“Republican consulting firm demands Minn. GOP repay overdue bills”, Patrick Condon, Star Tribune, 2014-03-02
It took a call from the founder and chairman of Arena Communications to get the Minnesota Republican Party to promise to pay immediately for work done on political campaigns last year. The party had claimed "[w]e were able to support our endorsed candidates through the Primary and with a statewide victory program, while simultaneously meeting our financial obligations and paying down debt."
See also “Mills advisor: GOP activists ‘have been misled about party’s debt”, Michael Brodkorb.
Showing posts with label living within means. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living within means. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Up to no good about public goods
On April 2, the Duluth News Tribune had an “Our View” titled “Road repairs: Hold on to your wallets” about the report of a task force on the repair of city streets. Why is it that increased taxes to pay for necessary public goods is a bad thing, but increased prices of things provided by the private sector are just seen as “passing on costs”?
It is estimated that a thirty percent increase over two years in property taxes is necessary to pay for the needed repairs. This is partly required because Duluth can no longer count on the money it had received from the Fond-du-Luth Casino. In other words, the “tax” paid by gamblers will now have to be paid by all the citizens.
The oldest real estate tax record I have is from 2002. Our 2014 Duluth property taxes are 2.28 times as much as 2002. Assuming the proposed 30 percent increase, our 2016 taxes will be 2.97 times as much in 2002.
Now lets compare this to the price increase of Duluth News Tribune. When I first came to Duluth in 1999, the DNT costs 50 cents. I’m not sure whether it first went up before or after 2002. It now costs $1.25 for a single copy. That is 2.5 times as much. That’s “worse” than the increase in my Duluth property taxes up to now. Will it go to $1.50 by 2016? If so, that will be 3.0 times as much. Where’s all the shouting about the Duluth News Tribune not living within its means?
How about food prices? The price of Stonyfield yogurt sticks in my mind from years ago as 54 cents for an eight-ounce container. One can now get it online for about $1.42 for a six-ounce container. That is 3.5 times as much per ounce! Can’t Stonyfield and the grocers live within their means?
The lowest I remember gas prices being in Duluth was 99 cents a gallon. Now the price per gallon has been around $3.59 per gallon. That is 3.6 times the low. Can’t the oil companies live within their means?
What are some major costs in repairing streets? Asphalt, gasoline, and diesel fuel! Maybe we can keep our taxes at the 2002 level if we can keep the price of oil and the derivative products at the 2002 level.
But this year, the city took a big hit on fuel expenses. Lots and lots of snowplowing. Should the city cut back on the snowplowing to “live within its means”? How loud would the howls be from the public if the city “lived within its means” for snowplowing?
The same goes for street repair. It seems many expect city streets to be built to Interstate standards, but they complain both about the potholes and the taxes to fill the potholes.
We could go back to an ancient custom of every road being a toll road. Barons and other large landowners charged everybody to use the roads across their lands. This was a big drain on commerce. In fact, some writers say that the British economy in the 1700s did much better than the French economy because of internal tolls. The British had practically none. A French merchant couldn’t travel 20 miles without encountering an internal tariff. Add that to the super-rich in France ripping off the peasants even more than the super-rich in Britain did.
Ah, toll roads! Some think that the toll prohibition on Interstates should be lifted. Actually, there is no blanket prohibition as anyone who has driven I-90 in Illinois or the Ohio Turnpike knows.
As the need and costs of repairs to the Interstate system increases, so does the talk of charging tolls for use of the system. See “Agreement on Interstate Repair Needs, but Not on How to Pay for Them”, New York Times, April 3, 2014. Interestingly, some of the big shippers like FedEx and McDonalds object to the tolls. Many smaller businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores object because they think people will avoid the Interstates to avoid paying a toll each time they exit for a short stop. Another consideration is what will be the cost to add on the infrastructure to collect tolls?
I bet you dollars to donuts that many of those who want and even demand public goods such as a highway system also object to almost every single tax that makes them possible.
In many ways, taxes are a good bargain. If we didn’t pay taxes for fire departments, we would be paying a lot more for fire insurance. If we didn’t pay taxes for an extensive sewer system, we would be paying a lot more for hospital bills. If we didn’t pay taxes for snowplowing, we would be paying a lot more for auto insurance and maybe even lawyers.
Yeah, I was grumbling as I filled out my state and federal taxes and robbed my bank account to pay what’s due. And I’m grumbling as I try to figure out how to better spread out payments for the 2014 tax year. But then I think of the words of George Washington and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
In his “Farewell Address”, George Washington wrote, “that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes”.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly wrote, “I like taxes; they buy me civilization.”
