• Azal@pawb.social
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    22 hours ago

    Hahaha! This is the ONE time I agree with Trump.

    All defending the house that Sam built, it is the richest company in the world by revenue beating out Amzaon and state owned organizations like Saudi Aramco and Chinese controlled organizations. It regularly bullies its way into small towns, demanding tax cuts and the infrastructure to build their stores, run those stores at a loss until all competition is gone then raises prices to squeeze out the area. Then is happy to shut down the “bottom performing stores” leaving a wasteland behind for these towns that lost everything to the mega giant. They’re turning the home town of Bentonville into Austin, even driving out local business for their friends out of Austin.

    And the biggest thing is… Project 2025, all of this going on, written by the Heritage Foundation… The Walton Family Foundation is one of the big funders of the Heritage Foundation as well as many of the other Project 2025 advisory board partners. They made it easy to search even! https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/grants-database

    I’ve come from its home town, Walmart has always pushed a radical republican conservative agenda. Walmart is not some hapless victim, this is pure 100% leopards dining on some faces that voted for the leopards eating faces party.

    • jj4211@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Walmart is garbage, but the claim they can eat 30% tariffs because they made billions is by itself not a credible argument.

      They made 16 billion in profit, on the back of 650 billion in revenue. Percentage wise that’s 2.5%. The acquisition cost of the goods is a fraction of their operating costs, but if cost of acquiring the goods was even only 10% of their revenue, the tariffs are enough to push them red.

      If he is right then I would expect a nice analysis of the financials of Walmart showing this is feasible, rather than a hollow rant.

      Alternatively, if it were as he stated earlier temporary pain like medicine to fix the manufacturing imbalance, I would want a more coherent strategy. As it stands, businesses can’t plan around his tariff policy as it shifts day to day without warning. If they did bring home manufacturing at significant expense, they lose because Trump gives in and competition that didn’t bother has an advantage.

    • Furbag@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      The only thing I agree with on Trump here is that he’s correctly pointing out that WalMart made billions in profits last year. Yes, WalMart supported this monster in the first place thinking it would work out for them in the long run, so it’s a leopards eating faces scenario for sure, and I wouldn’t be sad if WalMart lost profits this year because of Trump’s stupidity. It’s just too bad that regular people are going to suffer because WalMart killed the small businesses that used to support towns that they wormed their way into.

      We aren’t even done adjusting to inflation pricing, and here we are not getting slapped with a Trump Tax on top of it. Madness.

      • Azal@pawb.social
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        10 hours ago

        The only thing I agree with on Trump here is that he’s correctly pointing out that WalMart made billions in profits last year.

        That’s pretty much exactly what I was saying. Really my only thing I appreciated is him going after Walmart, and okay, I’ll agree they should eat the profits on the tariffs, Musk may be the richest man, but the Waltons are the richest family and not by far. And yes, the tariffs are gonna suck for all of us and is one of the most mouth dribblingly stupid things that could ever be done. But here we are.

        For the people hurting. It sucks. I’m in the same pool too so I’m in the same neck deep madness that’s our current scenario. I’m sorry… I just can’t bring myself to care as I’ve lived in red states full of people voting against their will and despite years of attempting voting outreach, having friends tell me proudly they just didn’t vote even though they’re in more danger of the policies than I… I just kind of threw my hands up on empathy and said fuck it, I’m gonna put on a helmet, hunker down and try to ride out this fucking storm with those that I trust. So right now I’m taking what little pleasure I can through schadenfreude of watching one of the companies that put America right where it’s at currently get its hand bit by the dog it feeds.

      • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        I’m pressure that Trump doesn’t ACTUALLY care. He just wants to PERFORM like he cares so He can deny that it’s his fault. Walmart won’t lose profits and Trump gets to look like he’s “trying hard” to keep prices low.

        • Azal@pawb.social
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          10 hours ago

          I expect him to do absolutely nothing to Walmart, sure. I’m just REALLY REALLY hoping that he keeps ranting about them and gets his red hats angry at Walmart like he’s done to other corporations. I expect there won’t be any significant damage to its profits, but if it even tweaks the shareholders a little bit I’ll be over here cackling like a madman.

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
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        16 hours ago

        That’s the one thing I agree with him on as well, but honestly what did he expect? Trump—of all people—should understand greed. Billionaires aren’t going to wilfully take a pay cut unless you force them to.