margin

A key reason: Corporate profit margins are much higher today than before the pandemic, making it easier for companies to pay tariffs without raising prices.

Mr Kealey described the firm's financial position as "extremely precarious", with a profit margin of less than 1%, and said jobs would be put at risk by a fine.

That slim margin prompted the White House to push Republicans this summer to redraw maps in GOP states in an effort to keep Democrats in the minority.

Although sentiments were evenly split in those several dozen conversations, all indications suggest that Proposition 50 is headed toward passage Tuesday, possibly by a wide margin.

Labor is a major cost, and cutting it is one way to bolster profit margins.