Joe Biden 2022: Enter Dark Brandon

[troph 24498]

Just now, Fudge Nuggets said:

That was in 2020 and was considerably higher than previous margins.  When I think of commodities, I think of margins in the high single digits to low double digits, not in the 30% range.

That’s gotta be gross margin. You can’t run a business on gross margins as low as they were. That’s why convenience stores were said to break even on gas and make their money on snacks or whatever.  Net margins of 12-17% for the whole business sure but no way you make a dime with gross margins in the teens. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19111]

31 minutes ago, troph said:

That’s gotta be gross margin. You can’t run a business on gross margins as low as they were. That’s why convenience stores were said to break even on gas and make their money on snacks or whatever.  Net margins of 12-17% for the whole business sure but no way you make a dime with gross margins in the teens. 

Gross margins:

Costco:  12.4%
Lockheed Martin:  13.4%
Boeing:  3.2%
General Dynamics:  16.8%
Schlumberger:  16.4%
Toyota:  19%
Halliburton:  13.5%
Hormel Foods:  16.8%

That's just a few of the better known companies with a market cap > $10bln and gross margins < 20%.  There are 59 publicly traded companies meeting the criteria.

[troph 24498]

5 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Gross margins:

Costco:  12.4%
Lockheed Martin:  13.4%
Boeing:  3.2%
General Dynamics:  16.8%
Schlumberger:  16.4%
Toyota:  19%
Halliburton:  13.5%
Hormel Foods:  16.8%

That's just a few of the better known companies with a market cap > $10bln and gross margins < 20%.  There are 59 publicly traded companies meeting the criteria.

Well I don’t run $10bln market cap companies but I have my hand in half a dozen small companies across multiple industries so let me rephrase - I don’t know any small business that can make it on gross margins in the teens.  
 

when you start talking scale of that magnitude you appear to be correct. And with respect to the retailers integrated with the exploration companies or the ultra larger retailers then fine. But I still don’t like blanket statements asking retailers to lower prices if they aren’t gouging.  I haven’t followed this market enough to know if the retailers are the problem or if it’s demand is far exceeding supply. In the end I’m a capitalist in favor of regulation so I’m a bit suspect at the please lower your prices gambit without proof of clear price gouging. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by troph

[Fudge Nuggets 19111]

1 minute ago, troph said:

Well I don’t run $10bln market cap companies but I have my hand in half a dozen small companies across multiple industries so let me rephrase - I don’t know any small business that can make it on gross margins in the teens.  

Well apparently before 2020 a lot of them were doing ok at ~20% margin on their gas so going up to 30% or above might be a bit of gouging since they have the excuse.  Or maybe you believe they haven't jacked up the prices on their snacks or whatever as well?

[troph 24498]

Just now, Fudge Nuggets said:

Well apparently before 2020 a lot of them were doing ok at ~20% margin on their gas so going up to 30% or above might be a bit of gouging since they have the excuse.  Or maybe you believe they haven't jacked up the prices on their snacks or whatever as well?

About 10-15 years ago I looked into buying a gas station. Was in due diligence and couldn’t believe it. Helped a client sell one a few years later. Yeah no thanks. 
 

you can be right here I just don’t like the “please lower your prices” in a capitalist society. There are price gouging, price control and anti trust laws. And In the end if stingy retailers are the culprit then shame on them. Nice gross margins doesn’t by itself mean they are the root cause. Maybe they are. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19111]

I got no problem with them jacking up their prices if they are keeping their margins relatively close to historical levels.  But if they are putting the screws to people because they have a built-in excuse for now then they can get fucked. 

I'm not sure I have any confidence in those price gouging, price control and anti trust laws.  2021 Freezeageddon shined a bright light on that bullshit.

[troph 24498]

You might be right. Buy an EV and really tell them to get fucked. 

[elfenix 34161]

On 7/3/2022 at 2:59 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Year	Average retail gasoline margin (CPG)
2016	19.9
2017	21.8
2018	24.0
2019	24.8
2020*	34.8

https://www.cspdailynews.com/fuels/2020-fuels-50-national-gasoline-margins

 

5 hours ago, troph said:

34% margin doesn’t seem like price gouging that seems like the retailer finally having decent margins. 

