Rich Guilt Part 2 : Warren Buffett On Another Guilt Trip
The Warren Buffett Way — How To Feign Rich Guilt
Warren Buffett might be the third richest person in the world, but he is in first place when it comes to feigned rich guilt. Warren Buffett’s latest attempt at positive public relations frankly comes across as a cheap political lobbying campaign. The TimesOnline gives Buffett a positive PR punch:
Buffett blasts system that lets him pay less tax than secretary
Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser in New York for Senator Hillary Clinton, Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52 billion (£26 billion), said: “The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”
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. (TimesOnline)
Luckiest 1%, I would hope that making great business decisions and smart investments is a little more than luck. Alright Warren Buffett I will pause for a moment to think about the other 99%….. Alright I thought about them, can you please spare me the rich guilt now?
Warren also wants you to know that he didn’t try to avoid higher taxes. Just for that you get a golf clap Warren. I believe he missed my previous post where I proposed a simple solution for his overwhelming guilt, simply donate the amount of your wealth that would alleviate your crushing rich guilt to the IRS.
Is Warren Buffett considering the Vice President position?
Mr. Buffett couldn’t leave it at that, he just had to go political:
Mr Buffett…said that he was a Democrat because Republicans are more likely to think: “I’m making $80 million a year – God must have intended me to have a lower tax rate.”
Mr. Buffett sounds just like a Democratic Vice Presidential contender. Maybe Hillary will put him on the short list. Mr. Buffett knows very well that the rich usually do not pay taxes no matter what the rate is. This is class warfare plain and simple. Here is how it works in the world you’re fully aware of Warren:
- company X makes product
- citizen X buys product
- government taxes profit on company X
- company X raises price of product to offset the loss because of taxes
- citizen X buys more expensive product in effect paying company X’s corporate taxes
- company X claims every deduction it can so it appears to make less of a profit so government cannot steal it’s corporate gains.
Warren Buffett talks about stifling opportunity and motivation? The best way to do that is to tax the wealthy more. Being wealthy should come with perks — like paying less in taxes — this creates a huge incentive and increases motivation for people to make better financial decisions that can put them into the wealthiest 1%.
Warren Buffett the modern day Robin Hood
His final proposal is one of the most laughable ideas I have ever heard:
He said: “You could take that $30 billion and give $1,000 to 30 million poor families. Or should you favour the 12,000 estates and make 30 million families pay an extra $1,000?
Looks like Mr. Buffet wants modern day Robin Hood inscribed on his tombstone. Sorry to ruin your feigned fantasy but Robin Hood was a thief and his story is one of the leading causes of poverty in the world today. Teaching poor people to expect handouts is a one-way ticket to remain in poor town. Give a person a dollar because they claim they need it and they will learn to do less and need more, teach a person to earn and make a dollar and they will be well on their way to financial freedom.
Rich Guilt Part 1 : NYT Prints Warren Buffett’s Guilt Trip
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Roberto
There’s a lack of basic economic understanding in this post. If you had ever taken Economics 101, you’d know that ALL taxes are shared equally between producers and consumers.
Also isn’t the massive increase in disposable income more than enough incentive for people to attain wealth, without a reliance on decreased tax rate?
June 28th, 2007 at 4:24 pmBlue
I could have sworn Buffett earmarked most of his wealth to charity…. Wasn’t it the Gates Foundation?
Anyway, I think he’s dead-on right. I think he has the right and credibility to call upon others to consider the least fortunate among us. Putting others before oneself is the Christian thing to do.
It is possible to be both wealthy AND valiant/giving/honorable at the same time without being labeled a hypocrite.
That’s like calling Al Gore a hypocrite for driving an SUV while calling for national action on global warming. If that’s the kind of sad defensive logic we’re going to use to measure hypocrisy in the face of the big problems facing us in America, then every single one of us here is a hypocrite.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:20 pmWild Bill
Roberto - Are you kidding when you say
Maybe in some other universe in the gamma quadrant. If the massive increase in disposable income was enough of an incentive then there would be many more people trying to achieve financial freedom.
Speaking from personal experience one of the major reasons I do not have a 9-5 job is because I can not stand to have money stolen from my check before I even get to cash that check. I know for a fact if income taxes were done away with I would be another person working in this country. Don’t get me wrong I do work, but instead of being a slave for 50% money I am an entrepreneur. The pay off is much greater even if the pay is not close to what I used to make when I was miserable in the employee world.
Blue - Warren can do anything he wants with his money and can make any statements he would like. Unfortunately if you believe the message he is putting out now then he has succeeded in finding his target audience. He only said what he said for better PR. Warren knows the way to help those less fortunate (in the long run) is to help teach them to be financially free. Instead of helping people Warren is proposing turning them into slaves needing handouts to survive. I wouldn’t call that the Christian way.
Yes it is possible to be wealthy and “valiant/giving/honorable”, but that is not what Mr. Buffett is trying to do. He is pandering to the class warfare community and telling them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
I beg to differ, ever single one of us here are not hypocrites.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:59 pm