Finance News Opinons Politics

Apparently, Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Know the Difference Between Revenue and Profit

This morning, Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) tweeted out his support for efforts to unionize the video game industry. He did so in a fashion truly appropriate for the man—one that made it clear that he doesn’t always grasp basic economics:


Hegseth on Iran Strikes: People ‘Hell-Bent on Prophetic Islamist Delusions Cannot Have Nuclear Weapons’
Trump says US sank 10 ships in Iran strike, ‘last, best chance’ to act
Oversight demands DOJ answers on foreign funding of agitator groups as Iran, anti-ICE protests continue
Second senator endorses Graham Platner in Maine Senate battle
Macron goes nuclear with increases to French warhead arsenal
How Gulf States are responding to Iran’s retaliatory strikes
VIDEO: Young Woman Brags She’ll “Kill the **** Out of My Baby” – This Is What Turning from God Has Done to Our Country
US surges forces to Middle East as Pentagon warns Iran fight ‘will take some time’
Retired general who once led Air Force Research Laboratory goes missing
Friendly Fire in Kuwait Downs Three American Fighter Jets, All 6 Crew Members Eject Safely
Trump: WH Identified Ayatollah’s Potential Successors, First Strike Was So Successful ‘They Are All Dead’
Trump and DeSantis lock horns in GOP split over AI
US warplanes shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, pilots bail out, CENTCOM says and more top headlines
Chasing the apocalypse: Radical Shiite clerics on American soil preach prophetic showdown with US
3 US warplanes shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, pilots bail out in friendly fire incident, CENTCOM says
See also  Richard Cox derails sex offender case, once again

In the tweet, Sanders confuses “revenue” with “profit.” This is not an insignificant mistake, but it’s one that is common in reporting about large American corporations. All too often, reporters talk about how much money a company takes in without offering any analysis of that company’s expenses. Amazon, for example, despite massive revenues has only recently begun making an actual profit. In the Time story that Sanders links to, writer Alana Semuels similarly fails to differentiate between revenue and profit when covering the efforts to organize.

It’s true that the game industry did bring in $42 billion in revenue last year from customers in the United States (and nearly $140 billion worldwide). But revenue is the money a company brings in before deducting its expenses, like, for example, workers’ wages. So, in reality, video game industry workers did get a cut of those billions. It’s only after such workers are paid (and other expenses are deducted) that we can talk about profit.

Sanders, of course, has a long history of failing to grasp the basics of market economics. He frequently sees marketplace choices as a threat, even as they open avenues and opportunities for our poorest citizens or provide all of us with ever improving mass entertainment.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter