the healthcare industry makes ... No wonder its still the number 1 cause of personal bankruptcy. Yay !

I get the argument you're making, and I generally go with it, but in this case it doesn't quite fit.

You responded to Pit's post, which was a generalization, about companies and their practice of raising prices in the face of increased costs, but not being as sensitive when costs go down (such as tax cuts). This is (generally) done in order to juice the balance sheet for financial reporting. Where your argument kinda rubs me the wrong way is how it sounds like you're trying to stick up for (for lack of a better word) the stock market and how its lunacy usually affects our day-to-day.

As companies get bigger, they begin to shift their priorities away from their customers and towards shareholders (which in most cases are the founders/owners/executives within the company itself). This is a problem (please say if you disagree).

There's obviously big stock incentives to the C-suite and you can read the bonus structure for every executive at a public company in the quarterly SEC filings. Lockheed's for instance is cash-flow, sales capture and shareholder value. Nothing in there about product quality or customer satisfaction. You can bet that the executives chase after those bonuses too.

Oddly enough on the shareholder side, per TheStreet, 80% of public company share market cap is owned by institutional investors. They are pretty much the only ones who call in and ask questions at the quarterly earnings calls. They pretty much decide our destiny. Sometimes it can actually be funny to listen to. One of the guys representing one of the institutional investors - can't remember which one - got on the call and asked Boeing basically "Yeah, uh, wtf were you thinking????"

Let me try to use the same type of language you use to see if it helps you.............. You far right wing corporate socialists see life as a one way street for big business.

You support a party that keeps giving major corporations huge tax cuts, of which trump is campaigning on giving them yet another one, which does not create any jobs, is mainly invested in ways that take it out of circulation from the general economy and none of that gets passed on to the consumer. None of it is spent on products to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Or as we lefties call "corporate welfare". They line their pockets with that money and nothing is gained from it by the rest of society. Oh, and those people you seem to care so much about don't get raises because of it either.

If you're so concerned about the working man and the retirees who hold their stock, give that same money to consumers in those tax cuts. Consumers will spend that money on their products. Selling more products will produce more jobs and profits. Let them earn it like the rest of us had to do.

Conversely if you raise their taxes they increase their prices and that cost is passed on to the consumer.

I'm not saying that all of that isn't true nor have I anywhere. But that doesn't sound wrong to you? You think Republicans should keep cutting their taxes which is of no real benefit to any of us and not pay their fair share?

So explain then how you propose to fix this mess? Billions upon billions of tax cuts have been given to big business time after time. We've seen no savings in their products as a result. If you raise their taxes back to where they were before we'll see an increase in their products. Now instead of political rhetoric and mudslinging, try to address how you tackle that issue.

And can you tell me when expecting big business to pay their fair share is described as "despising" someone? Maybe you could engage in a conversation instead of slinging BS.

Stock Market News: Markets Rally After CPI Inflation Report
Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq hit new closing highs.

Last Updated:

May 15, 2024 at 7:49 PM EDT

https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-051524

Dow Jones hits record-high 40,000 points

Economy Updated on May 16, 2024 11:14 AM EDT — Published on May 16, 2024 11:02 AM EDT

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/dow-jones-hits-record-high-40000-points

You made it all back and then some in a few days! It's back baby!

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/14/poli...tion-when-he-became-president/index.html

Biden blatently lying about inflation.

jc

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/economy/us-retail-sales-april/index.html

From the article:

A while back I pointed out one of the reason consumer demand remained high is because people seemed to have a 'live in the moment' mentality since the covid restrictions ended. They were off spending, taking vacations etc. At first it was fueled by the 5 trillion the government handed out. When that stopped, they continued the spending by running up credit card bills. In 2023 it was reported credit card debt reached a new high. Eventually those would get maxed out. It seems we are reaching that point. If people have to stop spending because they can't pay their credit cards, it could lead to some cooling in the economy.

Take that thought process and apply it to our federal gov't. Not under any single president - this is not a 'side' issue. It's not r or d. This country is in a hole it will never get out of............but, keep on spending, right?