It is estimated that a thirty percent increase over two years in property taxes is necessary to pay for the needed repairs. This is partly required because Duluth can no longer count on the money it had received from the Fond-du-Luth Casino. In other words, the “tax” paid by gamblers will now have to be paid by all the citizens.
The oldest real estate tax record I have is from 2002. Our 2014 Duluth property taxes are 2.28 times as much as 2002. Assuming the proposed 30 percent increase, our 2016 taxes will be 2.97 times as much in 2002.
Now lets compare this to the price increase of Duluth News Tribune. When I first came to Duluth in 1999, the DNT costs 50 cents. I’m not sure whether it first went up before or after 2002. It now costs $1.25 for a single copy. That is 2.5 times as much. That’s “worse” than the increase in my Duluth property taxes up to now. Will it go to $1.50 by 2016? If so, that will be 3.0 times as much. Where’s all the shouting about the Duluth News Tribune not living within its means?
How about food prices? The price of Stonyfield yogurt sticks in my mind from years ago as 54 cents for an eight-ounce container. One can now get it online for about $1.42 for a six-ounce container. That is 3.5 times as much per ounce! Can’t Stonyfield and the grocers live within their means?
The lowest I remember gas prices being in Duluth was 99 cents a gallon. Now the price per gallon has been around $3.59 per gallon. That is 3.6 times the low. Can’t the oil companies live within their means?
What are some major costs in repairing streets? Asphalt, gasoline, and diesel fuel! Maybe we can keep our taxes at the 2002 level if we can keep the price of oil and the derivative products at the 2002 level.
But this year, the city took a big hit on fuel expenses. Lots and lots of snowplowing. Should the city cut back on the snowplowing to “live within its means”? How loud would the howls be from the public if the city “lived within its means” for snowplowing?
The same goes for street repair. It seems many expect city streets to be built to Interstate standards, but they complain both about the potholes and the taxes to fill the potholes.
We could go back to an ancient custom of every road being a toll road. Barons and other large landowners charged everybody to use the roads across their lands. This was a big drain on commerce. In fact, some writers say that the British economy in the 1700s did much better than the French economy because of internal tolls. The British had practically none. A French merchant couldn’t travel 20 miles without encountering an internal tariff. Add that to the super-rich in France ripping off the peasants even more than the super-rich in Britain did.
Ah, toll roads! Some think that the toll prohibition on Interstates should be lifted. Actually, there is no blanket prohibition as anyone who has driven I-90 in Illinois or the Ohio Turnpike knows.
As the need and costs of repairs to the Interstate system increases, so does the talk of charging tolls for use of the system. See “Agreement on Interstate Repair Needs, but Not on How to Pay for Them”, New York Times, April 3, 2014. Interestingly, some of the big shippers like FedEx and McDonalds object to the tolls. Many smaller businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores object because they think people will avoid the Interstates to avoid paying a toll each time they exit for a short stop. Another consideration is what will be the cost to add on the infrastructure to collect tolls?
I bet you dollars to donuts that many of those who want and even demand public goods such as a highway system also object to almost every single tax that makes them possible.
In many ways, taxes are a good bargain. If we didn’t pay taxes for fire departments, we would be paying a lot more for fire insurance. If we didn’t pay taxes for an extensive sewer system, we would be paying a lot more for hospital bills. If we didn’t pay taxes for snowplowing, we would be paying a lot more for auto insurance and maybe even lawyers.
Yeah, I was grumbling as I filled out my state and federal taxes and robbed my bank account to pay what’s due. And I’m grumbling as I try to figure out how to better spread out payments for the 2014 tax year. But then I think of the words of George Washington and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
In his “Farewell Address”, George Washington wrote, “that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes”.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly wrote, “I like taxes; they buy me civilization.”
Monday, October 01, 2012
One corporation still can't live within its means
On 2011-09-26 I wrote how Forum Communications raised the price of the Duluth News Tribune by 33-1/3 percent. Now just over a year later they've raised the price by 25 percent! I had been forewarned by a vendor that the Sunday paper would be raised to $2.50, but I didn't know that the daily would be raised to $1.25.
When I went to the corner boxes this morning I was surprised to find that there were still copies of the Star Tribune. This location is chronically understocked with the Strib, often being sold out a bit after seven. I put four quarters in the Strib machine and took my copy. Then I put four quarters in the DNT machine. It wouldn't unlock. I tried again. Same thing. I looked at the price labels on the box, and I know I saw $2.50 for the Sunday edition and $1.00 for the daily edition.
