Supreme Court Clears Way for Internet Sales Taxes

[Barry_Green]

Yes, I understand that. There are many sentiments expressed by many people, some smart and some who could not, under any circumstances, find their own arsehole with two hands, a flashlight, and Google Maps, but that doesn't stop them from getting extensive television coverage. I am well aware that there are markedly diverse opinions about just about every issue out there, and I recognize that both sides are playing up "outrage" to its maximum effect. "Outrage" makes ratings, "outrage" gets eyeballs, and at some point "outrage" results in contributions to causes.

But I have yet to hear from anyone as to how knowing (or thinking they know) the margin made on a product sale affects them, personally, in any way. But then again, maybe I'm too simplistic. When I was coming up, the rule was that if I needed it, I bought it and used it. If I needed it but couldn't afford it, then I figured out some way to make enough money to where I could buy it, and then I bought it and used it. Or I figured out a different way around the problem, so in reality I didn't need the thing in the first place. Never in my five and a half decades on the planet have I ever known or cared about anyone's margins, or their cost of goods, or their markup, or their "teardown costs", or any of that. It's all completely irrelevant, and even if I did know those answers, there's not a single thing on earth I can do with that information, so -- again, it is irrelevant.

 

[Paul F]

Ahh, the victim mentality. Be outraged and declare yourself a victim!. There are the people with talent and the people who complain. One of the most blatant examples of this was the early days of American Idol. To a person, the people that bragged about themselves invariably were terrible and then got outraged when they were rejected while the ones that were humble and questioned their talents where the talented ones.

I'm only happy to hear if a company is making great margins. Good for them. I hope every company makes great margins.

I never understood the 'I hate rich people' syndrome. The 'American Dream' was to climb up from nothing and make it big. When someone does, like Martha Stewart or Bill Gates, people hate them. It makes no sense. Just when does someone go from the little guy that we are cheering for to the bad rich guy?

Why are we happy for a mega-lottery winner who, through pure luck and no talent got rich (and then lose all of it because they are ignorant), but hate talented people who worked their butts off?

 

[Run&Gun]

Thanks, and I agree, but for the sake of the thought experiment let me take it a bit further. Yes you have expenses, and yes I have expenses, but as an employer I don't know or care what your expenses are. Those are your business. If you choose to live in a tent on the side of the road and eat grass and roadkill, that's your business. If you choose to live in a mansion and run your credit cards to the max, that's your business. Neither scenario will make a bit of difference to me when it comes to whether I hire you or not. If you are worth $800/day to me, that's what you'll get, so long as you show up on time, do the work, and don't cause problems.

Now, if someone tried to tell me "well, I'll do the job, but I need $1500/day because I have a pretty strong coke habit and that costs a lot, you know..." then I'd say "that's your problem. I need someone, I'm willing to pay $800/day for a good worker." I'm not going to pay you more than what you're worth just because your expenses are higher, and I'm not going to pay you less than what you're worth just because your expenses are lower. That's your business. My business is: will you do what I need, and is your fee worth it to me?"


Those people almost certainly have never run a business, and would learn immeasurable life lessons by running a lemonade stand for a day.


Yes, I've seen that many times. The cost of food is probably the lowest expense most restaurants face! (when compared to labor and rent and taxes, obviously). To them, I use the screenplay example -- "the paper you printed it on is worth maybe a buck fifty, so that's what I'll pay you. Sound fair?"

Completely agree that "my expenses" like my insurance or camera aren't the problem of the client(my gear ins. is more now than ever, but it doesn't mean that I got to raise my rates to my clients), but like R&D, manufacturing costs, etc., our expenses are factored into our rates, at least in theory(it may not be a direct correlation, at least for labor, but those expenses are covered out of that rate). And is one of the reason why rates have plummeted over the last few years. So many people "have no skin in the game". Rich kids who's parents bought them a camera and they live at home or have 12 roommates to spread the rent over means they can undercut the established guys who have "adult expenses and responsibilities". People that have been doing it for years know that they need to make $X/day to make a real living, but those that don't have those expenses can charge $Y, instead.

