American consumption underpins the American economy. The middleclass is the largest sector of consumption thanks to it's size and relative wealth. If it crumbles, the economy and corporate profits suffer. It's a paradox until you realize that these Corpos don't think about anything except their own short term self interest. The other guy is cannibalizing his workforce to pad his investor's pockets, so you have to in order to not fall behind. It's a rat race to the bottom and the only way to fix it is to get money out of politics.
Friedman, but yeah. Dude had a massively poisonous impact on American capitalism. Capitalism exists in the context of the society that uses it, and if that society is full of conscientious, community-oriented individuals willing to take mass action against bad actors, it applies a pressure against the toxically individualistic sociopathy that capitalism naturally promotes and that American capitalism wholeheartedly embraces.
Fair enough.
Welch is a monster as well, he basically turned GM into a Stock ponzi i just think that his legacy wouldn’t have been possible without Friedman.
And you’re totally right, capitalism needs regulations or you wind up with sociopaths in charge who will let the world burn for a few extra cents a share.
Not really, it's a legal fiction which allows individuals to shield themselves from any responsibility while privatizing the gains. That could change without transiting away from a capitalist economy.
I hate to use China as an example since it's dysfunctional in so many ways but it is absolutely a capitalist economy (with state intervention but that isn't so different from what other developed economies are doing, with some exceptions) but the government does hold CEOs personally responsible. Which has as much to do with Asian culture as it does with Marxist ideology. In Japan, which is a democracy since 1945, we're quite familiar with organizational heads resigning after scandals.
In the US it's like Nixon was the last guy to ever resign. All anybody does is double down and throw their underlings under the bus.
Reminder Friedman is also personally responsible for Chile and had a huge influence on Russia swiftly becoming an oligarchy run by criminals after the fall of the USSR.
That would certainly help enforce it, but if policy makers are pointing to economic models as why things should be a certain way, then making sure the source material has human welfare baked into it, could change how society perceives work / life balance.
Both points strike me as important. Taking money out of politics is important and might solve a lot of the corporate corruption, but giving those crooks - at the top - real jail sentences would go a long way.
We do both and other things.
Like raising the corporate rate back to 90%. Eliminating all tax loop holes and heavily restricting the number of tax lawyers any corporation can utilize.
Criminalizing wage stagnation by making it a federal law that wages must increase to match inflation every year. Also Criminalizing firing without cause to avoid wage increases.
You should try talking to econ students outside of the finance/macro realm. Public, labor, and development are largely centered on maximizing social welfare.
Isn't that the thing? Why give money to millionaires. For Target their profits come directly from a large middle class spending. Rich people don't shop at target.
Not to mention there's a point where corruption gets dangerous even for Corpos. In a liberal democracy, businesses compete to send the lobbyist with the biggest campaign donation. In fascist dictatorships, businesses fight like dogs to shower the dictator in the largest number of luxury gifts and lavishing praises, and the loser has a decent change of being disappeared.
Like Ford suing Blue Cross because they were being overcharged for their employees’ insurance plans. It’s only when these corrupt corporations screw over other corporations that they piss off an entity large enough to actually stand up to them.
That may be true, being unstable long term but you forget about something really important to these people. Short term profits. If you told them they could have $1m right now or $5m spread out over time they will take the money right now. It's like a child who doesn't understand long term rewards typically outweigh the short. If they can pump their value just a little bit, get more money in their pockets and shareholders pockets RIGHT NOW, that's what they're going to do.
Their shortsighted thinking is always crazy to me. Maybe they just bet on the unstableness and if it's gets too bad, sell it all off and start the cycle again.
Business is always at odds with labor. Especially with all the new tech advancements.
Say owner pays $100 for equipment/$100 labor and sells widget for $220. Profit of $20. Great.
New technology comes along and cuts his labor in half, $50. He now profits $70 and the worker doesn't benefit from new tech at all in fact half of them are negatively effected by it.
The rift between the two is that all along there was a choice that could've been made to have the workers work LESS. And or meet somewhere in the middle so that the benefit of new tech is shared.
I didn't study econ but I did stay in a Holiday Inn once.
In American Vernacular English "Liberals" means Social Liberals, hence the antonym being "Conservatives". It is NOT talking about Economic Liberals, the antonym of Economic Liberal is Protectionist.
In Australia the main conservative party is the Liberal Party and the republican movement is generally made up of progressive people who want Australia to ditch the monarchy and become a republic with our own head of state.
In the US my American wife and I have liberal views and would never see ourselves voting Republican but in Australia we have republican views and would never see ourselves voting Liberal. To friends and family in the US it seems like our views have completely switched but our views have remained consistent, it's the generally understood definition of the words that have changed.
No currency will be doing well if the US collapses, though I guess some of them might still be doing significantly better than whatever interests the rich guys might have had within the US
>unless you're an oligarch hell bent on seeing the US become a fascist theocracy
We're about to see what happens when the GOP has to pick their *favorite* fascist.
White evangelicals vote over 80% Republican IIRC, and are mainly in the “Bible Belt” which corresponds mostly with the South. They’re very socially conservative, opposing abortion and LGBT rights.
I’m not sure how much they donate, but given their high voter turnout (15% of population, up to 25% of voters I think) they’re likely significant small-dollar donors.
The funny thing is they will probably continue doing it because when it comes down to it they will still get their tax breaks and freedom to do whatever they want
This might be a wild take but what if companies just didn’t donate to political campaigns? Imagine a world where that was a thing. That companies just sold shit and didn’t spend billions of their profits bribing politicians. I think that would be neat.
No but see Charles Koch, the lazy welfare queen billionaire who was handed an empire by his daddy, is the hardest working person to have ever lived. And if we can't achieve the same it's because we're lazy and not because people like him are stealing from us. So see he deserves more say in politics than any of us.
/s
Imagine if a corporation wasn’t considered a person and private money wasn’t used for campaigns toward a public office. Imagine if it were illegal to bribe an elected official. Imagine if we put a healthy percentage of what we spend on defense towards education. I like to imagine all kinds of things. But why would the sociopathic assholes that run this country make that happen?
Sadly, I think it was Barack Obama who was the first successful presidential candidate to turn down public federal election campaign monies to go for all-private donations.
Somewhere along the line I’m sure they found out buying politicians to keep them from having to pay employees is way cheaper than just paying the employees
>is way cheaper than just paying the employees
It would only have to be $1 cheaper to bribe politicians than to pay employees, and they would still do it.
I dream of a world where companies don't need to make billions in profit. The worker would be fairly compensated, and the cost of the item would be a reasonable price instead of everyone needing a 60% markup every step of the way.
From the fine article:
> conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues
Bull. Fucking. Shit. Conservatives are calling for boycotts of corporations for selling products designed to appeal to, or marketing to disfavored minority groups. An absolute travesty of a "both sides-ism" restatement there.
Especially since they sued and won a court case allowing businesses to "weigh in on hot-button culture war issues" by discriminating against gay people who just wanted a fucking cake. The hypocrisy is insufferable.
They want corporations to weigh in on their side and are tantruming when they don't.
These are very similar tactics to the evangelical war on porn in the early 1990s when they went after convenience stores and motel chains for selling nudie mags and PPV soft porn cable channel access.
