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What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

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Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#241

Post by jonny_eh »

newbie789 wrote: post #204
evilotto wrote: post #33

He's right to point out that the obsession with RoE is a big part of the problem. He's wrong to suggest that the billionaire class and founders will solve the problem if we only trust them and let them keep their money. Founders have just as much incentive to optimize the excess out of the system, they just call it "disruptive innovation" by which they mean tweaking how the system works so that they can squeeze out p…

That part of the Twitter thread actually made me laugh out loud. In the middle of talking about how modern finance is messed up he has a kind of unprompted little aside about how “taxes are bad!!!” Dear lord the amount of smug “wE aRe ThE mOSt EfFicIEnt wAY Of AllOCaTinG CaPitAl” arguments from very wealthy founders that would prefer to become more wealthy is frankly ridiculous. I get it, you went to Stanford and the…

Especially since it's easy for founders of such large companies to sell their shares, but give themselves fewer shares with greater voting rights… thereby maintaining control while spreading the wealth.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#242

Post by lupire »

015a wrote: post #118
evilotto wrote: post #33

He's right to point out that the obsession with RoE is a big part of the problem. He's wrong to suggest that the billionaire class and founders will solve the problem if we only trust them and let them keep their money. Founders have just as much incentive to optimize the excess out of the system, they just call it "disruptive innovation" by which they mean tweaking how the system works so that they can squeeze out p…

I think his statement is that founder (and family) led businesses are the only businesses capable of building the shock absorbers necessary to weather hundred-year storms; not that they always will. By comparison, committee-appointed CEOs rarely, if ever, will, because they cannot.

[dead]

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#243

Post by jonny_eh »

bluetwo wrote: post #77
evilotto wrote: post #33

He's right to point out that the obsession with RoE is a big part of the problem. He's wrong to suggest that the billionaire class and founders will solve the problem if we only trust them and let them keep their money. Founders have just as much incentive to optimize the excess out of the system, they just call it "disruptive innovation" by which they mean tweaking how the system works so that they can squeeze out p…

I don't think he is talking about tech founders. I think he is talking about mom and pop businesses of all types. Tech founders are a different breed.

Who aren't billionaires, so I don't know why he brought up criticisms of a proposed new tax scheme that only targets a few hundred people.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#244

Post by sammalloy »

joe_the_user wrote: post #98
cmenge wrote: post #11

Hm, seems like a monocausal 'explanation' of a complex problem - or let's say a mere opinion with little background information. Given the 'hundred year crisis', I think we have fared relatively well from a purely economic point of view... So, yes, some problems may exist but I think we have witnessed a surprisingly resilient system, given how optimized everything is and how unprecedented the issue is. I don't know i…

Keeping tons of spare capacity is neither economical nor environmentally friendly. Also, it would probably only shift the problem elsewhere. * There some things that are people simply need for survival. At a certain point, having no spare capacity and cascading failures means people die. Lack of masks last arguably killed people last year. * It's quite possible to excess capacity and be good to the environment while…

> Lack of masks last arguably killed people last year

I think that was the least of the problem. At the beginning of the pandemic in the US, hospitals, nursing homes, and many other companies would not allow their workers to bring in their own PPE. This continued for upwards of six months. Several outbreaks occurred in my area because management refused to allow their workers to use PPE. Fast food operators also had several outbreaks because they were not testing their employees temperatures until it was far too late.

As late as April, we had dental offices across the country refusing to allow receptionists to wear masks. Same went for supermarkets and restaurants. Upwards of 30% of lives could have been saved if corporate and management hadn’t setup major roadblocks for worker protections. One of the most common arguments I heard was, “we don’t want the customer to see our people behind a mask”. For companies, this wasn’t a pandemic with real health risks, this was a front-facing visibility problem for the organization. These people should all lose their jobs for the suffering they caused.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#246

Post by theshadowknows »

gruez wrote: post #205
ladyattis wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the capital owning class just doesn't care if their businesses go into shock because they already have their cash in hand. They'll never go back to pre-ROE days because they'd have to live with less money and worse less control. While they still have personal reserves in the billions they can decide the fate of their ventures but if say 20% of their current cash was on the balance sheets of corporations with boa…

>Yep, the capital owning class just doesn't care if their businesses go into shock because they already have their cash in hand. You do realize when we talk about jeff bezos being a billionaire, it doesn't mean he has his billions in gold/cash in a vault somewhere? The overwhelming majority of his wealth is tied in various financial assets (eg. equities) that certainly do get affected when "businesses go into shock".…

That brings me to wonder...who has the most cash on hand at any given time and how much cash do they have? I'm really quite curious about that.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#247

Post by silent_cal »

fullstop wrote: post #216
silent_cal wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/sweden?countr...

