Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Privateer]

Interesting article by Warren Buffet on why the rich should pay more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=1

[Ya-ta Boy]

WB is clearly a traitor to his class. A patriotic mega-rich American would pack up his gold bars, renounce his citizenship, and move to the Cayman Islands if anyone dared whisper about raising his taxes.
**

Having said that...Mr. Buffet has said much the same several times before. It would be helpful to the public discourse for him to recruit some of his 'mega-rich friends' to openly say what he has had the courage to say.

What he is saying is parallel to what he and Bill Gates and others have said when they took that pledge to give away vast chunks of their wealth. What I hear them saying is that there are values higher than money and selfishness. What I hear them saying is that they feel a sense of common humanity and a sense of obligation to the whole. (Yes, I know 'obligation' is a dirty 4-letter word to libertarians. Phooey on them.)

There is at least a glimmer of hope for the country as long as we have people like Warren Buffet around.

[silkhighway]

WB is just being forward-looking. Rather than hoarding his share of the wealth and fighting tooth and nail to the end to keep the masses away from it, he realizes economic growth is good for everybody.

This quote taken from the Globe&Mail sums it up:

[visitorq]

What a joke. Warren Buffet doesn't pay taxes One of his most famous investment quotes is "our favorite holding period is forever" (meaning his company Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pay dividends, and thereby avoids taxes). Basically his many billions are tied up in stock (in companies that receive corporate welfare and bail outs from the government, no less) and tax-exempt foundations (like Bill Gates). The ultra-rich have been painting themselves as philanthropists and storing their money tax free in foundations since the Rockefellers and other robber baron families invented the notion a century ago.

Really, if Warren Buffet wants to pay more taxes so badly, then he can go ahead write a check to the IRS. Obviously he would never do that, so we know it's a crock (actions speak louder than words). Basically the rich just want to increase taxes for everyone else who is not a corrupt Wall Street insider or financial oligarch (ie. anyone who owns a company with a few million dollars revenue, as opposed to billions).

Obama et al consider anyone making over $250,000 to be "super rich". Increasing taxes on these people (while giving trillions in bailouts to Wall Street) would do nothing but harm.

[Kuros]

Well, Buffet is right. Carried interest rates are a disgrace. He ends up paying 15% rate on most of his income, whereas those on his payroll pay 20-30%. It makes very little sense.

[visitorq]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Right rejects Buffett's good advice

President Obama twice cited Buffett�s op-ed yesterday to bolster the White House line. The right, apparently, was less impressed. Here�s Fox News� Eric Bolling on the air yesterday:

�Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed in the New York Times today, he said we should be, I think you mentioned it earlier, we should be taxed more. What is this? Is he completely a socialist and he�s playing into Mr. Obama�s hands of, you know, tax anyone who makes money, give it to people who don�t work?�

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/right_rejects_buffetts_good_ad031563.php

[visitorq]

[Ya-ta Boy]

^
Tee-hee. Tee-hee.

[visitorq]

[sirius black]

The rich and especially the super rich have always gotten around paying the same percentage of taxes of most Americans and they definitely rarely pay the rate for their income level. If you receive your income from payroll then the government takes it out first. If you derive it any other way the government has to wait. You have time to reduce your taxable income by any number of ways. The superrich have that option.

The super rich have expensive tax attorneys who know all the loopholes. Over the years they have come up wtih trust funds, foundations, incorporating themselves, etc.

The wealthiest americans pay most of the taxes, however when compared to how much of the country's assets they control, their tax contribution is a lot less in comparison.

WB is right.

However, you don't have to raise the taxes of the rich to get more taxes out of them. Raising the rate means nothing. You have to close the loopholes, most of which aren't available to working and middle class earners.

Conservatives also say taxing the rich hurts entrepeneurism. I strongly disagree. First of all, if you have a good idea, everyone does it now. They don't wait till the economy changes. If you have an idea for the next big social networking site, you're not going to wait for the recession to be over.

Companies don't stop spending on R&D for new products. The economy has been severely bad since '08. Apple, to give an example, has introduced its best product to date in the midst of a bad economy. Drug companies will still spend on R&D. They weren't going to wait for things to get better thinking people can't afford their product because of the economy. Movie studios and record labels still make blockbuster movies and sign artists and release albums in this economy. Americans have always been entrepreneurial no matter the ecoonmy. People were still inventing things and placing patents during the Great Depression.

The present economy is secondary, sometimes tertiary or even not given a tought to enrepreneurs or a person with a good idea.

[Privateer]

[visitorq]

[young_clinton]

[jvalmer]