The majority of conversations Friday night were about Warren opening his mouth (not sure if he wants to reelect Obama like O'Reilly said on Talking Points) and now Obama is running with it. Will it really pass? What a fucking dumb idea! Erasing capital gains 15% from anyone who is successful! And in all objectivity, this will NOT help job creation! Sometime I wish Obama was in hell now!
Sadly I believe you are correct. He did the post as personal insurance. Maybe I should ask him how the moat around his image is...
look at with different view... college dropout if is out of job becomes a thief or even a murderer and might kill the harvard guy right in the head for $50 bucks.. so it would have cost more money (court, police jail, lawyer) to keep that person in jail rather then flipping burgers at BK with his hourly income...
So was this elaborate buffet conspiracy to protect his image hatched before or after he started donating large portions of his own wealth to charity? Sadly I think some people just don't get it. Talk is cheap and this guy puts his money where his mouth is. How many companies and rich individuals use charity simply as a means for tax write offs and free marketing. Their "charity" ends there. I think Buffet has proven time and again that his morale compass is at a higher standing than that.
I am very cynical about Buffett, we probably know the next logical steps for governments are always targeting majority of taxpayer for tax hike, it has happened before, when income tax introduced, it will happen again, first targeting the minority; then everyone will get hit by tax hike. Charities are mostly ran by scam artists, most of its funds only benefit its board members, trustees, and payroll employees. Rarely ceo, board members of big charities took no compensations for themselves. If I was in Buffett positions, I will probably to do the same, put my children on board of my charities, or run something similar to take tax advantage. If Buffett for real, he can write big check to US treasury and paying off some of national debts, anything else, it is just smoke, mirrors, and shills.
If you have a massive wealth tax that allows the wealthy to pawn off their illiquid stocks and bonds at par to the US Gov't, it will create a temporary environment which satisfies both Treasury and Stock Market liquidity / solvency issues. The Gov't can sit on a pile of these illiquid stocks and bonds and say they are managing their debt crisis (look at our newfound collateral!!!), which would stimulate the Bond Market even more - given the outlook for the rest of the world. This would definitely buy time. While it doesn't really change anything - i.e jobs are not being created, productivity and earnings are not increasing - it creates a persistent illusion that feeds the illusion Wall Street has been selling for 30 years, it maintains a solid bid for Treasury bonds, and it fools people into more complacency. It's the ultimate bailout for the rich and the government at the same time. And Joe blow on the street will never know its happening. This is QE III.
OMFG. Self-righteous Mofo if there ever was. The nice thing about a supposed democracy is our vote counts too.
I agree with AAAâs diagnosis of the broken system re: CEO pay, and I donât think thatâs right either, but what do you do to effect some change? Let congress pass laws to put a limit? Where would that lead us? If the tax system is the problem that let some companies avoid paying taxes, then fix the tax code. If some companies take tax money, as in the case of GM and some big banks, then the government certainly has a say regarding exec compensation. Other than in those cases, it is not governmentâs business to put any restriction, obscene as the case may be. Health insurance system is broken too, but how many conservatives who like federal government to take it over? There are lot of things we donât like, but if one is a conservative, he will not like the government to set the rules either. I donât have an answer. My post was meant to say that, if one is so incensed about the excessive CEO pay of a company, then one should buy a share of that companyâs stock and go to their shareholder meetings to make some noises.
Informative article regarding Buffett's statements. From cbsnews with real numbers: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/20/politics/main20108710.shtml Rich taxed less than secretaries? Maybe not. This year, households making more than $1 million will pay an average of 29.1 percent of their income in federal taxes, including income taxes and payroll taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent of their income in federal taxes. Lower-income households will pay less. For example, households making between $40,000 and $50,000 will pay an average of 12.5 percent of their income in federal taxes. Households making between $20,000 and $30,000 will pay 5.7 percent.