Warren Buffett Says "Tax the Rich More"

[dongkong]

First off, I am definitely not 'Keynesian', I happen to work for a major Canadian bank. I agree that taxing alone will not reduce or eliminate the deficit, but neither will cutting alone, it will be a combination of the two. In Canada, the average tax rate (it varies from province to province) for the those in the highest tax bracket is 32%, much higher than in the U.S. Being one of those in the highest bracket I can safely say that we are not taxed unfairly.
What do you mean freeze at the current levels? The current levels are already deficit spending.
Greece would be the worst example to use, they have (or had) social programs that were down right idiotic (ie - pension programs that paid out 100% of salary in a lot of cases) and had to make major spending cuts. Instead of arguing why there need to be taxes, I'd love for you to tell us where to make major cuts in spending....education, Social Security, MediCare? How about all those old people that keep insisting on getting government money? Should you just cut those crazy socialists off?

No your not a "keynesian" , well could have fooled me. The canadian economy and the US economy are a bit different, wouldnt you agree. To be honest with you my solution would be to simpilify the tax system and eliminate all the loopholes. Then to introduce a flat tax rate of 25% for everyone. THat includes the close to 50% of the American population that pays absolutly no fed income taxes. I do believe that everyone needs to have skin in the game.

What do i mean by freeze at the current levels? Well its simple really, you take the baseline budgeting for year 2011 and you freeze spending at that level. While it is still deficit spending, what is does is stop the bleeding. That is what i mean by freezing at current levels.

Well Greece's financal moves is really not my ponit. My point is about how cutting is political suicide. The fact of the matter is that each and every program instituted by govt is "the most important" program according to those that run that program and those that benefit from that program. Bottom line is that there is no easy way to Cut. Which is why you have to make cuts across the board. YOu have to made changes to Social security, you have to made changes to medicare, you have to cut with the department of education etc.

 

[Hot Mega]

No your not a "keynesian" , well could have fooled me. The canadian economy and the US economy are a bit different, wouldnt you agree. To be honest with you my solution would be to simpilify the tax system and eliminate all the loopholes. Then to introduce a flat tax rate of 25% for everyone. THat includes the close to 50% of the American population that pays absolutly no fed income taxes. I do believe that everyone needs to have skin in the game.

Jon Stewart has an interesting take. For those of you interested but haven't seen it....the two videos. (I wish there were youthubes :cussing

(Video 2 addresses the underlined above "skin in the game" talking point.)
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/08/jon-stewart-has-had-it-how-fox-talks-about-class-warfare/41474/

 

[MeWantie]

Way too many people react like Pavlov's Dog to keywords. We had this in other threads

Czar, Socialist, Elite, Nazi, ...

Add 'Marxist Economist'

It does not matter if you are left, right, middle, whatever, you either have the numbers right, or you have the numbers wrong :2 cents:

Do the top, let's say 5% get extreme tax breaks?

Let us listen to some pros on this...



:2 cents:

I really hope you're being sarcastic about the video. In early 2008 Ben Stein said that the subprime mortgage fiasco would have little effect on the nation's economy.

 

[abrogate]

I really hope you're being sarcastic about the video. In early 2008 Ben Stein said that the subprime mortgage fiasco would have little effect on the nation's economy.

Even the phrase "Tax the Rich" is political spin.

 

[Facetious]

Instead of people just giving in and joining the military while we pay billions of dollars on these worthless wars what if no one would inlist? Maybe then not only the people but the government could contribute their time/funds to our country progressing and not some other one that doesnt even want us there.. :2 cents:

What about those not so worthless wars that should come up, wouldn't you want a well prepared military infrastructure in place, or would you prefer to draft a bunch of idealistic anti war kids who would scream, ''mummy.... oh mummy!'' before the action ak47 even begins?

Also, define ''progressing"... this doesn't include the expansion of city, county, state and federal governments at the expense of the private sector... does it?

 

[Facetious]

Forgive me if I am wrong, but aren't regular taxes in the States relatively low compared to other countries in the world? How are you going to reduce your deficit without raising taxes?

I'm certain that we can do some trimming.... Let's start with the A's, shall we?