888, I do not think I shoehorned anything , I drew logical conclusions from what was said.

The article you posted was interesting with a lot of data. A lot!! One could probably draw hundreds of conclusions from it. As I read it I pulled a few things out that I found interesting.

It was good to see America as top dog in profit making. The Chicomms want desperately to be the #1 economy in the world but our private sector continues to outperform them. Good to see. Interesting that the profits of North American companies is $1.18 trillion while American companies alone earn $1.1 trillion. Does not leave much left for Canada. I did not realize there was that big a difference.

It was interesting to see that, despite frequent trips to congress to get more subsidies , the postal service managed a tidy $56 billion in profit. Interesting that they did that on revenues of $79 billion. That seems odd to me but perhaps the taxpayer subsidies they receive help explain that. Maybe a reduction in stamp price is in our future??

Some of the largest money losers was a bit surprising. Ford, Amazon, A.T.& T. And it must be tough in the insurance industry with 3 or 4 of them on the list. I do think these lists are dynamic and in a year or two companies may have switched places.

Your comment about healthcare was a little misleading. You noticed the other number right? They were the largest revenue sector, their revenues were $2.5 trillion, and their profits were $154 billion. If I did my math right, that is about a 6% profit margin, which is certainly not huge.

Interesting read overall but I think focusing solely on raw profit numbers does not give us a great picture. It does not account for market capitalization of a company or shares out. It does not provide information about profit margins, at least not directly. It does nothing to show investors rate of return on their investment which is crucial to attracting investors. The article gives an incomplete picture, but an interesting picture nonetheless. Thank you for posting it.

I am curious about why you posted it. Was it educational or were you meaning to make a specific point?? Thanks again for posting it.

If his lips are moving he’s lying.

Just a comment on one of yours some posts back.

Generally speaking, one prices hit a new level, they stay at that level just as once wages hit various levels, they stay at those levels. If things in the economy level off and remain stable, you sometimes see easing on prices as companies then try to capture more market share.

It's a ladder you can climb up, but can't go down more than a step or two unless you fall. Fall meaning deep recession or flat out depression.

We have seen two major economic crisis that one would think should cause either a recession or a depression quite recently. One was when the tech bubble burst and the other when the housing market crashed. It was avoided both times.

The question becomes did we do nothing but kick the can down the road? Our government bailed out the banks and gave loans to the auto companies because according to some they were "too big to fail". But we both know our government won't bail out the rest of us. On this very board we have witnessed people predicting a recession that thus far has never came about. Inflation is way down from its peak. Still not where it should be but a vast improvement from where it was.

While a recession is still a possibility, that possibility is much lower than it was only a couple of short years ago.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/inflation-anxiety-tops-fed-minutes-6765522/

Inflation anxiety tops Fed minutes
Share
By Cate Chapman, Editor at LinkedIn News
Updated 4 hours ago


Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting reveal renewed anxiety about inflation. While officials agreed to hold interest rates at their 23-year high at the April 30-May 1 meeting, many questioned whether that was restrictive enough to slow consumer-price growth to a 2% annual target from the current 2.8%. They also discussed holding rates steady for longer, as well as lowering them in the event of job losses. The concern reflects the fact that after cooling last year, consumer-price growth has consistently overshot expectations — until a key gauge released last week showed slower growth and rekindled rate-cut hopes.


Major indexes fell as the minutes undercut expectations that the central bank would begin lowering interest rates before the end of the year.
The S&P 500 closed down 0.3%; the Nasdaq Composite, 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 0.5% — or 202 points, its worst trading day this month.

