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@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidthey defunded NASA into the ground as soon as it was obvious the soviets can't sustain a space program
Your global influence and reputation are on the rocks. Didn't you know?
Don't you guys also have unsustainable debt and a massive gun control problem?
Not meaning to be rude, but on my list of greatest countries, America doesn't even make the top 10.
Kudos though on the whole NASA thing...
Trump's amerika is completely different than Kennedy's
Jonas Salk gave the world the polio vaccine for free. Today's amerika repatents insulin medication each year and then profits from the death of americans.
@AverageJoe1 saidWhere do you get all these fairy tales from.
A note that you all continue to be pent up about rich people, that they can get so rich in America, the world‘s greatest country
No one has a problem with rich being rich, but make sure the average Joe can afford healthcare, education and a liveable wage. If that means your super wealthy are worth 40 billion on average instead of 60 billion, then so be it.
@AverageJoe1 saidIf only the rich could recognise that for them to sustain their wealth, having a well paid workforce that shares in the wealth of the company is the best insurance of success. The truth is that companies need employees to produce the widgets that will make the money. Pretending that the idea of the product is more important than the workforce required to make it is insane.
Question: just what would you have a rich person due ? Cash in? Stop producing and providing? To produce his widgets, he creates jobs. Where you gonna be employed? How would YOU get rich.
I don’t get it. Make a pie.
Might as well give companies tax incentives to offshore production so that American workers have less work to do. Oops, thats already what happens. I think its time you lot went back to the drawing board.
@kmax87 saidYour argument gets one thing right—companies absolutely need workers, and good businesses already know that paying people well, treating them fairly, and keeping them productive is smart economics, not charity. But it’s not an either/or situation where labor is everything and ideas or capital don’t matter. Without the original idea, the investment, and the risk someone takes to start the company, there are no jobs to begin with.
If only the rich could recognise that for them to sustain their wealth, having a well paid workforce that shares in the wealth of the company is the best insurance of success. The truth is that companies need employees to produce the widgets that will make the money. Pretending that the idea of the product is more important than the workforce required to make it is insane.
...[text shortened]... rk to do. Oops, thats already what happens. I think its time you lot went back to the drawing board.
And be reasonable. Why would I go out and take all the risk and build some huge company and then when 100 workers come in, we split everything up evenly. That is essentially what you are saying. There’s no way a man would do that it does not make sense.
In the end, wealth isn’t sustained by “sharing it around” in a forced way—it’s sustained by creating more of it. More of it! The goal should be expanding opportunity and productivity so both workers and businesses grow, not redistributing a fixed pie.
Everybody make a pie.
@AverageJoe1 saidIt's all about balance and you would have to agree that its biased way too much in favour of the owners.
Your argument gets one thing right—companies absolutely need workers, and good businesses already know that paying people well, treating them fairly, and keeping them productive is smart economics, not charity. But it’s not an either/or situation where labor is everything and ideas or capital don’t matter. Without the original idea, the investment, and the risk someone ta ...[text shortened]... ivity so both workers and businesses grow, not redistributing a fixed pie.
Everybody make a pie.
@kmax87 saidKmax….Kmax…..
Please.
It’s not just about balance—it’s about risk and value. Owners take the financial risk to create the business; workers trade labor for guaranteed pay. Both matter, and the system already reflects that. If you tilt it too far in either direction, you don’t get fairness—you get fewer jobs and less opportunity.
If my granddaughter makes a great effort to devise and create a little shop in Denver, making original cowboy hats, it is her risk, her investment. She hires five people to make hats and two people to sell the hats. At the end of the day, she pays all of them, and she keeps the profits as the owner of the business. I would like for you to apply your logic to this scenario, speaking about my granddaughter and the Hat company, please. thank you.
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@AverageJoe1 saidThere's always been risk and reward and why intellectual property owners will always make more if their business idea is successful. Not arguing against that. It's just the disproportionate factor of owner to worker reward ratio that is totally out of wack these days.
Kmax….Kmax…..
Please.
It’s not just about balance—it’s about risk and value. Owners take the financial risk to create the business; workers trade labor for guaranteed pay. Both matter, and the system already reflects that. If you tilt it too far in either direction, you don’t get fairness—you get fewer jobs and less opportunity.
