Warren Buffet: "Stop coddling the rich."

Just watched last Thursday's episode of The Daily Show.

Warren Buffet said something along the lines of "the United States should stop coddling the rich," and Fox News responded by saying that Warren is being crazy and that instead of raising taxes on the rich we should raise taxes on the poor.

Jesus fucking Christ, how the fuck do these people at Fox News ever gain so much support?

edited 4th Sep '11 6:00:59 PM by Zennistrad

...remind me who Warren Buffet is, again. The name is familiar...

Either way, stupid idea is stupid. The poor don't make enough money to even make a difference, if I wanted to raise taxes on them. Why would we bother. It would have at least made slightly more logical sense if they'd said the middle class, but since that's their primary viewership demographic...

Warren Buffet (I spelled his last name wrong in the title, it seems) is a rather famous billionaire. He's one of the wealthiest people in the world, so this is quite a statement coming from him.

Someone ought to convince Buffet to run for president. I'd vote for him.

Buffett is the second or third wealthiest man. And I live within walking distance of his mansion. He apparently got rich by using the stock market extremely well or something. He's very smart about how business can be run ethically and well at the same time, rather than running them by hosing the workers.

I'll take Mr. Buffet's "advice" under advisement. I'll take it seriously when he himself pays up on taxes instead of advocates for everybody else. Set an example will ya Mr. Buffet? There's a direct line to make a donation to the US Treasury with explicit instructions to use it directly to pay down the national debt. Legally it cannot be touched by Congress and legally the Treasury has to honor it.

@Tom: the way the Tax Code is structured...you either avoid a bunch of taxes or you pay all of them. There really isn't a middle ground. And while I'll agree that yes, Buffet making a donation to the Treasury would give his argument a bit more weight, that's a little extreme.

From what I can gather (having followed this situation for a bit now), what he wants is for it to be easier for everyone to pay their fair share...very much including the rich, who have an easy time avoiding doing so. I can't really fault this logic.

edited 4th Sep '11 6:23:28 PM by drunkscriblerian

We're too steeped in ideology, now.

That said, Warren probably wouldn't be so bold if he weren't already richer than god. He's already got his dynasty squared away.

fog@Hey,Hey in God's kingdom the gold is considered cement believe me all of Warren Buffer's riches are nothing.

On Topic:It could be a combination of strawman has a point and put your money where your mouth is.

He's repeatedly lamented that his maid pays a larger share of her salary than what he pays of his.

^ And yet he won't voluntarily pay up to make his point actually not look like the worst kind of hypocrite.

That's why his message is politically going to fall on deaf ears.

Before we start slinging accusations of hypocrisy around, do we actually have any sources on how much Buffet pays in taxes and/or what sort of contributions he makes with his money?

Assuming he did volunteer his money, no doubt we'd be hearing arguments about how the rich shouldn't pay taxes if they don't want to.

@Raven: From what I've read of his problem, it's hard for him to pay his fair share without paying a disproportionate share. As I said earlier, the way the Tax Code is you either pay all the taxes or skip out on all the taxes. There isn't much of a middle ground. And if that's his beef, I can't fault it.

Again, I'd vote for the guy if he ran for office.

"Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent. Mr Buffett told his audience, which included John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, and Alan Patricof, the founder of the US branch of Apax Partners, that US government policy had accentuated a disparity of wealth that hurt the economy by stifling opportunity and motivation."

From the Sunday Times

Tu Quoque argument, Tom.

Tom: Is he or is he not correct that the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes?

@Tom.

Actually Mr Buffet is giving away half his fortune to charity and has donate millions of dollars to the U.S goverment. (ironically all that will get him a lot of tax exemptions). He also was kind enough to privately bail out some banks (which earn him alot of money which shows that Obama should have just nationalize them and then sold them)

But what he is basically saying is that he pays lower taxes than his secretary.

FOX NEWS:

750 billion dollars in taxes for the rich! T Hats nothing! That wont solve the problem! Is not worth doing!

On National Endowment for the Arts and NPR which cost the federal goverment about 6 millions dollars: WE MOST CUUUUUUUUUUUUUT OR THE COMMUNIST WILL EAT YOUR BRAAAAIIIIINNN

edited 4th Sep '11 7:22:03 PM by Baff

Wow, I always kind of thought Warren Buffet was some kind of musician....

But yeah, poor reaction on Fox's part.

Anyway, if the rich are require to pay a lesser percentage of their wages than those who make less, then there's something wrong with our tax code. (I am assuming that Mr. Buffet pays his taxes and pays what he is currently legally required.) Tom, I don't see how thinking the tax laws need to be updated requires that Mr. Buffet make a "donation" to the US Treasury. He sounds like a man who will pay what he's legally required too, and believes that what he's legally required to should be changed to something higher.

Which is a weird position for someone so wealthy. Guess some people still believe in fair play.

You're thinking of Jimmy Buffett.

In any case, I saw an article on this a bit ago and I still would like to applaud him for taking the time to talk about this from his perspective. It's somewhat refreshing to see after all the reports about rich people and corps getting all their taxes back from the government.

Warren Buffet gives a lot of money to charity, Tom, whereas if he voluntarily donates it to the government, it can legally only be used to relieve national debt. What he is doing it volunteering to accept a greater degree of taxation, which will be spent on actual government projects, while advocating that other wealthy people step up to the same. It's not as if he's shown any reluctance to put his wealth to philanthropic use.

Johnnyfog, you win forever for that avatar.

I'm going to call Don't Shoot the Message here...

What a socialist.

@Ace of Spades: Ever heard of Jimmy Buffet?

Drunk Girlfriend already mentioned that, Kino. Stupid names sounding the same. <_<