Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The Treatment of Amazon Warehouse Workers

AMAZON. I was broke,1y 6m ago, bro. I landed back in Los Angeles with $200 in my pocket and $9k in back child support. I borrowed a van to sleep in from an actor. The gas tank is always empty. Took me 3 weeks of bullshit interviews and background check and got a security job at Amazon in Culver City for $16/h, just when the virus hits Wuhan. Order vitamins from Amazon. Rent a mattress in a living room close to work, $600/week from another actor. Return the van. With the Amazon hourly job and LA rent you have to rent a jail cell, otherwise you won't make the bills. Just sleep, shower and occasionally cook a large quantity of meat in that shared kitchen. Had to be invisible for the landlord and disappear every morning at 5:30AM. Too many sub-renters in that apartment. Perfect. I was guarding Amazon empty buildings and asking for more work at other Amazon locations. I would get reprehended for working too many hours overtime because I was trying to make $1000/week in average instead of $600. Hourly Amazon workers would call in sick regularly, supervisors were too dumb to schedule the shifts properly. Slavery for the rich. Save every dollar. I was now making more money than the supervisors. Only eat items almost expired from the 50% off section at the grocery store. Grind more, waste more of my valuable time guarding nothing. What the fk am I doing here? I'm supposed to be writing and shooting movies. I want to quit every day. Don't. Smoke even more weed. I hate money and I have no option but somehow multiply them. How? From time to time Amazon "intellectual" $250k/year employees would visit so they can do Nothing too. Bro, the whole time I worked there, all Amazon workers were pretending to be working and the Amazon stock was keep going up. #Robinhood What the fk is the stock market? #wallstreetbets Risk all the money. cash.app Swing trading research. #YOLO Buy low sell high. All in, one stock at the time. #bitcoin #AMC @elonmusk #dogecoin..... Pull the money out. Get the fk out of there. Now I can make fiction movies again. Fk Amazon.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Lucid Motors NEW Master Plan | To BEAT Tesla

The SpongeBob Movie "...A celebration of friendship..." -Variety. Watch now to see what all the buzz is about. Money Isn’t Pouring Into U.S. Stocks. What That Means for the Market. BusinessBarrons.com•15 hours ago Money Isn’t Pouring Into U.S. Stocks. What That Means for the Market. Household equity holdings now account for 47% of total assets, according to Citi. That is the highest level since 1970. Returns were subpar for the next decade. Bitcoin bears are stalking crypto prices — here’s how low they could go BusinessMarketWatch•10 hours ago Bitcoin bears are stalking crypto prices — here’s how low they could go Bitcoin is setting up for a near-term downturn that could see it shed a good chunk of its recent gains, even if the longer-term outlook appears healthy for the world's No. 1 crypto. The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – April 21st, 2021 The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – April 21st, 2021 FX Empire ‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo Joins Board of Bitcoin Lender BlockFi ‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo Joins Board of Bitcoin Lender BlockFi Bloomberg

