Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

That's by design, obviously.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Hearing that the usual suspects (white dudes with wraparound sunglasses in their profile pics) are very angry about this.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

It absolutely is. They gutted it and only have enough for a few weeks. They’ll need bailing out.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Hearing that the usual suspects (white dudes with wraparound sunglasses in their profile pics) are very angry about this.

Good.

[The Rube]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

My company is asking if any are interested in taking a Voluntary Time Off day per week (so, the 80/80 thing). Thinking long-term (would rather have a job in hand, even though I am a specialized job, can't be too careful) I said I would until the end of May, provided I don't have a PTO day scheduled (NOT working 4 business days a week would drive me nuts).

Dunno if it's going to happen, but they are really looking into it. The last major recession, they also did this, and the whole staff coordinated, especially the forklift jockeys, and rotated VTO, so everyone got a shot at a free day off, and everyone kept their jobs. The difference between last week and this week, per business, is night and day.

[Jimjamesak]

I did hear an interesting tid-bit on CNBC this afternoon: some companies (especially the ones who have laid employees off) have admitted they will be able to "reset" the wages for employees they re-hire, rolling back some of the pay increases over the last few years and setting lower starting pay because of the glut of unemployed people looking for work.

That’s why our contract has a defined starting wage...

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

People lost jobs because this buffoon can’t plan or react

fact check: Moscow Mitch McTraitor closed the Senate down weeks ago. it won't be in session until next week at the earliest. nothing can happen when the Senate isn't in session. but I don't hear you bellyaching about that

— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) April 17, 2020

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Woot woot

“ Leading domestic airlines are sitting on an estimated $10 billion in customer cash from massive flight cancelations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to an investigation by Democratic senators.

“In light of this pressing need, and the unprecedented multi-billion-dollar bailout that the airline industry just received from Congress, we are absolutely outraged that so few airlines are willing to offer real cash refunds to consumers who must cancel their tickets.”

http://hill.cm/cEAZj1H

[SJHovey]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Woot woot

“ Leading domestic airlines are sitting on an estimated $10 billion in customer cash from massive flight cancelations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to an investigation by Democratic senators.

“In light of this pressing need, and the unprecedented multi-billion-dollar bailout that the airline industry just received from Congress, we are absolutely outraged that so few airlines are willing to offer real cash refunds to consumers who must cancel their tickets.”

https://hill.cm/cEAZj1H

The other question is how much money is sitting out there from concerts that were "re-scheduled" or postponed? Stubhub has been inundating me with offers to make purchases in the future, so their pyramid scheme must be collapsing.

[Handyman]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Oh it is a lot. I had tickets to 3 concerts, 2 comedy shows and a bunch of the Broadway on Hennepin plays and not a single one has been refunded despite them all being postponed. Not even an offer. The Secondary Market must be a mess as well.

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

Oh it is a lot. I had tickets to 3 concerts, 2 comedy shows and a bunch of the Broadway on Hennepin plays and not a single one has been refunded despite them all being postponed. Not even an offer. The Secondary Market must be a mess as well.

The flow of cash for events is an interesting journey. The reason people are so hesitant to issue refunds is that it's likely that the money has already been spent elsewhere. It's a legal Ponzi scheme in it's simplest form.

[Jimjamesak]

Oh it is a lot. I had tickets to 3 concerts, 2 comedy shows and a bunch of the Broadway on Hennepin plays and not a single one has been refunded despite them all being postponed. Not even an offer. The Secondary Market must be a mess as well.

I know MLS is in the same boat, they haven’t done anything to Season Ticket holders, no refunds, no credits, nothing. The games are just “postponed” so they don’t have to issue refunds.

[aparch]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

I know MLS is in the same boat, they haven’t done anything to Season Ticket holders, no refunds, no credits, nothing. The games are just “postponed” so they don’t have to issue refunds.

The NBA, NHL, MLB, and AHL all pulled the same shenanigans. Because the games are "postponed," they can hang onto the cash and earn interest (or as it was pointed out, it was already spent).

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

I’m not a fan of StubHub making the $15 listed tickets into $35 after fees, as has happened to me before. But where does the Ponzi scheme part come in? Isn’t it just like eBay taking a percentage of your sale?

Airlines are doing the same thing from what I read. Offering vouchers instead of refunds unless you specifically bring up the law that requires a refund if they cancel the flight.

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

I’m not a fan of StubHub making the $15 listed tickets into $35 after fees, as has happened to me before. But where does the Ponzi scheme part come in? Isn’t it just like eBay taking a percentage of your sale?

Airlines are doing the same thing from what I read. Offering vouchers instead of refunds unless you specifically bring up the law that requires a refund if they cancel the flight.

My reference was more towards the actual teams/venues in the sports world since they are often the same entity. I'll use the White Sox for a simplified example:

Say a season ticket costs $100. They sell 10,000 season tickets during the offseason. The bill for the season ticket comes due March 1. That gives the Sox $1,000,000 cash in hand on March 1.

On March 5th, the Sox order their concession stand supplies for the month of April. That total is $750,000. The bill for that is due immediately. The Sox pay that out of the $1mil cash they have on hand from ticket sales.

For their season opener on April 1. The Sox only have $250,000 in cash available at that point in time.

Well now the COVID happens. No baseball till further notice. The Sox still just have $250,000 of cash available at this moment. They have to eat the $750,000 in food supplies they ordered because its food that will go bad. If they outright cancelled, they would have to pay back the $1mil in tickets, but don't have that cash available. By postponing the events, they can hold on to the $250,000 and start moving money around from other places to figure out how to cover the $1mil in ticket revenue they may need to pay back. This gives them some time to pocket the revenue that is still coming in from merchandise on their official website. They are also not spending as much on maintenance since Guaranteed Rate field isn't being used and suffering wear & tear.

They accumulate the merchandise money and maintenance money and store it away. The season is fully cancelled on June 1. By then the Sox have sold enough jerseys through the website to cover the $1mil in ticket revenue that they must now pay back.

Obviously super simple, but the principles are there.