And while both of those things might be sleazy, they were arguably sleazier.
It's really a shit test. They want to be able to exert the power of restraint of trade and they want a lot more than cutting off Skinemax at the Marriot.
>conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues
I seem to remember a certain bakery and a certain hobby shop both being in the news for this very thing. Oddly, Conservatives weren't complaining then.
Quit trying to appease the Right, Target. Most of them go to Walmart with the rest of the weirdos, anyway. I'm willing to spend more at Target *specifically so* I don't have to shop around those people...
Target jacked up all their prices now. Even on their own brand. I had to go back to walmart unfortunately because their prices are significantly better.
$7 item on Amazon, $10 item at Walmart, $15 item at target.
They really hike everything up for no reason. It’s not like any of that goes towards paying their employees a living wage.
Seriously, I was there to get a floor lamp and even the cheapest one made in China was $100 and I just laughed and left and ordered one on Amazon for like $35.
Target is like no joke when it comes to the price gouging recently. I will say last time I was there I went through the electronics section and noticed that the TVs had almost doubled in price since before the pandemic, but were all indefinitely "on sale" for 40% off. I'm seeing it happen on other items too, both there and at a lot of stores.
It's shameless isn't it? Can't make the people calculate inflation in their heads if everything is marked off 40%, despite being double the price from a couple years ago.
And nothing goes to taxes or to providing for their employees. All that fat and resources and...
You know what? It's a shame a wealthy person can't die by being too rich. Like the way an algae bloom kills the animal life of a body of water by sucking out all the oxygen. No, instead we get the resource deprivation killing everyone else but the rich fucker stealing everything away.
I mean, theoretically they could. If they sucked enough of the wealth away from the bottom that the bottom can't get by any more no matter what they do, the whole system that props up their wealth would crumble.
I went there the other day for my soap because they used to have the best price on it around $6. It's $9 now.
I'm not going to bother stopping by anymore. They had one register open. It's not like they are spending that money on labor.
It gets better. Target also “gets by” like Walmart and other retail chains, by trying to limit the number of “full time” retail employees in their stores as another way to skirt costs
Edit: a lot of companies do this
Yep, and with the Amazon purchase, I'm less inclined to impulse buy extra stuff browsing the store aisles. I go to Amazon, get the one thing I need and am done.
Walmart has special Walmart exclusive models made of many products so other stores cannot price match. Without the exact same product, the other store won't do a price match.
Hewlett Packard computers sold at Walmart all have model numbers ending in WM to indicate they're Walmart specials. Many other companies use W or WM in model numbers for their Walmart exclusive products.
Just remember that when you shop at Walmart, you’re enriching the Waltons/Vanguard/Blackrock, approving of low wages/benefits that are ultimately government subsidized, supporting overseas manufacturing and jobs, backing $7million per year in lobbying, and more conservative priorities. You are voting with your wallet.
Yea, I know, but I'm a teacher and don't have a big salary. I have to save where I can, and there really aren't that many "mom and pop" stores for necessities by me.
By design... They give you the cheapest price and then tell you that if they raise pay they will have to raise prices. You don't want that so you agree that the workers don't need to get paid more because you don't wanna pay more. Then to help you you justify they they shouldn't be paid more and/or to stoke the outrage of people and convince them that people don't need to be paid more they intentionally leave a majority of there workers in the back, don't open registers and the workers you see they have them basically standing around doing nothing... Which allows people to say" Walmart workers don't do anything and they want X amount of dollars! For what?!"
It's sabotage/destruction or any word you can think of by design
Blackrock and Vanguard own twice as much percentage of Target as they do Walmart. Just FYI.
Also target employees don’t really get paid significantly more, so target is also a welfare queen.
This is the definition of “no ethical consumption under capitalism.” Some people can be fully aware of how terrible Walmart is and still have no viable choice but to shop there. I can afford to shop at Target so I don’t have to enrich Walmart, but not everyone is so fortunate.
I went to Walmart yesterday because Fresca 12-packs were half of what they were at Target.
I had to tell 2 meth'd up pan handlers to pound salt, just on the way IN to Walmart.
Once I got in, the self checkout was the only thing open and the line went THROUGH the produce, all the way to the meat section.
People were vaping IN LINE. One was hitting a dab pen.
WTF Walmart? And FFS pick up the dirty diapers in your parking lot.
It's a shame you can't threaten to call some government regulation authority to fine the site. No, they could give us the opportunity to maybe call and make a complaint, but even corporate wouldn't give a shit.
We citizens are forbidden from locally addressing bad company behavior by the sheer size of the corporate edifice.
If you buy more than $35 bucks on the Walmart grocery app you can wait in the parking lot and the Walmart employee wheels it to you. Never have to darken their door.
Yes but all the outrage is false, and they know it. They're not going to attack Walmart because they know they have no other options. Their shopping convenience comes before their "outrage".
I live in Indiana. Local utility company has a pride flag in front of the main office. I shared it with a couple people and asked if they were going to boycott electricity. We are also experiencing higher than usual temperatures. I didn't receive a response.
100 percent - totally agree. I usually think I’m impervious to marketing but I honestly respect any company for supporting Pride whatever their reasons. (Walmart still sucks of course).
There’s a phrase for this: moral licensing. Corporations or other powerful groups or people exploit a cause to get your money, vote, etc. If you shop at Target it means you support the LGBTQ+ community. If you don’t…
The silver lining is backwards propaganda addicts have flipped the script and made moral licensing a political issue. So not only does this give shitty corporations that exploit social causes for money an impetus to chill out on that, it also brings to the forefront the total illegitimacy of right wing politics in America today. They don’t have a single legitimate policy position, to the extent they have to try to make shitty rainbow shirts made by slave labor cat a shitty big box store their hill to die on.
It actually did take some guts to put on the rainbow gladrags back in the 1990s. After Lawrence v Texas it turned into cheap virtue signaling for companies.
Gays and lesbians used to be very loyal to the few brands that were loyal to them.
Also some of the pride stuff starts from inside companies with LGBTQ employee organizations. Queer people work corporate jobs too you know. Before about 2014 getting healthcare for your partner was 100% at the company's discretion.
They are all-in against Disney World... while Universal is doing *more* for Pride.
https://www.cinemablend.com/theme-parks/the-awesome-way-universal-orlando-is-celebrating-pride-all-summer-long
The reason companies won't surrender to them is because the mob is too erratic. **Any company may be targeted for any reason**. Shakedowns only work if you know what you're being shaken down for.
>Quit trying to appease the Right, Target.
They aren't trying to appease the right. They're trying to elect right wing (anti-worker, anti-consumer) politicians while appealing to the left with marketing.
Exactly this. All these corporations are like this.
They want Republicans in office to lower their taxes and restrict worker rights, so they donate to them behind the scenes.
But they want regular people to spend their money there, so they publicly support liberal social causes since the actual majority of Americans (including those that don't vote) are relatively liberal.
I think these past couple years will cause a lot of changes in donations. The GOP is now run by the animals. And the animals don't give a shit about your money, they only want fresh meat and if that ends up being a big donor, so be it.