 

[Run&Gun]

Not sure if you’ve paid attention to it lately but a
LOT (and I mean a LOT) of people these days are
concerned with profit margins, CEO pay, how much
corporations make in profit, and what they see as
‘growing income inequality.’ I’m not going to get
political here or express my opinion as I know it’s
a ‘no-no’ but watch news reports, or read stories
about Walmart, ‘Big Oil’, ‘Big Pharma’ or any big
corporation and you will see similar sentiments
expressed by many who are interviewed on the subject.

Just skimmed an article today on the very subject about corporations that are making record profits, but continue to cut employees salaries, benefits and lay off workers, but CEO's are receiving ever increasing salaries, bonuses and compensation package. Part of the gist was that they're destroying the economy, because if you don't have any people working with disposable income, who's going buy "your product"?

 

[Run&Gun]

Yes, I understand that. There are many sentiments expressed by many people, some smart and some who could not, under any circumstances, find their own arsehole with two hands, a flashlight, and Google Maps, but that doesn't stop them from getting extensive television coverage. I am well aware that there are markedly diverse opinions about just about every issue out there, and I recognize that both sides are playing up "outrage" to its maximum effect. "Outrage" makes ratings, "outrage" gets eyeballs, and at some point "outrage" results in contributions to causes.

But I have yet to hear from anyone as to how knowing (or thinking they know) the margin made on a product sale affects them, personally, in any way. But then again, maybe I'm too simplistic. When I was coming up, the rule was that if I needed it, I bought it and used it. If I needed it but couldn't afford it, then I figured out some way to make enough money to where I could buy it, and then I bought it and used it. Or I figured out a different way around the problem, so in reality I didn't need the thing in the first place. Never in my five and a half decades on the planet have I ever known or cared about anyone's margins, or their cost of goods, or their markup, or their "teardown costs", or any of that. It's all completely irrelevant, and even if I did know those answers, there's not a single thing on earth I can do with that information, so -- again, it is irrelevant.

Yes. I really couldn't care less what Panasonic or Sony's profit margins are on their equipment. When one of my clients came to me in the early days of HD and wanted me to buy a VariCam to do the work, it didn't matter if Panasonic was making 1000% profit on those cameras, which we know they weren't, but it was what I needed for the job(when we still had real rates).

 

[Run&Gun]

Ahh, the victim mentality. Be outraged and declare yourself a victim!. There are the people with talent and the people who complain. One of the most blatant examples of this was the early days of American Idol. To a person, the people that bragged about themselves invariably were terrible and then got outraged when they were rejected while the ones that were humble and questioned their talents where the talented ones.

I'm only happy to hear if a company is making great margins. Good for them. I hope every company makes great margins.

I never understood the 'I hate rich people' syndrome. The 'American Dream' was to climb up from nothing and make it big. When someone does, like Martha Stewart or Bill Gates, people hate them. It makes no sense. Just when does someone go from the little guy that we are cheering for to the bad rich guy?

Why are we happy for a mega-lottery winner who, through pure luck and no talent got rich (and then lose all of it because they are ignorant), but hate talented people who worked their butts off?

Been trying to figure this out for years. I've lost track of hateful comments on articles about some celebrity, athlete or other rich person spending large amounts of money on something and it makes them despicable lowlifes, because they should be doing X, Y or Z with their money instead.

 

[mico]

Ahh, the victim mentality. Be outraged and declare yourself a victim!. There are the people with talent and the people who complain. One of the most blatant examples of this was the early days of American Idol. To a person, the people that bragged about themselves invariably were terrible and then got outraged when they were rejected while the ones that were humble and questioned their talents where the talented ones.

I'm only happy to hear if a company is making great margins. Good for them. I hope every company makes great margins.

I never understood the 'I hate rich people' syndrome. The 'American Dream' was to climb up from nothing and make it big. When someone does, like Martha Stewart or Bill Gates, people hate them. It makes no sense. Just when does someone go from the little guy that we are cheering for to the bad rich guy?

Why are we happy for a mega-lottery winner who, through pure luck and no talent got rich (and then lose all of it because they are ignorant), but hate talented people who worked their butts off?

Wow, a more simplistic mis-understanding of how wealth is attained in America I have ever heard. Bravo. your black and white version of the wealthy in America wins the prize.