When I got home, I sent email about this to the Customer Service representative. She had not responded by about one this afternoon.
I went out later and stopped at a convenience store. It had signs about the price change for both editions of the DNT. As I forked out the extra quarter, I joked with the clerk, "If government raised taxes by 25 percent, people would complain loudly. Hell! If they would complain if government raised taxes by 2.5 percent."
When I got to the fitness center, the DNT box outside the door had the new prices written in marker, not a "permanent" sign.
What a way to run a railroad, I mean a newspaper! I wonder what a 67 percent increase in just over a year will do to circulation. I really do appreciate having a physical copy of the newspaper to read at breakfast and lunch. I wonder if the employees have seen a comparable increase in their income.
See also "Can't corporations live within their means?"
When I went to the corner boxes this morning I was surprised to find that there were still copies of the Star Tribune. This location is chronically understocked with the Strib, often being sold out a bit after seven. I put four quarters in the Strib machine and took my copy. Then I put four quarters in the DNT machine. It wouldn't unlock. I tried again. Same thing. I looked at the price labels on the box, and I know I saw $2.50 for the Sunday edition and $1.00 for the daily edition.
When I got home, I sent email about this to the Customer Service representative. She had not responded by about one this afternoon.
I went out later and stopped at a convenience store. It had signs about the price change for both editions of the DNT. As I forked out the extra quarter, I joked with the clerk, "If government raised taxes by 25 percent, people would complain loudly. Hell! If they would complain if government raised taxes by 2.5 percent."
When I got to the fitness center, the DNT box outside the door had the new prices written in marker, not a "permanent" sign.
What a way to run a railroad, I mean a newspaper! I wonder what a 67 percent increase in just over a year will do to circulation. I really do appreciate having a physical copy of the newspaper to read at breakfast and lunch. I wonder if the employees have seen a comparable increase in their income.
See also "Can't corporations live within their means?"
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Can't corporations live within their means?
Many complain about government borrowing and say that government should live within its means. But few complain about corporate borrowing. Shouldn't corporations live within their means?
From the semi-annual report of the AllianceBernstein Income Fund (Ticker AWF):
AT&T, 6.50%, due 2037
Ford Motor Co., 7.45%, due 2031
Citigroup, 8.50%, due 2019
Pacific Life Insurance Co., 9.25%, due 2039
Weyerhauser Co., 7.375%, due 2032
Borrowing does have its purposes, among other things having the capital for expansion or to smooth out cash flows. But how much borrowing is too much?
For example, Citigroup as of June 2012 had a debt to equity ratio of 3.024, that is, it owed bondholders three times as much as the value of shareholders' stock. See http://ycharts.com/companies/C/debt_equity_ratio. On the better side, General Motors had a debt to equity ratio of 0.3555. See http://ycharts.com/companies/GM/debt_equity_ratio. On the worse side, Ferrellgas Partners has a debt to Equity Ratio of 25.36. See http://ycharts.com/companies/FGP.
But why is Citigroup paying bondholders 8.50% when it pays savers 2% or less? See "Taking a Look At Citigroup's Latest Fixed-Income Prospectus", Rajiv Tarigopula, Seeking Alpha, 2012-07-11. Remember when savings and loans were required to pay 5% by law (which they used to justify not paying more)? And this 2% is not being paid for demand deposits, but three-month notes.
It gets even a bit screwier. Citigroup does offer a fixed-rate 15-year mortgage at 4.375 percent. So, it is borrowing at 8.50% to finance mortgages returning 4.375%. That doesn't sound like it's living within its means! See "Who Are the Best Mortgage Lenders for Bad Credit", Beth Lytle, eHow Contributor, no date.
From the semi-annual report of the AllianceBernstein Income Fund (Ticker AWF):
AT&T, 6.50%, due 2037
Ford Motor Co., 7.45%, due 2031
Citigroup, 8.50%, due 2019
Pacific Life Insurance Co., 9.25%, due 2039
Weyerhauser Co., 7.375%, due 2032
Borrowing does have its purposes, among other things having the capital for expansion or to smooth out cash flows. But how much borrowing is too much?