  

4 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

That was in 2020 and was considerably higher than previous margins.  When I think of commodities, I think of margins in the high single digits to low double digits, not in the 30% range.

that's cents. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by elfenix

[bolverk 29261]

14 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

 

Oh, hey, I've been trying to get in touch. Not sure how we might've gotten our wires crossed (stupid Surly notification system must be on the fritz). Previously, you've expressed a concern about political violence, so much so that you even started a dedicated thread.

I'm guessing you haven't heard about what happened in Chicago yesterday. Otherwise, I'm sure you'd be participating in that conversation. You see, it seems another right-wing pigeon from outer space, sent here to destroy the human race, climbed up to the top of a building and murdered 6 people attending a 4th of July parade in a heavily Jewish Chicago neighborhood. Sickening, right? I'm sorry that I have to the bearer of tidings.

[TwiceHorn 31085]

I don't know if there's any real "percentage" in doing so, but I tend to draw a line between the "totally mental" types that happen to be right-wingers and those whose motivations are almost entirely political.

Like clapclapslap's Supreme Court terrorist seemed more mental than political.  This guy might be more mental than political.

Proud Boy/Patriot Front/Oath Keeper types may be totally mental, but their primary motivator is political.

[wildcat09 29146]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I don't know if there's any real "percentage" in doing so, but I tend to draw a line between the "totally mental" types that happen to be right-wingers and those whose motivations are almost entirely political.

Like clapclapslap's Supreme Court terrorist seemed more mental than political.  This guy might be more mental than political.

Proud Boy/Patriot Front/Oath Keeper types may be totally mental, but their primary motivator is political.

There's a really fuzzy grey zone "between" what you picture as the more political types (like Patriot Front) and what you picture as the more mental types (like yesterday's shooter). Yesterday's shooter, like the El Paso shooter, Christchurch shooter, and Poway Synagogue shooters (all of who posted manifestos to 8chan) was really involved in some of the most deranged internet communities there are. Here's a good twitter thread on it:

 

 

These communities aren't "political," in that they're not full of your average white-bread Trump-worshipping MAGA dolts. But they are political in the sense that they're full of and appeal to extremely reactionary boys and young men who are racist, misogynist, and are fascinated by violence. They're also becoming increasingly detached from reality and nihilistic. Trump's chaos and destruction appeal to them, even if they don't really care about shit like the wall.

More important, I think, is that even absent any real strong political opinions, this overlaps a TON with garden-variety fascism.  Because fascism has always been much more about the aesthetics of violence and power than it has been about any concrete political ideas. So angry, reactionary young men growing up online are exposed to two radicalization pathways, one leading them more to shit like Patriot Front and one leading them more to incel nazi catboy shitposter mass shooter land. But these aren't really even alternatives to each other. You can start off going down one path and hop to another at any time, because the key elements are the same in both. And both groups effectively serve the same purposes. Patriot Front organizes and carries out targeted violence against the left, while a bunch of potential "lone wolf" shooters organize in these online communities and goad each other into carrying out indiscriminate mass violence. 

But the violence itself is the point for both groups, and the mainstream GOP finds the violence that both groups carry out to be politically useful. Because the goal of the mainstream GOP is to destroy secular communities. They think modern, secular communities that generally provide for universal equal rights are unnatural and must be destroyed, so the violence that disrupts secular communities and public spaces is good to them. 

[clapclapclap 9000]

On 7/4/2022 at 4:31 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Oh look who it is.  I think there's some people that have been looking for you.

Who?  Antifa?

[clapclapclap 9000]

9 hours ago, bolverk said:

Oh, hey, I've been trying to get in touch. Not sure how we might've gotten our wires crossed (stupid Surly notification system must be on the fritz). Previously, you've expressed a concern about political violence, so much so that you even started a dedicated thread.

I'm guessing you haven't heard about what happened in Chicago yesterday. Otherwise, I'm sure you'd be participating in that conversation. You see, it seems another right-wing pigeon from outer space, sent here to destroy the human race, climbed up to the top of a building and murdered 6 people attending a 4th of July parade in a heavily Jewish Chicago neighborhood. Sickening, right? I'm sorry that I have to the bearer of tidings.

I see the @names all the time, but have personally never received any alert/flag/etc.  No idea if notifications are turned off, and don't really care enough to check.

