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Metaphors of Life Journal: The Law of Profits, CEO Rhetoric and the Trickle-Down Theory

March 11th, 2023 by Michael Dyet

Hmmm, how did we get caught up in the viscous circle of the law of profits?

The news has been buzzing for the last few months about the record profits that big corporations have been raking in over the past year. At a time when households and small businesses are struggling to make ends meet, the trend line for corporate profit charts is angling steeply upwards off the top of the chart.

The mega corporations are being accused on many fronts of profiting off inflation with price or fee increases several percentage points higher, in some cases close to double, the rate of inflation. Their denials do not carry much weight.

I did a bit of Google research for my own edification. The statistics I found indicate the profits of Canadian corporations increased by 10% over 2022 which equates to $91 billion in additional profit. As a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), after tax profits have reached a 60 year high. Troubling figures no matter how you interpret them.

The CEOs of Canada’s big three grocery chains were summoned to appear before a Parliamentary Committee this week to be grilled by MPs on soaring profits. All three were in full-on deny, deny, deny mode. No, we are not profiting off of inflation. Our profit margins on grocery items are very low. Stop blaming us. We are as pure as the driven snow.

I envision an interview with a mega-corp CEO going something along these lines:

Interviewer: How do you justify making record profits when so many people are struggling to get by?

Mega Corp Exec: I don’t understand the question.

Interviewer: Each year for the last few years your profits have increased incrementally beyond the rate of inflation. How do you justify such high profits?

Mega Corp Exec: I’m confused. You seem to be implying that record profits are a bad thing.

Interviewer: I’m saying it’s unethical and immoral for your corporation to generate huge profits that in some cases are driving customers into poverty.

Mega Corp Exec: Immoral? When did morality become a business consideration?

Interviewer: I’m appalled that you would say such a thing!

Mega Corp Exec: Let’s back up a moment. You need to understand the bigger picture. If my corporation does not achieve record profits each year, I won’t get my record performance bonus each year. If I don’t get my record performance bonus, I won’t be able to buy a new luxury yacht every three years. If I don’t buy a luxury yacht every three years, the luxury yacht builder corporation will not achieve record profits and the owner of the luxury yacht company won’t be able to buy a new Hummer every three years. And so on and so on. I have to do my part to make the trickle-down process work.

Interviewer: The process you’re supporting is: The rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer. How do you sleep at night knowing this!

Mega Corp Exec: I don’t understand the question.

The law of profits is a viscous circle that perpetuates and protects itself. Round and round we go and where we stop – if it ever does stop – nobody knows. Executives learn the language of rhetoric as they climb the corporate ladder. The Exec who becomes most proficient in the language earns the corner office. Good luck trying to get a straight answer from him or her.

~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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