US 30-year fixed-rate mortgage falls below 7%

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The average rate on the popular U.S. 30-year mortgage rate fell below 7% this week for the first time in more than a month, which could help revive the housing market's waning fortunes.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.94% during the week ending May 23, the lowest level and first reading below 7% since the second week of April, down from 7.02% in the prior week, mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

It averaged 6.57% during the same period a year ago. Data this month showed the housing market taking a step back in April after a strong performance in the first quarter. Existing and new home sales fell last month. Single-family housing starts and building permits also declined in April.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-30-year-fixed-rate-mortgage-falls-below-7-2024-05-23/

It's interesting. The neighborhood I am in that is all new construction has been a barometer. When we bought last February (construction completed in August), we were I think the fifth house. We were worried we overpaid. Since then, though, the house prices for a lot of the other houses being built just kept shooting up through the roof. So did the mortgage rates.

There are two lots left, however, and Drees has been struggling to sell them over the last three months. Everything before just fell like dominos after we moved in.

Building in my area has been going crazy and still is. But Nashville is more and more popular and I'm quite sure the area where I live isn't indicative of the nation as a whole. Property values have soared since I moved here and in this area I don't see that changing in the short term.

Mark Cuban defends Biden, bashes Trump on economy

Julia Shapero
Fri, May 24, 2024 at 1:31 PM EDT2 min read


Billionaire investor and television personality Mark Cuban defended the state of the economy under President Biden and bashed former President Trump on Friday, arguing that Trump squandered the strong economy he received from former President Obama.

After highlighting a graph on the social platform X showing 12 straight months of positive real wage growth in the U.S., Cuban responded to a user who appeared unimpressed by the numbers.

“Imagine looking at this graphic and not realizing that your guy underperformed the Obama economy he inherited and gave away all the wage growth trends in place when he took office,” Cuban said of Trump.

The graph showed the year-over-year change in real average hourly earnings stretching back before 2010, appearing to cover much of the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations.

The user argued that Cuban was ignoring the absence of any negative wage growth under Trump.

“You can’t brag about Biden’s ‘wage growth’ because the line is positive and then ignore the lack of negative wage growth in the Trump administration,” they said.

Prior to the 12 straight months of positive real wage growth, meaning wages outpaced inflation, Biden presided over 25 consecutive months of negative real wage growth, according to the graph.

The “Shark Tank” star responded, arguing that Obama and Biden both inherited economic crises and were able reverse negative wage growth, while Trump presided over diminishing wage growth.

“I just showed the graphic. Without commentary,” Cuban said. “The facts are that Obama and Biden inherited the Great Recession and Covid, both generational issues, and turned the economy positive over time.”

“The guy between them inherited a booming economy and in terms of wage growth, diminished it,” he added. “Is that what the numbers say to you?”

Biden has struggled to shift Americans’ largely negative views on the economy as he prepares to face off against Trump once again in November.

Nearly 3 in 5 Americans believe the U.S. is in a recession, even though experts say there hasn’t been one since 2020, according to a Harris poll released earlier this week.

While inflation rose rapidly in 2021 and 2022, peaking at a 40-year high of 9.1 percent, it has eased significantly since. As of April, consumer prices were up just 3.4 percent year over year.

Despite the Federal Reserve’s repeated interest rate hikes to tamp down on inflation, the labor market has also remained surprisingly strong, repeatedly blowing past expectations while unemployment has remained below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-cuban-defends-biden-bashes-173115940.html

Construction on Highways and Bridges is going nuts in my part of Ohio. At least the money is going to where it needs to go. Build back better is working!

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/news/statewide/2024-construction-kickoff


ODOT investing record $2.8 billion into infrastructure improvement projects this year
April 15, 2024 | ODOT

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is kicking off another record construction season, investing $2.8 billion into 950 road and bridge improvement projects across the state. There are 39 projects classified as “major projects” with a value above $10 million.

“Investing in efficient infrastructure is an investment in quality of life,” said Governor Mike DeWine. “Once complete, these projects will significantly reduce traffic congestion and improve roadway safety.”

This year’s construction program also includes 176 safety projects and laying nearly 5,700 miles of pavement – enough to pave a two-lane road from New York City to Los Angeles. Projects will repair or replace 885 bridges in the state.

“While the orange barrels that are synonymous with summer may be a source of frustration and inconvenience for some, they are a sign of progress and improvement for all who live in Ohio and who travel through it,” said ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks, Ph.D.



PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Northwest Ohio

I-75/County Road 99 Diverging Diamond Interchange in Hancock County
US 68/SR 15 Interchange Reconfiguration in Hancock County
Northeast Ohio

I-76/I-77 Akron beltway reconstruction in Summit County
SR 8 Hi-Level Bridge replacement in Summit County
SR 46/SR 82 Diverging Diamond Interchange in Trumbull County
SR 21 Rehabilitation in Wayne County
I-90 Pavement Replacement in Cuyahoga County
Central Ohio

I-70 Reconstruction in Muskingum County
I-70/I-71 Downtown Ramp Up in Franklin County
SR 435 Improvements in Fayette County
Southwest Ohio

I-75 Major Reconstruction – Dayton
I-75 Major Reconstruction - Moraine
SR 32/Brooks-Malott Safety Improvement Project in Brown County
Southeast Ohio

US 33 concrete pavement repair in Meigs County
SR 7 reconstruction in Monroe County
WORK ZONE SAFETY
So far this year, 43 ODOT crews have been struck while working. This compares to 56 ODOT crews hit all of last year. 14 ODOT workers and nine contractors were injured in work zone crashes in 2023. Sadly, one contractor was killed.

Last year, there were 4,098 work zone-related crashes in Ohio with 36% occurring when workers were present. There were 1,433 injuries from work zone-related crashes, 110 of them classified as serious injuries. Nine people were killed, including one contractor. August was the top month for work zone crashes with 523. Summit County led the state with 576 work zone crashes followed by Cuyahoga County with 521, and Lucas County with 413. By far, the top work zone crash type continues to be rear-end crashes.

Speeding continues to be a major factor in work zone crashes. In 2023, the Ohio State Highway Patrol wrote 3,760 citations with 34% for speeds more than 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.

“Driving requires all your attention, but that is especially true in work zones where things can change quickly. Drop the distractions, obey the speed limit, and allow extra room between your vehicle and the one in front of you,” said Marchbanks.

This week is also National Work Zone Awareness Week, an annual event to remind motorists to be extra alert in work zones. On Wednesday, ODOT and other transportation agencies encourage you to wear orange to show support for road workers.

J/C

Doing shoddy work to repair past shoddy work, so they can charge more to do more shoddy work in the future. 'Murica.

Do feel bad for the workers, though. There are some erratic drivers on the roads.

How do you know the work will be shoddy?

05, a couple of thoughts on what you have said. First, I think every example you cited of things being done wrongly, government was the party of the second part. They were the check writers. I agree 100% that leads to abuses , no question. But I do not think it happens in the vast majority of interactions between businesses and their customers, whether the customer is another business or an individual customer.

Second 05, you say when profit margin reaches a “certain percentage “ that is a “windfall”. What is that percentage?? What is a “windfall”?? Who should decide that, You, pit, me?? If investors put their money into a company, to some degree risking it all, what sort of return on their investment should they expect?

Lastly, I think we may disagree somewhat on what I see as a key point. If a company does have a really good year and indeed has a “windfall”, who deserves that money more, the people who invested in the company and the people who work for the company, or the government, who squanders more billions every year than we can even measure??

Good talking to you 05. Have a great Memorial Day and thank you to the great American veterans who “gave their last full measure of devotion” keeping our country free.

To a more basic extent, they shouldn't keep increasing their profits and blame that on politics.

Why shouldn’t they keep increasing their profit. Their job is to provide a good or service to customers in such a way as to make a profit. If they stop doing that they go out of business.

So if they're already making a substantial profit margin you're suggesting if they don't make that profit margin even larger they will go out of business? Read that slowly if it will help.

I do beg to differ. Let me frame some additional context around what you said in the first paragraph. Because of all the mergers and acquisitions, defense industry being one of them, that we’re allowed and encouraged by both parties (more Repubs than Dems though), we found ourselves in a situation bereft of competition, which should be the staple of a healthy capitalist economy. It was for us in the 50’s and we are a far cry from that now. Far, far cry.

