POLITICS Inflation /General Finance Insanity

A boat’s a boat, but an NFT can be anything. It could even be a picture of a boat

 

That's what their tax return is for silly.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bdo-to...ip-plan-as-part-of-u-s-restructuring-ddfd267f

I know this means nothing to 99% of the folks here, but @CardinalVol get a load of this insanity. The ESOP scam and private equity come to public accounting. I’d think it was hysterical if it wasn’t so sad.

 

Are you saying ESOPs are a scam?

 

I’m not saying they are inherently scammy, but they are frequently scammy. I’m an audit guy not a tax guy so I’d need some input from Card to totally flesh out the tax implications and why this transaction was structured the way it was. In this scenario I wouldn’t say the ESOP is scammy necessarily but the way it’s being sold definitely is.

 

I worked for a company that was intended to be ESOP from inception, took 5 years to actually go ESOP. It was a great place to work. I had a buddy that worked at an established company that went ESOP. Turns out the owner couldn't find a buyer so he sold it to his employees to cash out. It didn't turn out well. ESOPs can be fantastic given leadership has the right mind about it, otherwise it's just another tool for owners to screw their employees with.

 

Bingo

 

The Great Game of Business lays it out pretty well. It's not something I would do but I can see how when done right it can really be effective.

 

I don’t disagree at all. In situations where I would label them scammy the operative question is…effective for who?

 

BDO doesn’t exactly have the best rep right now. I’m guessing they are grasping at straws to keep people. As for private equity……..this is a bad path to start down.

 

My time at the company had my retirement growing on average 30-40% a year. This included the Great Recession and the COVID years. But the whole company had the mindset of cost savings here resulted in a bigger retirement account. Towards the end when I left, the company had grown to over 1500 people. Most of the newer and younger employees didn't give a shit about the ESOP, didn't understand the value they could get out of it. So a lot of the lean and mean culture had turned to gimme, gimme, gimme, and the margins were shrinking. It's not an environment for everyone I guess, but my retirement account is way ahead of all the "planners".

 

I’ve got a client I’m working with to set up an esop. They don’t have any kids to pass it down to and don’t want to sell to a bigger company and also make sure some key employees are covered that don’t have business sense. ESOPs can be very good. Not knocking them at all.

 

I think its one of those things with great management and leadership it can be amazing. Without, it's just a meh to shit ownership model that, to the average employee, probably isn't too different from working for a publicly traded company. It's just a tool, neither good or bad in and of itself.

 

I will admit I’m allowing my own experience to color my opinion here, but not without good reason. I’ve never worked for an ESOP owned company but I’ve done consulting work for one and have seen firsthand about the worst it can be and it’s ugly.

 

Back in the late 60's, my mother and father both made a pact with each other that if smokes ever got to 50 cents a pack, they were going to quit. The day smokes hit 50 cents a pack, they both quit and never looked back.

Buying Diet Mt Dew in a 24 pack case just hit 50 cents a can. Congratulations, Pepsi Co/Coca-Cola/Walmart. In your efforts to make another 25 cents on a 24 pack of sodas, you have now lost $12.50.

Water, here I come, and I am sure my body will thank me for it.

And congratulations, Corporate America, you are slowly making more and more anti-capitalists out of people. Like me.

 

How do you feel about fuel? The stuff that delivers that product.

 

If you look up the thread, I have railed against them, too. But fuel has been fairly stable as of late (at least at my location, oscillating between 3.35 and 3.10 a gallon), so I cannot absolve the other companies over this.

 

And don't get me started on software companies. These jacklegs will try to take every last penny you have. We have a software package we use at work that was $2000 a year for maintenance that all of a sudden this year is $7000.

[uck fay] off with that.


[uck fay] right off.

 

And software is all service licenses, you can't even really buy it anymore.

 

gross. How long does it take you to go thru a case?