RickJWagner

A nice article.

Please help make life a little better for people like Gabe. If you read or hear someone use the word ‘retard’ as a slur, let them know it’s very offensive. It’s often found on Reddit, the users need appropriate feedback to end it.

The US economy grew at a blistering 3.4% last quarter.

Anyone who knows even a smidgen about economics knows this is indeed robust growth. The fact that there are some trolls here suggesting otherwise is interesting. There is more than one.

What is their incentive? I’d think they’re pushing some narrative, but why?

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth

Clearly, some people are getting hired. A good number of them.

Maybe it’s job sector rotation.

The US has had robust economic stats lately, too.

A rate hike seems like a strong possibility. The specter of higher inflation looms.

At this point, it is a marathon between Bill Shatner and Keith Richards.

We may not live long enough to know who wins.

I grew up without any family money and found the US economy ( with some advice from the Bogleheads community ) conducive to building a good life.

I now have 3 adult children, all seem to be likewise on good paths.

I truly believe the US economy offers an excellent chance to grow wealth, if patience and discipline are used. Even for salaries that are only decent. Plenty of teachers, plumbers, etc. become millionaires by retirement age. You just have to have a little luck ( avoid the rare financial catastrophe) and follow the Bogleheads trail.

About ‘the wealthy’, don’t worry about them. Just manage your own affairs, you’ll be fine.

I don’t begrudge anyone in the USA for building a fortune. They had opportunities much the same as my own, they ‘won the game’. Good for them, the challenge is the secret sauce that powers the great economy.

So I oppose taxing that secret sauce away.

Taxing the transfer of great wealth to next generations seems a better thing. Allow the transfer of some degree of wealth, but not all of it. Make the future generations earn their huge wealth, as their ancestors did. Keep the competitive spirit going.

I don’t understand faulting Trump for Epstein.

Epstein died in 2019. Biden was in office from 2021 to 2025, no files were released.

Trump took office in January of 2025, since then some ( but not all? ) files have been released.

Why fault Trump but not Biden? Didn’t Trump actually do better?

In the US, the people have the second amendment. The rooftop Koreans, Kyle Rittenhouse, etc. are examples of the counterweight ready to reign in protests gone feral.

I play banjo in bluegrass jams. Fiddle is not an easy instrument to play—- being fretless, it takes a lot of practice to catch a chord perfectly. The jams I go to usually have a mix of male and female fiddlers, and they tend to skew to the older side.

I think when people have fairly mastered guitar or banjo they’ll sometimes pick up fiddle next. They can make awesome music or terrible noise, depending on the skill of the player.

A nice write-up, and I greatly appreciate the reference to SD West. I still have a nice blue sweater I got as swag one year.

Those were great years.

I like this idea.

If someone believes strongly enough to inconvenience others, they should be willing to show sincerity by paying fines or spending time in jail.

Just inconveniencing others without feeling some pain yourself is just selfish.

I remember That’s Incredible.

I was a young teenager, full of knowledge and a sense of what’s cool. I was chatting with my neighbor, another kid about the same age and temperament.

My buddy’s dad, sensing an opportunity to bond with the teenagers, approached to tell us about last nights episode of the show ( which he knew we liked ). Marshaling all of his cool factor, he walked up and asked if we had seen “This is Incredible”.

We howled like hyenas.

Oh my goodness. DEI, what a time it was!

When Jim Whitehurst left Red Hat, he was replaced by Paul Cormier, a complete wokee. Cormier got DEI fever and put in place a big corporate framework, led by a newly crowned VP, complete with staff.

DEI affinity groups were established, by ancestry, sexual orientation, veteran status, physical ability, neurodivergence, etc. The groups got t shirts and air time on company calls. Chatter on internal mailing lists shot upwards, often becoming political firestorms.

CEO Cormier got even crazier and started saying things about maybe not belonging at Red Hat if you didn’t buy into the complete DEI koolaid. The entire corporate leadership was using pronouns in email by then.

I was a member of the military veterans DEI group. I appreciated the t shirts and once got a backpack from a contest. It wasn’t all bad.

Some of it was overreach, and it grated on some people. But there was a glorious counter move in the works.

There was a Jewish guy that didn’t like having DEI thrust upon the company. Assessing his pool of allies, he started some quiet conversations and soon applied for a new DEI subgroup, “Jews and Judeo-Christian values”. The corporate DEI sponsors were caught off guard and approved of the group. I got to go to a DEI conference in Alabama on the company dime, a week long kumbaya fest with nice eats at a snazzy resort. Company funding was good!

A checkpoint on where Red Hat was at the time: the lead spokesperson for the Red Hat Women’s group was a muscular transgender person. That didn’t seem crazy in the context.

As the J&JCV group, we got air time and were able to give voice to our preferred messaging. Our ranks included a gay guy that was drummed out of the LGBT group for his airing of occasional conservative viewpoints. He was as welcome in our community as anyone.

Finally, the DEI leadership took a closer look and decommissioned our J&JCV subgroup. We tried to argue and appeal, and I believe we won the battle of logical arguments, but that was of no consequence. We lost our seat at the table.

It may have seemed bleak, but the winds of change were blowing. CEO Cormier was removed by IBM, after very little time in office.

Organic actions were wearing away at DEI, also. A prominent subgroup leader was taking lengthy ‘mental health breaks’ of week long duration— then boasting about it on mailing lists and encouraging others to do the same! Such things are not sustainable.

As I retired a few years later, DEI was operating at a reasonable level. Minority communities ( notably the excellent and long running Black Red Hatters group ) were bringing appropriate, positive messaging and were demonstrating the true power of diversity. Women’s groups were doing a good job of showcasing women in Tech, etc. I don’t remember anything truly crazy in my last year.

I believe things are going to be fine.