Are you really as gullible as you post?  You don't think an idiot aspiring rapper might be into performance art?   I recall CR cheering and high fiving when some leftist would false flag pose as MAGA to get in and then disrupt a rally, or pose as a conservative to get into a politician's appearance to then ask a left hot take question/sound bite.  Or a million music videos where they pose as someone on the right to mock them.  Those stills don't yet prove anything.

Here's a still photo of him escaping the murder scene in drag, are we also supposed to deduce from it that he was trans?  See the flaw in your technique yet?

I don't really care what this scumbag loser's views are, he deserves the death penalty.  Pretty much everyone thinks that, you're a deluded nut if you think I'm cool with such murder.  So I'm somehow a bad guy for not rushing to the perpetually angry, unhinged loony bin forum to post about it?  Most of y'all haven't posted squat about all the ongoing Chicago murders (12 just this weekend) does that thus mean you don't care about black deaths?

BTW, no indication yet that he targeted Jews.  Doesn't his dad own a restaurant in town and ran for mayor there?  Probably more of a factor in why he choose the location, but we don't know a lot yet.  But I realize y'all are desperate to once again paint this as some mythical right wing Nazi homophobe cartoon villain.  

But if you want to play that game...

...pretty sure this guy isn't a Hillsdale College graduate.

,,,does not appear very MAGA, but who knows.

Red rose tattoo is generally associated with the Socialist/Marxist/hard left movement.

47 tat (& suit & red tie) supposedly is related to some show called "Hitman"...

...not "Cuz he wants Trump to be #47 in 2024!" nonsense.

Aspiring rapper went by the name "Awake", seems closer to woke than MAGA, but perhaps time will tell.

His dad ran as a GOP candidate, but I would not assume parent and child share the same ideology.  Have y'all suddenly forgotten Claudia Conway or Ted Cruz's daughter?  Most of CR's own parents?  Some of y'all disown them every other month (then keep coming back to ask for investment in a European second home...)

OBTW, most of the replies to his rapper social media account seem to be hard left/Socialist/Marxist kids.  Seems odd that they'd be fans if he's MAGA, but who knows right now.  Doesn't change the fact that he's an immoral murderous scumbag.

Perhaps not the thread for this, but you asked here, and it looks like some are bitching that I haven't commented, and I don't come in here much, so here ya go.

[Biff Tannen 45439]

[wildcat09 29146]

I'm honestly a little concerned that clapclapclap might be active in the same internet communities that Robert Crimo was in.

[Hank Scorpio 17704]

Crimo thinks clapclap is too extreme

[Bama Chick 28596]

PERFORMANCE ART????

Get the FUCK out of here, you absolute pelican.

[YChang 3425]

Lol, A+ on that bit of creative writing from clap. Lol

[Guest]

On 7/2/2022 at 8:46 PM, David Dennison said:

At least the price of gas is going down.

It’s temporary. Just wait. 

[Degenerate Gardner 4075]

There’s a not-insignificant part of me that thinks Biden dead before 2024 is the best chance the Dems and country have. Sad!

[TwiceHorn 31085]

2 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

I see the @names all the time, but have personally never received any alert/flag/etc.  No idea if notifications are turned off, and don't really care enough to check.

Are you really as gullible as you post?  You don't think an idiot aspiring rapper might be into performance art?   I recall CR cheering and high fiving when some leftist would false flag pose as MAGA to get in and then disrupt a rally, or pose as a conservative to get into a politician's appearance to then ask a left hot take question/sound bite.  Or a million music videos where they pose as someone on the right to mock them.  Those stills don't yet prove anything.

Here's a still photo of him escaping the murder scene in drag, are we also supposed to deduce from it that he was trans?  See the flaw in your technique yet?

I don't really care what this scumbag loser's views are, he deserves the death penalty.  Pretty much everyone thinks that, you're a deluded nut if you think I'm cool with such murder.  So I'm somehow a bad guy for not rushing to the perpetually angry, unhinged loony bin forum to post about it?  Most of y'all haven't posted squat about all the ongoing Chicago murders (12 just this weekend) does that thus mean you don't care about black deaths?

BTW, no indication yet that he targeted Jews.  Doesn't his dad own a restaurant in town and ran for mayor there?  Probably more of a factor in why he choose the location, but we don't know a lot yet.  But I realize y'all are desperate to once again paint this as some mythical right wing Nazi homophobe cartoon villain.  

But if you want to play that game...

