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:
The video game industry made $43 billion in revenue last year. The workers responsible for that profit deserve to collectively bargain as part of a union. I'm glad to see unions like @IATSE and the broader @GameWorkers movement organizing such workers. https://t.co/Ia5gMG2v0w
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 18, 2019
Neighborhood backlash collides with America’s tech arms race — but is this the plan to fix it?
One southern state’s rise is making it America’s new ‘economic center of gravity’
WATCH: Dem senators dodge backing Kamala Harris in potential 2028 run: ‘Very messy’
Dem Policy Would Make Ralphie Get a Background Check for His Red Ryder BB Gun
Dems hand GOP fresh midterm weapon by opposing widely used voter ID
JPMorgan Sued After Employee Was Allegedly Asked Keep His ‘Gay Job’ Off the Clock
Illegal Families Given $100k: Report Reveals ‘Shadow Welfare System’ This State Uses to Fund Illegals
‘Family Man’ Stopped A Car Thief in Self-Defense: Now, He’s Charged With 7 Felonies
Fugitive suspect in Georgia mom’s silicone injection murder captured 17 years later after DMV slipup: cops
Trump says polls ‘don’t account for one thing,’ as he pledges to defeat communists ‘once and for all’
South Carolina birthday girls’ trip allegedly turns deadly at the hands of bartender, friend says
Iran could move shadow war in a dangerous direction, experts warn on back of two possible terror attacks
Abdul el Sayed has stabilized his Michigan Senate campaign. Can the Democrat hold the gains?
Ukraine Annihilates 3,000 Enemy Troops by Dropping Killer Robots Behind Russian Lines, Makes World History
GOP AGs Target Wall Street Big 3 for Punishing Companies with Bad Credit for Refusing to Comply with Woke ESG
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.
