CEO Lists Examples Of The Rich Using The Stock Market To Screw Over The Poor, Says It Makes No Sense
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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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...
Load More Replies... 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.
Load More Replies...
The problem is not the stock market; the problem is speculation. Buying shares directly and thereby investing savings while participating in a company's success makes much sense. Betting on courses to fall or rise is nothing really needed for the share buyer or the company to issue the share. I think that many aspects of modern life are over-regulated and that bureocracy inhibits creativity, but I think that the stock markets needs tight regulation and banning of any "product" that does not really contribute to financing listed companies. Maybe start with a tiny transaction tax on buying and selling shares, just some 0.0something %. This would not be a problem for anyone holding shared for mere months, but it would make high frequency / algorithmic trading meaningless. Maybe ban all products that take leverage effects, as their only real purpose is gambling. In fact, if all trading would be based on equity, much of the problems we see today would cease to exist.
When you buy shares you're ALWAYS making a bet and 'gambling'. You buy based on the information available and on the interpretation you make of it.
Load More Replies... Politicians in DC had their families' PPP loan paperwork ready before the bill was passed. Both sides of the aisle did it en masse
I was in high school in the early 90s. We were taught "If the company does well, you do well" and "If you are loyal to your company, the company will be loyal to you" and that was all complete bunk.
Yeah that all kinda went out the window around the 1960's as more and more regulation was passed in favor of companies having no obligation to genuinely do anything they don't please.
Load More Replies...
Just another reason this country is going down the tubes. Just another example of how most people only lookout for themselves.
Lots of examples to show how stupid the stock market system is, yes, but not really any "explanation". As Hans mentions, one problem is that the stock market today deals with speculation on what will be bought or sold rather than with whether the company invested in will do well or poorly. The stock market, as I see it, is a game for rich people. You have to be able to invest huge amounts to get much back. But the rules for stocks are also set up so that owners (who needn't work for it) should profit before all else, which is why stock holders make money while people are being laid off. It's an awful system in my opinion. I understand the right and interest to get "paid back" if you invest in an endeavour and that endeavour succeeds, but that's not really how it works any more.
Hopefully one day people realize market analyst is a profession that has been scientifically proven to be utterly worthless.
Load More Replies... Hmm, I dunno, maybe more people should realize the stock market is really just a way for corporations to essentially get revenue for nothing? Or that they really have very little legal responsibility to shareholders for anything? I guess I'm asking too much on that.
There needs to be fines to companies that do layoffs. Also, three months pay should be required for every laid off employee.
You would think in order to lay off hundreds or thousands of people there would at least have to be a sound provable reason to do so. Buuuut no.
Load More Replies...
I think it is a dangerous game to not properly raise up those that helped you get to where you are (Bezos, this is for you). Once workers get it and work together there will be reckoning. Or, the old, ancient, definition of a king/ruler is not one that aggregates monies/wealth but redistributes and makes sure their people have what they need - and I will remind people money is not an actual thing but a symbol of value, the symbol of human work. How do you spend your work? Do you let your work be amassed by people who do not contribute to your efforts?
Ya know, in most countries that would be true, but in the United States there is such a purposefully built loophole system that makes it so if you are in charge of a highly successful business, you're untouchable.
Load More Replies...
Ok great, but now what do we do? The people have no power when it comes to the stock market, our employment, our wages, etc. What exactly do we do with this information except get mad and still have no power. I'm not saying give up, I just don't know what can be done.
Since covid started, people all around the world have lost jobs and are struggling, the wealthiest people. (Bezos, Bill Gates, Zuckerburg, have gotten wealthier
Start pushing the government to actually change laws, instead of focusing on scapegoat issues like "illegals", probably.
Load More Replies... Doing my best to find a silver lining: #3. "“Our struggle for today is not to have a female Einstein appointed as an assistant professor. It’s for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”-- NY congresswoman Bella Abzug, in the 1970s.
This what we get when we keeping voting for the same people, with the same ideas in Washington. Either the economy is going to benefit working Americans or it's going to benefit billionaires but never both.