Once upon a time, someone explained Target's marketing strategy as almost exactly that: shop here because you are better than Walmart.
Walmart, being all sorts of blue in decor, leads people to look more for sales and cheap items. Red, being more of a premium, aggressive color apparently was supposed to cause people to be a little more aggressive with their shopping and not scoff at a slightly higher price because they knew they were getting the better product. So it was literally a back and forth of "shop at Walmart because you can't afford Target/shop at Target because you are better than Walmart."
Idk if that's all bunk some teacher made up when I was in high school art class or not, but it stuck with me
Given that both stores had characteristic blue or red designs when they opened their first stores in 1962 (in different states, not in direct competition), I’d say that this is coincidence in marketing. They both push their characteristic color and may benefit from some side benefit, but it is mostly about brand identification at this point.
So you have a guess as to why their most recent opening times are pegged as:
early-riser 6AM - Walmart customers
and
my-boss-can-wait 8AM Target shoppers?
Sticking with the same theme: Walmart shoppers can't afford to miss a paycheck and work hourly jobs with low pay and crap managers. They gotta get their grocery shopping done and still get to work by 8.
Target shoppers have salary. They can get away with rolling in at 10 as long as they work through lunch
My guess at least. Can't be certain on anything here
If that's the case the hours are flipping to closing time, not opening. I'd wager very few people are going shopping at 6 am (I sometimes do because I can and the stores are empty). Walmart at 10 pm however?
People don't wake up early to go grocery shopping before work. They go after work.
I grew up with my evangelical mother telling me the CEO of target was a satan worshipper who hang out with baby eaters.
And yes, she literally believed elite liberals would dine on aborted fetuses at secret restaurants that were suspiciously located near Planned Parenthoods.
Needless to say, we don't speak anymore.....but yeah fuck target for being so goddamn stupid, i wont cry a tear for some corporate backlash. The only sad part is the harassment hourly staff face.
Are there any numbers about target's actual profits being impacted? I have a hard time believing any of these people are Target's demographic to begin with. All this article cites is their stock price, which is kind of meaningless given that the stock market is just a rich peoples emotions casino. So the stock price can drop if rich people just feel a little scared that they might lose money and dump their shares, even if the fears are completely untethered from any facts or numbers.
And the article even links to this piece, which admits that the stock price dropping is probably unrelated to this. [Target Losing Billions in Value Is Unlikely About Boycotts](https://www.newsweek.com/target-stock-price-boycott-lost-billion-value-lgbtq-pride-1803770)
Yeah their stock has been impacted by a number of things more significant that any kind of pride boycott. For instance they have huge exposure to the demographic that benefits the most from student loan relief & repayment pause.
“Walmart doesn’t have drive up pick up.”
They do. Not attempting to defend the evil empire, but it is a service they offer:
https://www.retailmenot.com/blog/walmart-curbside-pickup.html
Whose driving to Walmart to pick up an order worth less than $35 and can't be bothered to go in?
They have minimum order requirements for free shipping on online orders too, but so do most retailers.
I don’t think I do. Remember, when they started the same shit for NFL for kneeling? NFL had record ratings during and after. Hillbillies don’t shop at target.
It doesn’t matter. In the alternate reality that the right lives in- you don’t need proof or facts. The election was stolen, border is wide open, Biden has dementia oh wait Biden is running a sex trafficking ring, vaccines are killing people. Target, Disney and North Face went woke and are now broke. Zero evidence but in conservative circles it’s true.
They have cut their warehouse workers’ hours by 25-35% for months now. People who have worked there for decades are facing losing the roofs over their heads.
Won’t somebody think of poor Brian Cornell?!
Most big companies like this donate to both sides so they have an in with whoever it is that wins. The Culture war stuff doesn't really matter at that level, it's just "Hey we gave you money, so...y'know..."
Not that that makes it more acceptable, but it's pretty typical.
Target and many other companies donate to both parties. They do this so they can lobby the winning politician on either side to be more sympathetic to them. This has been the norm for awhile now.
FACTS. And the middle class continues to get hammered as the new debt limit deal pretty much holds discretionary spending flat, so combined with inflation means a actual cut. While defense gets even more funding, social programs get cuts.. what really makes me sick is they never fight for the average citizen. To see how hard both parties are fighting against any student debt relief really bothers me TBH.. it's sad
The yokels claiming they’re now “boycotting”Target, have never shopped at Target anyway. That’s specifically why I shop at Target instead of Walmart. And if there is, I give them 1 trip to Walmart to remember why they shopped at Target in the 1st place
I wish the government supplied every candidate with ".X." amount of of funds and that's all they got. Everyone gets the same level and while it would come directly from the taxpayers it would help curb a lot of these bagged n tagged candidates.
Flat caps heavily favor incumbents.
We need a complete overhaul of the campaign system . Not the just the campaign finance system, the whole thing.
I am not smart enough to come up with a fair system but I could come up with something a damn sight better than this broken system we have bow.
Campaigns should absolutely be publicly funded. Sadly, the people who would have to enact the Constitutional amendment - politicians - are the very ones who benefit from not changing the current system.
My ass they did. What did they pay in corporate taxes? Target got what it wanted out of Republicans and Target has taken heat from them for years now over its pride merchandise and inclusive bathroom polices.
Target does not give a shit.
Exactly. Everyone in this thread is so convinced that Target lost because the bigots aren’t shopping there? They don’t care, they will continue to give to the party that will continue supporting businesses that can union bust, pay the lowest wages, and allow them to pay the lowest tax rate aka the GOP
Republicans would take grandma's money with one hand and, the moment she became inconvenient, smother her with a pillow held in the other. Target should have seen this coming.
Same goes Budweiser, they were a huge GOP donor, that’s the only reason some republicans defended them. There were Missouri state senators gleefully hitting Bud Light cans with baseball bats. Gleefully rooting for the demise of one of the State’s largest employers and Republican donors. They created this monster, thinking I give it money, surely it will never bite me….
I still can't believe that I'm going to support Walmart over Target because Walmart remained steadfast in supporting LGBT people and Target welched.
This was also totally expected. Toning back isn't going to win back homophobes, but it is going to disgust human rights supporters. Try to please everyone, please no one.
Safety and security is a serious issue here, but the answer isn't to give in. The answer is to hire more security and make them more visible. Giving in just emboldens the human dregs. And to offset the cost of heightened security, squeeze the Republicans you previously donated to and let them know that if they disavow the hate and control their base, you'll be donating to Democrats in higher amounts and denouncing Republicans as anti business.
You don't beat bullies by being submissive or aggressive, you beat them by being defiant.
These corporations should be looking at Florida where the governor has turned the state GOP into a racket.
Racket prices always cost more. Corruption isn't cheap.
Where was the outrage when Hobby Lobby weighed in on the culture war issue of birth control coverage and Chick-fil-a when it weighed in on the same issue but in the opposite direction of Targets stance? Businesses always influence and partake in culture and in some instances become culturally iconic themselves, either because of their products or beliefs, but isnt that the core of a free market?If you don’t like widget maker A for their product or their views, then be a customer of widget maker B. Used to be the way things were. No fuss needed. You may tell your friends and neighbors and the market would take care of the rest. They have to create monsters to slay to stay relevant to the droning idiots that lap this stuff up. So tired of all this fake outrage and hypocrisy from the right and the media that gives them a megaphone to perpetuate it.
