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

[Handyman]

Isn't a paid internship just a job?

My taxes went upwent that wasn't surprising. Our house also went up in value and it isn't likely to drop even with a crash.

 

[Handyman]

Shareholders don't care about movie critics or what fans say they want. They care about money. If the public don't want things like Spiderman 5 or Guardians 3 then don't buy tickets. As you say, people stopped buying tickets to Transformers movies and they stopped making them. People have been talking about superhero fatigue for the better part of a decade now and all the while Disney has made billions of dollars making superhero films. Maybe BP2 is underperforming but it had already made its budget back after about 10 days and every dime it makes now is pure profit.

Word is a group of executives went to the board (Iger) and expressed a lack of confidence in Chapek and demanded his ouster. Chapek and his people are supposedly stunned by these events. This is all unofficial and anonymous, of course, since no one is going to say it on the record.

It's thinking like this that got WB in trouble and it will do in Di$ney too if they aren't smart. You can't just assume if you put out mediocre products people will just continue to accept it. Fantastic Beasts proved that and so did Star Wars.

If all that matters is the profit motive you will kill the golden goose.

 

[Kepler]

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the public. They have built a perfect machine for squeezing money out of the rubes. They will keep priming them and then harvesting them forever. I do not think the MCU will ever end. There is simply no shortage of that type of money.

This is like sports or soap operas. It is forever.

 

[rufus]

There's only like 2 or 3 soap operas left these days. Only a matter of time before the expense vs ratings ratio kills the last of them.

 

[Handyman]

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the public. They have built a perfect machine for squeezing money out of the rubes. They will keep priming them and then harvesting them forever. I do not think the MCU will ever end. There is simply no shortage of that type of money.

This is like sports or soap operas. It is forever.

Soap operas are dying...

Speaking of dying Tesla is having another stellar week...

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1594918853574025216?t=H2GT534wiLWL6ePDK0eaRg&s=19

Tesla is recalling more than 321,000 vehicles in the U.S. because tail lights may intermittently fail to illuminate, the company says.

 

[dxmnkd316]

B-b-b-b-b-b-but it's fixed with an over the air update!!!! NO OTHER CARS CAN DO THAT!!!

 

[Slap Shot]

B-b-b-b-b-b-but it's fixed with an over the air update!!!! NO OTHER CARS CAN DO THAT!!!

Not sure what you mean by this, but this "recall" can be fixed via an update.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Not sure what you mean by this, but this "recall" can be fixed via an update.

I mean, all the Muskovites are saying this isn't a real recall, it's just a software bug.

Like, dude, tailights shouldn't need software. They should just work. This is absolutely a recall. They're a critical safety function. No different than headlights, wipers, airbags, and seatbelts. They are there to make sure you and everyone else on the road is safe. If they don't work because someone forgot to close a for-loop, then yikes...

The second half of my comment was regarding how this is somewhat novel to the Muskovites. It's not. Other companies have been doing this for a long time with actual software bugs.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

I mean, all the Muskovites are saying this isn't a real recall, it's just a software bug.

Like, dude, tailights shouldn't need software. They should just work. This is absolutely a recall. They're a critical safety function. No different than headlights, wipers, airbags, and seatbelts. They are there to make sure you and everyone else on the road is safe. If they don't work because someone forgot to close a for-loop, then yikes...

The second half of my comment was regarding how this is somewhat novel to the Muskovites. It's not. Other companies have been doing this for a long time with actual software bugs.

This.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I'll just add. My 2003 car wouldn't even engage the transmission to drive if the circuit to the brake lights didn't complete. (Turned out to be a wiring harness that broke free.)

Teslas are the most dangerous cars on the road. Too much software. Too much driver confidence. Not enough sensors or correct sensors. Just all around insane that they were even allowed "FSD" to be enabled. Insane. It's not even gained full NHTSA approval yet, but it's allowed to be used on the roads by consumers. Insane. Insane. Insane.

 

[ticapnews]

It's not a bug. It's an undocumented feature.

 

[ticapnews]

It's thinking like this that got WB in trouble and it will do in Di$ney too if they aren't smart. You can't just assume if you put out mediocre products people will just continue to accept it. Fantastic Beasts proved that and so did Star Wars.

If all that matters is the profit motive you will kill the golden goose.