@kmax87 saidBut what do you mean, out of whack. If the employees at hat shop, …stay with me here,… if they each make $200/day, and the owner makes ten times that, is that out of whack?
There's always been risk and reward and why intellectual property owners will always make more if their business idea is successful. Not arguing against that. It's just the disproportionate factor of owner to worker reward ratio that is totally out of wack these days.
If the owners of a widget company make $300k/year each , and employees make $70k (avg USA income) is that out of whack?
@AverageJoe1 saidSounds good, but let's say the widgets really take off allowing the owner to diversify so that when the widget craze is over he now has 4 solid products on his production line, in part due to the input and ingenuity of his production team. So now he coins in around $4 million a year. Should he keep his workforce on $70k a year?
If the owners of a widget company make $300k/year each , and employees make $70k (avg USA income) is that out of whack?
@kmax87 saidI am familiar with such developments, investments which pay off the investors, those who invested, at risk.
Sounds good, but let's say the widgets really take off allowing the owner to diversify so that when the widget craze is over he now has 4 solid products on his production line, in part due to the input and ingenuity of his production team. So now he coins in around $4 million a year. Should he keep his workforce on $70k a year?
So the answer to your premise is that they would give huge bonuses to employees. Or in lieu of bonuses, if the company has shares, the employee can take the option of receiving shares of the company. Employees at Home Depot and similar companies became millionaires at their hundred thousand dollar year jobs because they took a lot of shares. Much smarter than those who took bonuses and blew the money.
So, successful companies give big bonuses, and in some cases corporate shares. I think that would answer your question. I think those of the Mamdani mindset would say, No, I want ownership of the company to be equal parts of everybody that comes in the door. Don’t you see that that cannot work, since the employees have nothing to do with risk and building the company… working there is not the same as building it.
Thankyou for a nice post. No angst or cheekiness.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidYes, I've seen so much trauma and basic life insecurity because of just a few decisions of rich, all-up-in-themselves people in this country in positions of authority, not just nationally, but locally, that my faith in America has been degraded substantially.
Don't get me wrong, America is an amazing country in many ways. (The recent adventure in space a good example).
But I don't equate being the most powerful as being the greatest, or the richest as being the greatest. etc
The greatest country is one that is an example to the world, with a safe, stable and well rooted moral core.
America IS an amazing country in so many ways, with amazing people from coast-to-coast, and yet morally, this is becoming worse than a third-world country, with people just pissing on others just to get ahead.
This is amazing to me, the difference I've seen America sliding into. I was proud of this country under Obama, with everything just falling into place, not just for me, but many, many others. I'm not proud of this country any longer, and watching this country just falling apart day by day. It's horrible how horrible people are getting, and how hard it is for people to just get by. It's getting harder and harder to just 'keep the faith' and try to inspire others when the outlook is so damned bleak.
@Suzianne saidNow sue, no propaganda, please. We have enough of that without your yet again stirring up an untruth. Fake News, Donald and I call it. See this AI:
Yes, I've seen so much trauma and basic life insecurity because of just a few decisions of rich, all-up-in-themselves people in this country in positions of authority, not just nationally, but locally, that my faith in America has been degraded substantially.
America IS an amazing country in so many ways, with amazing people from coast-to-coast, and yet morally, this is b ...[text shortened]... r and harder to just 'keep the faith' and try to inspire others when the outlook is so damned bleak.
AI Overview
For the 2026 filing season (tax year 2025), the average federal income tax refund is approximately $3,521 to $3,571 as of late March/early April. This represents an roughly 11% increase over the same period in 2025, with roughly 73% of returns resulting in a refund.
IRS (.gov)
IRS (.gov)
+4
Average Refund Key Data (2026 Filing Season)
Average Amount: $3,521 - $3,571
Change from 2025: +10% to 11% increase
This is one of the gifts from Trump. Please get your perspective squared away.
@AverageJoe1 saidBig deal. 50 bucks. i can buy my yacht now.
Now sue, no propaganda, please. We have enough of that without your yet again stirring up an untruth. Fake News, Donald and I call it. See this AI:
AI Overview
For the 2026 filing season (tax year 2025), the average federal income tax refund is approximately $3,521 to $3,571 as of late March/early April. This represents an roughly 11% increase over the same peri ...[text shortened]... % to 11% increase
This is one of the gifts from Trump. Please get your perspective squared away.