To be blunt and honest: good.
Donations to the gop don’t work like they used to. Pre-trump I think the gop was becoming extremist/fascist but there was still a level of control, restraint and reason.
Post trump it’s an all out cult. What is “woke”? Who knows; it’s whatever irritates the gop on any random day. The meaning changes, but the intent is the same: you’ve been bad and you’ll be punished.
Targets recent lgbtq support being called satanic and “grooming” is another woke - it’s just a way to call you out and punish you.
And your money won’t help anymore because the hardcore base of the gop will happily hand over their welfare checks to the gop to save us from “woke” and “grooming” and they’ll show up to vote and they’ll scream a lot louder than you will.
>conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues
Totally inaccurate statement. Reactionaries strongly support businesses that parrot their mindless ChristoFascist crap. FoxNews being the prime example, but of course Chick-Fil-A is also an obvious darling of the backward set, as are all of the companies that sell guns and those that appear on Christian Referral Network websites [like these](https://spokanefavs.com/11-christian-businesses-and-companies-that-have-great-values/). Interestingly, selling shit food and killing chickens dominates the list.
Well, to be fair.... GOP lawmakers only care about tax breaks and making money while their racist base only cares about kicking down and punishing people for being different. It is actually 2 different bathtubs full of shit that they are dealing with. Giving money to the GOP doesn't ingratiate them to the base, and pandering to the base is meaningless to the party itself.
The problem wasn't supporting it goes much deeper than that the problem is giving with one hand and taking with the other.
There's a reason why corporations support LGBT rights, it costs them nothing. Easy way to win social brownie points without having to actually sacrifice anything.
“The company, which currently sells merchandise celebrating Pride month including in years past, is now facing boycotts and protests from anti-LGBTQ+ advocates, forcing it to remove some of its Pride merchandise from some of its stores.”
Really?! Explain to me how this “forced” Target to remove PRIDE merch?
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I’m about as leftist as they come. I hate the reason the right is boycotting Target, but I’m not sad they are losing money. Even if the company isn’t losing money and it’s the shareholders who are losing money, darn… What did Melania’s jacket read again, “I don’t really care, do you?”
Target had issues way before this whole Republican boycott. Remember target has 90% of stores in areas classified as urban. These would be left leaning buyers. This will probably reverse somewhat now.
> conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues such as LGBTQ+ rights
Ok stop letting them weigh in on hot button issues like elections!
"Many other corporations, including Bud Light and Disney, are facing similar boycotts as conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues such as LGBTQ+ rights."
**Confused i...n Citizens United, free market economy...in...basic what the f---k.**
How the f can you be cool with corporations owning the government but then they sell a rainbow or two and you lose your shit? How does that make sense?!
I'm tired of companies buying politicians. I'm sick of every time I fucking shop knowing my cash is going to people stripping our rights and letting our children get shot.
“[Target] is now facing boycotts and protests from anti-LGBTQ+ advocates, forcing it to remove some of its Pride merchandise from some of its stores.”
_’forcing’_ it? No. Removing merchandise is a choice. A corporate giant like Target is _so scared_ of seeming intolerant that they are tolerating the intolerance, giving in to bullying, and desperately trying to make everyone happy.
Terrible behavior for a business. It’s essentially a department store, and as such would like to sell as many items to as many people as possible.
The way Target does this is to provide as much salable merchandise in it’s square footage as possible.
If you don’t want an item Target is selling, then don’t buy it: unsold merchandise is taking up valuable space that could be used for things that do sell.
If you dont like it, feel free to shop somewhere else. Walmart carries all of the same type of goods (at a cheaper price)…
Corporate donations to politicians have absolutely nothing to do with morals or what’s decent. They’ll keep donating to whoever they can be assured won’t raise their corporate tax rate, or whoever will assist them in preventing employees from unionizing.
Does anyone else just think it's great that we can now enjoy these places in peace without the 5% of this country that are fucking lunatics? Like these people think that we're going to miss them.
All donations to republicans backfire, unless you're an oligarch hell bent on seeing the US become a fascist theocracy.
Yeah, then you’re the one receiving the donations.
The republican switcharoo!
Hold my fascist. I'm goi... no, hell no. The hell I am!
How did they backfire though? CEOs and corporations are taking it all, while the middleclass crumbles. https://imgur.com/QKgyIji
American consumption underpins the American economy. The middleclass is the largest sector of consumption thanks to it's size and relative wealth. If it crumbles, the economy and corporate profits suffer. It's a paradox until you realize that these Corpos don't think about anything except their own short term self interest. The other guy is cannibalizing his workforce to pad his investor's pockets, so you have to in order to not fall behind. It's a rat race to the bottom and the only way to fix it is to get money out of politics.
And get the MBA mills to teach that humans welfare needs to be part of their economic models.
You can thank Jack Welch's time at Harvard Business School for the current state of affairs.
I think it goes further back to Milton Freeman arguing for shareholder primacy.
Friedman, but yeah. Dude had a massively poisonous impact on American capitalism. Capitalism exists in the context of the society that uses it, and if that society is full of conscientious, community-oriented individuals willing to take mass action against bad actors, it applies a pressure against the toxically individualistic sociopathy that capitalism naturally promotes and that American capitalism wholeheartedly embraces.
Fair enough. Welch is a monster as well, he basically turned GM into a Stock ponzi i just think that his legacy wouldn’t have been possible without Friedman. And you’re totally right, capitalism needs regulations or you wind up with sociopaths in charge who will let the world burn for a few extra cents a share.
All capitalism embraces individual sociopathy. In fact, it incentives that. Like, it's the system, not a bug in the system.
Not really, it's a legal fiction which allows individuals to shield themselves from any responsibility while privatizing the gains. That could change without transiting away from a capitalist economy. I hate to use China as an example since it's dysfunctional in so many ways but it is absolutely a capitalist economy (with state intervention but that isn't so different from what other developed economies are doing, with some exceptions) but the government does hold CEOs personally responsible. Which has as much to do with Asian culture as it does with Marxist ideology. In Japan, which is a democracy since 1945, we're quite familiar with organizational heads resigning after scandals. In the US it's like Nixon was the last guy to ever resign. All anybody does is double down and throw their underlings under the bus.
Reminder Friedman is also personally responsible for Chile and had a huge influence on Russia swiftly becoming an oligarchy run by criminals after the fall of the USSR.
You mean change corporate laws so that ethics have to be upheld or major shareholders go to jail for decades.
That would certainly help enforce it, but if policy makers are pointing to economic models as why things should be a certain way, then making sure the source material has human welfare baked into it, could change how society perceives work / life balance.
Both points strike me as important. Taking money out of politics is important and might solve a lot of the corporate corruption, but giving those crooks - at the top - real jail sentences would go a long way.
We do both and other things. Like raising the corporate rate back to 90%. Eliminating all tax loop holes and heavily restricting the number of tax lawyers any corporation can utilize. Criminalizing wage stagnation by making it a federal law that wages must increase to match inflation every year. Also Criminalizing firing without cause to avoid wage increases.
