Apples and Oranges — Now Changeable

Long time ago, when there were such things as printed magazines, I used to fancy myself a global player and read Forbes. The magazine that prided itself on being a Capitalist Tool.
Forbes offered a minion like me the view from the bridge, from the cockpit, from the chair at the head of the conference table. This wasn't minion talk here, this was grown up, responsible, business leader talk about .....
.....facilities, if I could put a word to it. Employees were factors in facilities operation. Profit and loss computations were known in exactitude. The competition was mapped in detail- where their facilities were, how many of them they had, what processes they were using, and most importantly, what the future trends were.

"Gentlemen- are we going to expend capital to move a facility, build a facility, modernize a facility, write off an obsolete or failing facility, buy facilities from the competition, and Smithers- do you have your report on what they doing in China?"
"What is our political position? Current environmental regulations- how stringent? Who is on our leadership team over in Durham? Who can we get on our board from Bendex? Who is in charge of development in St. Louis? Can we put a spin on this water treatment issue we're having in Akron?".
Man, it was pretty cool. This was the kind of stuff you NEVER heard as a minion. Minions were never given the big picture. Managers could forever claim that they were giving you the bigger picture but no, that kind of talk was only what they wanted you to hear because there were always other factors you weren't supposed to know about.

Bottom line is, employees (minions) are costs. Costs drain profits. Management's position is always to reduce costs (try to marginalize or outright eliminate employees) in order to gain profits. No matter what the company tells you, this is the equation that the people around the table at the top are looking at. Thus, the levels of obfuscation. Minions know just enough to do their jobs, managers know more, upper level managers know more and so on, it is the old military style chain of command. As a minion, you could work for a company all your life and never know what in the hell is going on. You'll never be privy to the basic math, the actual profit and loss equation, the 'apples and oranges'. That kind of precision is always kept hidden from you. Not that you wouldn't understand it, because anything can be patiently explained, it's because such callousness towards fellow humans is what enables the people at the top to deftly manipulate their Capitalist Tools.
Strong words, harsh opinion? No, just matter of fact observation of current, everyday accepted reality. This is how we, as a nation, and as much of the world, roll. Good or bad, it's what is. I certainly would like to see the day when such a system is no longer necessary. But until then, employees, stay agile, keep current, and try and keep yourself necessary to operations. I wish you the best of luck! You're gonna need it.