There has to be a few that don't suck. Right?
Here's five of mine for starters. And yes, coming up with five do-gooders was kinda tough
1) Berkshire
2) Google
3) Toyota
4) In-and-Out (and damn good burgers too)
5) Apple
And of course, the bottom five are REIC-dominated
1) Countrywide Toxic Mortgage
2) IndyMac
3) Fannie Mae
4) Washington Mutual
5) News Corporation
[UPDATE] - I kid you not but Fortune Magazine came out today with a "America's Most Admired Companies" report - just saw it flash on CNN. Four of their top five were Apple, Berkshire, Google and Toyota. How 'bout that. The other was GE. Completing their Top 10 were Starbucks, FedEx, P&G, J&J and (laugh out loud) Goldman Sachs. Read the report here. They should have just called HP. Now they need to do a "worst" list. And for the love of god, get Goldman off that Top 10 list!
March 04, 2008
What five companies do you trust and respect the most? And how about the least?
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Google, JNJ, Apple, Coke
Meijer - like a Super Walmart without the evil after taste...
Google and Apple have both helped my business a ton so they get my vote.
But then again all the anti-business trolls on this site will label them evil for helping business....
Walmart
Haliburton
Altria
ExxonMobil
Not kidding. I respect them because they know how to produce profits for shareholders consistently. That is all a company's goal should be. Not to plant trees, or better the world or solve world hunger.
I do love In N Out burgers.
most google
least microsoft
Human Rights Criticisms
In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008 Meijer scored a zero on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which the HRC calls "a measure of how U.S. companies and businesses are treating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors." Specifically, the HRC claims that Meijer does not offer "even minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees" and lists it as a consistently gay-unfriendly company. Meijer was one of only three companies out of over 400 graded to receive this extremely low score (http://www.hrc.org/documents/HRC_Corporate_Equality_Index_2008.pdf). Meijer's ranking stands in contrast to the high ratings of its bigger retail rivals, such as Federated Department Stores (100%), Sears/Kmart (100%), Target Corporation (80%), and Wal-Mart (40%).
Bush Inc.
Sometime ago, commentary on the dollar from the administration was restricted to the president and Paulsen only. Everyone else has been under a gag order. Look what's happened to the greenback since.
When will the media pick up the story and start grilling for answers?
Best: Costco
Worst: Halliburton and/or any other war profiteer that has been screwing over the US taxpayer.
and by the way, it is my understanding that Toyota has been trying to keep a cover on sludge problems with its engines.
4) In-and-Out (and damn good burgers too)
In-and-out FTW! I knew it, Keith loves California.
1. Google
2. Apple
3. Amazon
4. Newegg
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Mideast sovereign wealth funds may fail to save troubled U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. (CCitigroup, Inc
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C) unless more cash is pumped into the lender, the head of a $13 billion Dubai-owned investment firm said Tuesday.
Sameer Al Ansari, Chief Executive of Dubai International Capital told delegates at a private equity conference that it will take more than the combined efforts of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to save the bank.
"It's going to take more than that to rescue Citi," Ansari said. He added that more write downs are expected and that Gulf investors would be required to bolster Citi.
Most is Coke
Least is Fannie Mae
Most:
1. Costco
2. Trader Joe's
3. In and Out (my husband's office is 1 floor below their headquarters. Lots of free burgers for us.)
4. Amazon
5. Google
Least:
1. Disney Co.
2. Walmart
3. Century 21, etc.
4. Countrywide
5. Citibank
Although companies don't have to be "do gooders". . .they just don't have to be dishonest . . .I would actually put Chevron or Exxon (apart from the Valdez incident) on this list - - - why? They provide hundreds of thousands of employees with great jobs, health care for their families and they provide a service everyone needs . . .if you don't like paying a lot for gas, buy a Toyota Prius NOT a SUV. Or take the frickin bus. . .
