RE: Profit RE: World Attitude (was: Re: Down Under Attitude)

[Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLBD/BGM/SVM/SGM]

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: John D. Giorgis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Verzonden: Saturday, September 22, 2001 4:14 AM
> Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Onderwerp: Profit RE: World Attitude (was: Re: Down Under Attitude)

> >This poses an interesting problem: should whoever rebuilds the WTC be
> >paid only the real costs, or should he be allowed to make a profit?
> >
> >The former will go against the very principles of capitalism. The
> >latter however would mean that someone would be making millions of
> >dollars in profits because of (IOW: he would be profiting from) the
> >deaths of several thousand innocent people...
> 
> Its not interesting at all.

Correction: it is not interesting to *you*. See below.


> And yes, Jeroen, workers *do* earn a profit.   If a worker would
> happily take a job for $40,000/yr, but is offerred $50,000/yr, then
> that worker has earned a $10,000 profit.

That is not "profit" in the meaning in which it is normally used (and how I
used it). Profit is something you earn when you own a business, and your
company's total income is higher than its total expenditure.

(But then, this is not the first time your interpretation of a term differs
from the usual interpretation.)

Does the IRS tax this employee in two parts -- income taxes over the first
$40,000 and profit taxes over the remaining $10,000?

Now lets say that said worker actually does get paid $40,000 while he
*could* have gotten $50,000. By your logic, he has made a loss of $10,000.
Will the IRS accept it when said worker fills out his tax form and lists
those $10,000 as being tax-deductible?

If that is true, I will move to the US. I will claim that I work for $40,000
while I could have earned $80,000, and as such have made a loss of $40,000.
Income of $40,000 minus tax-deductible loss of $40,000 makes for a taxable
income of... zero dollars!   :-)

Better yet, I will have a buddy of mine who owns a business state that he
offered me $90,000. That way I will have made a loss of $50,000 -- deduct
that from my $40,000 income, and I will have a negative income of $10,000.
Great, now the IRS will have to pay *me*!


> More importantly, it is very common for workers to own stocks in the
> companies that they work for, or have a union-brokered profit-sharing
> deal, that allows the workers to benefit directly from increased
> corporate profits.

Do you mean that almost all companies, no matter how small they are, have
issued stocks? Even that coffeeshop down the street, that only employs three
people? Wow.

(Under what name is their stock known at the New York Stock Exchange?)


> That's why Adam (and also myself) reacted with such bafflement to your
> "question", because to Americans, it really isn't interesting at all.

Surprise, John! There are people in the world (and on this list) that are
NOT Americans. Just because it is not interesting to Americans, it might
actually be interesting to others.


Jeroen

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