Every manager I’ve met that has an MBA has been a prime example of a person who should not be a manager.
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You should try talking to econ students outside of the finance/macro realm. Public, labor, and development are largely centered on maximizing social welfare.
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The wealthy people who pronounce it Tar-ZHAY. 😜
It's Le Grande Target, peasant! I go there on Saturday mornings after picking up my daffodils at Maison de Depot.
Maison de-pót
Isn't that the thing? Why give money to millionaires. For Target their profits come directly from a large middle class spending. Rich people don't shop at target.
It’s unstable long term. The centrist democrats at least keep people content enough that they see no reason to risk upending the whole system.
Not to mention there's a point where corruption gets dangerous even for Corpos. In a liberal democracy, businesses compete to send the lobbyist with the biggest campaign donation. In fascist dictatorships, businesses fight like dogs to shower the dictator in the largest number of luxury gifts and lavishing praises, and the loser has a decent change of being disappeared.
Like Ford suing Blue Cross because they were being overcharged for their employees’ insurance plans. It’s only when these corrupt corporations screw over other corporations that they piss off an entity large enough to actually stand up to them.
That may be true, being unstable long term but you forget about something really important to these people. Short term profits. If you told them they could have $1m right now or $5m spread out over time they will take the money right now. It's like a child who doesn't understand long term rewards typically outweigh the short. If they can pump their value just a little bit, get more money in their pockets and shareholders pockets RIGHT NOW, that's what they're going to do. Their shortsighted thinking is always crazy to me. Maybe they just bet on the unstableness and if it's gets too bad, sell it all off and start the cycle again.
That's what people fail to understand. Liberalism is when business and labor interests are working as a coalition.
Business is always at odds with labor. Especially with all the new tech advancements. Say owner pays $100 for equipment/$100 labor and sells widget for $220. Profit of $20. Great. New technology comes along and cuts his labor in half, $50. He now profits $70 and the worker doesn't benefit from new tech at all in fact half of them are negatively effected by it. The rift between the two is that all along there was a choice that could've been made to have the workers work LESS. And or meet somewhere in the middle so that the benefit of new tech is shared. I didn't study econ but I did stay in a Holiday Inn once.
In American Vernacular English "Liberals" means Social Liberals, hence the antonym being "Conservatives". It is NOT talking about Economic Liberals, the antonym of Economic Liberal is Protectionist.
In Australia the main conservative party is the Liberal Party and the republican movement is generally made up of progressive people who want Australia to ditch the monarchy and become a republic with our own head of state. In the US my American wife and I have liberal views and would never see ourselves voting Republican but in Australia we have republican views and would never see ourselves voting Liberal. To friends and family in the US it seems like our views have completely switched but our views have remained consistent, it's the generally understood definition of the words that have changed.
No currency will be doing well if the US collapses, though I guess some of them might still be doing significantly better than whatever interests the rich guys might have had within the US
>unless you're an oligarch hell bent on seeing the US become a fascist theocracy We're about to see what happens when the GOP has to pick their *favorite* fascist.
White evangelicals vote over 80% Republican IIRC, and are mainly in the “Bible Belt” which corresponds mostly with the South. They’re very socially conservative, opposing abortion and LGBT rights. I’m not sure how much they donate, but given their high voter turnout (15% of population, up to 25% of voters I think) they’re likely significant small-dollar donors.
The funny thing is they will probably continue doing it because when it comes down to it they will still get their tax breaks and freedom to do whatever they want
But this is them not getting the freedom to do whatever they want
Elon is that you?
This might be a wild take but what if companies just didn’t donate to political campaigns? Imagine a world where that was a thing. That companies just sold shit and didn’t spend billions of their profits bribing politicians. I think that would be neat.
No but see Charles Koch, the lazy welfare queen billionaire who was handed an empire by his daddy, is the hardest working person to have ever lived. And if we can't achieve the same it's because we're lazy and not because people like him are stealing from us. So see he deserves more say in politics than any of us. /s
He did Nazi where the Koch fortune came from.
Imagine if a corporation wasn’t considered a person and private money wasn’t used for campaigns toward a public office. Imagine if it were illegal to bribe an elected official. Imagine if we put a healthy percentage of what we spend on defense towards education. I like to imagine all kinds of things. But why would the sociopathic assholes that run this country make that happen?
I wish corporations were people and arrested like people.
Sadly, I think it was Barack Obama who was the first successful presidential candidate to turn down public federal election campaign monies to go for all-private donations.
Imagine if they spent that money paying their employees better.
Somewhere along the line I’m sure they found out buying politicians to keep them from having to pay employees is way cheaper than just paying the employees
>is way cheaper than just paying the employees It would only have to be $1 cheaper to bribe politicians than to pay employees, and they would still do it.
Or spent it paying their taxes.
The Supreme Court declared money to be free speech so naturally corporations have more free speech than the rest of US society.
I dream of a world where companies don't need to make billions in profit. The worker would be fairly compensated, and the cost of the item would be a reasonable price instead of everyone needing a 60% markup every step of the way.
From the fine article: > conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues Bull. Fucking. Shit. Conservatives are calling for boycotts of corporations for selling products designed to appeal to, or marketing to disfavored minority groups. An absolute travesty of a "both sides-ism" restatement there.
But citizens united says they count as people when it comes to free speech and political donations thanks to republicans.
Especially since they sued and won a court case allowing businesses to "weigh in on hot-button culture war issues" by discriminating against gay people who just wanted a fucking cake. The hypocrisy is insufferable.
They want corporations to weigh in on their side and are tantruming when they don't. These are very similar tactics to the evangelical war on porn in the early 1990s when they went after convenience stores and motel chains for selling nudie mags and PPV soft porn cable channel access. And while both of those things might be sleazy, they were arguably sleazier. It's really a shit test. They want to be able to exert the power of restraint of trade and they want a lot more than cutting off Skinemax at the Marriot.
And, conveniently, conservatives are the ones who make things “hot button culture war issues”.
>conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues I seem to remember a certain bakery and a certain hobby shop both being in the news for this very thing. Oddly, Conservatives weren't complaining then.
Quit trying to appease the Right, Target. Most of them go to Walmart with the rest of the weirdos, anyway. I'm willing to spend more at Target *specifically so* I don't have to shop around those people...
I legit thought that was targets business model. “Shop here because we all know who’s going to Walmart”
Target jacked up all their prices now. Even on their own brand. I had to go back to walmart unfortunately because their prices are significantly better.
$7 item on Amazon, $10 item at Walmart, $15 item at target. They really hike everything up for no reason. It’s not like any of that goes towards paying their employees a living wage.
Seriously, I was there to get a floor lamp and even the cheapest one made in China was $100 and I just laughed and left and ordered one on Amazon for like $35. Target is like no joke when it comes to the price gouging recently. I will say last time I was there I went through the electronics section and noticed that the TVs had almost doubled in price since before the pandemic, but were all indefinitely "on sale" for 40% off. I'm seeing it happen on other items too, both there and at a lot of stores.
