Why are all the grocery stores bragging about their higher profits? And why is the government not taxing those excessive profits at a higher rate? It wouldn’t do anything to help the consumer, but she would at least have the satisfaction that the grocery chains aren’t gaining as much by their mistreatment of the consumer.
The parliamentary standing committee on agriculture and agri-food weaseled out on recommending an all-encompassing ‘windfall tax’ when the competition bureau finds evidence, by suggesting that it only be for the grocery chains. There needs to be a windfall profits tax on all industries that are profiteering because of the world-wide inflationary pressures. They could start with the big oil companies that raise their prices long before increased crude oil prices hit their refineries.
I sometimes wonder why companies believe they are entitled to a profit. Nobody guarantees them a profit. A profit should be for successes. A profit should be for when you innovate and do something well. A profit should be for when you are doing something worthwhile. Copying what your competitors charge doesn’t say much for you or your company.
Obviously, the passing of entrepreneurial companies from the founder to the idiot child is a very bad idea. It is irresponsible. When you think about it, you realize that the practice dates back to the era of Nero in the Roman Empire. You would think humans would learn a few things over thousands of years.
The point is that when the entrepreneur gets the credit for the success of a company, it is really the employees who built the business. The person fronting for the company can be as dumb as Elon Musk. It takes more than a single person to build a Tesla. And turning him loose with Twitter is a really stupid idea.
I have always been a believer in employee ownership of companies. Shares should always be part of the compensation for your work. The only concern I have is how employees will treat those shares in their will. Maybe they should become worthless when the recipient dies. Maybe I should keep thinking on it.
-30-
Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to: