Stop Coddling the Super-Rich: Warren Buffett

[Shady]

Anyways, anyone else see the irony in Buffett's comments now that it's been learned that he's been fighting the government for several years on back taxes that he hasn't paid. Once again, liberals like him love taxing everyone else, as well as spending everyone elses money.

[BubberMiley]

Once again, liberals like him love taxing everyone else, as well as spending everyone elses money.

Why do you hate the middle class?

[Shady]

Why do you hate the middle class?

Why do you hate the poor?

[BubberMiley]

Why do you hate the poor?

I love the poor. I give them alms.

[MiddleClassCentrist]

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.

407 was built with government funds then sold to a foreign consortium. Everytime you take the 407 you export money to Europe. SOUNDS GREAT

Private schools cherry pick. They have behavioural, number sense and literacy tests to get into. Of course their average score will be better... they eliminated the low outliers. Putting an underachieving kid, with uninvolved parents in private school won't change a thing...

[MiddleClassCentrist]

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?

You get sick when someone supports workers? Are you posting this from your limousine?

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.

If the economy demands the service, it will appear. Whether through an enterprising entrepreneur or the wealthy. They wealthy are not omnipotent as you make them out to be. They could disappear tomorrow and there are billions of entrepreneurs who'd take their place.

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!

I've run a variety of businesses. Landscaping Care, Tutoring for Math, Computer Repair. I set my own wage for all of those services. When was running my own landscaping business when I was in high school and was employing my friends for more money than they'd make at any retail establishment. I started the business myself when I was 16, doubt you could say the same about myself. I put that business on hold when I went to University and ended up moving to different niches. I still do the Math Tutoring and Computer Repair/Service business on the side.

Funny thing, on a recent cottage trip one of my friends had recently quit his job. "I realized I didn't want to spend my entire life making someone else rich. Seeing them drive in their fancy cars, living in luxury while I work hard to make them their money... and they gave me a measily 60cents raise because of economic conditions... when the company is doing better than previous year." It was interesting to see someone else coming to the same conclusion.

I am a centrist. When all is said and done, that is where my dot on the spectrum ends up. The problem with you guys (and most conservatives) is that I don't fit a specific ideological mold and have a mind of my own. Something incomprehensible to you. All business, even abusive business by the wealthy is good or bad. No in between, no shades of grey. I do not believe the the uber rich are divine Gods, I do not believe in MegaCorp. That does not make me a Marxist.

Edited September 4, 2011 by MiddleClassCentrist

[Shady]

Putting an underachieving kid, with uninvolved parents in private school won't change a thing...

That's incorrect. Sometimes the school IS the problem. Inner-city kids in New York have had their school careers turned around thanks to charter schools.

I am a centrist.

No you're not. You're a marxist. But there's nothing wrong with that. Just stop kidding yourself. You can keep calling yourself a so-called centrist. But it doesn't mean it's true. I'm an astronaut.

[Shady]

Anyways, back to the ultra-hypocrite Warren Buffett.

According to his own report from his company Berkshire Hathaway:

We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years at the IRS Appeals Division within the next 12 months. The IRS has completed its examination of our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2005 and 2006 tax years and the proposed adjustments are currently being reviewed by the IRS Appeals Division process. The IRS is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2007 through 2009 tax years

Link

So any day now he'll resolve the taxes still owed by his company for years 2002 - 2004, 2005 and 2006, and 2007 - 2009. For a guy that wants his taxes raised, he seems to have a funny way of paying what he actually owes for the last several years. And by paying, I mean fighting to not pay. But raise everybody elses taxes right Warren? Well, those who don't have the same resources to hire an army of accountants and lawyers like him. What an a-hole.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Shady

[CPCFTW]

You get sick when someone supports workers? Are you posting this from your limousine?

If the economy demands the service, it will appear. Whether through an enterprising entrepreneur or the wealthy. They wealthy are not omnipotent as you make them out to be. They could disappear tomorrow and there are billions of entrepreneurs who'd take their place.

I've run a variety of businesses. Landscaping Care, Tutoring for Math, Computer Repair. I set my own wage for all of those services. When was running my own landscaping business when I was in high school and was employing my friends for more money than they'd make at any retail establishment. I started the business myself when I was 16, doubt you could say the same about myself. I put that business on hold when I went to University and ended up moving to different niches. I still do the Math Tutoring and Computer Repair/Service business on the side.

Funny thing, on a recent cottage trip one of my friends had recently quit his job. "I realized I didn't want to spend my entire life making someone else rich. Seeing them drive in their fancy cars, living in luxury while I work hard to make them their money... and they gave me a measily 60cents raise because of economic conditions... when the company is doing better than previous year." It was interesting to see someone else coming to the same conclusion.

I am a centrist. When all is said and done, that is where my dot on the spectrum ends up. The problem with you guys (and most conservatives) is that I don't fit a specific ideological mold and have a mind of my own. Something incomprehensible to you. All business, even abusive business by the wealthy is good or bad. No in between, no shades of grey. I do not believe the the uber rich are divine Gods, I do not believe in MegaCorp. That does not make me a Marxist.

Ok now let's say your landscaping company became huge and was making you 2.2mil/yr, do you expect me to believe you would pass on all that profit to your employees? You could hire a manager for 200k/yr, and give all your 20 landscapers 100k/yr. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Or is it more likely that you pay your manager 200k, your employees 50k/yr, and pocket 1mil/yr while drinking mojitas in the caribbean?

What if the manager you hired was exceptional and you wound up retired with a 50 million nest egg and 3 kids. Would you leave the money to your kids, or would you donate half of it to charity cuz there was slavery 150 years ago?

Nope the difference between liberals and conservatives is that I would applaud you for taking the business risk and creating jobs for people. If the roles were reversed however, you would call me an evil elite and covet my wealth.

[bloodyminded]

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"?

Whatever Gore meant or didn't mean by his strange comment (and who would boast about inspiring such an awful movie?), it is a fact that the internet was developed through public monies. If that offends you on some politicized basis, I can't help that.

[BubberMiley]

What an a-hole.

Now, now. He wants everyone to pay their fair share, not to pay more than his fair share all by himself. You shouldn't get all your info from right-wing bloggers' talking points. It makes you look removed from reality and a little crazy.

[Bonam]

If the economy demands the service, it will appear. Whether through an enterprising entrepreneur or the wealthy. They wealthy are not omnipotent as you make them out to be. They could disappear tomorrow and there are billions of entrepreneurs who'd take their place.

And some of those entrepreneurs would actually succeed, and in so doing would become rich, and you'd hate them just as much as the current rich.

[Shady]

Now, now. He wants everyone to pay their fair share, not to pay more than his fair share all by himself.

He's not paying his "fair" share. Whatever that means. Fair can mean many things to many people. How about he just pays what he owes in taxes under existing law?

[eyeball]

He's not paying his "fair" share. Whatever that means. Fair can mean many things to many people. How about he just pays what he owes in taxes under existing law?

I'm pretty sure Buffet is saying the existing laws are unfair. It stands to reason the people who are benefiting in such a situation know full well what fair, and especially what's unfair, means.