Blackmagic Raises Price of Many Items
- Thread starter jonpais
- Start date
jonpais
Well-known member
For the year ending June 30, 2021, Blackmagic's revenue nearly doubled from 2019, to $576 million, and its profits grew tenfold, to $113 million. This was well over a year after supply chain disruption became a thing. As stated earlier, according to studies, the electronics industry is among the chief industries taking advantage of consumers and raising prices over and above actual costs incurred due to actual supply chain issues.
jonpais
Well-known member
I know right? Increase profits to shareholders while their warehouse workers could be some of the worst paid in the industry for all you care. Are those profits really resulting in the kinds of cutting edge products their user base has been clamoring for forever? No, they’re trailing the whole industry! To take just one example, the lackluster 6K G2 was such a revolutionary idea - not! Remove the one feature filmmakers cherish the most and cut the price by a few pennies! No one was asking for that! And many have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for an affordable version of the 4K Mini, but it’s only too obvious why one won’t be released. Meanwhile, outsiders like Nikon and Fuji - heck, even DJI and Sigma - are the ones releasing cameras with the kind of truly innovative features and performance consumers really want. We’ve already reached the end of any hope of a rational discussion when so many here seem to worship this arrogant billionaire who never tires of talking about how wealthy he is while doling out bread crumbs to his devotees, for the most part low-budget filmmakers, podcasters and YouTubers according to Petty - not the Hollywood types his brilliant marketing department spins fantasies about. lol
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Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
lol
JAMedia
Well-known member
The supply chain problems for IC's didn't start to bite until Q3 2020 and for companies that are low volume (like BMD) and had stock, both components and finished units, they would be into 2021 before things became a problem. Also having seen the prices of components (I have a company in the embedded systems industry) some parts have increased in cost ten fold. In consumer electronics where margins are wafer thin the retail prices will have to go up. In the B2B market where margins are different, ie the lower volume higher value the BoM cost rises can be more easily absorbed.
BTW if you don't like BMD or their gear then don't buy it. No one is forcing you to.
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jonpais
Well-known member
I purchase BMD products. I just don’t happen see any of the huge windfall BMD has amassed since the worldwide pandemic translating into the more innovative gear alluded to by the OP. If anything, the company appears to be stagnating. When anyone posts a wish list in their forum for something as non-controversial and long-overdue as a camera with modular design or a large format sensor, they get shut down. A longtime BMD user wrote:
”I'm actually eager to get one of the Sigma fp and one Sony FX3, if nothing but to have a couple of FF small cinema cameras that can shoot RAW. Then it makes me think and wonder. Why can't or don't Blackmagic make these cameras?”
The OG Pocket was the most exciting camera they’ve ever released, but rather than expanding on the concept, they dropped it altogether. That outdated EF mount isn’t doing them any favors either. I guess there’s only so much you can do when you’ve spent the past decade cultivating a community of penny pinchers that trolls all the online reviews of rival cameras complaining how expensive they are and that seriously expects BMD to develop an 8K full frame HFR global shutter camera for under $3,000. Kind of ironic considering their idol lives in a $6.5 million dollar mansion.
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Imamacuser
Veteran
It's standard practice for companies to raise their prices once they've carved out some brand recognition & market share, so even if they didn't have a legitimate excuse like increased materials cost, I'm not surprised they raised their prices, nor do I think they're evil for doing so, nor do I think it's evil for a business owner to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
jonpais
Well-known member
Of course you feel that way, because just like everyone else in this forum, you’ve been brainwashed into believing that it’s normal for the top 10% to own nearly half of the wealth of a country rather than a perversion. For years, I paid more in federal taxes than some billionaires, many of whom paid 3% or even nothing at all. In Australia, the Stage 3 tax cuts will of course massively favor the top 1%, with 77% of the benefits going to the richest 25%. Why is that? Because corporations are the ones calling the shots. It’s called bribery. This also means less money for government services and programs. The wealthy are eroding democracy. Go figure!
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jonpais wrote: "...for all you care.."
You don't have a clue what I care about and I resent you assuming that you do. But I should have learned by now that sometimes it’s really not worth wasting time disputing with people who, for whatever reason, are not interested in changing their opinion. So carry on disparaging BM if that’s what you need to do. It’s clear that most people here disagree and BM will probably, somehow, survive.
You don't have a clue what I care about and I resent you assuming that you do. But I should have learned by now that sometimes it’s really not worth wasting time disputing with people who, for whatever reason, are not interested in changing their opinion. So carry on disparaging BM if that’s what you need to do. It’s clear that most people here disagree and BM will probably, somehow, survive.
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As always I like your wise answers.
Imamacuser
Veteran
Do you honestly think that everyone on here has been brainwashed except for you? That line of reasoning sound like a conspiracy theory, as well as presumptuous, and arrogant. I don't know about the veracity of your figures, but I have no qualms against business owners earning and building wealth, as envy is not the foundation of my worldview.