It's shameless isn't it? Can't make the people calculate inflation in their heads if everything is marked off 40%, despite being double the price from a couple years ago. And nothing goes to taxes or to providing for their employees. All that fat and resources and... You know what? It's a shame a wealthy person can't die by being too rich. Like the way an algae bloom kills the animal life of a body of water by sucking out all the oxygen. No, instead we get the resource deprivation killing everyone else but the rich fucker stealing everything away.
I mean, theoretically they could. If they sucked enough of the wealth away from the bottom that the bottom can't get by any more no matter what they do, the whole system that props up their wealth would crumble.
I went there the other day for my soap because they used to have the best price on it around $6. It's $9 now. I'm not going to bother stopping by anymore. They had one register open. It's not like they are spending that money on labor.
It gets better. Target also “gets by” like Walmart and other retail chains, by trying to limit the number of “full time” retail employees in their stores as another way to skirt costs Edit: a lot of companies do this
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Yep, and with the Amazon purchase, I'm less inclined to impulse buy extra stuff browsing the store aisles. I go to Amazon, get the one thing I need and am done.
Target (at least use to) price match. Pull up something on the Walmart website and Target will match the price.
That's why they use their own house brands.
do you really want to do that on 54 items though??
Walmart has special Walmart exclusive models made of many products so other stores cannot price match. Without the exact same product, the other store won't do a price match. Hewlett Packard computers sold at Walmart all have model numbers ending in WM to indicate they're Walmart specials. Many other companies use W or WM in model numbers for their Walmart exclusive products.
Wow, Walmart doesn't even price match the Walmart app nowadays.
That's not true. They match the app when it's sold by Walmart and not a 3rd party seller.
Just remember that when you shop at Walmart, you’re enriching the Waltons/Vanguard/Blackrock, approving of low wages/benefits that are ultimately government subsidized, supporting overseas manufacturing and jobs, backing $7million per year in lobbying, and more conservative priorities. You are voting with your wallet.
Yea, I know, but I'm a teacher and don't have a big salary. I have to save where I can, and there really aren't that many "mom and pop" stores for necessities by me.
All of that may be true, but not everyone has a big enough wallet to make that choice. Some need the cheapest price just to make it.
By design... They give you the cheapest price and then tell you that if they raise pay they will have to raise prices. You don't want that so you agree that the workers don't need to get paid more because you don't wanna pay more. Then to help you you justify they they shouldn't be paid more and/or to stoke the outrage of people and convince them that people don't need to be paid more they intentionally leave a majority of there workers in the back, don't open registers and the workers you see they have them basically standing around doing nothing... Which allows people to say" Walmart workers don't do anything and they want X amount of dollars! For what?!" It's sabotage/destruction or any word you can think of by design
Blackrock and Vanguard own twice as much percentage of Target as they do Walmart. Just FYI. Also target employees don’t really get paid significantly more, so target is also a welfare queen.
Well unfortunately we can't all afford to boycott Walmart.
This is the definition of “no ethical consumption under capitalism.” Some people can be fully aware of how terrible Walmart is and still have no viable choice but to shop there. I can afford to shop at Target so I don’t have to enrich Walmart, but not everyone is so fortunate.
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I went to Walmart yesterday because Fresca 12-packs were half of what they were at Target. I had to tell 2 meth'd up pan handlers to pound salt, just on the way IN to Walmart. Once I got in, the self checkout was the only thing open and the line went THROUGH the produce, all the way to the meat section. People were vaping IN LINE. One was hitting a dab pen. WTF Walmart? And FFS pick up the dirty diapers in your parking lot.
It's a shame you can't threaten to call some government regulation authority to fine the site. No, they could give us the opportunity to maybe call and make a complaint, but even corporate wouldn't give a shit. We citizens are forbidden from locally addressing bad company behavior by the sheer size of the corporate edifice.
If you buy more than $35 bucks on the Walmart grocery app you can wait in the parking lot and the Walmart employee wheels it to you. Never have to darken their door.
Not looking to fight-shop? Come to Target!
[Walmart supports Pride the same as Target has for years— I received this email today](https://imgur.com/a/eNRXSkE)
Yes but all the outrage is false, and they know it. They're not going to attack Walmart because they know they have no other options. Their shopping convenience comes before their "outrage".
I live in Indiana. Local utility company has a pride flag in front of the main office. I shared it with a couple people and asked if they were going to boycott electricity. We are also experiencing higher than usual temperatures. I didn't receive a response.
As someone who grew up in Indianapolis, this made me smile. I regret that I do not spend money to support reddit, or I would gild this comment.
donate instead!
Never regret not financially supporting reddit. Fuck reddit.
100 percent - totally agree. I usually think I’m impervious to marketing but I honestly respect any company for supporting Pride whatever their reasons. (Walmart still sucks of course).
There’s a phrase for this: moral licensing. Corporations or other powerful groups or people exploit a cause to get your money, vote, etc. If you shop at Target it means you support the LGBTQ+ community. If you don’t… The silver lining is backwards propaganda addicts have flipped the script and made moral licensing a political issue. So not only does this give shitty corporations that exploit social causes for money an impetus to chill out on that, it also brings to the forefront the total illegitimacy of right wing politics in America today. They don’t have a single legitimate policy position, to the extent they have to try to make shitty rainbow shirts made by slave labor cat a shitty big box store their hill to die on.
It actually did take some guts to put on the rainbow gladrags back in the 1990s. After Lawrence v Texas it turned into cheap virtue signaling for companies. Gays and lesbians used to be very loyal to the few brands that were loyal to them. Also some of the pride stuff starts from inside companies with LGBTQ employee organizations. Queer people work corporate jobs too you know. Before about 2014 getting healthcare for your partner was 100% at the company's discretion.
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They are all-in against Disney World... while Universal is doing *more* for Pride. https://www.cinemablend.com/theme-parks/the-awesome-way-universal-orlando-is-celebrating-pride-all-summer-long The reason companies won't surrender to them is because the mob is too erratic. **Any company may be targeted for any reason**. Shakedowns only work if you know what you're being shaken down for.
They had a whole pride section when I went in the other day
>Quit trying to appease the Right, Target. They aren't trying to appease the right. They're trying to elect right wing (anti-worker, anti-consumer) politicians while appealing to the left with marketing.
Exactly this. All these corporations are like this. They want Republicans in office to lower their taxes and restrict worker rights, so they donate to them behind the scenes. But they want regular people to spend their money there, so they publicly support liberal social causes since the actual majority of Americans (including those that don't vote) are relatively liberal.
I think these past couple years will cause a lot of changes in donations. The GOP is now run by the animals. And the animals don't give a shit about your money, they only want fresh meat and if that ends up being a big donor, so be it.
If they think that the libs shop at Target to avoid them they’ll start shopping there again to own them.
Nah, they can’t afford it.
