Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Looks like sh-- is about to hit the fan at ford... until June

Company profits serve whatever purpose the owner wants them to serve. The owners in this case are the shareholders. The shareholders elect a board to represent in their stead. The board selects executives to manage the profits to manage for the shareholders' best interests. That's the way it's been since the 17th century. Now the Communists brought unions and workers' rights into the equation in the 19th century, and that's where they get to take their stand, but otherwise, they've got to fight tooth and nail for their piece of the pie, either alone when they get hired, or with a union representing them in their stead.

It's not just Ford, or even just the auto industry. American corporations as a whole are cannibalizing themselves, slashing costs, repurchasing shares of stock, in order to look good in the short term and return as much profit to shareholders as possible, with little to no regard with the effects it will have on the long term prosperity of the business. Corporations are hollowing themselves out just to be able to post the quarterly results that investors demand. Company profits were meant to grow the business by investing in R&D and attracting and retaining talent. Instead, in many cases, that money is going out the window in the form of repurchasing stock in order to boost the stock price in the short term, but putting the company's long term prosperity in peril. Stock buybacks weren't even LEGAL prior to 1982.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-buybacks-cannibalized/

Well, there's one shining example of where it worked. Apple. They slashed 1/3rd of their workforce at one point, radically simplified their product line to the essentials, and focused on a few core products. The rest of course is history.