Warren Buffett: Tax me and the rest of the wealthy more

The rest of this "philosophy" is so simple minded to be completely disingenuous.

Icarus

PS Sorry for the bad quoting style, still trying to master the IPad

 

We don't tax the wealthy but rather the high wage earner. That statement if very true.

Think about this. What if the highest wage earners decided to take a year off? They can afford it. The question is could the USA???

 

81 posts and still keeping it civil!

 

Yeah,
'Civil'.....

I get the idea that we have to have social safety nets. I even buy into the notion that there are radically differing ideas for fixing societal woes, and that a portion of my hard earned paycheck has to go towards building and maintaining our society. I've never once bitched about having to stare at a paycheck lesser by thirty percent (30.17456 percent of my last paycheck). Great societies cost moolah.
OK....so after I cleave my shrunken paycheck to my heaving bosom and go out and spend it for silly luxuries like food (taxed---at 6 percent), my house (taxed), gas (ditto), car (you get the idea....)
Depending on what daffy algorithm you prefer to compute the total tax bill for each bean in the country, I think it's safe to say that the TOTAL is well north of fifty percent...probably closing in on 60 to 70, depending on your lifestyle, or how much you want to bend the numbers, and which way.

OK.....no sweat.
Great societies cost moolah.

I only have two itty bitty little problems with the way things are going...

1.) Despite the fact that my beloved government gets ____ percent of my total income....that isn't enough! Not only do they want MORE, but they're actually already spending almost a buck fifty for every dollar that I'm giving them now.

2.) What they're doing with the money ISN'T working! Pick any category:
Defense: 10 years ago....two wars. Now...2-1/2 wars, with 70-80 percent of the beans, bullets, and gas that we had 10 years ago.
Education: Spending going up....Performance of US students going down.
Roads: Eh.....about scratch, but we have a LOT of bridges, roads, and tunnels that need reworking, despite more and more spending and spending.
Social Security Programs: In the red, and accelerating.
Poverty: AT LEAST as bad as it was 40 years ago, despite trillions spent. According to some sources....one in seven in this country are on food stamps. One of our biggest health problems in this country?? Obesity. Go figure.
Economy: Flat, despite almost one trillion spent (or spending) in the last 4 years.

I'm not really a big fan of the TEA party. For one thing.....they're not. A party, that is. For another...they're just as ideologically daffy as the far left in this country.
However (comma!) I can understand some of their frustration.

We keep spending and spending and spending, and the problems keep getting worse. I personally believe that for some, a social safety net entraps its would-be beneficiary.....but I'll leave that thorny issue to the Kumbaya crowd.

Simple math says if you strip out all of the earnings and holdings of everybody in the US who has more than 1 megabuck.....we're still in the red....and the problems are still here.
Personally???
I think that if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.
Let's start thinking about another way forward.....huh?

 

You should know by now that was just a mild comment.

 

No sweat...
If you play in the bigs, yer gonna have to learn to take lumps. cool: shades on to hide black eyes....)

I actually rather like it when the insults start flying. When somebody starts throwing insults like "Tea Bagger" or "COMMIE-LIB", that tells me that their intellectual bandolier is running low...

 

Yup, can't possibly leave a conversation without the last insulting word. :tape:

 

I would wager that Warren Buffett retains skilled tax attorneys to find every loophole they can to reduce his taxes.

Another thought:
Remember ... we .... the public pay ALL the taxes. Corporations simply raise the price and pass the cost on to the consumer. A close friend ownes a major truck line. Recently I asked him if the higher cost of diesel was hurting him. Not at all was his reply. We pass the cost increase on to the shipper. Every cost, higher union wages, increased government regulation cost, higher health care cost, liability insurance, taxes, fuel and etc. are all just added to the consumers cost.

 

Such is the nature and order of the federal reserve/fiat currency system. It is designed to crash. And there is nothing "loony" about acknowledging this in your rhetoric or legislation.

