Stop Coddling the Super-Rich: Warren Buffett

[Moonlight Graham]

Ya this is a week old and you might have read it, but interesting read for those who haven't. In a NY Times op-ed, Buffett calls for more capital gains and income taxes targeted at the very wealthy.

I'm kinda of shocked about some of the figures he goes through regarding how low the amount of taxes he and other very wealthy people actually pay. I guess people in high places have friends in high places to help out with the Ferrari bills. And i guess if you're as rich as Buffett is, money starts to not really mean anything anymore.

Edited August 23, 2011 by Moonlight Graham

[bush_cheney2004]

Mr. Buffett is free to write a big fat check for the US Treasury anytime he pleases. He'll need to buy a stamp too.

[MiddleClassCentrist]

Mr. Buffett is free to write a big fat check for the US Treasury anytime he pleases. He'll need to buy a stamp too.

A bunch of wealth convervatives on this board...

How about we send the rich more money for paying us less than our service is worth to generate profit?

[bush_cheney2004]

A bunch of wealth convervatives on this board...

Indeed...the art of wealth management specifically seeks to minimize exposure to clawbacks by the socialists and communists.

How about we send the rich more money for paying us less than our service is worth to generate profit?

What's this "we" stuff? They are called "rich people" for a reason, and I never got a job from a poor man.

Edited August 23, 2011 by bush_cheney2004

[wyly]

if someone is poor they pay little or no tax, which is as it should be...

the wealthy generally pay less than the middle class percentage wise because of the loop holes provided them...

the middle class ends up covering for both lower and upper

Buffet offering to pay a equitable share of tax is commendable...

[bush_cheney2004]

the middle class ends up covering for both lower and upper

False...most of US income taxes are paid by upper income earners....it's not even close.

[Uncle 3 dogs]

A bunch of wealth convervatives on this board...

Ho

Look at his name, what would you expect?

[MiddleClassCentrist]

What's this "we" stuff? They are called "rich people" for a reason, and I never got a job from a poor man.

The rich don't actually give you a job. People need services. People need to eat. People need entertainment. People need resources. You have a job because the economy deems there to be a need in your job. Your job does not appear by the benevolent hand of the wealthy.

The wealthy then cut profit off of your wage to generate profit. The price of the end product is the real value of your work. We've been conditioned to think otherwise.

[bush_cheney2004]

The rich don't actually give you a job. People need services. People need to eat. People need entertainment. People need resources. You have a job because the economy deems there to be a need in your job. Your job does not appear by the benevolent hand of the wealthy.

You have your needs and wants a bit mixed up there, but whose counting, right? My current job exists because of capital investment in a business venture by "rich people".

The wealthy then cut profit off of your wage to generate profit. The price of the end product is the real value of your work. We've been conditioned to think otherwise.

Doesn't bother me in the least, as my very handsome wage is appreciated for "services" rendered. If you want to see what your version looks like, go live in Somalia.

[dre]

I got a kick out of all the conservative commentators screaming class warfare, a few of them even went as far as calling Warren Buffet a communist :lol:

[dre]

go live in Somalia.

A rather stupid comment really considering that Somalia is the worlds only free market economy, and the wealthy there pay no taxes at all.

[Bonam]

The rich don't actually give you a job. People need services. People need to eat. People need entertainment. People need resources. You have a job because the economy deems there to be a need in your job. Your job does not appear by the benevolent hand of the wealthy.

The wealthy then cut profit off of your wage to generate profit. The price of the end product is the real value of your work. We've been conditioned to think otherwise.

Go try to make this product and sell it for its value without being an employee of one of these "wealthy people". Very few people have the skills to develop, produce, and market a product all on their own. Very few can run a company that does all these things while continuing to be able to turn a profit and thus keep growing and employing more people. Just because you can sit on an assembly line and attach parts together, doesn't mean you can design, build, and sell a car, and it certainly doesn't entitle you to all the value of the final product that is sold.

[CANADIEN]

I got a kick out of all the conservative commentators screaming class warfare, a few of them even went as far as calling Warren Buffet a communist :lol:

There is nothing a right wing commentators hates more than somebody who is rich and fails to be a member of the "the rich need to be richer, so who cares if the poor get poorer" club. They view it as some form of treason.

[bush_cheney2004]

A rather stupid comment really considering that Somalia is the worlds only free market economy, and the wealthy there pay no taxes at all.

Right, and despite your glowing ideological praise for Somalia, you choose to work in Canada or the US. Go figure....

[MiddleClassCentrist]

Go try to make this product and sell it for its value without being an employee of one of these "wealthy people". Very few people have the skills to develop, produce, and market a product all on their own. Very few can run a company that does all these things while continuing to be able to turn a profit and thus keep growing and employing more people. Just because you can sit on an assembly line and attach parts together, doesn't mean you can design, build, and sell a car, and it certainly doesn't entitle you to all the value of the final product that is sold.

Neither do the wealthy. They pay other people who actually have the needed skills to do the work for them.

[bush_cheney2004]

Neither do the wealthy. They pay other people who actually have the needed skills to do the work for them.

Organizing and funding such a venture also takes "skill".

[Yukon Jack]

If Buffet, Gates or any and all the billionaires who think that they should pay more tax, let them think so.

But give their excess money to the government in form of taxes????

Can't they see the disgraceful misuse of taxes collected from unsuspecting victims (aka middle class normal, hard-working people) by the government?? For examples google government excesses.