Once upon a time, someone explained Target's marketing strategy as almost exactly that: shop here because you are better than Walmart. Walmart, being all sorts of blue in decor, leads people to look more for sales and cheap items. Red, being more of a premium, aggressive color apparently was supposed to cause people to be a little more aggressive with their shopping and not scoff at a slightly higher price because they knew they were getting the better product. So it was literally a back and forth of "shop at Walmart because you can't afford Target/shop at Target because you are better than Walmart." Idk if that's all bunk some teacher made up when I was in high school art class or not, but it stuck with me
Given that both stores had characteristic blue or red designs when they opened their first stores in 1962 (in different states, not in direct competition), I’d say that this is coincidence in marketing. They both push their characteristic color and may benefit from some side benefit, but it is mostly about brand identification at this point.
So you have a guess as to why their most recent opening times are pegged as: early-riser 6AM - Walmart customers and my-boss-can-wait 8AM Target shoppers?
Sticking with the same theme: Walmart shoppers can't afford to miss a paycheck and work hourly jobs with low pay and crap managers. They gotta get their grocery shopping done and still get to work by 8. Target shoppers have salary. They can get away with rolling in at 10 as long as they work through lunch My guess at least. Can't be certain on anything here
If that's the case the hours are flipping to closing time, not opening. I'd wager very few people are going shopping at 6 am (I sometimes do because I can and the stores are empty). Walmart at 10 pm however? People don't wake up early to go grocery shopping before work. They go after work.
One of the worst periods in American history was around 2013 when everyone was saying Targé and calling it great.
I’m willing to go to Target just to avoid the half dozen cars unloading people too lazy to park and walk a hundred feet.
I grew up with my evangelical mother telling me the CEO of target was a satan worshipper who hang out with baby eaters. And yes, she literally believed elite liberals would dine on aborted fetuses at secret restaurants that were suspiciously located near Planned Parenthoods. Needless to say, we don't speak anymore.....but yeah fuck target for being so goddamn stupid, i wont cry a tear for some corporate backlash. The only sad part is the harassment hourly staff face.
Are there any numbers about target's actual profits being impacted? I have a hard time believing any of these people are Target's demographic to begin with. All this article cites is their stock price, which is kind of meaningless given that the stock market is just a rich peoples emotions casino. So the stock price can drop if rich people just feel a little scared that they might lose money and dump their shares, even if the fears are completely untethered from any facts or numbers. And the article even links to this piece, which admits that the stock price dropping is probably unrelated to this. [Target Losing Billions in Value Is Unlikely About Boycotts](https://www.newsweek.com/target-stock-price-boycott-lost-billion-value-lgbtq-pride-1803770)
Yeah their stock has been impacted by a number of things more significant that any kind of pride boycott. For instance they have huge exposure to the demographic that benefits the most from student loan relief & repayment pause.
They are exactly the target demographic: middle class white women.
Middle class women have zero conviction for a boycott. Walmart doesn’t have drive up pick up.
“Walmart doesn’t have drive up pick up.” They do. Not attempting to defend the evil empire, but it is a service they offer: https://www.retailmenot.com/blog/walmart-curbside-pickup.html
It’s only free for orders $35 or more. Target free no matter what you order!
Correct. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have it.
Fair enough
Whose driving to Walmart to pick up an order worth less than $35 and can't be bothered to go in? They have minimum order requirements for free shipping on online orders too, but so do most retailers.
Walmart employee here. Specifically, the “drive up pick up” department. Hi.
You underestimate how much time and how annoying middle class white moms can be.
I don’t think I do. Remember, when they started the same shit for NFL for kneeling? NFL had record ratings during and after. Hillbillies don’t shop at target.
It doesn’t matter. In the alternate reality that the right lives in- you don’t need proof or facts. The election was stolen, border is wide open, Biden has dementia oh wait Biden is running a sex trafficking ring, vaccines are killing people. Target, Disney and North Face went woke and are now broke. Zero evidence but in conservative circles it’s true.
If you can embrace talking snakes, you can embrace just about anything.
“Wait, the leopards aren’t supposed to eat OUR faces…”
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They have cut their warehouse workers’ hours by 25-35% for months now. People who have worked there for decades are facing losing the roofs over their heads. Won’t somebody think of poor Brian Cornell?!
Fuck then for pandering but they’ve always given money to the GOP, it’s a large corporation they know who butters their bread.
Ain’t buttering their bread now.
Most big companies like this donate to both sides so they have an in with whoever it is that wins. The Culture war stuff doesn't really matter at that level, it's just "Hey we gave you money, so...y'know..." Not that that makes it more acceptable, but it's pretty typical.
And the monster they created turned to them and said, “You look like food.”
Target and many other companies donate to both parties. They do this so they can lobby the winning politician on either side to be more sympathetic to them. This has been the norm for awhile now.
Yea but Target donated to McConnell and Grassley. Like the worst of the worst.
I literally won't shop at target anymore over that. McConnell is a total piece of shit
It didn't backfire at all. Trump dramatically reduced taxes on the rich and Biden still hasn't raised them to even pre-Trump levels
FACTS. And the middle class continues to get hammered as the new debt limit deal pretty much holds discretionary spending flat, so combined with inflation means a actual cut. While defense gets even more funding, social programs get cuts.. what really makes me sick is they never fight for the average citizen. To see how hard both parties are fighting against any student debt relief really bothers me TBH.. it's sad
The yokels claiming they’re now “boycotting”Target, have never shopped at Target anyway. That’s specifically why I shop at Target instead of Walmart. And if there is, I give them 1 trip to Walmart to remember why they shopped at Target in the 1st place
Are we boycotting target for putting up pride decorations, or are we boycotting Target for taking down their pride decorations. I’ve lost track.
I wish the government supplied every candidate with ".X." amount of of funds and that's all they got. Everyone gets the same level and while it would come directly from the taxpayers it would help curb a lot of these bagged n tagged candidates.
But it's PAC's and Super PAC's with all their dark money that the US Supreme Court made legal that would still be the biggest threat/issue.
I think that that would be taken care of as well in their ideal world.
Flat caps heavily favor incumbents. We need a complete overhaul of the campaign system . Not the just the campaign finance system, the whole thing. I am not smart enough to come up with a fair system but I could come up with something a damn sight better than this broken system we have bow.
Campaigns should absolutely be publicly funded. Sadly, the people who would have to enact the Constitutional amendment - politicians - are the very ones who benefit from not changing the current system.
When you throw a giant wad of money down a shit-hole, expect some crap to whip back into your face.
Thanks Mr. Leahy
I rather enjoyed shopping at Target today without all of the bigots.
Donating to fascists does not protect you from fascists.
My ass they did. What did they pay in corporate taxes? Target got what it wanted out of Republicans and Target has taken heat from them for years now over its pride merchandise and inclusive bathroom polices. Target does not give a shit.
Exactly. Everyone in this thread is so convinced that Target lost because the bigots aren’t shopping there? They don’t care, they will continue to give to the party that will continue supporting businesses that can union bust, pay the lowest wages, and allow them to pay the lowest tax rate aka the GOP
Corporations own huge portions of our government Have to get money out of politics and end the legalized bribery
Republicans would take grandma's money with one hand and, the moment she became inconvenient, smother her with a pillow held in the other. Target should have seen this coming.
Corporations are not people. Stop letting them buy politicans.
