Free Republic

Depression is not caused by being unhappy. You have it 180 degrees off there. Depression is a clinical condition that stems from various chemical, hormonal, nutritional, and other not well understood triggers. Also just because a person has material things, money, does not mean they are fulfilled with meaning, spirit, and purpose.

You maybe missing the part that it’s a transaction between two people, it is a TIP, not a payment to a company, or for a service, it is a thank you, or you could even call it a Gift.

Each year I am allowed to gift money up to 18k to any person I choose and guess what, they do not pay taxes on the gift. Why then is it different for those who rely on tips.

Again, our tax system is so completely horrendous, it is appalling the more you know of it. It is weaponized when convenient, it is leveraged for compliance, it is literally impossible by design to not break in some way. Lots of Atlas Shrugged quotes come to my mind here.

If you work for a company, do you know that your employer only pays taxes on profit?
For example - Hypothetically you are an HVAC guy. You have a customer who purchased a new AC, you installed and delivered it. Your customer paid your company $20k. Your employer deducts the cost of the product, shipping, mileage, insurance, all employee costs, facility etc. They then may pay taxes on say 2k in profit. The customer already paid taxes on their money so now the government gets to re-tax on 2k of profit.
However for tips from a person to a person, there is very little deduction. So you collect $4k in cash tips, which is already likely been taxed on the customer side, and now the cash is re-taxed again, almost in it’s entirety. It’s horrible from an overall tax perspective because it is just one example of how broken our taxation system is.

And? This isn’t a hallmark movie, it’s not a Disney film, it’s life. And it’s rough, it can be a real SOB, but you soldier on, you hone your skills, you hustle, you work another job, you WORK to get the life you want.
Merely showing up should not cut it.
The little snowflakes want to work where there is the most competition, tough &$#@. Their choice. For me like many others we paid our dues.
Left the house at 18 to prove that I was a competent man who would work to provide for himself. 890/Month in the Military, ate Top Ramen and eggs off a hot plate in my hotel room while doing TDY. Saved every dime I could. Learned everything I could, focused on a career path that needed lots of people and skilled-up and focused.

When people bitch and moan about “happily”, or struggle, or “I had to help my little one get a place in New York”… I just shake my head.

No one deserves a job, no one deserves a living wage, no one deserves a roof over their head, no one deserves to have food and housing provided for them, and no one deserves their own place. All of that is a wish, a want, a desire, and people need to struggle to feel the pride that occurs when you reach your desires and goals. No other feeling like it.

Off soap box…

The thing is you are making a blanket statement where an absolute does not exist. One of the largest LLC companies, World Wide Technology has a Christian founder. He is also a black American who promotes prayer groups, and uplifting emails IF you opt in. He is a multi-Billionaire you likely have never heard of, more money than Oprah, Jordan you name it. But Christian and you won’t hear of him. A person is comprised of many parts, but all of those parts are active, they don’t get turned off when you go to work, if you are a Christian you help spread the word and live the ideals as best we can. We fight the world with the word, not by being muted, but by being men of faith willing to risk the consequences. I certainly won’t call you anything, just try to persuade you if Christian not to shy from debate with left coworkers who have no issues being in our face.
To the main thread, if you are the owner of the company I know several companies that would help.

I prefer “Vintage Male”.

Two is how it was designed. We both(men/women) play pivotal, and key roles.

We are in so much trouble right now as a country. Our morals, our narcissistic culture, our jealousy, our discontent, our desire to seek happiness in every moment, our fear of speaking goodness.

I wish I could flip a switch and go back in time.

God bless

Because the other aspect not really discussed for fear of polarizing the already small audience who will read this….
The father worked, provided, was respected, and led his family. The wife comforted, and helped run a successful home.

Today, the traditional father role is mocked and is the butt of many jokes, the father is typically the dunce on TV. We are told it doesn’t matter who leads, or who provides. We are told a woman can do everything, we cheer single-mothers as a hard job.

We know the traditional family works, but the left has systematically de-constructed it.

Since I know very little on this subject a curiosity... what would happen if several other super ships came down the canal? Would it be possible to displace enough water by their large displacement as to effectively lift the troubled ship?

Just curious.

Actually...

I’m not so sure. I hope I’m wrong here, but let me post a possibility...

Trump is a smart guy... his own supposed party GOPe basically resisted giving him Border money, or prioritizing money to assist in Border Security. He was put in a corner where there was not a majority of people in Congress or Senate who would do the right thing. There just wasn’t anything positive in the short-term that they could believe would help them.
So what could he do?

Well Guess what unifying thing exists on several old democrats and lots of the GOPe... If you guessed Government contracting and war making you’d get a cookie...