Can we buy from small businesses as much as possible and boycott the big corporations. I refuse to make Bezos any richer. I love the stock manipulations for game stock ,too bad the numbnuts caught on .
I hate it when I see all my t** supporter friends crowing about how the stock market is doing, how their 401k's are bursting at the seams, and how great it all is. I was saying that the Stock Market is not real life, but they don't care, it's all about the money.
Luckily we still have some unions that would prevent this from happening or just would go on strike for months!
But Bernie Sanders is being un-American by being a socialist by wanting to tax the 0.01%
WOW...this is one of those things where you knew it was bad, but you didn't realize just how bad until it's laid out before you like this. Makes me appreciate those Redditors even more now.
The Redditors did not help. They just showed how fragile the stock market is. It annoys me when people are thankful for the Redditors even though they don't help at all. There were older people investing in hedge funds, so they could pay for retirement. If you see an old homeless person living on the street it may be from the Redittors.
Load More Replies...
I’ve been saying this for years, and case after case listed here show it: these companies aren’t showing profits because they’re producing such wonderful products that they’re flying off store shelves. They’re making fake profits by cutting overhead; staff, factories, supply quality (buying cheaper supplies, example is cheaper high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar), and freezing or cutting salaries. Not actually making more, just spending less. That’s not really profit, it’s just cutting the budget to the bare bones. Thing is, your quality takes a nosedive, your best employees burn out and leave, you get what you pay for when you hire people at rock bottom salaries. False profits are not the hallmark of good, ethical business practices. They’re just your company gaming the system.
Hey, if it's all perfectly legal, which it is, then companies will do it. Then the board or owner will sell the company off to some conglomerate and make even more money.
Load More Replies... 
Dan screwed his own brother out of his company. Don't be more like Dan.
Load More Replies... Some are correct some are not. If you're the creator of a company and shares prices go up that's not 'screwing the poor'. Paying bonus while laying people off is. And the thing is, the stock market is not representative of the whole economy because very small companies are not traded because they're just too small to trade there. So many people obsess over the stock market when actually you need to watch a lot of other information.
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...
Load More Replies... 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.
Load More Replies... The problem is not the stock market; the problem is speculation. Buying shares directly and thereby investing savings while participating in a company's success makes much sense. Betting on courses to fall or rise is nothing really needed for the share buyer or the company to issue the share. I think that many aspects of modern life are over-regulated and that bureocracy inhibits creativity, but I think that the stock markets needs tight regulation and banning of any "product" that does not really contribute to financing listed companies. Maybe start with a tiny transaction tax on buying and selling shares, just some 0.0something %. This would not be a problem for anyone holding shared for mere months, but it would make high frequency / algorithmic trading meaningless. Maybe ban all products that take leverage effects, as their only real purpose is gambling. In fact, if all trading would be based on equity, much of the problems we see today would cease to exist.
When you buy shares you're ALWAYS making a bet and 'gambling'. You buy based on the information available and on the interpretation you make of it.
Load More Replies... Politicians in DC had their families' PPP loan paperwork ready before the bill was passed. Both sides of the aisle did it en masse
I was in high school in the early 90s. We were taught "If the company does well, you do well" and "If you are loyal to your company, the company will be loyal to you" and that was all complete bunk.
Yeah that all kinda went out the window around the 1960's as more and more regulation was passed in favor of companies having no obligation to genuinely do anything they don't please.
Load More Replies... Just another reason this country is going down the tubes. Just another example of how most people only lookout for themselves.
Lots of examples to show how stupid the stock market system is, yes, but not really any "explanation". As Hans mentions, one problem is that the stock market today deals with speculation on what will be bought or sold rather than with whether the company invested in will do well or poorly. The stock market, as I see it, is a game for rich people. You have to be able to invest huge amounts to get much back. But the rules for stocks are also set up so that owners (who needn't work for it) should profit before all else, which is why stock holders make money while people are being laid off. It's an awful system in my opinion. I understand the right and interest to get "paid back" if you invest in an endeavour and that endeavour succeeds, but that's not really how it works any more.