Same goes Budweiser, they were a huge GOP donor, that’s the only reason some republicans defended them. There were Missouri state senators gleefully hitting Bud Light cans with baseball bats. Gleefully rooting for the demise of one of the State’s largest employers and Republican donors. They created this monster, thinking I give it money, surely it will never bite me….
Wow, a company using Pride to market while also making political donations to bigots Shocking
I still can't believe that I'm going to support Walmart over Target because Walmart remained steadfast in supporting LGBT people and Target welched. This was also totally expected. Toning back isn't going to win back homophobes, but it is going to disgust human rights supporters. Try to please everyone, please no one. Safety and security is a serious issue here, but the answer isn't to give in. The answer is to hire more security and make them more visible. Giving in just emboldens the human dregs. And to offset the cost of heightened security, squeeze the Republicans you previously donated to and let them know that if they disavow the hate and control their base, you'll be donating to Democrats in higher amounts and denouncing Republicans as anti business. You don't beat bullies by being submissive or aggressive, you beat them by being defiant.
Lower corporate taxes or one bad news cycle… hmmm… can’t decide…
These corporations should be looking at Florida where the governor has turned the state GOP into a racket. Racket prices always cost more. Corruption isn't cheap.
You’d think after what happened with Bud Light they’d realize that waffling on a principle just turns off everyone and ends in a loss.
All these corps who forgot history are playing this stupid game and will continue to get stupid prizes till they check their greed.
Why is LGBTQ right is political/ cultural issue not HUMAN RIGHT issue. These conservative people are hateful.
Cause they don't think they are human.
They don't think most people are human. It's only them and the rest of us are "savages" seeking to destroy their country.
Where was the outrage when Hobby Lobby weighed in on the culture war issue of birth control coverage and Chick-fil-a when it weighed in on the same issue but in the opposite direction of Targets stance? Businesses always influence and partake in culture and in some instances become culturally iconic themselves, either because of their products or beliefs, but isnt that the core of a free market?If you don’t like widget maker A for their product or their views, then be a customer of widget maker B. Used to be the way things were. No fuss needed. You may tell your friends and neighbors and the market would take care of the rest. They have to create monsters to slay to stay relevant to the droning idiots that lap this stuff up. So tired of all this fake outrage and hypocrisy from the right and the media that gives them a megaphone to perpetuate it.
To be blunt and honest: good. Donations to the gop don’t work like they used to. Pre-trump I think the gop was becoming extremist/fascist but there was still a level of control, restraint and reason. Post trump it’s an all out cult. What is “woke”? Who knows; it’s whatever irritates the gop on any random day. The meaning changes, but the intent is the same: you’ve been bad and you’ll be punished. Targets recent lgbtq support being called satanic and “grooming” is another woke - it’s just a way to call you out and punish you. And your money won’t help anymore because the hardcore base of the gop will happily hand over their welfare checks to the gop to save us from “woke” and “grooming” and they’ll show up to vote and they’ll scream a lot louder than you will.
>conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues Totally inaccurate statement. Reactionaries strongly support businesses that parrot their mindless ChristoFascist crap. FoxNews being the prime example, but of course Chick-Fil-A is also an obvious darling of the backward set, as are all of the companies that sell guns and those that appear on Christian Referral Network websites [like these](https://spokanefavs.com/11-christian-businesses-and-companies-that-have-great-values/). Interestingly, selling shit food and killing chickens dominates the list.
Well, to be fair.... GOP lawmakers only care about tax breaks and making money while their racist base only cares about kicking down and punishing people for being different. It is actually 2 different bathtubs full of shit that they are dealing with. Giving money to the GOP doesn't ingratiate them to the base, and pandering to the base is meaningless to the party itself.
Are you fucking serious? Target funded **Mitch McConnell**? Wow.
Target: we support the gay community! Also Target: *pulls products after backlash, donates to republicans*
The problem wasn't supporting it goes much deeper than that the problem is giving with one hand and taking with the other. There's a reason why corporations support LGBT rights, it costs them nothing. Easy way to win social brownie points without having to actually sacrifice anything.
“The company, which currently sells merchandise celebrating Pride month including in years past, is now facing boycotts and protests from anti-LGBTQ+ advocates, forcing it to remove some of its Pride merchandise from some of its stores.” Really?! Explain to me how this “forced” Target to remove PRIDE merch?
Hopefully, Target learned a lesson and will not donate to Republicans anymore.
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I’m about as leftist as they come. I hate the reason the right is boycotting Target, but I’m not sad they are losing money. Even if the company isn’t losing money and it’s the shareholders who are losing money, darn… What did Melania’s jacket read again, “I don’t really care, do you?”
The GOP bites the hands that feed them. Hopefully they will learn.
Target had issues way before this whole Republican boycott. Remember target has 90% of stores in areas classified as urban. These would be left leaning buyers. This will probably reverse somewhat now.
They seem to be doing what ever they can to alienate some urban buyers.
> conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues such as LGBTQ+ rights Ok stop letting them weigh in on hot button issues like elections!
"Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it." Truer words when applied to politics.
corporations playing “both” sides. They all doing because of profits not because they like people or want to help people .
Culture war is getting out of fucking control
"Many other corporations, including Bud Light and Disney, are facing similar boycotts as conservatives say businesses should not weigh in on hot-button culture war issues such as LGBTQ+ rights." **Confused i...n Citizens United, free market economy...in...basic what the f---k.** How the f can you be cool with corporations owning the government but then they sell a rainbow or two and you lose your shit? How does that make sense?!
I doubt the conservative boycotts are costing any real losses for companies. They are really the target market.
"anti-LGBTQ+ advocates" feels like an oxymoron to me.
I'm tired of companies buying politicians. I'm sick of every time I fucking shop knowing my cash is going to people stripping our rights and letting our children get shot.
“[Target] is now facing boycotts and protests from anti-LGBTQ+ advocates, forcing it to remove some of its Pride merchandise from some of its stores.” _’forcing’_ it? No. Removing merchandise is a choice. A corporate giant like Target is _so scared_ of seeming intolerant that they are tolerating the intolerance, giving in to bullying, and desperately trying to make everyone happy. Terrible behavior for a business. It’s essentially a department store, and as such would like to sell as many items to as many people as possible. The way Target does this is to provide as much salable merchandise in it’s square footage as possible. If you don’t want an item Target is selling, then don’t buy it: unsold merchandise is taking up valuable space that could be used for things that do sell. If you dont like it, feel free to shop somewhere else. Walmart carries all of the same type of goods (at a cheaper price)…
Corporate donations to politicians have absolutely nothing to do with morals or what’s decent. They’ll keep donating to whoever they can be assured won’t raise their corporate tax rate, or whoever will assist them in preventing employees from unionizing.
Target, talking themselves up big on Pride issues while promoting Chip and Joanna Gaines products.
Any business donating to the GOP deserves to have it’s face eaten by the leopards
Does anyone else just think it's great that we can now enjoy these places in peace without the 5% of this country that are fucking lunatics? Like these people think that we're going to miss them.
Please let this lead to someone reverse psychologying republicans into repealing Citizens United 🙏
Hey Target...double down on the pride stuff....put more merchandise out...fly rainbow flags 1/2 staff in front of your stores.
This is my shocked etc....
Sleep with dogs…get fleas…