 

corporations that have to compete, (disregarding collusion) cannot always pass along the costs. some get into trouble with falling profits. some manage to raise prices along with competitors and compete in other ways besides price. all that being said, it's more likely the tax laws that are the problem, not the tax rate. and the laws are written by congress to keep the pacs happy.

 

Anybody who voted no who makes under $250K needs a shrink.

 

Bisco you are right. There are times that competition will not allow a corporation to pass on the increased costs or taxes in the price. When those circumstances happen the corporation will cut costs. That could mean layoffs.

Socialism is wonderful until you run out of other people's money. The USA has too many social safety nets that last too long. Look at the EITC, which is one of the biggest rewards for people who breed before they can afford to raise children. Up to $5,300 of my tax money given to losers that made bad decisions. And we give them more each time they make the same mistake. Talk about a reward for screwing up.

 

That's really the issue.

There is NO traction to help the people who aren't rich in America. There is, however, plenty of traction (and political clout) to take from the poor and give to the rich. Sadly, the bulk of this push is coming from those who have been tricked into believing that their best interest is one with the super rich.

Simply stated: Fox News propaganda is too powerful for the weak of mind. Until the actual media makes a stand on this variety of propaganda, this problem will only continue to GROW.

-Brad

 

Bac, that would be because the poor are simply people who make bad decisions. The LEFT want to coddle them and create safety nets so that they can continue to make bad decisions with no consequences. The RIGHT want them to learn from their mistakes and stand on their own two feet.

 

Damn right. You get laid off because your job moved to China? Too bad, buddy, learn to speak Chinese. You get cancer? It's your fault for having cells in your body! A drunk driver T-boned you and now you can't work because your body is all messed up? It's your fault for getting into a car in the first place!

It's about time we stopped coddling these crybabies!

 

Thanks for making my point.

-Brad

 

So what you are saying is that these things are the fault of the collective and everyone should pay?

 

When you buy an insurance policy, say against fire on your house, do you expect to get a full refund at the end of the year if your house doesn't burn down? Clearly not, and you'd be laughed at for asking for it. But wait....doesn't that mean YOUR money is going to somebody else? Just because their house burned down, why should you help pay for it?

How is health insurance different from fire insurance?

 

Either we choose to live in a civilized society, that understands that there are people who thorugh little or no "fault" (to use your word!) of their own are less fortunate,, or we don't.

Call it the collective or what ever buzz word you like, but to use the old adage, until you walk in the shoes of on wh is less fortunate, be careful what you wish for! Most of us, and certainly most midle class wage earners are one layoff, or one major illness away from bankruptcy.

I witness this every day in my neighborhood, people who hav done everything right their entire life's, raised their children and educated them, didn't leverage themselves in real estate. One suffered an on the job injury, was let go from the job he had had for 20+ years. The family has struggled to keep it's dignity with all members contributing as they could. He just died, this past Wednesday, in no small part due to his inability to get health insurance, and adequate treatment, so don't tell me that these people are poor because they have made bad choices (unless you consider getting hurt on the job a choice). Don't tell me that people don't suffer from lack of a coherent, rational health are system. Don't tell me tht people don't die prematurely as a result of such a system either!

And not to put a halo on myself, but we have been subsidizing theirrent between 10-100% for several years. Others in the neighborhood have been helping as well, but others are suffering as well.

So I challenge any of you who are convince that the current system is nothing but a give away to lazy people, try to figure out what you would do, when circumstances beyond your control leave you with literally,, nothing!

This is country is better than that. People who work hard, do the right thing, educated their kids,, and yes, pay their taxes, should not be treated this way by society! We are a affluent country, we just choose to spend our money poorly.

Icarus

 

Some ins companies do offer a rebate now to reward good drivers, etc. Sure it is a sales gimmick but you won't find a government system doing that... it will continue to ask for more and more and more.
Plus, a person can choose to buy insurance or not, the can choose to find a company that has better rates. Can't when the government is involved (despite what they say to sell it to you).