When socialism comes to America..

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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by BDKJMU »

kalm wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 5:55 pm
BDKJMU wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 4:35 pm
Yep. I hear it from my brother who is a school teacher. Kids now a days are lazy as F compared to when we were growing up. Last 20 years gotten fat, lazy, and spend most of the day looking at a screen. Coincides with smartphones & rise of social media.
So it’s on us adults.
Hey we agree on something. It’s the parents of said kids. Of course there are exceptions. Just not enough.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

BDKJMU wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 10:32 pm
kalm wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 5:55 pm

So it’s on us adults.
Hey we agree on something. It’s the parents of said kids. Of course there are exceptions. Just not enough.
:nod:

And I’ll even double down that this has been happening way before Trump.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by Caribbean Hen »

kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:54 am
BDKJMU wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 10:32 pm
Hey we agree on something. It’s the parents of said kids. Of course there are exceptions. Just not enough.
:nod:

And I’ll even double down that this has been happening way before Trump.
Hunter Hookers & Blow Biden is the perfect example of a father gone wrong
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:14 am
kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:54 am

:nod:

And I’ll even double down that this has been happening way before Trump.
Hunter Hookers & Blow Biden is the perfect example of a father gone wrong
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by Caribbean Hen »

kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:31 am
Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:14 am

Hunter Hookers & Blow Biden is the perfect example of a father gone wrong
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Not at all

Just balancing things out as the leftist media would never tell you the true story about Joe bozo and the Biden family

Hunter is the poster boy for everything going wrong with parenting
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:43 am
kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:31 am

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Not at all

Just balancing things out as the leftist media would never tell you the true story about Joe bozo and the Biden family

Hunter is the poster boy for everything going wrong with parenting
You are completely obsessed. :coffee:

Hunter is on par with Trump and Trump’s parents.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by Caribbean Hen »

kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:46 am
Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:43 am

Not at all

Just balancing things out as the leftist media would never tell you the true story about Joe bozo and the Biden family

Hunter is the poster boy for everything going wrong with parenting
You are completely obsessed. :coffee:

Hunter is on par with Trump and Trump’s parents.
Oh boy :lol:

Comedy is not your thing
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:51 am
kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:46 am

You are completely obsessed. :coffee:

Hunter is on par with Trump and Trump’s parents.
Oh boy :lol:

Comedy is not your thing
I love good comedy. Watch it almost nightly. :coffee:
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by UNI88 »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:14 am
kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:54 am

:nod:

And I’ll even double down that this has been happening way before Trump.
Donald, 26+ sexual assaults, stiffing subcontractors, putin having kompromat, paying hookers for golden showers & Epstein Island is the perfect example of father Fred gone wrong
:nod:
Being wrong about a topic is called post partisanism - kalm

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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by Caribbean Hen »

UNI88 wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:04 am
Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 5:14 am

Donald, 26+ sexual assaults, stiffing subcontractors, putin having kompromat, paying hookers for golden showers & Epstein Island is the perfect example of father Fred gone wrong
:nod:
Again, both of you and Klamdami are not getting it

One true story was published by the New York Post on Hunter Biden and 51 of your friends said it was Russian disinformation… they even posted the pictures

Meanwhile, those same 51 type people were making up stuff about Trump every day and none of it was true
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by UNI88 »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:52 am
UNI88 wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:04 am
:nod:
Again, both of you and Klamdami are not getting it

One true story was published by the New York Post on Hunter Biden and 51 of your friends said it was Russian disinformation… they even posted the pictures

Meanwhile, those same 51 type people were making up stuff about Trump every day and none of it was true
:dunce: I said the hunter laptop coverup was a screwup.'

You're the one who refuses to admit that trump is a despicable human being just like hunter. hunter can put some blame on his addictions, trump only has himself and his parents to blame.
Being wrong about a topic is called post partisanism - kalm

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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by Caribbean Hen »

UNI88 wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 10:34 am
Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:52 am

Again, both of you and Klamdami are not getting it

One true story was published by the New York Post on Hunter Biden and 51 of your friends said it was Russian disinformation… they even posted the pictures

Meanwhile, those same 51 type people were making up stuff about Trump every day and none of it was true
:dunce: I said the hunter laptop coverup was a screwup.'

