CEO Lists Examples Of The Rich Using The Stock Market To Screw Over The Poor, Says It Makes No Sense
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The stock market has been on everyone’s minds recently what with the meteoric rise (and then fall) of GameStop stocks, as well as the ongoing battle between millions of small investors from the r/wallstreetbets Reddit community and Wall Street. And with everyone trying to come to grips with what the stock market is and how it works, some people are, understandably, lost.
Especially when people start thinking about whether or not the stock market accurately represents the real value that companies hold. Do companies that perform essential services and respect their employees have a higher value on the stock market? Not necessarily.
In fact, that’s far from the case, as Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, argues in a viral Twitter thread. In his opinion, there’s no link between the stock market and reality and it’s a system based on the rich exploiting the poor.
Read on for Bored Panda’s interview with Sam Dogen, the founder of the Financial Samurai blog, about why some CEOs get millions while average employees can lose their jobs. We’ve also been in touch with Dan, so keep an eye out for his comments and an update as well!
Entrepreneur Dan Price, who sees his own employees as his equals, explained how the stock market isn’t connected to reality and has the rich exploiting the poor
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Sam from the Financial Samurai blog explained to Bored Panda that the financial system has created an extreme dichotomy between the fortunate and those of us who happen to be, well, average. “CEOs have no magical powers. Yes, they have the operational experience to run big companies. However, they are often just spokespeople and ambassadors of the firm. One person cannot make that big a difference in a large organization. If Tim Cook from Apple steps down, the company will be fine. Another overpaid CEO will take his place,” Sam explained that CEOs, while important, aren’t all they’re trumped up to me.
“The reason why CEOs can get paid so much is due to the direct correlation of the size of the company. When a company is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, it’s easier to pay a CEO tens of millions of dollars a year, which comprised mostly of stock options,” he told Bored Panda. “At the end of the day, the CEO and the Board of Directors’ goal is to provide as much value and returns as possible for its shareholders. And if that means firing thousands of employees, then that is what they will do. It is a sad reality of extreme capitalism.”
Sam warned us that the employment situation isn’t looking too great in the future. It’s bound to get more competitive because of continued globalization and the changes in technology. “Now, a company can more easily hire a hungry person from a developing country who is willing to earn much less. The work from home trend is here to stay. The other trend we should see is more people becoming freelancers instead of full-time employees. The ability to work from home has created more solopreneurs who see more business opportunity taking on multiple clients at once.”
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
You might remember Dan as the CEO and entrepreneur who cut his own pay by a million so that all of his employees could make at least 70k dollars per year. Bored Panda has written about Dan before. You can check out our previous posts about him right here, as well as here.
In his latest viral Twitter thread, which got 18.1k likes, Dan goes into example after example about how highly-valued companies that consistently screw over their employees (many of whom lost their jobs) end up rewarding their CEOs. In short, it’s the classic tale of the rich getting richer off the backs of the poor.
While Dan is correct that unemployment is a huge issue in the US, the situation there isn’t as bad now as it was at the start of the pandemic. Of course, that isn’t to say that people aren’t suffering: they’re losing their livelihoods and are worried about the future. However, currently, it’s nowhere near as bad as during the 14.7 percent unemployment rate peak in April 2020.
After going through Dan’s thread point by point, our blood pressure went through the roof because that sort of exploitation isn’t something you’d expect to see in civilized nations. However, business is business and, unfortunately, far too many CEOs are ready to trample over their everyday employees to get a big payout.
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
Image credits: DanPriceSeattle
What do you think of Dan’s arguments, dear Pandas? Do you believe that the stock market is connected to reality? What can be done to change companies that reward their management at the cost of their employees?
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The more I read that article, the angrier I get
Same, it makes me sick.
Me too. It’s absolutely disgusting. I can wait for the pitch forks and flaming torso has to come for those CEOs.
In my opinion, any company that took government/tax payers' money and used it to pay bonuses, stock buybacks etc and cut staff, need to be dealt with harshly, and denied access to more public funds.
Those companies got the government where it is, not gonna happen...
Too bad that's all quite legal for some reason eh?
How can you expect anything else from a greedy, self absorbed and cold creature such as the human. And the world of the rich is even worse than that, they are being taught they are better than you and could poison you and your family if it serves their bottom line. Sometimes when I seperate the cardboard, plastics and general waste, I wonder if I am being an idiot... And if teaching my daughter to be kind and generous to others, I am actually sending a lamb to a wolfs den. We live in a truly sad and disgusting world....
All of these things could be curbed by laws. We don't allow murderers to walk around freely after all either.
But people keep voting for conservatives.
Ohhh I dunno go talk to the employees and the families of employees that have died from asbestosis/mesothelioma, silicosis, the people in Bhopal and other industrial killings. The companies and their CEOs and boards are still walking around free even though they have killed those people and dragged out court cases for years in the hope the plaintiffs would die before any rulings and have fought any compensation tooth and nail whilst attempting to claim they are not really to blame. Looking at you CSR, James Hardie and Union Carbide...
Who do you think makes the laws, dolphins? ;)
People do have self-preservation and of course can be selfish at times, but we evolved as gregarious species where cooperaton and collaboration is the reason we evolved big brains and the ability to talk. Too many times people excuse immorality by trying to say it's just how people naturally are. It shows a real lack of any knowledge of cultural anthropology or other past and present cultures.
The more I read that article, the angrier I get
Same, it makes me sick.
Me too. It’s absolutely disgusting. I can wait for the pitch forks and flaming torso has to come for those CEOs.
In my opinion, any company that took government/tax payers' money and used it to pay bonuses, stock buybacks etc and cut staff, need to be dealt with harshly, and denied access to more public funds.
Those companies got the government where it is, not gonna happen...
Too bad that's all quite legal for some reason eh?
How can you expect anything else from a greedy, self absorbed and cold creature such as the human. And the world of the rich is even worse than that, they are being taught they are better than you and could poison you and your family if it serves their bottom line. Sometimes when I seperate the cardboard, plastics and general waste, I wonder if I am being an idiot... And if teaching my daughter to be kind and generous to others, I am actually sending a lamb to a wolfs den. We live in a truly sad and disgusting world....
All of these things could be curbed by laws. We don't allow murderers to walk around freely after all either.
But people keep voting for conservatives.
Ohhh I dunno go talk to the employees and the families of employees that have died from asbestosis/mesothelioma, silicosis, the people in Bhopal and other industrial killings. The companies and their CEOs and boards are still walking around free even though they have killed those people and dragged out court cases for years in the hope the plaintiffs would die before any rulings and have fought any compensation tooth and nail whilst attempting to claim they are not really to blame. Looking at you CSR, James Hardie and Union Carbide...
Who do you think makes the laws, dolphins? ;)
People do have self-preservation and of course can be selfish at times, but we evolved as gregarious species where cooperaton and collaboration is the reason we evolved big brains and the ability to talk. Too many times people excuse immorality by trying to say it's just how people naturally are. It shows a real lack of any knowledge of cultural anthropology or other past and present cultures.