...pretty sure this guy isn't a Hillsdale College graduate.

,,,does not appear very MAGA, but who knows.

Red rose tattoo is generally associated with the Socialist/Marxist/hard left movement.

47 tat (& suit & red tie) supposedly is related to some show called "Hitman"...

...not "Cuz he wants Trump to be #47 in 2024!" nonsense.

Aspiring rapper went by the name "Awake", seems closer to woke than MAGA, but perhaps time will tell.

His dad ran as a GOP candidate, but I would not assume parent and child share the same ideology.  Have y'all suddenly forgotten Claudia Conway or Ted Cruz's daughter?  Most of CR's own parents?  Some of y'all disown them every other month (then keep coming back to ask for investment in a European second home...)

OBTW, most of the replies to his rapper social media account seem to be hard left/Socialist/Marxist kids.  Seems odd that they'd be fans if he's MAGA, but who knows right now.  Doesn't change the fact that he's an immoral murderous scumbag.

Perhaps not the thread for this, but you asked here, and it looks like some are bitching that I haven't commented, and I don't come in here much, so here ya go.

Brilliant.  So now you have one example of "leftist" violence and have maybe debunked one 'rightist" violence episode.

So, you have a few dozen more to do.  Get crackin!

[TwiceHorn 31085]

6 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

There's a really fuzzy grey zone "between" what you picture as the more political types (like Patriot Front) and what you picture as the more mental types (like yesterday's shooter). Yesterday's shooter, like the El Paso shooter, Christchurch shooter, and Poway Synagogue shooters (all of who posted manifestos to 8chan) was really involved in some of the most deranged internet communities there are. Here's a good twitter thread on it:

 

 

These communities aren't "political," in that they're not full of your average white-bread Trump-worshipping MAGA dolts. But they are political in the sense that they're full of and appeal to extremely reactionary boys and young men who are racist, misogynist, and are fascinated by violence. They're also becoming increasingly detached from reality and nihilistic. Trump's chaos and destruction appeal to them, even if they don't really care about shit like the wall.

More important, I think, is that even absent any real strong political opinions, this overlaps a TON with garden-variety fascism.  Because fascism has always been much more about the aesthetics of violence and power than it has been about any concrete political ideas. So angry, reactionary young men growing up online are exposed to two radicalization pathways, one leading them more to shit like Patriot Front and one leading them more to incel nazi catboy shitposter mass shooter land. But these aren't really even alternatives to each other. You can start off going down one path and hop to another at any time, because the key elements are the same in both. And both groups effectively serve the same purposes. Patriot Front organizes and carries out targeted violence against the left, while a bunch of potential "lone wolf" shooters organize in these online communities and goad each other into carrying out indiscriminate mass violence. 

But the violence itself is the point for both groups, and the mainstream GOP finds the violence that both groups carry out to be politically useful. Because the goal of the mainstream GOP is to destroy secular communities. They think modern, secular communities that generally provide for universal equal rights are unnatural and must be destroyed, so the violence that disrupts secular communities and public spaces is good to them. 

Yeah, that's why I say there's not much "percentage" in it.

Even before Trump and my wholesale conversion, I didn't like the right wing canard that "liberalism is a mental illness."

But, like every accusation is a confession, it turns out that current right wing orthodoxy probably actually preys pretty heavily on the mentally ill.

 

[Biff Tannen 45439]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

But, like every accusation is a confession, it turns out that current right wing orthodoxy probably actually preys pretty heavily on the mentally ill.

One of the better examples.

[StassneyHorn 6515]

What are we thinking this Friday?  200k jobs, 250k? Sheriff JB already sent the price of a barrel of oil home with its tail between it legs and wholesale gas SPIRALING with the scathing tweets on the up always, down sometimes management style.
 

Hate to see it for my home state as high oil prices are fantastic, but I understand some of you can’t afford the extra effort of throwing an apple, orange, and a banana in your lunch pail before heading to the cubicle for your grueling work. Really weird that the energy capital of the world has no Governor to keep it in check.

16 minutes ago, Porterhouse said:

It’s temporary. Just wait. 

Gas prices are not fixed, so yeah. Always temporary.

 

16 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

There’s a not-insignificant part of me that thinks Biden dead before 2024 is the best chance the Dems and country have. Sad!

 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Gas prices are not fixed, so yeah. Always temporary.