Am I to understand that if you were in Grant's shoes you wouldn't live in a mansion, or want to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Is it also a sin for celebrities and athletes to amass wealth, or only a sin when business owners do so?
I think a lot of people envision wealthy people sitting on a huge pile of treasure like Smaug in the Hobbit, but that's generally not the case. Wealthy people generally don't keep their money liquid, they invest it in things like the stock market, mutual funds, real estate, and starting new companies, all which directly or indirectly create jobs.
I'm willing to condemn businesses for unethical, immoral, and illegal practices, but not for generating a profit, as that is their function. I am diametrically opposed to crony-capitalisms and believe in antitrust laws to break up monopolies, so I am markedly not on the side of businesses, I'm just unwilling to condemn them until they've actually done something wrong.
I'm skeptical of the assertion that billionaires pay zero in taxes, however, I'm in the USA, and not familiar with the Australian tax laws. In the USA, billionaires have to pay sales tax, property tax, and capital gains tax, etc., just like everyone else, however, there are loopholes in the convoluted tax code which can reduce, but not eliminate tax payments. Can anyone here honestly claim that they wouldn't avail themselves of all the loopholes in the tax law if they were in the billionaire's shoes?
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Overall, rich people, on average, pay 8.4% in taxes ( I don't remember who that includes), which considering they make billions, is giant pile compared to us minions. The top 10% earners pay in 71% of the federal taxes. Everyone else pays in just 29% of the tax revenue. Contrary to popular belief that the rich are the only ones that don't pay taxes, a full 50% of income earners pay no taxes in the US. I have an income of about $70,000 (retired) and I pay no taxes; no tricks, no special deductions; just a simple 1040 form and the standard deduction.
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Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
Great post.
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
Wealth and Income are two totally different things. A lot of billionaires (Musk, Gates, Bezos, etc.) amass their wealth through the rising value of their stock. If their stock is worth $100 billion on paper, that isn't income unless they sell some of it, and then that income is taxed as capital gains. If you build a successful company and the value of your piece of the pie your grows, why do other people think they don't deserve it? To those complainers: Why didn't YOU buy some stock when you had the chance? Why didn't YOU start a similar company? The answer is because you're not smart enough to found, build, and run a company -- let alone even buy a few shares of stock. YOU had your chance. Now you're jealous someone has more assets than you. Mind your business and be glad we have the companies they built -- if you use their products or if you choose to work for them. Your choice. Beyond being a customer, employee, or stockholder, it is none of your business.
ahalpert
Major Contributor
There are numerous ways that powerful and wealthy Americans are advantaged by the tax system relative to working stiffs. But the most advantageous strategy that I know of, which I believe to be a matter of course for billionaires, is called "buy, borrow, die" and amounts to "a giant escape hatch from the income-tax system for the richest Americans." Basically, they only spend money that they borrow at ultra-low interest. And then they never pay capital-gains taxes.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/buy-bo...icans-live-off-their-paper-wealth-11625909583
I agree that business founders deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But the devil is always in the details, in the percentages, in the tax codes, in the labor laws, in the relationship of government to unions, etc. Ignoring those details and spouting vague generalizations is naive at best. A bit like the oysters in the walrus and the carpenter
alaskacameradude
Veteran
‘Comparison is the thief of all joy.’
In the US the top 1% pay 40% of federal
income taxes. The top 10% pays over 70% of
federal income taxes. The bottom 90% pay
about 28%. The rich may avoid many other taxes
but (at least in the US) they pay most of the money
going into the federal government’s coffers as
income tax. Yet almost everyone in the US is
somehow convinced ‘the rich don’t pay their fair
share.’ Should they pay 80%? 90%?
99%? What’s ‘fair’? Thing is, everyone wants
to compare themselves to someone who ‘has
more’ than them. Thus when asked who
’the rich’ are, the answer is invariably ‘people
who make more than I do.’ Ask someone from
Somalia and most Americans would be considered
’rich.’ I’m not going to buy into this whole ‘envy
train.’ It’s one of the biggest problems I have
with certain political ideologies. It’s not a
’zero sum’ game. Someone else doing
well for themselves? Great job! Awesome!
Congratulations to them! Why should I be
upset? That doesn’t mean there is ‘less of
a chance for me now’ because they are doing
well. I’d much prefer to look at my blessings.
I have a house, enough food to eat, a nice
truck. I even was able to buy an FX6, instead
of being forced to ‘make do’ with a low cost
BlackMagic camera
Compared to much
of the world I have it pretty good. Maybe we
should be comparing ourselves to those who
have LESS than us, not more. Attitude of
gratitude.
