#darden

[tomorrowusa]

Corporations pay their CEOs extravagantly while trying to cheat on taxes.

It would be one thing if, alongside the exorbitant executive pay, the quality of American CEO-ing was going up. But these executives are making off with bigger bags of boodle despite their persistent incompetence: Media executives keep running their businesses into the ground, tech firms are laying people off because of vibes, the planes keep nearly crashing, and examples of insane eye-popping greed—like Rite-Aid’s decision to claw back severance paid out to laid-off workers on the same day they handed their CEO a $20 million bonus—keep on coming. So it may come as no surprise that there’s a robust connection between the overindulged CEOs and the firms that are most flagrantly dodging their fair share of taxes. For a report released Wednesday, the Institute for Policy Studies teamed up with Americans for Tax Fairness to spelunk into the balance sheets at some of America’s best-known tax scofflaws between 2018 and 2022. What they found was pretty consistent: The firms took home high profits and lavished their top executives with exorbitant pay, all while stiffing Uncle Sam. The excess is stunning. “For over half (35) of these corporations,” the study reports, “their payouts to top corporate brass over that entire span exceeded their net tax payments.” An additional 29 firms managed this feat for “at least two of the five years in the study period.” Eighteen firms paid a grand total of zero dollars during that five-year span, 17 of which were given tax refunds. All in all, the 64 companies in the report “posted cumulative pre-tax domestic profits of $657 billion” during the study period, but “paid an average effective federal tax rate of just 2.8 percent (the statutory rate is 21 percent) while paying their executives over $15 billion.” Which firms are the worst of the worst? You can probably guess the company that tops the list because it’s the one run by The New Republic’s 2023 Scoundrel of the Year. During the five years of the study, Tesla took home $4.4 billion in profits as CEO Elon Musk carted off $2.28 billion in stock options, which, since his 2018 payday, have ballooned to nearly $56 billion—a compensation plan so outlandish that the Delaware Court of Chancery canceled it. Tesla has, during that same period of time, paid an effective tax rate of zero percent through a combination of carrying forward losses from unprofitable years and good old-fashioned offshore tax dodging.

Elon Musk is either the world's richest or second richest person. But he still wants more. Give him credit for pathological greed.

In all fairness, Musk is not alone when it comes to enriching himself while screwing workers.

What sort of innovations have these CEOs wrought from this well-remunerated period? T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert presided over the Sprint merger that led to $23.6 million in stock buybacks and 5,000 layoffs. Netflix’s Reed Hastings poured $15 billion in profit into jacking up subscription rates. Nextera Energy has devoted $10 million in dark money in a “ghost candidate scheme” to thwart climate change candidates. Darden Restaurants has been fighting efforts to raise the minimum wage. Metlife has been diverting government money meant to fund low-cost housing into other, unrelated buckraking ventures. And some First Energy executives from the study period are embroiled in a corruption scandal that’s so massive that even Musk might find it to be beyond the pale.

These oligarchs are going to spend lavishly to elect Republicans who would give them even bigger tax breaks.

Fortunately, they can't literally buy votes. If we return to old school grassroots precinct work then we can thwart the MAGA Republican puppets of billionaire oligarchs.

One to one contact is a more important factor than TV or online ads in convincing people to vote your way. It takes more effort, but democracy was not built by slacktivism in the first place.

[orvilles-log]

THE ORVILLE C1.02 - The Word of Avis

[doctor-seamonster]

So, the right wing in America are now blaming Joe Biden and his economic policies for Red Lobster closing some stores recently.

Red Lobster, a company which has been in slow decline for almost 20 years. A decline so bad that it's parent company Darden divested from it in 2014.

No, it's not disastrously bad corporate mismanagement or changing food and restaurant trends or an ill-advised promotion where they give out free shrimp by the bucket load.

It's Joe Biden and Build Back Better.

Or maybe it's woke? Maybe the seafood restaurant went woke. The lobsters now have pronouns. And that's why it's going under.

Yeah, sure.

[danielkbrown]

"I believe that a work of literature can not only be a source of inspiration for an architectural project, but that a literary work can more directly in-form architecture: that is, a novel can be the veritable client for a building's design. This project will be derived from literature!"

Douglas Darden, handwritten note, undated, Oxygen House File, Darden Archive (quoted in Peter Schneider, "The House at the End of Time: Douglas Darden's Oxygen House", p13.

[forkpitchfood]

Food Week September 25 - October 1, 2023

Welcome to Food Week September 25. Questions, questions. Will financial markets bounce back after the government shutdown is averted? Is the US on the road to being a net food importer? Is Florida orange juice in trouble? Can bacteria save us from the plastics? Is Target’s ‘urban crime’ crutch for poor performance real? All this and more. Enjoy! MACRO Pointless government shutdown averted;…

[joegiallanella]

Giallanella: Darden's 2023 Contributor List

2011 - Wahoo Wa

[d6qirsm881]

Big Tits Teacher in Action with a student XEmpire Lily Labeau Loving that BBC Penetration in Stockings Free lalin girl sex pics Xxx free movietures latino gay lads and sex of sexy teens school Work Indian Twins Strip Fantasy Boobs Pussy Play Athen Cho Swe Mia Rider interracial cuckold Teen boy hunks gay first time Straight fellow heads gay for cash he Cute white straight guys sucking pussy gay Colin has never performed Smbj tsMia

[njfoodsupply]

Darden Still Winning with its “Back to Basics” Strategy

1/3/23 It was nearly eight years ago that Darden’s previous CEO, Gene Lee, implemented what came to be known as the “Back-to-Basics” business strategy. Ever since then, the country’s largest casual dining group has used it to not only beat their competition, but more importantly, make their customers and employees happy. The approach centers around a foundation of food, service, and atmosphere.…

[the-burga]

We spent the last few days thinking of who are the customers for The Burga and looking for information about what people value when eating a hamburger

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O’Brien, Dexter Darden and Aml Ameen had a mini "Maze Runner" reunion at the "American Fiction" premiere at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. (December 5, 2023)

📷©: AmlAmeen on Twitter / X

[petitesombres]

Shay Mitchell for instagram

Los Angeles, january 2023

[sylvies-casey]

CHICAGO FIRE 12.06 PORT IN THE STORM

[orvilles-log]

THE ORVILLE C1.02 - The Word of Avis

[forever70s]

Christine Darden, mathematician and NASA aeronautical engineer (1975)

[pierppasolini]

The Destroying Angel (1976) // dir. Peter de Rome

[forkpitchfood]

Food Week September 19 - 25

Food Week September 19 – 25

Welcome to Food Week September 19 and Happy Fall, y’all. Economic pain intensifies as bankers try to break inflation. Meat substitutes aren’t selling, consumers aren’t thinking about the environment any more and even Olive Garden can’t make money. But look on the bright side: you aren’t having lamprey pie for dinner. So be happy. MACRO Interest rate increases are everywhere. As a result,…