I don’t understand what all the brouhaha is all about. There is absolutely nothing stopping these ultrarich self indulgent and preachy gazillionaires from sending in an extra check to the government if they feel they are not paying enough.
Their liberal utopia fantasies are dying hard. They sound like the Duke Brothers at the end of Trading Places. Obama and his drones are still holding onto the delusion that the current rich benefits, pensions and give-ways can continue at their current levels and even increase if and only if rich white Republicans have their wealth confiscated at 90%. They refuse to let this go, this insistence on class warfare, that one man should pay for the welfare of another. The sophism of Marx and Engels was a confused, evil and ultimately unworkable political and economic system. Marxism ignored some basic tenants of human behavior. Sure they can make socialsim work for a few years at the point of a gun and by exterminating anyone opposed to it but ultimately it fails, it has always failed and will always fail. Just becuase you feel bad for that bum panhandling or that black mother of 7 with 7 different baby Dads does not give you the right to express your empathy by stealing my treasure. The entire underpinnings of modern Fabian socialism are coming down and it’s comical to see Magic Mulatto and guys like the author here screaming to “Turn those machines back on....”
I think this is the key paragraph in the article:
Hard to believe as it may seem, it has been a quarter of a century since the last comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. tax code. Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which was signed by President Reagan, the number of tax brackets was reduced, loopholes were closed, the top tax rate was lowered and capital gains were taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. Yet in the years since, Congress has steadily drilled loopholes back into the code while lowering the tax burden for wealthy people who make money through investments rather than labor. That was the source of Buffett's complaint.
RE: There is absolutely nothing stopping these ultrarich self indulgent and preachy gazillionaires from sending in an extra check to the government if they feel they are not paying enough.
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You have to understand what Buffer really wants.
A brillant man like him does not need people to tell him that he can send a check anytime he wants. But that is not what he wants to do.
We must Understand Warren Buffet’s “Tax-me-more” mentality...
First, let’s talk about the issue of -— “He can always write a check to Uncle Sam”.
I don’t think the man got to be Billionaire because he is stupid and doesn’t know that he can donate his money to Uncle Sam anytime he likes. HE KNOWS THAT, sohe does not need anyone’s advise.
Anyone calling for him to write a blank check to the government can’t see the forest through the trees.
Buffet knows that a “donation” to the US government (which is effectively what most FReepers are asking him to do) won’t even make a ripple in the government revenue stream.
But I think that he’s thinking -— If he asks everyone of the “super-rich” to do it with me (which is exactly the point of his article), then it makes more sense because of the COLLECTIVE amount.
So, if his Collective Amount is viewed from his own lenses, then, Buffet’s “I’m only going to do it if you make me” argument would make perfect sense.
He’s waiting to donate his money to the Gates Foundation because he knows that the best way to make an impact is for compounding to continue to work until he no longer has any control over it (aka death). The Gates Foundation is well funded until then, and probably has no immediate use of the money.
Anybody who has followed the career of the man will begin to understand his thinking -— Spending is an issue, but so is income inequality and THAT is what Buffet thinks he is trying to address... FAIRNESS ( misguided as he is ).
Buffet believes that sooner or later the income gap will shrink - either by choice or by force. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want the latter (not that he would be around to see it.).
Just trying to go into the mind of the man folks, to find out why he’s asking to be taxed more.