For example, Citigroup as of June 2012 had a debt to equity ratio of 3.024, that is, it owed bondholders three times as much as the value of shareholders' stock. See http://ycharts.com/companies/C/debt_equity_ratio. On the better side, General Motors had a debt to equity ratio of 0.3555. See http://ycharts.com/companies/GM/debt_equity_ratio. On the worse side, Ferrellgas Partners has a debt to Equity Ratio of 25.36. See http://ycharts.com/companies/FGP.
But why is Citigroup paying bondholders 8.50% when it pays savers 2% or less? See "Taking a Look At Citigroup's Latest Fixed-Income Prospectus", Rajiv Tarigopula, Seeking Alpha, 2012-07-11. Remember when savings and loans were required to pay 5% by law (which they used to justify not paying more)? And this 2% is not being paid for demand deposits, but three-month notes.
It gets even a bit screwier. Citigroup does offer a fixed-rate 15-year mortgage at 4.375 percent. So, it is borrowing at 8.50% to finance mortgages returning 4.375%. That doesn't sound like it's living within its means! See "Who Are the Best Mortgage Lenders for Bad Credit", Beth Lytle, eHow Contributor, no date.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Think of the complaints if this corporation were the government
On Thanksgiving morning, I went to the corner to get the Duluth News Tribune and the Star Tribune. Instead of copies of the DNT, there was a sign that the DNT was available only at convenience stores. Well, this is not convenient to me because the nearest convenience stores are about a mile away.
So, we reversed our normal order of newspaper reading and read a large part of the Star Tribune first.
We were going to our cabin and planned to buy a few things at the supermarket, and so we would get the DNT there. Surprise, they had none. I asked the head cashier about this, and she said they had a call in but it hadn't been returned.
I needed gas anyway and stopped at a gas station/convenience store. I put fifty bucks of gas in the tank and pulled out $51 to pay for the gas and the newspaper. Inside I picked up a DNT thicker than the normal Sunday paper. The clerk warned me that was only the ads and the real newspaper was in a different stack. I picked up a normal size paper and left the want ads behind; we would only put them directly in the recycle stack at home. I went to the register to pay for the gas and the paper, and the clerk told me I needed to pay another dollar. The Thanksgiving Day paper was two dollars!!!
Can't Forum Communications, the publisher of the DNT, live within its means? Shouldn't the advertisers be paying for all the extra paper and printing? Is Forum Communications being efficient by having all the ads left behind for the clerks to clean up?
How loud would the complaints be if any government agency suddenly doubled a fee or a tax? How loud would the cries of government waste be if an office threw out such a huge percentage of paper?
I bet we won't see any letters to the editor about this Thanksgiving waste, but we will continue to see letters about government living within its means. A while ago I asked Chuck Frederick, the opinion page editor, if he had gotten any letters about the 33-1/3% increase of the DNT (75 cents to one dollar). He replied, "Haven't gotten any letters about our price increase. Shh!" I read his reply with a smile. What else can he say? He probably has very little input into pricing decisions.
It is amazing what companies can get by with in price increases but governments are heavily criticized for the same or even smaller increases. People are complaining vociferously about property taxes going up about $100/year, but there are no published complaints about the cost of a newspaper going up $104/year.
Another wasteful practice of Forum Communications, that may or may not continue, is providing two copies of the weekly Budgeteer News to some of its customers. For as long as we've lived in Duluth, a free copy of the Budgeteer News has been thrown on our porch on every Saturday. A few weeks ago Forum Communications started putting it in the DNT delivered to the boxes. What need do I have for two copies of the same paper, of which I throw out two-thirds without even looking at?
I don't know if the doubling up will continue or not. There was no Budgeteer on our porch Saturday, and the Saturday DNT didn't contain it. However, there were some stories posted on the Budgeteer web site on Friday. Were there not enough articles to publish this week? We'll probably never know; corporations don't have to have the transparency that we demand from government (and often don't get).
Update: 2011-11-27 16:00 - Sometime after eight o'clock this morning, the Duluth Budgeteer was thrown on our porch. I just noticed a few minutes ago. I'll see next Saturday if the DNT resumes the double publication of the Budgeteer.
Update: 2011-11-27 18:03 - Paragraph about $100/year for tax/price increase added.
So, we reversed our normal order of newspaper reading and read a large part of the Star Tribune first.
We were going to our cabin and planned to buy a few things at the supermarket, and so we would get the DNT there. Surprise, they had none. I asked the head cashier about this, and she said they had a call in but it hadn't been returned.
