A big part of the problem here is that Del Monte was the victim of several leveraged buyouts that had executives walking away with millions while the company was saddled with debt.

▲ BrenBarn 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Exactly. That is what is missing in this discussion. If you want to cut down the trees, fine, but those people who profited should pay for it.

	▲	robocat 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I always wonder where consumer surplus fits into arguments about profit. Although in this particular situation clearly the consumer surplus wasn't enough to keep consumers buying Del Monte products. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus If we measure consumer surplus as a percentage, how would it compare to business profits as a percentage? Edit: `Nobel laureate William Nordhaus studied the historical data of the U.S. economy and concluded that innovators and corporations capture only a tiny fraction of the total social value they create. Consumers capture ~98% of the value in the form of surplus. Producers capture ~2%.`

▲ private_nrg 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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