“urgent warning” that Peloton’s Tread+ treadmill is dangerous

Federal authorities have issued an “urgent warning” that Peloton’s Tread+ treadmill is dangerous and poses a grave risk to households “after multiple incidents of small children and a pet being injured beneath the machines.” Peloton’s response? The company called the warning from the Consumer Product Safety Commission “inaccurate and misleading,” and told customers “there is no reason to stop using the Tread+.” Peloton’s chief executive, John Foley, said in a separate statement that the company had “no intention” of recalling the $4,300 treadmill — a process that probably would cost the company millions of dollars. Clearly there’s a lot going on here, and I’m in no position to speak one way or the other about the safety (or lack thereof) of the Tread+. But all consumers should be deeply troubled that the federal agency overseeing product safety has precious little room to maneuver if a company challenges the agency’s findings and refuses to recall a questionable product. Yes, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has authority to seek mandatory recalls under certain conditions. The reality, however, is that this hardly ever happens. “Practically all of the recalls of products which the CPSC has power to regulate are voluntary,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. “The CPSC probably should have more power to require recalls so that it can better protect consumers,” he told me. The current regulatory standoff with Peloton makes that painfully clear. If a company won’t voluntarily recall a product — as is the case with Peloton — past experience tells us that federal officials will now step aside and leave it to consumers to make their own decisions. This is irresponsible and, quite simply, ridiculous. Shirley Ruge has been working on her family tree for decades. She's now concerned that all this genetic data could be exploited for profit. For David Lazarus column, Apr. 2021. (Dave Folks) BUSINESS Column: Why spend billions for Ancestry’s DNA data if you don’t plan to use it? April 13, 2021 “This situation highlights the inability of the CPSC to force a mandatory recall,” said William Wallace, manager of safety policy for Consumer Reports. Although the agency is empowered to seek mandatory recalls, he told me, this power is “functionally unusable” because it requires the CPSC to file a lawsuit and pursue a court order. “This is a process that can take months; it can take years,” Wallace said. “It’s an incredibly time-consuming process.” Joseph Page, a professor emeritus of law at Georgetown University, agreed that there were “many procedural hurdles to jump” before the CPSC could insist on a recall. “The commission has to go the voluntary route in order to get anything done,” he said. No one at the CPSC responded to my request for comment. Again, I’m not saying Peloton’s Tread+ represents a danger to users or their family members. I have no firsthand experience with this exercise machine. But it seems pointless to have a government watchdog entrusted with protecting the public from faulty products that’s effectively unable to enforce its own findings. Instead, the CPSC relies almost entirely on the honor system — persuading companies that it’s in their interest to voluntarily recall defective products. It also can levy fines for violations of reporting requirements, but this too is an area where the agency has precious little to show for itself. The CPSC has issued just one civil fine so far this year. No fines were issued last year. Two fines were levied in 2019 and one in 2018. As if things couldn’t possibly be worse, then we get to what’s known in product-safety circles as “6(b).” “As far as the the CPSC goes, all roads lead to 6(b),” Wallace said. Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act limits the CPSC’s ability to inform the public about potentially dangerous products. In effect, it prevents the agency from issuing a warning without the permission of the company involved. “This is a provision that ties the hands of the agency,” said Rachel Weintraub, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America. “It’s an anti-transparency provision.” The most galling recent example of 6(b)'s impact on product safety was the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play inclined sleeper for infants. The company sold nearly 5 million of the products for as much as $150 apiece. Unfortunately, the Rock ‘n Play was dangerous. Babies could turn over and get into a position where they could no longer breathe. More than 30 deaths were associated with the product. Because of 6(b), however, the CPSC was unable to warn the public without