From my stink list …
-- WR Grace (chemicals)
-- RJ Reynolds (tobacco)
-- Union Carbide (Bhopal)
-- Viacom (MTV, etc)
-- [Morton]Thiokol (Challenger)
-- Grünenthal (Thalidomide)
-- Arthur-Andersen (Enron, etc)
-- Microsoft (MSDOS;
monopoly goon tactics; Vista)
Altria gets the resiliency award for staying profitable w/ a business model that kills its customers.
how about Trader Joe's? privately owned by a couple billionaire Germans. you write them inquiring whether they steam their "raw" CA almonds or fumigate and they respond almost immediately... and w/ good news too: steam!
I've never done financial research on this company, but I know from owning many of their products that they make great stuff -- YAMAHA.
From what I gather, they are tops in state-of-the-art manafacturing processes and quality control. The musical instruments I own, plus some other gadgets, all work fantastic, have been durable and trouble free, and didn't cost very much.
Good: Costco, Fidelity, Google, Honda, Wachovia.
Bad: Bank of America, Cox Communications, E*trade, Starbucks, USPS.
The Berkshire fund should be in the worse five based on your own veiws.
Buffett is heavily leverage in insurance and banking. The fund has been trading at elavated leels due to all the Buffett heads that worship the ground Warren walks on. If BRK-A traded under another name and was evaluated based on it's holdings it would be selling for less than 1/2 todays price.
I do believe that is what you call a bubble...
Dogcrap
Google eh? The same google that caved in to the Chinese demands of censorship?
Yeah real fucking admirable.
GOOG is DOWN over 40% since Nov. 2007
Geesh, think of all those suckers who bought back in Nov. how they are feeling now.... OUCH!
Sure, google is a good company, but their stock sure does STINK.
In N Out are owned by extremely radical right-wing Christian pro-lifers. Check the Bible quotes on their packaging. There's even a rumor that they funded the defense of an abortion clinic bomber.
Top 5:
1. First Solar Inc.
2. Whole Foods
3. Genentech
4. Apple (production based in China bumps them down the list)
5. Redhat
Honor roll:
1) Southwest Airlines
2) Vanguard
3) Starbucks
4) JCPenney
5) Toyota
Hall of Shame:
1) American Express and its descendants (Ameriprise)
2) Delta Airlines
3) Ford
4) Comcast/Adelphia/other cable monopolies
5) Most realtors (of course)
most
1) Trader Joe's
2) Costco
3) Toyota
4) Wikimedia
5) In-n-Out
least
1) Haliburton,KBR,Blackwater,etc
2) Newz Corp
3) Countrywide
4) Bear Stearns
5) Walmart
Best:
Costco
Microsoft
ExxonMobil
Berkshire Hathaway
Fedility
Worst:
Google
Countrywide
New York Times
Merill Lynch
Citigroup
meijer sounds cool. why should they give special benefits based on what people do during their personal time?
'Specifically, the HRC claims that Meijer does not offer "even minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees" and lists it as a consistently gay-unfriendly company.'
Meijer number one for me
i'm shopping at Meijer - oh, yeah
Google : USA
KRUPS : Nazi Germany
Keith
YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING? RIGHT?
GOOGLE?
We're talking about a multi-billion dollar company that has allegedly defrauded merchant advertisers all over the world.
Basically, it all has to do with Google adwords. Google adwords, in case some HPers may not know, is a paid advertisement that a merchant pays into (in this case, they pay Google a sliding scaled fee EACH TIME someone clicks on their website) There's no set fee, but instead you get to bid on a search term, and the highest bidder gets the highest ranking ad spot when a person does a google search. After you're placed, you then pay a fee Every time someone clicks through to your website.
CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW FLAWED, HOW CORRUPT, AND HOW THIS SYSTEM SETS UP MERCHANTS AGAINST EACH OTHER?
Your competition simply can click away on Google adwords for several hours if they choose, effectively charging YOU every time. ANYONE can click through.