Reminds me of a cartoon I saw. A guy in a
beat up car sat at a stoplight, looking at the
guy who pulled up beside him in a Tesla and
thought ‘I wish I made enough to buy a
car like that.’ A guy on a bike at the crosswalk
looked at the guy in the beat up car and
thought ‘I wish I made enough to buy a car.’
A guy walking by looked at the guy on the
bike and thought ‘I wish I made enough to
buy a bike.’ A guy in a wheelchair looked at
the guy walking by and thought ‘I wish I
could walk.’
In the US the top 1% pay 40% of federal
income taxes. The top 10% pays over 70% of
federal income taxes. The bottom 90% pay
about 28%. The rich may avoid many other taxes
but (at least in the US) they pay most of the money
going into the federal government’s coffers as
income tax. Yet almost everyone in the US is
somehow convinced ‘the rich don’t pay their fair
share.’ Should they pay 80%? 90%?
99%? What’s ‘fair’? Thing is, everyone wants
to compare themselves to someone who ‘has
more’ than them. Thus when asked who
’the rich’ are, the answer is invariably ‘people
who make more than I do.’ Ask someone from
Somalia and most Americans would be considered
’rich.’ I’m not going to buy into this whole ‘envy
train.’ It’s one of the biggest problems I have
with certain political ideologies. It’s not a
’zero sum’ game. Someone else doing
well for themselves? Great job! Awesome!
Congratulations to them! Why should I be
upset? That doesn’t mean there is ‘less of
a chance for me now’ because they are doing
well. I’d much prefer to look at my blessings.
I have a house, enough food to eat, a nice
truck. I even was able to buy an FX6, instead
of being forced to ‘make do’ with a low cost
BlackMagic camera
Compared to muchof the world I have it pretty good. Maybe we
should be comparing ourselves to those who
have LESS than us, not more. Attitude of
gratitude.
Reminds me of a cartoon I saw. A guy in a
beat up car sat at a stoplight, looking at the
guy who pulled up beside him in a Tesla and
thought ‘I wish I made enough to buy a
car like that.’ A guy on a bike at the crosswalk
looked at the guy in the beat up car and
thought ‘I wish I made enough to buy a car.’
A guy walking by looked at the guy on the
bike and thought ‘I wish I made enough to
buy a bike.’ A guy in a wheelchair looked at
the guy walking by and thought ‘I wish I
could walk.’
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ahalpert
Major Contributor
I think that fairness in this context is purely a function of what percentage of one's income one pays as taxes. At a bare minimum, I think that the masters of the universe should pay at least as high a percentage of their income in taxes as a lowly surgeon does. The proportions of total federal income taxes paid that you quoted largely just reflect how much more money is being made by the people at the top these days than everyone else. And don't forget about payroll taxes
alaskacameradude
Veteran
Ok sure. So tell me if this is ‘fair,’. In 2021 57% of US
households paid ZERO federal income taxes. And
many of them probably complained that ‘the rich’
don’t pay enough. Is it ‘fair’ for so many people
to literally get a free ride and have no ‘skin in the
game’ at all? I mean say even $100 for the year?
50$? 25$? I wish our tax code was simpler,
fewer loopholes and deductions. Maybe very low
income people pay 0.5% of their income, next
bracket up is 1% and all the way up and perhaps
richer people pay 10% or 20% or whatever. But
all this complaining about how ‘rich people ‘game’
the tax system’ so as not to pay ‘their fair share’?
Much of it by people who ‘game’ the system to
literally pay NOTHING? That kind of rubs me
the wrong way. Are ‘the masters of the universe’
paying a higher percentage than ZERO? I think
we both know the answer to that question.
I get it. Everyone is going to use every
deduction they can. But the rich can afford to
hire really good accountants. So people
shouldn’t be surprised and outraged when
the rich do what everyone else is doing…
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/03/25/...021-study.html
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I haven't paid a dime of taxes in years and my income hovers around $70,000. That includes the IRA money I withdraw each year in retirement that was supposed to be taxed when I withdraw it. I'm laughing my butt off that I was smart enough not to fall for the Roth IRA, which would have had me paying taxes up front instead of socking that away for my retirement.
The rich don't have anything on the rest of us, who are getting away with paying nothing. Yes, NOTHING. A full 50%* of us horrible rich people (if $70,000 is being rich) are not paying taxes! You've seen my tax return. I posted it in a previous discussion. There's a lot of complaining about the rich, but the reality is that they are by far, paying the bulk of the tax burden.
*It varies between reports but the lowest I've read is 47% and the highest I've read is in the low 60% range.
The rich don't have anything on the rest of us, who are getting away with paying nothing. Yes, NOTHING. A full 50%* of us horrible rich people (if $70,000 is being rich) are not paying taxes! You've seen my tax return. I posted it in a previous discussion. There's a lot of complaining about the rich, but the reality is that they are by far, paying the bulk of the tax burden.
*It varies between reports but the lowest I've read is 47% and the highest I've read is in the low 60% range.