[cogman10]

> Lol -2 billion in net income is exactly what I think it is saying. Are we saying Ford is committing accounting fraud or trickery?

No. That's a misrepresentation of what I'm saying. I'm not accusing ford of doing anything illicit with their accounting. I'm saying that net income is a number that's both easily and frequently gamed.

> What about administrative costs? What about debt? Do we ignore everything besides COGS?

Nope, I'm saying we should pay the "COGS" fairly because they are ultimately what makes the business run. The admin and shareholders can be paid after the cogs get paid.

Have you considered that money is fungible? The admin can take lower salaries, do less buybacks, and enter into less debt. And, in fact, I'd suggest (and you'd likely agree) that a good business does that anyways. If operational costs were 0, any business could still find a way to have negative income.

[refurb]

No, net income absolutely is not “easily gamed” for a publicly traded company.

You’re out of your element here.