EVEN the BILLIONAIRE GOOD OLD BOYS from Google, since they have a vested interest in a revolving door of adwords advertisers, they can simply go around clicking away on advertisers adwords space and run you out of business in a matter of hours if not minutes. They even have software that you can program to click on a particular website over and over again. When you look at the size of online searches, you get the idea of the potential for a system of structural fraud that we have never witnessed before in history.
And they have been sued because of this countless times over and over again!
So, an HONEST company? Pleeaase. They make Mozillo look like a Boy Scout!
1) Berkshire
OK, not a bad choice.
2) Google
Will hand over your identity to the Chinese authority to be prosecuted for thought crimes, just so it can make a few bucks in China. Not a great choice.
3) Toyota
Will sell you a four-cylinder or V6 car that sludges up and kills the engine in less than 100,000 miles. Also pays its American factory workers less than GM, Ford, Chrysler and Nissan, contributing to continued downward wage pressure on the US middle class. Bad choice.
4) In-and-Out (and damn good burgers too)
Crazy right-wing Christian owner prints Bible verses all over the cups and donates huge sums of money to crazy political causes. No thanks.
5) Apple
Al Gore sits on the board but it's a green nightmare. Produces most of its computers and peripherals at dirt-cheap wages in China from generic Intel hardware and charges absurd markups. Also suffers from lots of defects in its expensive products that it refuses to fix. See http://www.appledefects.com.
Also suffered from a stock options issuing/accounting scandal that involved Steve Jobs himself and resulted in a hush-hush sort of died-down settlement of some sort. Its board of directors is also one of the least independent of any major publicly traded technology company. It might not be Countrywide, but I'm still not very confident
GOOGLE is the next evil empire.
Far left wing kooks run the company.
They must have an entire PR branch that puts out all the touchy feely left wing crap.
Same GOOGLE that celebrates (by decorating their GOOGLE lettering) on every foreign holiday but has never acknowledged Memorial Day. They love their "freedom" of the press but are too stupid to recognize where it comes from.
Same GOOGLE that cries green this and green that while the owners buy and spiff up a private DC-10 for their own personal travel. Quite the carbon footprint I'd say.
Same GOOGLE that banned several Internet news sites from its search archives because of their criticism of radical Islam.
Same GOOGLE that blocked an ad for a book critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton while continuing to accept anti-Bush themes
Same GOOGLE that rejected ads critical of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., while continuing to run attack ads against besieged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Same GOOGLE that allowed the communist Chinese government to have the search engine block "objectionable" search terms such as "democracy."
Same GOOGLE that came under fire for an editorial decision to giving preferential placement to large and predominately liberal media outlets such as CNN and the BBC over conservative news sources, even if they are more recent or pertinent.
Same GOOGLE for which 98 percent of all political donations by Google employees went to support Democrats, and as a matter of fact, Al Gore is now a senior adviser to Google.
GOOGLE is run by geniuses that know how to fool the average sheeple masses better than Bush or Cheney could ever dream.
They are the biggest bunch of ignorant hypocrits the world has ever seen.
Now Costco and Berkshire I like.
"Google eh? The same google that caved in to the Chinese demands of censorship?
Yeah real fucking admirable."
Hell has finally frozen over. I agree with Ed. Google is far from admirable.
This is probably why Goldman Sachs is on the top 10 list:
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/03/03/its-so-much-worse-than-you-think.aspx
"But how bad could it get? Well, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) -- noteworthy for being the one big investment bank that was smart enough to not get burned by securitized mortgages -- has predicted that if there's no recession, the housing market will probably fall by 15%. If there is a recession, Goldman thinks prices could fall by 30%."
Federal Reserve
Your top 5 are only "good" because they're doing well. If they falter they'll lie, cheat and steal like any other capitalist to stay afloat.
If they aren't already doing so.
least:
Pets.com
Enron
Worldcom
Toll bros.
Countrywide......
don't invest in any of these!
Remember you heard it here first!
.