I needed gas anyway and stopped at a gas station/convenience store. I put fifty bucks of gas in the tank and pulled out $51 to pay for the gas and the newspaper. Inside I picked up a DNT thicker than the normal Sunday paper. The clerk warned me that was only the ads and the real newspaper was in a different stack. I picked up a normal size paper and left the want ads behind; we would only put them directly in the recycle stack at home. I went to the register to pay for the gas and the paper, and the clerk told me I needed to pay another dollar. The Thanksgiving Day paper was two dollars!!!
Can't Forum Communications, the publisher of the DNT, live within its means? Shouldn't the advertisers be paying for all the extra paper and printing? Is Forum Communications being efficient by having all the ads left behind for the clerks to clean up?
How loud would the complaints be if any government agency suddenly doubled a fee or a tax? How loud would the cries of government waste be if an office threw out such a huge percentage of paper?
I bet we won't see any letters to the editor about this Thanksgiving waste, but we will continue to see letters about government living within its means. A while ago I asked Chuck Frederick, the opinion page editor, if he had gotten any letters about the 33-1/3% increase of the DNT (75 cents to one dollar). He replied, "Haven't gotten any letters about our price increase. Shh!" I read his reply with a smile. What else can he say? He probably has very little input into pricing decisions.
It is amazing what companies can get by with in price increases but governments are heavily criticized for the same or even smaller increases. People are complaining vociferously about property taxes going up about $100/year, but there are no published complaints about the cost of a newspaper going up $104/year.
Another wasteful practice of Forum Communications, that may or may not continue, is providing two copies of the weekly Budgeteer News to some of its customers. For as long as we've lived in Duluth, a free copy of the Budgeteer News has been thrown on our porch on every Saturday. A few weeks ago Forum Communications started putting it in the DNT delivered to the boxes. What need do I have for two copies of the same paper, of which I throw out two-thirds without even looking at?
I don't know if the doubling up will continue or not. There was no Budgeteer on our porch Saturday, and the Saturday DNT didn't contain it. However, there were some stories posted on the Budgeteer web site on Friday. Were there not enough articles to publish this week? We'll probably never know; corporations don't have to have the transparency that we demand from government (and often don't get).
Update: 2011-11-27 16:00 - Sometime after eight o'clock this morning, the Duluth Budgeteer was thrown on our porch. I just noticed a few minutes ago. I'll see next Saturday if the DNT resumes the double publication of the Budgeteer.
Update: 2011-11-27 18:03 - Paragraph about $100/year for tax/price increase added.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Efficient corporations living within their means?
Every so often we receive mail for students who lived in our current house twelve or more years ago. Today we had an offer from AT&T for one of them. AT&T has it right that he is a physician, but I doubt that he was a physician when he lived here. I wonder how much money companies waste with outdated mailing lists.
Many are complaining about the Duluth School system wanting to raise taxes about $100 per year, and they often complain by sending letters to the Duluth News Tribune. I wonder if any stopped to think that the Duluth News Tribune has raised its newsstand price by over $100 per year or 33-1/3 percent (25 cents daily and 50 cents on Sunday).
Speaking of the Duluth News Tribune, if it has to cut costs, why is it inserting in the Sunday edition the same weekly newspaper that is delivered for free on Saturday. Every Saturday a carrier throws a copy of the Budgeteer on almost every doorstep in Duluth. Every Sunday I pick up the Duluth News Tribune at the corner and it includes a copy of the Budgeteer.
Many are complaining about the Duluth School system wanting to raise taxes about $100 per year, and they often complain by sending letters to the Duluth News Tribune. I wonder if any stopped to think that the Duluth News Tribune has raised its newsstand price by over $100 per year or 33-1/3 percent (25 cents daily and 50 cents on Sunday).
Speaking of the Duluth News Tribune, if it has to cut costs, why is it inserting in the Sunday edition the same weekly newspaper that is delivered for free on Saturday. Every Saturday a carrier throws a copy of the Budgeteer on almost every doorstep in Duluth. Every Sunday I pick up the Duluth News Tribune at the corner and it includes a copy of the Budgeteer.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Businesses live within their means? Really?
Over and over again, letter writers and some politicians complain that governments should live within their means just like families and businesses. But do families and businesses really live within their means?
Consider that the current crisis was not caused by government overspending, but family and business overspending. Many people went in way over their heads with credit card and mortgage debt. Financial gurus created debt instruments of debt repackages over and over in a great Ponzi scheme, all in the name of free markets. The whole mess collapsed of its own weight and took down the guilty and the innocent alike. Unfortunately, the captains didn't go down with their ships, but were first in the lifeboats carrying their safes.