Fisher-Price’s approval, and the company was understandably reluctant to admit that its product played a role in killing dozens of babies. “The company knew infants were dying,” said Wallace at Consumer Reports. “The CPSC knew. The public didn’t know — all because of 6(b).” Fisher-Price finally agreed to a voluntary recall in April 2019, about a decade after the product’s release. Consumer advocates have been calling for years for Congress to repeal 6(b). Sources tell me a bill will be introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday that would accomplish this. Getting it passed, however, would be a heavy lift. Manufacturers and other business interests will fight aggressively to maintain 6(b)'s product-safety cloak of invisibility. All past efforts to scuttle the provision went down in flames. Aside from ditching 6(b), the most important reform of the CPSC is streamlining the agency’s authority to order mandatory recalls. Without this power, the CPSC, for all its good intentions, is largely toothless. And that’s why a company like Peloton can stand its ground, even though its treadmill has been blamed for the death of one child and possible harm to dozens more. A spokeswoman for the company told me Peloton was a “Members-first” business committed to “Member safety.” The CPSC says otherwise. And that’s pretty much the extent of its crackdown. In Mira Mesa, an employee takes a blood test to determine if he carries coronavirus antibodies. BUSINESS Column: An 800% markup for blood work? It’s time to standardize medical test prices April 16, 2021 BUSINESSTECHNOLOGYWELLNESS Newsletter Your guide to our new economic reality. Get our free business newsletter for insights and tips for getting by. Enter email address Enter email address SIGN ME UP You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. David Lazarus Twitter Instagram Email Facebook David Lazarus is an award-winning business columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He also appears daily on KTLA Channel 5. His work runs in newspapers across the country and has resulted in a variety of laws protecting consumers. MORE FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 19: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler (L) and Transportation Secretary Elain Chao (R) arrive for a policy announcement at EPA headquarters September 19, 2019 in Washington, DC. Wheeler and Chao announced that the Trump administration would prohibit California from setting its own fuel economy standards, with Wheeler saying “Federalism does not mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country”. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) BUSINESS Column: Trump aides locked EPA scientists out of auto emissions rulemaking, agency admits 1 hour ago 401k ira roth on pieces of paper. Retirement planning. BUSINESS A 401(k) versus an IRA: Which one wins this smackdown? 1 hour ago Built in 1928, the Spanish-style hacienda includes a massive custom stained-glass window called "Tree of Life." REAL ESTATE Fashion designer Sue Wong lists her latest restoration in Los Feliz April 21, 2021 REDONDO BEACH, CA.-- MAY 13, 2014--A 3bd, 3 full bath, 2,419 sqft home at 135 Paseo De las Delicias, in Redondo Beach, is on the market for $1,199,000, photographed May 13, 2014. (photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) BUSINESS ‘A feeding frenzy’: Southern California home prices up 15% April 21, 2021 CORONAVIRUS, VACCINES AND PANDEMIC I’m fully vaccinated against COVID-19. How long will the protection last? California’s coronavirus case rate now the lowest in the continental U.S. L.A. COVID-19 vaccine sites reopen after being closed ahead of Chauvin verdict Tracking reopenings Latest on vaccines and pandemic LATEST BUSINESS BUSINESS Stocks close lower on Wall Street, led by tech and banks April 20, 2021 REAL ESTATE Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel owner asks $21.5 million for historic San Marino estate April 20, 2021 TECHNOLOGY Facebook cracked down ahead of the Chauvin verdict. Why not always? April 20, 2021 BUSINESS Column: Sen. Joe Manchin pushes a sweeping pro-union labor law one step closer to reality April 20, 2021 TECHNOLOGY Apple launches redesigns iMac, tracking tags and more April 20, 2021 Los Angeles Times A California Times publication Subscribe for unlimited access Follow Us twitter instagram youtube facebook eNewspaper Coupons Find/Post Jobs Place an Ad Media Kit: Why the L. A. Times? Bestcovery Crossword Sudoku Obituaries Recipes Smart Speakers Wine Club Copyright © 2021, Los Angeles Times | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection | Do Not Sell My Personal Information A West Coast Perspective $1/8 weeks SUBSCRIBE