I specifically said "death rate" and "per capita". Your source here is comparing two countries, one of which has 67 million people and the other which has 10 million and showing totals and not per capita , which is a worthless comparison. Additionally, I don't consider Great Britain a neighbor of Sweden.

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths

Compare cumulative for Sweden and UK. It's two countries away.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#248

Post by IronWolve »

nimbius wrote: post #58

I can speak from a trucking perspective. it was a cascade failure for professional drivers. when covid first hit, supply chains either had too much or too little almost instantly. Things like raw supplies based on JIT ordering either ground to a halt because demand died and so did the modelling, or because demand was too high for the computer model (think a bell curve.) low-boy trucks shipping things like constructio…

>it was a cascade failure for professional drivers.

California ports suffered from AB5 and EPA rules more than other states, and with California controlling like 40% of the containers, they shot themselves.

Older trucks banned on roads and ports (CARB) and Owner Operator trucks (AB5) gig workers banned, they relocated their llc's outside california to keep their businesses running.

The CA EPA/DOL CARB rules also expanded fire seasons, as older logging companies closed down due to the state not renewing licenses on trucks. Mom/pop companies couldn't afford to buy very expensive trucks, new engines, or licenses. Less companies logging = more fuel.

CA just banned gas generators, as most construction sites use them power their tools. Work arounds will be people buying ford f150's with onboard generators as a quick work around, and most likely will raise costs even further.

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#249

Post by gruez »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #233
gruez wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Founders have just as much incentive to optimize the excess out of the system, they just call it "disruptive innovation" by which they mean tweaking how the system works so that they can squeeze out profit for themselves. >I think economists call it rent-seeking. Are you saying all "disruptive innovation" rent-seeking? Or only certain kinds? If a founder was able to "optimize the excess out of the system" by provid…

There are genuine "disruptive innovations" that are not rent seeking, but by and large that is not what we've seen. Picking on Amazon for a moment, their original "innovation" was a sales and use tax dodge: based in Washington, they were able to sell books to California without having to charge the relevant sales tax upfront. That margin gave huge room to provide free shipping and other customer conveniences. Technic…

>Picking on Amazon for a moment, their original "innovation" was a sales and use tax dodge: based in Washington, they were able to sell books to California without having to charge the relevant sales tax upfront. That margin gave huge room to provide free shipping and other customer conveniences.

Sales tax in california was 7.25%. While not having to charge tax was a competitive advantage, I'm skeptical that was the defining factor that led to amazon's success. This is further compounded by how prices work in the US (taxes are not included), so I doubt this even made a conscious difference to most people. Finally, the exemption isn't limited to e-commerce sites. According to wikipedia, it includes "companies doing mail order, online shopping, and home shopping by phone". Why did amazon dominate while sears languished?

Re: What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?

#250

Post by xmprt »

gruez wrote: post #205
ladyattis wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the capital owning class just doesn't care if their businesses go into shock because they already have their cash in hand. They'll never go back to pre-ROE days because they'd have to live with less money and worse less control. While they still have personal reserves in the billions they can decide the fate of their ventures but if say 20% of their current cash was on the balance sheets of corporations with boa…

>Yep, the capital owning class just doesn't care if their businesses go into shock because they already have their cash in hand. You do realize when we talk about jeff bezos being a billionaire, it doesn't mean he has his billions in gold/cash in a vault somewhere? The overwhelming majority of his wealth is tied in various financial assets (eg. equities) that certainly do get affected when "businesses go into shock".…

Genuine question: 2020 feels like the biggest shock to the economy in a while yet it was one of the best years for most big businesses. If Jeff Bezos didn't feel the shock from 2020 then when will he feel the shock?
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