You're the one who refuses to admit that trump is a despicable human being just like hunter. hunter can put some blame on his addictions, trump only has himself and his parents to blame.
He is serving his country. He works nonstop and he gets results. His administration has been outstanding.

His cabinet can barely keep up with the guy

You appear to be a victim of the fourth estate, who would never even dare to whisper anything good about Donald Trump, and there is a lot of good in him Bucky

Meanwhile, Joey Rotten and Little Hunters escapades were silenced in the media and you still changed JoBozos diaper on here every single day for four years :coffee:
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

Caribbean Hen wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 11:35 am
UNI88 wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 10:34 am

:dunce: I said the hunter laptop coverup was a screwup.'

You're the one who refuses to admit that trump is a despicable human being just like hunter. hunter can put some blame on his addictions, trump only has himself and his parents to blame.
He is serving his country. He works nonstop and he gets results. His administration has been outstanding.

His cabinet can barely keep up with the guy

You appear to be a victim of the fourth estate, who would never even dare to whisper anything good about Donald Trump, and there is a lot of good in him Bucky

Meanwhile, Joey Rotten and Little Hunters escapades were silenced in the media and you still changed JoBozos diaper on here every single day for four years :coffee:
Reserves himself. He turns a healthy profit trading on his elected position. As I said nauseum, I’m no fan of Biden’s other than he wasn’t as shitty as Trump.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by BDKJMU »

kalm wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 4:54 am
BDKJMU wrote: Tue Jan 27, 2026 10:32 pm
Hey we agree on something. It’s the parents of said kids. Of course there are exceptions. Just not enough.
:nod:

And I’ll even double down that this has been happening way before Trump.
Goes back to Bush I.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by BDKJMU »

:lol:

he’s blaming me.

Let’s be clear: I left him over $8 BILLION in reserves.

This is the same Mamdani who spent years attacking me for not spending enough during the migrant crisis.

The only reason those reserves exist is because I ignored him and his socialist comrades who demanded we blow billions more with no guardrails.

“Free” isn’t free. It’s just a bill someone else has to pay.
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

BDKJMU wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 10:04 pm :lol:

he’s blaming me.

Let’s be clear: I left him over $8 BILLION in reserves.

This is the same Mamdani who spent years attacking me for not spending enough during the migrant crisis.

The only reason those reserves exist is because I ignored him and his socialist comrades who demanded we blow billions more with no guardrails.

“Free” isn’t free. It’s just a bill someone else has to pay.
Then those freeloaders who fund elections should get off their ungrateful asses and pay for a better NYC through taxes.

:lol:
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

Cleets used to give high praise to Hanauer back in the day, and for good reason. Nick’s been right all along.


Open Letter to CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink

Larry,

I listened closely to your remarks at Davos, and you’re right about the core problem: capitalism is losing public trust because prosperity has left too many people behind. I warned us all about this when I wrote “The Pitchforks Are Coming for Us Plutocrats” back in 2014. You’re also correct that GDP and market caps are terrible proxies for whether an economy is actually working for working people.

But here’s the thing—this isn’t a mystery anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time.

For more than a decade now, I’ve been having conversations—often with people who run large institutions, manage serious capital, and employ thousands—about exactly what to do next.

On Pitchfork Economics and in conversations across the ecosystem, we’ve talked with people like Joseph Stiglitz, Heather Boushey, Mariana Mazzucato, Robert Reich, Todd Tucker, Elizabeth Anderson, Mark Blyth, and many others who have laid out, in plain language, what will actually fix this problem.

They all point to a similar set of solutions:
–Tax extreme wealth and income at levels that reflect their real social cost
– Rebuild antitrust enforcement and curb monopoly power
– Strengthen labor markets and worker bargaining power
– Invest aggressively in public goods that make broad-based prosperity possible

None of this is radical. In fact, it’s how the U.S. built the most prosperous middle class in history.

So when you say the answer is more “conversation,” I have to strongly disagree. We’re past the conversation phase. There are many ideas on the table, from every corner of the world. The evidence is overwhelming. And the political backlash you’re worried about is already here precisely because action hasn’t followed conversation.