If they had any normal relation to the working class they pretend to speak for, they would send out their lackies to find deserving students with crushing loan repayment obligation, and give the money directly to them. Find hard-working people whose houses are under water, not because they got a loan they did not qualify for, but because of all the jerks who got loans they did NOT qualify for. Give the money directly to them, rather than the definition of waste: GOVERNMENT.

If they are not phony grifters, they would not suck up to phony declarations to the government but give their excess money to organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Red Cross or any other organization that does good things without skimming most of the money off, as governments ALWAYS do.

If they offer their excess money to the government, they only prove that they are not any more honest than the government is.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Yukon Jack

[BubberMiley]

Give the money directly to them, rather than the definition of waste: GOVERNMENT.

Said on the Internet (which was developed as a government initiative) using electricity (which required the development of a grid by government initiatives) using a computer (which was transported to him on roads that were a government initiative) and literacy skills (which, while limited, were the result of a school system that was a government initative)...

[Yukon Jack]

Said on the Internet (which was developed as a government initiative) using electricity (which required the development of a grid by government initiatives) using a computer (which was transported to him on roads that were a government initiative) and literacy skills (which, while limited, were the result of a school system that was a government initative)...

Of course, we all know that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were and still are government employees. BTW, was Al Gore employed by the government when he 'invented' the internet? Before or after he inspired the film "Love Story"?

Of course, we all know that electricity could not EVER be produced by private effort.

Of course, we all know that roads could never, EVER be built and maintained by private enterprise.

407 ring a bell with you? Oh the other hand, how about the third world style Trans-Canada Highway?

And of course we all know that kids taught at home by caring and qualified parents or taught by un-unionized, but properly dedicated teachers in private schools could never outperform kids taught by unionized government 'teachers', RIGHT??

When you selectively pick out ONE sentence of a post, you only weaken your already weak case.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Yukon Jack

[BubberMiley]

Of course, we all know that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were and still are government employees. BTW, was Al Gore employed by the government when he 'invented' the internet? Before or after he inspired the film "Love Story"?

They invented computer companies that benefited from U.S. government investment and initiative in the Internet.

Of course, we all know that electricity could not EVER be produced by private effort.

But they didn't. Government made the necessary investments where no one else was willing or able. Now, of course, you would privatize these utilities for a song just to suit your ideology.

Of course, we all know that roads could never, EVER be built and maintained by private enterprise.

407 ring a bell with you? Oh the other hand, how about the third world style Trans-Canada Highway?

Yes, toll roads are very rational and efficient.

And of course we all know that kids taught at home by caring and qualified parents or taught by un-unionized, but properly dedicated teachers in private schools could never outperform kids taught by unionized government 'teachers', RIGHT??

Absolutely RIGHT. The legacy of our public school system is exceptional. There wasn't a middle class before. Now there is.

Continue working hard to eliminate that middle class until you realize you aren't among the 1% its elimination benefits.

Edited August 26, 2011 by BubberMiley

[dre]

Of course, we all know that electricity could not EVER be produced by private effort.

Without public/government involvment private electricy would be INSANELY expensive. The utilities would need to purchase or rent strips of land to build transmission lines on that went to every single consumers home (unless those consumers wanted to drive down and charge up some batteries or something). Also the capital costs to purchase generation sites on the private market would be phenomenal. Try purchasing the land and water that is required for a large hydroelectric facility for example.

Theres a pretty good reason most of this kind of infrastructure was developed in a public/private parternship.

[scouterjim]

Ya this is a week old and you might have read it, but interesting read for those who haven't. In a NY Times op-ed, Buffett calls for more capital gains and income taxes targeted at the very wealthy.

I'm kinda of shocked about some of the figures he goes through regarding how low the amount of taxes he and other very wealthy people actually pay. I guess people in high places have friends in high places to help out with the Ferrari bills. And i guess if you're as rich as Buffett is, money starts to not really mean anything anymore.

I alway wonder about when the rich became gods?

Edited August 26, 2011 by scouterjim

[punked]

Without public/government involvment private electricy would be INSANELY expensive. The utilities would need to purchase or rent strips of land to build transmission lines on that went to every single consumers home (unless those consumers wanted to drive down and charge up some batteries or something). Also the capital costs to purchase generation sites on the private market would be phenomenal. Try purchasing the land and water that is required for a large hydroelectric facility for example.

Theres a pretty good reason most of this kind of infrastructure was developed in a public/private parternship.

I just want to point out anyone who wants electricy in private hands does not know anything about Enron and how in just one year Californians over paid by a 40 BILLION DOLLARS!

[CPCFTW]

The rich don't actually give you a job. People need services. People need to eat. People need entertainment. People need resources. You have a job because the economy deems there to be a need in your job. Your job does not appear by the benevolent hand of the wealthy.

The wealthy then cut profit off of your wage to generate profit. The price of the end product is the real value of your work. We've been conditioned to think otherwise.

Your posts are always so sickening. Do you actually believe any of the crap you write? People need food, so why do people work at mcdonalds when they can just cook some hamburgers on a bbq and sell them?

Probably because the person would need to charge about $50 per burger to cover the costs of advertising and producing the burgers plus paying themselves a living wage. There's this thing called economies of scale which allows McDonald's to sell you a $3 burger and employ millions of people who have very little employable skills.

So since you believe people should be entitled to the full profit of their labour, please tell me that you run your own business. If you don't, then why not? Your skills are so valuable and are being exploited! Become self-employed and stick it to the man! Once you're established, you can hire employees and managers to run your business for you. Make sure they get all your profits though!

Edited September 3, 2011 by CPCFTW

[Shady]

Your posts are always so sickening.

And what's even more sickening is that he calls himself a centrist. I guess he is, if centrist means Marxist now.