Incidentally, they didn't stop making Transformers movies. There's a seventh one in production at Paramount slated for a June 9 (6/9 HA! Get it?) release date. But they have scaled back on the budget. It's only $200 million this time.

Allegedly (allegedly!) among those executives who went to the board to get Chapek fired were Kevin Feige, Sean Bailey and Jim Morris. Also known as the heads of Marvel, Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar. The board fired him by phone and said their lawyers would be in touch. Savage.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the public. They have built a perfect machine for squeezing money out of the rubes. They will keep priming them and then harvesting them forever. I do not think the MCU will ever end. There is simply no shortage of that type of money.

This is like sports or soap operas. It is forever.

There’s always an end. Sometimes it’s short, sometimes it’s long, but it’s always there.

An example I always like to point towards for these types of “It’s popular until it’s not” is ABC with Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

First it debuted I think with two days a week. It bumped ABC to the top of the ratings from third place and they went all in. Hosting a game show in prime time five nights a week. It only took two years for people to get sick of it and their ratings tanked again.

 

[ticapnews]

There’s always an end. Sometimes it’s short, sometimes it’s long, but it’s always there.

An example I always like to point towards for these types of “It’s popular until it’s not” is ABC with Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

First it debuted I think with two days a week. It bumped ABC to the top of the ratings from third place and they went all in. Hosting a game show in prime time five nights a week. It only took two years for people to get sick of it and their ratings tanked again.

It was a fad. I don't think anyone at ABC thought putting a gameshow in primetime would be a permanent thing. They jumped on the fad while it was hot, milked it for all they could, then put it in syndication and made another boatload of money. On the other end of the spectrum, who would have thought a game of hangman would be one of the most profitable shows of all-time and still going strong after decades at the top?

 

[Kepler]

There's only like 2 or 3 soap operas left these days. Only a matter of time before the expense vs ratings ratio kills the last of them.

OK but they ran for 70 years.

 

[Swansong]

This is no defense of Tesla or of Musk and no car company - least of all one owned by that scumbag - gets any benefit of the doubt.


But car companies have safety recalls all the time. This doesn't even seem like a particularly bad one. I have a 2010 Toyota Matrix and look up the list of recalls on it. And Toyota is a pretty good company.

 

[ticapnews]

This is no defense of Tesla or of Musk and no car company - least of all one owned by that scumbag - gets any benefit of the doubt.


But car companies have safety recalls all the time. This doesn't even seem like a particularly bad one. I have a 2010 Toyota Matrix and look up the list of recalls on it. And Toyota is a pretty good company.

How many Toyotaites are out there trying to downplay the recall or attacking anyone who ever complained about safety? Do they worship at an altar of the Corolla? Has the head of Toyota tried to laugh it off or do they take safety concerns seriously?

 

[Slap Shot]

How many Toyotaites are out there trying to downplay the recall or attacking anyone who ever complained about safety? Do they worship at an altar of the Corolla? Has the head of Toyota tried to laugh it off or do they take safety concerns seriously?

Musk/Tesla ballwashers are immaterial to Swansong's overall point.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

The board fired him by phone and said their lawyers would be in touch. Savage.

Should've done it by text.

 

[dxmnkd316]

This is no defense of Tesla or of Musk and no car company - least of all one owned by that scumbag - gets any benefit of the doubt.


But car companies have safety recalls all the time. This doesn't even seem like a particularly bad one. I have a 2010 Toyota Matrix and look up the list of recalls on it. And Toyota is a pretty good company.

Agreed and understood. I would counter that 300,000 vehicles is something like 10% of all cars they've ever sold. And it's not like this is the first major recall for them. According to NHTSA, they've issued recalls on 3.2 million vehicles as of May of 2022. That's approaching 100% of their total production.

I know you're not defending them, but these cars are absolute jalopies relative to the rest of the field. The only thing they have over Alfa Romeo is that Tesla actually look half decent from the outside (until you see the panel gaps).

There's a barron's article I could only read part of but it paints a pretty worrying picture of Tesla's quality.

And there's this:
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/jd-power-study-initial-quality-of-new-cars-slipping/

Which puts tesla near the bottom. They're a trainwreck and it's only going to get worse as their Dear Leader spirals out of control.