With Trump saying he’ll pull-out of Syria and Afghanistan he just fired a flare at the big contractors, and the deep pockets recircing money back into the machine. In my opinion he just hit them all where it hurts.

Don’t be surprised if he gets the funding and there is a walk back on leaving afterwards... I hope I’m wrong.

That’s not the half of it...

You always knew the night because the little boys had bells on their feet to identify them. It was Evil incarnate. They were raped by the goat$%###$ without anything we could say or do, otherwise the elders would pull support and ghost.

We should have gutted everyone of them, none of them are worth saving, the society is devoid of cultural values... I’d rather spare everyone the pain and focus on giving them the opportunity to meet their maker.

It was just sickening.

So... why does that specific tarriff exist?

Have you noticed that GM had close to 630,000 employees in the 70s? Now they have about 170,000. So efficIency has greatly improved, yet our cost are only going up...

Someone mentioned price collusion... I do not have to prove it, instead there is little pricing pressure that exists among the big 3, due to brand loyalty. They simply do not need to lower prices over time...

Now I sure am enjoying my Camaro!

I hope you are right. I do not want to take a tool away from Trump if it’s a lever. I trust him, but if it continues there is little doubt that everything we buy is goIng to increase in price.

I will be watching the pricing indexes closely over the next few months.

I too want to make sure we re-establish our manufacturing strength of which we are actually fairly strong. I just try to temper that thought with the understanding that not all manufacturing is ideal, or worth paying more for.

But thank you for the rationale thoughts.

I disagree with you. Companies do not operate on kindness. If Ford, Chevy, dodge knows that their competitors can not compete directly and fairly due to imposed tariffs do you think they have a reason to lower their prices? Sure they compete with each other... if you can call it that, yet most Americans buy their loyal brands.
The only thing tariffs do is distort markets and make it more difficult for smaller firms who aren’t selected for Tarriff relief to succeed.
I am all for a strong country and manufacturing base, but it can be done in a free-market way. Otherwise it’s just politically connected well heeled companies playing the victim cards because they are not innovating at the pace of their competitors.

I will say this though... why in the world should we buy T-shirts only made in the USA or a number of other products that provide no redeeming quality of manufacturing? To employ monkeys? Our workforce has an obligation to better itself. And many are not keeping up. But it’s our responsibility to keep them paid? By overpaying for a mediocre product? Isn’t that just another name for welfare?

Do you know who pays the Tariff? I can assure you in this case it is not the tooth fairy. It’s you and I.
A Tariff is just a tax on the consumer.
You want proof?
Have you purchased a pickup in the last few years? Thank your Tariff for the hlow low prices... Did you know there is a 25% Tariff on pickup trucks? Hmm, now I wonder if domestic trucks have all ready factored that pricing into their MSRP...
But hey we need more Tariffs...

Correct me if I am mistaken...

But the very headline is a lie is it not?
To be a “survivor” you actually had to survive? The last information I had read put him at home, where he then heard about it then came to school is this not accurate?

I won’t pretend to know the intelligence that Israel has, and why they conducted their operation.
Though don’t forget in October Syria fired SAM batteries at Israeli aircraft.
This isn’t unprovoked.
Things are building and for very good reason.

/s
I agree. Israel should give them space. That’s all they need. Let them just be in their safe space: Plan, Build, Arm and Ready...
/s
Perhaps you’d rather we just use stern words and diplomacy like we are with N. Korea... because that works...

My secret Christmas wish, is that the Repubs will put in a no tax increase for anyone... Everyone deserves a tax cut. I’m tired of the games of vilifying high income earners. Many of us who live in suburban Virginia will certainly feel that, where 2 income earner families can easily gross 300-350k and while we live well, we don’t deserve our taxes to increase.
I suppose while I’m wishing, I’d hope that they remove the penalty for choosing a stay-at-home parent and allow the brackets to be the same regardless of marital status.

I’m not as sure as you are. Though I’m going to give them at least the benefit here. If Trump does reform of Welfare, SNAP, and all the easy fluff, that’s big savings. But if this is nothing but a corporate give me, it will be very hard to quantify. Though look at the growth, if CBO used a projection based on the current growth we are seeing it would be a net positive on its own. I believe they are using a 2% we are likely to see double that in at least the first 2 years while corporations adjust bring back investment capital, and start building. I know I’m waiting for a special one-time dividend from Apple, and if it’s where I am projecting it, that could mean I’m willing to build a new home with it and take the hit now while taxes will be lower, that’s a lot of workers building.
Who knows, but I know it’s not as bad as one side is saying, and it’s not as good as the other... but I’d be happy right in the middle! :)