Google censors web searches in China and Iran to block out disagreeable words like "freedom" and "democracy" that the local governments do not like. The founders only make $1 per year in salary but awarded themselves over $10B in stock options. They drive a Toyota Prius but bought themselves a private Boeing 767 that uses more fuel in one trip from SF to NYC than a dozen Hummers use in one year. Google also censored a website of a journalist who was exposing corruption and kickbacks in a UN foundation that Google was backing.
At least Exxon and WalMart are straightforward with the public. Google is like the fake environmentalists who drive around in huge Chevy Surburbans and live in giant mansions that suck up energy.
I know the truth sucks, but someone needs to wake you fools up
Google??? NO F*CKIN' WAY
They capture every scrap of your online data and keep it forever - and their
apps do even more to track you - its the ultimate big
brother database and can be used by govs and corps to track you FOREVER -
Do no evil???? Just take names and let someone else do the kickin' ass...
Google is E V I L!!
Toyota would not be on mine. Japanese are racist and sexist. Look at plant in San Antonio and the sexual harassment lawsuit that was settled there.
They really hate Americans like most Japanese companies. They just want us to buy their stuff but prevent us from selling there.
I've never been to In-N-Out or whatever it's called. I usually don't even eat burgers and try to stay away from beef. I'm not even Christian.
I'm going to give them a try next time I'm in Clownifornia since all these left-wing wacko Christian-haters are ranting against them. I haven't seen so much hatred of a religion since Hitler was ranting against the Jews. These dailykooks have some serious issues
Least: Goldman Sachs
Please don't fall for the Goog sheep mentality like the FB's fall for the real estate sheep mentality. Goog is more evil than MS. MS is a biz and doesn't pretend not to be. Goog on the other hand is all about deceit.
The Big Government line of Reagan is working. Before that, the villain was Big Business.
It is not wrong to wish Small is Big, but Reagan was a tool of Big Business.
Corporations are not bound by the same laws that you or I are bound to. They are not held accountable the same way that government is. I can see by the survey that many have fallen for this straw man.
Beware of Google.
Question for all the Google haters:
why are you here on Blogger posting? It is owned and run by Google.
Hypocrites.
Question for all the Google haters:
I guess stating the facts about Google is now considered hate? If I say the Patriots lost the Superbowl, does that mean I'm a Patriot hater?
why are you here on Blogger posting? It is owned and run by Google.
Do they make money off me being here? I use Google but make sure never to click on any of their paid ad links so they don't make a penny directly off me.
Worst?
6. Microsoft (moved up from #3)
5. Kellogg Brown & Root (war profiteers)
4. News (FOX "news")
3. Countrylied
2. WalMart
1. Communist Party of China
I'll second the Federal Reserve and add some additional for-profit corporations:
Federal Reserve
Bank of England
Bank of Japan
Bureau of International Settlements
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
Halliburton, Exxon, Countrywide, Chase, and Goldman Sachs are their by-products and implementing agents.
Focus on the cause, not the symptoms.
What do you google idiots think of the company blocking searches for controversial words like "democracy" and "freedom" in China while child porn groups like NAMBLA are promoted? Isn't their motto "do no evil"? Face it, you got suckered by their feel-good baloney. You believed in them driving the Prius, while ignoring the privated jetliner. You thought they were good guys for taking only $1 salary, while ignoring their $10 billion in stock options.
"Do they make money off me being here? I use Google but make sure never to click on any of their paid ad links so they don't make a penny directly off me."
So you have never heard of the word impression I take it. Google makes money of you even if you don't click on any ads. Just like ABC makes money off you when you watch ESPIN, even though you don't go out and buy the products advertised on ABC.
And yet here you idiots are giving out financial advice when you don't even understand how a basic concept like web advertising revenue.
Southwest is another good one for most respected. Lego and Nintendo as well.
Google makes money off clicks, you idiot. Tv and the internet ads do not work the same way. You can't click on a TV ad, so the advertiser pays for the spot. Most internet ads only make money off clicks, unless it's one of those annoying pop-up ads
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