Now, to the context I want to add, yes, we (the Government) are the check writers. But that is a way overly simplistic paradigm. If I am buying combat rescue helicopters, reapers, fighters, cargo planes etc. they are needed down range by our guys “yesterday.” Companies like Transdigm basically say “Oh, hey, you want to save your guys down range? Then you’ll have to buy this $50 part for $5,000.” It’s really that had. So what choice do I have? I can’t place a value on a marine’s life at $4,950 and drag it out.

There were two Congressional hearings on it. Believe you me, I’ve listened to multiple Congressional hearings where either party made my head want to explode. In this instance, it’s the Republicans that do. Transdigm was called to the floor for their malicious profiteering. Twice.

Guess who stood up for them?

Comer. It’s there for all to see. He wasn’t the only Republican to do that either.

Another instance that made me realize I can’t remotely stick up for these people.

I saw a quote that I’m going to repeat: idolizing a politician or even a political party is equivalent to thinking that the stripper is really into you.

I spent so much time in that first post that I want to create this post to try and sweep across the rest.

Profit is actually something that is very much decided to be reasonable by a contracting officer in all sole source acquisitions. For commercial government acquisitions (where gov buys commercial items like computers, desks, etc) those prices are dictated by the market.

If you read the federal acquisition regulation though we negotiate all our sole source acquisitions across all cost elements (cost for labor, material, indirects, and yes profit/fee is a separate element). We actually have a structured approach called Weighted Guidelines which is a formulaic measurement of risk and effort that dictates a profit percentage. For firm fixed price efforts, you typically see a margin of 11-14% being reasonable, but contractors keep realizing 25+% margins against the tax payer because they inflate how much their costs are, being the number one problem. Do we get in our own way sometimes too? For sure, but greed from sole source companies is problem número uno.

I also don’t think the mantra now is for companies to provide anything to the customer. Sure, the customer is a necessity to make money, but I don’t think the customer is the priority anymore. It’s exclusively maximizing shareholder value. Lockheed did nothing for the customers when they bought back $20B of their own stock. Sears, Toys R Us, and now Red Lobster and Boeing all went down the tubes because of the current practice of maximizing short term shareholder value, divesting assets and trying to make the company look “pretty” financially while ignoring the customer experience. Eventually, in those cases at least, the chickens come home to roost. We’re experiencing peak Jack Welch style decline right now I think.

Lastly, I apologize Keith. I meant to start my last post off with warm thanks for the well wishes and kind words. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend as well. Appreciate the kind words too as they keep me going. I deal with some rather vicious personalities on the other side of the table, so it’s always good to stay motivated. Have a great rest of your day, my friend.

No I am not “suggesting “ anything. I am saying it very plainly. You are not the definer of “substantial “. Nor are you the definer of “windfall” or “excess” in the context of company profit. Unless you own the business. Here is a thought. Buy some stock, get on the agenda for the annual meeting and complain they are making too much money. I am sure everyone will get a kick out of that.

Because they know people are going to buy stuff anyway. There is a solution, boycott. Hate ticketmaster fees? Stop buying concert tickets. To many, that probably sounds ludicrous, but it's how you keep these companies in check. Hit them in the wallet and they will fold like a lawn chair. People lack the willpower to do such a thing.

You’re not wrong, but the other half of the equation is the lack of competition which is specifically cited in the DOJ’s cracking down on Ticketmaster.

The decision shouldn’t always come down to just should I or shouldn’t I, which it does now in the current era, like you said. It should come down to something that has been eliminated largely in our current economic construct, which is “If I do decide I want to make this purchase, from whom should I make the purchase?”

Today it’s so I want to spend an arm and a leg buying from this one company, or should I just sit at home?

I have to give Kroger some props. I went grocery shopping today. They have people with charcoal grills cooking ribs and hotdogs out front for the customers. I got a full rack of bbq ribs for 12.99 today. Thats cheaper than buying it in the meat section.