I got to thinking about what kind of corporate debt does exist. Well, I am a small beneficiary of corporate debt; we own shares of some market-traded bond funds that give us a few hundred dollars of income every month.
Now is the time that semi-annual shareholder reports come out, and I checked one fund's holdings. Below is a sample of some of the businesses whose bonds are held by DWS Global High Income Fund (LBF) with the rate and due date.
HCA Holdings, Inc. offers health care services in the United States. The company owns, manages, or operates hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, and various other facilities.
- From Yahoo! Finance, http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=HCA+Profile
No wonder health care costs are so high. Many health care conglomerates can't live within their means.
Of course, these rates are low compared to credit card rates. By comparison, home mortgage rates are around 4.50 percent for thirty years. Treasury bonds are currently about 1.50 percent for five years and 4.25 percent for thirty years. Either certainly beats current bank savings account rates of less than one percent.
I would say that families that have only fixed-rate mortgage debt and the federal government are living within their means far better than some large corporations.
Consider that the current crisis was not caused by government overspending, but family and business overspending. Many people went in way over their heads with credit card and mortgage debt. Financial gurus created debt instruments of debt repackages over and over in a great Ponzi scheme, all in the name of free markets. The whole mess collapsed of its own weight and took down the guilty and the innocent alike. Unfortunately, the captains didn't go down with their ships, but were first in the lifeboats carrying their safes.
I got to thinking about what kind of corporate debt does exist. Well, I am a small beneficiary of corporate debt; we own shares of some market-traded bond funds that give us a few hundred dollars of income every month.
Now is the time that semi-annual shareholder reports come out, and I checked one fund's holdings. Below is a sample of some of the businesses whose bonds are held by DWS Global High Income Fund (LBF) with the rate and due date.
HCA Holdings, Inc. offers health care services in the United States. The company owns, manages, or operates hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, and various other facilities.
- From Yahoo! Finance, http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=HCA+Profile
No wonder health care costs are so high. Many health care conglomerates can't live within their means.
Of course, these rates are low compared to credit card rates. By comparison, home mortgage rates are around 4.50 percent for thirty years. Treasury bonds are currently about 1.50 percent for five years and 4.25 percent for thirty years. Either certainly beats current bank savings account rates of less than one percent.
I would say that families that have only fixed-rate mortgage debt and the federal government are living within their means far better than some large corporations.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Star Tribune can't live within its means
Governments are supposed to live within their means, but I guess this doesn't apply to corporations. If a government raised taxes five percent because of inflation, there would be a great hue and cry about government living within its means.
I haven't seen any complaints yet, but I bet there won't be many letters to the Star Tribune about living within its means instead of raising its copy price 33 percent, from 75 cents to one dollar.
I haven't seen any complaints yet, but I bet there won't be many letters to the Star Tribune about living within its means instead of raising its copy price 33 percent, from 75 cents to one dollar.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Another business not living within its means
A couple of weeks ago I bought some facial tissue on sale, thinking I was getting such a deal that I bought 2 three-packs.
Last week opened a box because an old box was almost empty. When I put the new box next to the old box, I discovered that the new box was about 2/3 the size of the old box. What's going on here?
Neither box contained a count, but the pack wrapper for the new boxes listed it as 132 tissues per box. 132? What kind of count is that? Oh, that's about 2/3 of the old count of 200.
So, Proctor & Gamble, the distributor of Puffs has effectively raised its price per tissue by over fifty percent.
I bet the board of P&G would be hollering bloody murder if government raised taxes by the same percentage.
See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2010/10/businesses-dont-live-within-their-means.html.
P.S. Our other favorite fresh-squeezed orange juice producer also went from 64 oz. containers to 59 oz. containers. Maybe we'll just buy fresh oranges and get more fiber.
Last week opened a box because an old box was almost empty. When I put the new box next to the old box, I discovered that the new box was about 2/3 the size of the old box. What's going on here?
Neither box contained a count, but the pack wrapper for the new boxes listed it as 132 tissues per box. 132? What kind of count is that? Oh, that's about 2/3 of the old count of 200.
So, Proctor & Gamble, the distributor of Puffs has effectively raised its price per tissue by over fifty percent.
I bet the board of P&G would be hollering bloody murder if government raised taxes by the same percentage.
See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2010/10/businesses-dont-live-within-their-means.html.
P.S. Our other favorite fresh-squeezed orange juice producer also went from 64 oz. containers to 59 oz. containers. Maybe we'll just buy fresh oranges and get more fiber.
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