CEO Test Drive (NYC) | Lucid Air | Lucid Motors

Churchill Capital Corp. IV operates as a blank check company. It was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The company was founded by Michael Klein on April 30, 2020 and is headquartered in New York, NY. The listed name for CCIV is Churchill Capital Corp IV. Read Less CEO Michael Stuart Klein Employees — Headquarters New York, New York Founded — Market Cap 5.22B Price-Earnings Ratio — Dividend Yield — Average Volume 16.98M High Today $19.82 Low Today $17.62 Open Price $18.31 Volume 21.29M 52 Week High $64.86 52 Week Low $9.60 You May Also Like STND TBCPW GRNVW DAVA EQHA EQNR SPMB JGLD EVAX LVHI

Friday, April 16, 2021

Rocket Companies: Back To The Ground Rocket Companies (RKT) NYSE:RKT

Rocket Companies: Back To The Ground Apr. 16, 2021 6:00 AM ETRocket Companies, Inc. (RKT)4 Comments2 Likes Summary Rocket temporarily saw its share price take off a few weeks ago driven by a momentum spike. This has quickly self-corrected itself, providing a great trading opportunity. Continued earnings pressure is seen in the near term after unsustainable earnings power in recent quarters, as support could be found here. Looking for a helping hand in the market? Members of Value In Corporate Events get exclusive ideas and guidance to navigate any climate. Learn More » De Zitting van het Symbool van het huis over een Staafgrafiek - Beurs en Het Concept van het Onroerende goederen Photo by MicroStockHub/E+ via Getty Images Rocket Companies (RKT) has been an intriguing stock to watch after it went public last summer. My last take on the name dates back from the last days of 2020 in an article called: ''After the peak''. I concluded that the investment remained an utterly difficult proposition to value at its merits as even as annualised earnings power fell from $6 to roughly $4 per share, valuation were low. This was of course driven by the abnormal year of 2020 which was a record year for the industry as normalized earnings power realistically is much lower, although the truth be said is that Rocket is a secular growth play within the industry. The mere disentangling of structural growth and cyclical nature made it a very difficult investment case, yet with shares continued to be under pressure, I did end up buying a reasonable position at $20 in January. The Thesis In December, I called Rocket nearly a binary investment case since the company went public over the past summer. The company is a pioneer in the mortgage lending industry, pioneered by veteran Dan Gilbert, with a focus on the long haul, simplicity, trust and embracing of technological solutions. This has resulted in the company having grown from holding a mere 1% market share a decade ago to 10% as of recent, as the 20% average growth rate has been bolstered by the simple fact that the industry overall has grown quite a bit as well. Automation and simplification made it a great business model for Rocket, as well as for consumers who embrace the solutions as well. On top of this secular trend was the impact of Covid-19 as record low interest rates and a race from the city to the urban areas have resulted in boom times for the mortgage origination industry, certainly as many consumers have received big assistance given the nature and speed at which the pandemic spread. Rocket went public in at $18 in August, as this was a very large offering with 1.93 billion shares outstanding, giving the company at $35 billion equity valuation. As often the case with the balance sheet of a financial institution, it is very complicated to ''read'' as the company originates loans which it sells to end investors, making that it always holds some inventory in loans, in fact ''some'' represented $21 billion back at the time of the public offering. With no real equity value on the balance sheet, the valuation was driven by earnings power and this showed a remarkable rise over the past years. The company reported sales of around $4 billion in 2017 and 2018 and a $5.9 billion adjusted revenue number in 2019. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion, or about $0.70 per share, which worked down to a 25 times earnings multiple based on the offer price. Momentum has been crazy in 2020. First quarter sales rose to $2.1 billion on the back of $52 billion in origination volumes, with revenues of $5.3 billion in the second quarter approximating all the revenues in 2019! Adjusted profits of $2.8bilion worked down to a run rate of nearly $6 per share, for a mere 3 times multiple, as volumes and margins exploded, with longevity of those earnings being the key question. Third quarter origination volumes rose from $72 billion in the second quarter to $89 billion yet despite this increase in volumes, adjusted revenues fell a bit already to $4.7 billion, as adjusted earnings fell from $2.8 to $2.4 billion, close to $5 per share. This came as margins on the loans fell 70 basis points on a sequential basis to 4.5%, still a hefty margin. The company guided for fourth quarter volumes between $88 and $93 billion, with margins set to fall to roughly 4%, as earnings likely trend around a dollar per share for the quarter on that basis. Even if annualised earnings power had been cut to $4 per share the earnings yield of around 20% was very lucrative, although the company did not initiate a dividend yet, although it announced a billion share repurchase program. This looked compelling enough, although I am very well aware that the true normal rate of earnings power likely is much lower, as the business was doing well in 2019 yet earned just $0.70 per share. A turn in the economy or housing market (certainly given the higher interest rates in recent months) could result in big losses on the inventory of loans held on the balance sheet, on top of the reduced earnings power in such a scenario. All this and the real average earnings power over time is what drives the investment case as from this we have to disentangle the secular growth from the highly cyclical element of this industry as well. What A Quarter! The past quarter has been quite eventful for two reasons. Shares were trading dead flat in the first two months of the year but spiked higher in early March to levels in their forties as I noted that this was a momentum driven squeeze, induced by the fourth quarter results and the announcement of a $1.11 special dividend, causing me to eliminate my entire position at an average of $32, before reinitiating a position again in $22 later in March. Of course, many investors understand the battlefield between longs and short and with many shares held by insiders, the potential for a squeeze was already there, certainly given the specific conditions among certain stocks in the quarter. The fourth quarter numbers were quite solid if you ask me. Origination volumes topped the $100 billion mark, as revenues of $4.7 billion were flat on a sequential basis, yet this was better than expected. Adjusted earnings of $2.2 billion were a little softer, but the adjusted $1.14 per share earnings number was still stronger than I assumed. With the equity value having risen to $4 per share, the earnings power of the operations is still key in driving the valuation of the stock. It however is clear that continued pressure on earnings is seen with net origination volumes seen between $88 and $95 billion, as gain on sale margins are set to fall to 3.60-3.90%. So based on the fundamentals nothing much has changed over the past quarter, yet in the meantime I have made a 50% gain on my position, with shares now trading at the same levels as they did when I acquired the position. Still expecting a current $3-$4 per share earnings number in current conditions, while the balance sheet is improving and money is available to hand out to its shareholders, I continue to be upbeat, certainly as momentum and squeezes might (again) impact the stock. That said, I continue to hold discipline with the size of the position as I continue to expect quite some reversal to normal volumes and margins, which could severely limit the earnings power in the intermediate term, as well as the arrival of competitors. Comments (2.01K) | CEO is a really smart guy. At this valuation I can wait for further growth. Like bertvillamor Today, 7:55 AM Premium Comments (16) | I agree its time to sell some position before the rocket explode in the ground,