On behalf of the handful of us zillionaires who have benefited from this system, we don’t need more panels or better messaging. We need the courage to support policies that will redistribute power, not just wealth—and to do so even when it’s uncomfortable or expensive for people like us.

You said that in order to solve inequality, the mountain—meaning Davos—needed to come down to earth. It's a nice image, but it doesn't reflect reality. What really needs to happen is the mountain needs to stop extracting from everyone else.

- Nick
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Re: When socialism comes to America..

Post by kalm »

And here’s another who gets it.
She’s worth $7.8 billion.
She has never cashed out a single share.
And she’s giving 99 percent of it away.

Her name is Judy Faulkner, and her story isn’t really about money.
It’s about restraint. Responsibility. And a kind of leadership that feels almost unimaginable in modern tech culture.

Years ago, Judy asked her children what they needed most from her.
They answered honestly: food, money, security.

She shook her head.

“No,” she said. “You need roots and wings.”

Roots to ground you.
Wings to lift you.

Everything else, she believed, was just details.

That philosophy shaped a life that quietly rewrote what power can look like.

A company born from loss

Judy Faulkner didn’t start with billions. She started in a basement in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 1979, with $70,000 borrowed from friends and family, two part-time employees, and a computer she programmed herself, she launched a company built on a radical idea:

Medical information should follow the patient.

At the time, healthcare records were fragmented—locked in filing cabinets, scattered across incompatible systems. Doctors treated patients without seeing full histories. Preventable mistakes were common.

One mistake made the mission personal.

Her husband, a pediatrician, had treated a young girl for years. When the family moved just 75 miles away, her records didn’t follow her. When she became critically ill, the new doctors lacked critical information. By the time it was pieced together, it was too late.

The child died.

The next day, Judy went back to the basement and doubled down.

This would not happen again—if she could help it.

Building Epic—without selling out

What grew out of that basement became Epic Systems, now one of the most influential healthcare technology companies in the world.

Epic manages records for 325+ million patients

Roughly half of all U.S. hospital beds rely on its systems

The company generates billions in annual revenue

And Judy Faulkner never sold.

No venture capital.
No IPO.
No quarterly earnings pressure.

She kept Epic private so patients would never come second to shareholders.

“Why be owned by people whose primary interest is return on equity?” she once asked.

While other tech founders chased exits, yachts, and headlines, Judy focused on systems meant to last decades, not quarters. At 82, she still goes to work every day at Epic’s 1,670-acre campus—famous for its whimsical, storybook-inspired buildings.

One executive described her as a mix of Bill Gates and Willy Wonka.

When the billions arrived

The most remarkable part of the story came after the wealth was already there.

In 2015, Judy signed the Giving Pledge. Then she went further.

She committed to give away 99 percent of her wealth—
during her lifetime.

In 2019, she and her husband launched the Roots and Wings Foundation, named after that conversation with her children.

Its focus is simple and radical:

Roots: food, shelter, healthcare, education

Wings: opportunity, dignity, the chance to rise

The scale is extraordinary:

2020: $15 million to over 100 organizations

2024: $67 million to more than 300 nonprofits

Goal: $100 million per year by 2027

She is selling her Epic shares back to the company—and giving every dollar away.

She has never taken personal profit from those shares. Everything beyond her salary is returning to the world.

Among hundreds of billionaires who promise to give someday, only a handful do it meaningfully while alive.

Judy Faulkner is one of them.

A different definition of success

In an era where wealth becomes spectacle, Judy chose stewardship.

She built a company that quietly improves care for hundreds of millions of people.
She protected it from forces that hollow out purpose.
And when the fortune came, she treated it not as a trophy—but as a responsibility.

Her legacy won’t be rockets launched or islands purchased.

It will be measured in:

lives saved because records were there when doctors needed them

students educated because access mattered

families stabilized because help arrived before collapse

She taught her children they needed roots and wings.

Now she’s spending her fortune making sure millions of others can have both.

Not because she has to.

But because she believes wealth, when held without ego, can become something rare:

A tool for care.
A foundation for dignity.
A quiet force that lifts others without asking to be applauded.

That isn’t just success.

That’s leadership—at its highest form.
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