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I think the more compelling tale is that Hollywood execs are infected with Wall Street thinking. Maximum profit extraction, the kind of product is irrelevant, a

I think the more compelling tale is that Hollywood execs are infected with Wall Street thinking. Maximum profit extraction, the kind of product is irrelevant, as are the customers.

WalterBright 3y ago
Do you enjoy watching the hit TV shows and movies produced by the Soviet Union? Who is your favorite Soviet movie star?
- slowmovintarget 3y ago
  I don't know what on earth you're talking about. I'm talking about how billionaires like Bob Iger are essentially trying to squeeze "labor" to extract more profits, which is what Wall Street did to the newspapers, to radio, to television, the music industry... We're getting ever crappier products in nearly every consumer category, because short term profits for shareholders are prioritized over the long term viability of the firm. Wall Street likes to shred firms for "value" and move on. I want healthy capitalism, not scorched earth financialism.
  - WalterBright 3y ago
    > I don't know what on earth you're talking about. I'm talking about your statement: "Maximum profit extraction, the kind of product is irrelevant, as are the customers" The Soviet movies were not about profit at all. Why didn't they make better movies than Hollywood? > We're getting ever crappier products in nearly every consumer category, because short term profits for shareholders are prioritized over the long term viability of the firm. Which corporation has done this, and have you been shorting their stock? After all, if you know which companies are doing this, you can make a mint shorting their stock.
    - slowmovintarget 3y ago
      Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and any company that sells appliances made in China these days. I don't short stocks, requires way too much attention. > The Soviet movies were not about profit at all. Why didn't they make better movies than Hollywood? Because they were propaganda, which is a lot of what Hollywood has been producing. Since it's failing, the execs are moving to squeeze out writers and actors rather than make better product. You read an awful lot into me being against ruthlessness in business. I'm not in favor of communism; it's been dangerous and a colossal failure everywhere it's been implemented. I am saying that today's Hollywood execs don't understand story, don't understand viewers, and don't care to build that kind of understanding. They only think in terms of knobs they can turn to get more money pouring in: "X marketing dollars yields Y revenue... Hmm... why didn't that work. Looks like we need to lower wages." I'm kind of echoing what David Simon (creator of The Wire) is talking about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0c8rzOlUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0c8rzOlUA
      - WalterBright 3y ago
        > Because they were propaganda Quite a sweeping generalization. Besides, many Hollywood movies are good in spite of being rather excessive propaganda. > today's Hollywood execs don't understand story, don't understand viewers, and don't care to build that kind of understanding If someone is running a profitable business in X, I'd pause before concluding they are ignorant fools. It's a competitive business, the fools get squeezed out. It's the job of a CEO to generate maximum revenue while minimizing costs. It's also the mission of every worker to maximize compensation. It's how markets work. It is not inherently evil. Don't you want to get paid the most you can get? Don't you want to pay as little as you can when buying things? BTW, even the Beatles had a bunch of duds on their albums.
        slowmovintarget 3y ago
        That didn't used to be the only job of the CEO, though. CEO pay used to be roughly 4 times the pay of the average worker, not 30 to 40 times the pay. It also used to be the CEO's job to ensure the health of his company in the form of the health of his workforce including their ability to stay in the middle class. Publicly traded companies end up being driven by perverse short-term incentives.
- Apocryphon 3y ago
  Have you ever heard of Andrei Tarkovsky before
  - WalterBright 3y ago
    Nope.
    - Apocryphon 3y ago
      Sad!

I think the more compelling tale is that Hollywood execs are infected with Wall Street thinking. Maximum profit extraction, the kind of product is irrelevant, as are the customers.

WalterBright 3y ago

Do you enjoy watching the hit TV shows and movies produced by the Soviet Union? Who is your favorite Soviet movie star?

slowmovintarget 3y ago
I don't know what on earth you're talking about. I'm talking about how billionaires like Bob Iger are essentially trying to squeeze "labor" to extract more profits, which is what Wall Street did to the newspapers, to radio, to television, the music industry... We're getting ever crappier products in nearly every consumer category, because short term profits for shareholders are prioritized over the long term viability of the firm. Wall Street likes to shred firms for "value" and move on. I want healthy capitalism, not scorched earth financialism.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  > I don't know what on earth you're talking about. I'm talking about your statement: "Maximum profit extraction, the kind of product is irrelevant, as are the customers" The Soviet movies were not about profit at all. Why didn't they make better movies than Hollywood? > We're getting ever crappier products in nearly every consumer category, because short term profits for shareholders are prioritized over the long term viability of the firm. Which corporation has done this, and have you been shorting their stock? After all, if you know which companies are doing this, you can make a mint shorting their stock.
  - slowmovintarget 3y ago
    Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and any company that sells appliances made in China these days. I don't short stocks, requires way too much attention. > The Soviet movies were not about profit at all. Why didn't they make better movies than Hollywood? Because they were propaganda, which is a lot of what Hollywood has been producing. Since it's failing, the execs are moving to squeeze out writers and actors rather than make better product. You read an awful lot into me being against ruthlessness in business. I'm not in favor of communism; it's been dangerous and a colossal failure everywhere it's been implemented. I am saying that today's Hollywood execs don't understand story, don't understand viewers, and don't care to build that kind of understanding. They only think in terms of knobs they can turn to get more money pouring in: "X marketing dollars yields Y revenue... Hmm... why didn't that work. Looks like we need to lower wages." I'm kind of echoing what David Simon (creator of The Wire) is talking about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0c8rzOlUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0c8rzOlUA
    - WalterBright 3y ago
      > Because they were propaganda Quite a sweeping generalization. Besides, many Hollywood movies are good in spite of being rather excessive propaganda. > today's Hollywood execs don't understand story, don't understand viewers, and don't care to build that kind of understanding If someone is running a profitable business in X, I'd pause before concluding they are ignorant fools. It's a competitive business, the fools get squeezed out. It's the job of a CEO to generate maximum revenue while minimizing costs. It's also the mission of every worker to maximize compensation. It's how markets work. It is not inherently evil. Don't you want to get paid the most you can get? Don't you want to pay as little as you can when buying things? BTW, even the Beatles had a bunch of duds on their albums.
      - slowmovintarget 3y ago
        That didn't used to be the only job of the CEO, though. CEO pay used to be roughly 4 times the pay of the average worker, not 30 to 40 times the pay. It also used to be the CEO's job to ensure the health of his company in the form of the health of his workforce including their ability to stay in the middle class. Publicly traded companies end up being driven by perverse short-term incentives.
Apocryphon 3y ago
Have you ever heard of Andrei Tarkovsky before
- WalterBright 3y ago
  Nope.
  - Apocryphon 3y ago
    Sad!