Why are you stating the obvious?  Maybe because of the forum. Regardless, the significant relief we have seen and will continue to see will be short-lived. I can see a scenario whereby the recession really stems inflation, but much of energy-related part of that will be short-lived. The energy squeeze isn’t going anywhere. 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

There’s a not-insignificant part of me that thinks Biden dead before 2024 is the best chance the Dems and country have. Sad!

A death match between Trump and Biden spectated solely by the most ardent MAGAs and GOP Congressmen where a meteor strikes is the best chance this country has. We really need a clean slate, new blood. I don’t really care what party it comes from as long as it’s centrist and the radical element of the GOP is eradicated. Pipe dreams are fun. 

[StassneyHorn 6515]

Just now, Porterhouse said:

Why are you stating the obvious?  Maybe because of the forum. Regardless, the significant relief we have seen and will continue to see will be short-lived. I can see a scenario whereby the recession really stems inflation, but much of energy-related part of that will be short-lived. The energy squeeze isn’t going anywhere. 

Why am I stating the obvious? Because it needs to be stated. Where’s the squeeze?

We’re already out of whatever recession super seriously affected everyone.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Why am I stating the obvious? Because it needs to be stated. Where’s the squeeze?

We’re already out of whatever recession super seriously affected everyone.

Because you’re stating very basic facts. I think everyone knows oil / gasoline and other oil derivatives / nat gas are not fixed, nor should they be. What is surprising is everyone doesn’t realize the crisis we are in from an oil and gas supply / demand fundamental perspective. And, that people conclude we’re out of the recession. I doubt it. Regardless, the squeeze is very very obvious. 

[StassneyHorn 6515]

What industries?

[Biff Tannen 45439]

1 hour ago, StassneyHorn said:

What industries?

What-delay industries?  /fixed

[StassneyHorn 6515]

*Frantically Google searches and blindly throws out retail*

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

What industries?

 

1 minute ago, StassneyHorn said:

*Frantically Google searches and blindly throws out retail*

Huh?

[StassneyHorn 6515]

What industries are you googling right now that are slowing down hiring besides poorly managed tech?

Edited July 6, 2022 by StassneyHorn

[StassneyHorn 6515]

22 minutes of Google searches and can’t identify the obvious squeezes

[Kel Varnsen 8425]

[Guest]

11 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

What industries are you googling right now that are slowing down hiring besides poorly managed tech?

I never said anything remotely closely to that. 

11 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

22 minutes of Google searches and can’t identify the obvious squeezes

Do you have any idea what a supply crunch is?

[wildcat09 29146]

 

So the only preparation they made for Roe being overturned was to try to sneak in a nomination of a Fedsoc freak before it happened. Fucking incredible.

[David Dennison 18487]

 

[Incredulity 11440]

[babysdaddy 2710]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:07 AM, wildcat09 said:

 

So the only preparation they made for Roe being overturned was to try to sneak in a nomination of a Fedsoc freak before it happened. Fucking incredible.

I'm really confused by this move.  What kind of fucking clown show Klain running?  Biden's approval is going to drop into the 20s once the hardcore Dems feel comfortable that disapproving of Biden does not mean you support Trump or wanted him elected.

[Pig Bellmont 8664]

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

https://apple.news/Au8RomvBdSB6U8qRk0x05IQ
 

Quote

 

Biden to outline new steps aimed at bolstering abortion rights

Amid growing calls from Democrats for more action, the president plans to sign an executive order that attempts to safeguard access to abortion medication and emergency contraception

 

 

[washparkhorn 9931]

[StassneyHorn 6515]

372,000 Americans being uplifted and uprooted from the weeds of poverty.

372,000 Americans no longer worried about making rent because of their new well paying jobs.

372,000 Americans no longer bothered with the options of choosing what to eat for lunch, but what funds they should choose for their new 401k.

372,000 Americans probably gettin some head after telling their loved one about the good news.

“A scoop for me, and a scoop for thee”

-Joseph Robinette Biden

 

[Don Johnson 4744]

End of quote.  Repeat the line.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

1 hour ago, Don Johnson said:

End of quote.  Repeat the line.

 

[Biff Tannen 45439]

LULZ.  Never gets old man.  Keep em coming.

[Hank Scorpio 17704]

 

[Incredulity 11440]

 

[Incredulity 11440]