Hopefully one day people realize market analyst is a profession that has been scientifically proven to be utterly worthless.
Load More Replies... Hmm, I dunno, maybe more people should realize the stock market is really just a way for corporations to essentially get revenue for nothing? Or that they really have very little legal responsibility to shareholders for anything? I guess I'm asking too much on that.
There needs to be fines to companies that do layoffs. Also, three months pay should be required for every laid off employee.
You would think in order to lay off hundreds or thousands of people there would at least have to be a sound provable reason to do so. Buuuut no.
Load More Replies... I think it is a dangerous game to not properly raise up those that helped you get to where you are (Bezos, this is for you). Once workers get it and work together there will be reckoning. Or, the old, ancient, definition of a king/ruler is not one that aggregates monies/wealth but redistributes and makes sure their people have what they need - and I will remind people money is not an actual thing but a symbol of value, the symbol of human work. How do you spend your work? Do you let your work be amassed by people who do not contribute to your efforts?
Ya know, in most countries that would be true, but in the United States there is such a purposefully built loophole system that makes it so if you are in charge of a highly successful business, you're untouchable.
Load More Replies... Ok great, but now what do we do? The people have no power when it comes to the stock market, our employment, our wages, etc. What exactly do we do with this information except get mad and still have no power. I'm not saying give up, I just don't know what can be done.
Since covid started, people all around the world have lost jobs and are struggling, the wealthiest people. (Bezos, Bill Gates, Zuckerburg, have gotten wealthier
Start pushing the government to actually change laws, instead of focusing on scapegoat issues like "illegals", probably.
Load More Replies... Doing my best to find a silver lining: #3. "“Our struggle for today is not to have a female Einstein appointed as an assistant professor. It’s for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”-- NY congresswoman Bella Abzug, in the 1970s.
This what we get when we keeping voting for the same people, with the same ideas in Washington. Either the economy is going to benefit working Americans or it's going to benefit billionaires but never both.
Can we buy from small businesses as much as possible and boycott the big corporations. I refuse to make Bezos any richer. I love the stock manipulations for game stock ,too bad the numbnuts caught on .
I hate it when I see all my t** supporter friends crowing about how the stock market is doing, how their 401k's are bursting at the seams, and how great it all is. I was saying that the Stock Market is not real life, but they don't care, it's all about the money.
Luckily we still have some unions that would prevent this from happening or just would go on strike for months!
But Bernie Sanders is being un-American by being a socialist by wanting to tax the 0.01%
WOW...this is one of those things where you knew it was bad, but you didn't realize just how bad until it's laid out before you like this. Makes me appreciate those Redditors even more now.
The Redditors did not help. They just showed how fragile the stock market is. It annoys me when people are thankful for the Redditors even though they don't help at all. There were older people investing in hedge funds, so they could pay for retirement. If you see an old homeless person living on the street it may be from the Redittors.
Load More Replies... I’ve been saying this for years, and case after case listed here show it: these companies aren’t showing profits because they’re producing such wonderful products that they’re flying off store shelves. They’re making fake profits by cutting overhead; staff, factories, supply quality (buying cheaper supplies, example is cheaper high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar), and freezing or cutting salaries. Not actually making more, just spending less. That’s not really profit, it’s just cutting the budget to the bare bones. Thing is, your quality takes a nosedive, your best employees burn out and leave, you get what you pay for when you hire people at rock bottom salaries. False profits are not the hallmark of good, ethical business practices. They’re just your company gaming the system.
Hey, if it's all perfectly legal, which it is, then companies will do it. Then the board or owner will sell the company off to some conglomerate and make even more money.
Load More Replies... Dan screwed his own brother out of his company. Don't be more like Dan.
Load More Replies... Some are correct some are not. If you're the creator of a company and shares prices go up that's not 'screwing the poor'. Paying bonus while laying people off is. And the thing is, the stock market is not representative of the whole economy because very small companies are not traded because they're just too small to trade there. So many people obsess over the stock market when actually you need to watch a lot of other information.
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