Billionaire investor Warren Buffet has long been outspoken in his belief that the rich in American need to pay their fair share in the way of taxes. While a majority of Americans would agree with Buffet, it’s not something that many of our leaders in Washington seem willing to bring up, let alone champion. As we’re seeing play out right now with regard to the Bush tax cuts for the super-wealthy, which are set to expire at the end of the year, very few of our leaders seem willing to say the obvious, which is that we cannot afford them. (Furthermore, they did not spur the economy forward, as Bush had told us that they would.) Instead, we’re hearing signals from the White House that they might be willing to consider a compromise of some sort, like extending the tax breaks for the wealthy another two years. If Obama doesn’t, we’re told, he runs the risk of offending the Republicans, who, in retribution, likely wouldn’t allow for middle class tax relief legislation to move forward. (For all their talk of how important it is for us to cut our deficit, the Republican members of Congress seem a lot more concerned about preserving tax breaks for the wealthy. But, I guess that makes sense, as they’re the ones who fund political campaigns and host fundraisers.)
But, in spite of this lock-step march toward Plutocracy, Buffet, and other high net worth individuals, like Bill Gates Sr., keep pushing back – trying to find a ways, whether it be through the reinstatement of the estate tax, or the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, to keep a level American playing field. And, the good news is, they’re attracting other millionaires to their cause.
A few days ago, an organization calling itself Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength announced its existence. The organization’s 40-some members, on their website, made the following suggestion to Obama.
You’ll notice that they moved the income threshold from $250,000 per year to $1,000,000, but the important thing, at least to me, is that wealthy Americans are getting involved in the conversation, admitting that they need to do more, and framing the debate in terms of patriotism. I’d have to look at the numbers and see what moving the bar from $250,000 to $1,000,000 would mean in terms of lost revenue, but, given the choice between extending the tax cut for everyone, and extending it for just those making under one million dollars a year, I’d rather go with the latter. Hopefully, however, we can do a better job of compromising, and get it closer to $500,000. (note: over 375,000 Americans make over $1,000,000 annually.)
As for Buffet, he’s hitting the press this week. Here he is with Christiane Amanpour.
And, here’s a bit of the transcript from Talking Points Memo:
…”If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett told ABC News in an interview set to air later this week. “But I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”
“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on,” Buffett said in the clip from ABC News’ “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.”
So, is Buffet right – are you beginning to catch on?
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I thought that you might be interested in this article from TruthOut as well… Here’s a clip:
Unfortunately, they don’t talk about this kind of stuff on Fox News.
Did you happen to catch these facts on the Patriotic Millionaires site?
It’s amazing that we’re fighting over 1.5%. They should be thankful we’re not rioting for another 20%.
One more for you.
From:
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/the-tragedy-of-how-the-richer-made-us-poorer/1135142
Why do you think John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are so intent on renewing the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans when they know it will bust another $700 billion hole in our national treasury over 10 years and prove their hypocrisy on fiscal responsibility?
It’s because cutting taxes for the richest Americans is the GOP’s No. 1 job. Nothing else comes close to being that important, despite the campaign rhetoric of these leading Republicans. Not reducing the deficit, not supporting the troops, not cutting taxes for the middle class, not outlawing abortion, not even, dare I say it, protecting gun rights. Boehner and McConnell are the four-star mercenary generals in a war launched by America’s corporate interests and superrich. This is what they were hired to do.
A new, amazing book explains. In Winner-Take-All Politics, How Washington Made the Rich Richer — And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, political scientists Jacob Hacker of Yale and Paul Pierson of the University of California, Berkeley, detail the operational battle plan that the superrich have been implementing for the last 30 years. With piles of cash, they’ve built an army of beholden politicians, Republicans as well as Democrats, and an array of conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute to seed ideas and feed the public their arguments.
The agenda is simple: reduce taxes for the superrich while watering down or defeating regulation that might make the economy operate more fairly. This involves methodically stripping labor and the middle class of its political power…
they cannot let Obama make good on his campaign promise…the millionaires will win and pay for it with our social security, our own retirement dollars will pay for this hole. the black hole of the last 10 years of war.
It’s a shame that this isn’t getting a fraction of the media attention that the TSA’s pat downs are getting.
Do people know this?
I can’t believe we’re fighting over 1.5%. Why have the Dems set their sites on a return to 36.5%? Why is that the ceiling? Why not push for 40% and settle for 37.5% Why are we so fucking timid? Where are the voices of people demanding 50%? Do they even exist anymore?
Bloomberg is covering it today:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-21/warren-buffett-tells-abc-rich-people-should-pay-more-in-taxes.html
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[…] add that not all wealthy Americans are blind to the risk that comes with severe wealth inequality. Bill Gates Sr., Warren Buffet and a few other billionaires have come out over the past several years…. They know that stability is important, and, more importantly, they know that they couldn’t […]