For me, it’s a matter of how little they know the world around them and how things affect other things. Case and point, when voters thought that voting Trump in, that he would magically make egg prices go down. They’re going down now, from what I saw shopping earlier today, but they weren’t because of him.
Another example is how when shop lifters, when they shoplift, always think that they’re harming who they call ‘The Man’ aka corporate operating the stores, directly. That’s not entirely true and I know this having worked retail several times and currently.
Who you’re hurting, really, is the store itself and those that work in it. The store pulls its own profits in by how many people shop there and part of that profit, is distributing to those who work there. When you’re stealing from that store, you are actively harming that store’s profits and in turn, harming those that work there.
The CEOs and executives are still raking in millions and they aren’t above having to shut down stores over dipshit thieves which in turn, costs a lot of jobs in that store to absorb the profits to make up whatever costs.
No, profit by definition is what’s left after all the expenses, including wages. Your wages are completely independent of profit and only dependent on the market value of your laborforce. The store could be raking in huge amounts of profits, if the competition among the laborers is fierce, wages will be minimal. Or the other way around, profit margins could already be razor thin, but if the competiton among the laborers is minimal then wages have to be high if they want to attract laborers.
Please read “wage labor & capital” where it’s all spelled out if you want to learn more. (It’s a short read)
Shoplifting only hurts corporate since it eats into the profits which are independent of the wage.