OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.Read Buffett's entire splendid opinion piece. Will Congress pay attention? Will the Tea Party folks realize they are getting screwed? I'm not optimistic.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
....
I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.
H/T to Padre Mickey on Facebook.
To answer your last question, where in the Bible is that bit about "woe to those who have eyes but see not, and ears but hear not" - ?
ReplyDeleteGreat article by Buffett, though.
Russ, I don't get it. I really don't. How can so many people demand policies that are not in their own self-interest?
ReplyDeleteThat is GREAT. God bless him.
ReplyDeleteWish Mr. Buffet would address Congress, esp. the House.....
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, Mimi
nij
Eh, Buffett is dismissed as a Limousine Liberal (I know, I know: how "limousine" is freakin' *Omaha*, anyway?)
ReplyDeleteIf Buffett were ever to reach his fellow plutocrats, it would have to be In The Club, not via the NYT. (Nice try though)
I thank Buffet for his words. They will be quoted on the campaign trail time and time again. The words may not play well amongst the plutocrats, but they may play well to voters.
ReplyDeleteCome on Warren Buffett!! Who appears to have managed to hold on to being a fully paid-up human being despite having made insane amounts of cash.
ReplyDeleteNow I wish the people in power would actually listen to him!
ReplyDeleteRuss, I don't get it. I really don't. How can so many people demand policies that are not in their own self-interest?
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to realize that when I talk about your self-interest, I don't mean the same thing that you mean.
Which goes a long way to explaining why I think other people are not sensible, or sometimes even rational.
Cathy, yes. Buffett seems to remain human and still make tons of money for himself and his clients.
ReplyDeleteCiss B, to expect folks to actually listen to Buffett is to expect far too much of people.
Rmj, I see most people as rather selfish by nature. Only the true saints amongst us seem to consistently put others before themselves. What benefits will flow to the folks in the Tea Party if the rich are left out of the shared sacrifice?
Mimi, just to let you know, the linky linky to the NY Times does not seem to be working.
ReplyDeleteCathy, thanks. The link once worked. The dastardly newspapers sometimes change the link. It's fixed for now.
ReplyDelete