Hey, it's a good starting point. :dunno:
The next question is, ''what are all of those former govt. employees going to do now after they've been laid off?''

''Out of necessity comes invention''

 

[Hot Mega]

Forgive me if I am wrong, but aren't regular taxes in the States relatively low compared to other countries in the world? How are you going to reduce your deficit without raising taxes?

You're correct. The marginal tax rates in the US are the lowest of any developed country.

But but...the problem with our fiscal problems are the poor people still have some of their skin...or aren't putting any 'skin in the game'.

Jon Stewart claims according to the census...poor is classified as a family of 4 making $22K a year. :dunno: Why not tax the $22K a family of 4 makes at 25 pct.

After all, the poor in the US are not what they use to be...:bang: 99.6 pct. of them have refrigerators.:eek:

('You food chillin' mutherfuckers! How DARE you?!??!?':cussing

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

And his company owes the IRS:

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&...gc.r_pw.&fp=e095642267568bf6&biw=1024&bih=673

What a senile old prune.

 

[Hypergalaxy]

What about those not so worthless wars that should come up, wouldn't you want a well prepared military infrastructure in place, or would you prefer to draft a bunch of idealistic anti war kids who would scream, ''mummy.... oh mummy!'' before the action ak47 even begins?

Also, define ''progressing"... this doesn't include the expansion of city, county, state and federal governments at the expense of the private sector... does it?

I got no problem with people fighting wars that need to be fought but that hasnt happened in over 30 years. Doesn't mean that we should just pick random countries in the mean time to attack so they can all practice killing people.

 

[Rey C.]

IMO, Buffett is correct. You can buy into any religion or set of political beliefs that you want to. Drink the kool-aid until it makes you vomit. But math has no favorites. And if the deficit is really as important an issue as some claim it is, the only way to eliminate (not just reduce) the deficit is with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases (taxes, fees, etc.). One or the other will not do it. No matter how long you work on it, you will never get 2+2 to equal 22. You don't want to raise taxes (especially during a time of recession or weak growth) to the point that you stagnate the economy. But an incremental increase, or series of increases, would at least begin taking us in the right direction. By the same token, deep spending cuts in a time of recession or weak growth is equally foolish. If you cut the budget and then lay off 50K government workers, it might make you feel good and it might be (eventually) the right thing to do. But it is going to necessarily increase the number of unemployed people. Duh!!!

BTW, under the right circumstances and applied properly, supply side economics does work. Though $1 of tax cuts does not necessarily equal $1 of tax revenue or even $1 of growth. But the situation we have now is a demand side problem. Too many people (who don't understand or don't want to understand economics vs. actual business practices) seem to think that business decisions revolve around tax policies. Tax policies do influence business decisions. But labor costs and demand are the two biggest drivers in most business decisions.

For instance, let's say we cut the income tax rate for builders to 0% (you can't get much more supply side than that). Would that cause builders to run out, hire sub contractors and laborers and build loads of houses? No! Why not? Because there is a lack of demand and an oversupply of housing in most of the U.S. already. We have a demand (and financing) problem. So unless there is demand, businesses aren't as concerned with tax policy... since taxes are only paid if you have profits. If you have little to no demand, you'll probably be generating losses... and with losses, tax policy (carry forwards aside) doesn't affect you one way or the other, now does it?

 

[Hot Mega]

IMO, Buffett is correct. You can buy into any religion or set of political beliefs that you want to. Drink the kook-aid until it makes you vomit. But math has no favorites.

Consider this as an analogy.

I was sitting in a food and beverage establishment once. One male went into the men's restroom (which services one at a time). Apparently he was emptying himself of yesterday's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Eventually a small line formed consisting of 3 men...Now I watch this for a second. I ed then got up as a lark and went into the lady's restroom, washed my hands and came out. As I left I asked one of the men waiting if the lady's restroom went to a different sewer system or something.

Needless to say the epiphany hit them like a bolt of lightening and they each went in a took care of their business in the lady's restroom while the other continued make his deposit in the other one.

Point, group think and blind indoctrination is a much more powerful control tool than individual common sense.:2 cents:

 

[adeptblue]

Some good ideas here. I'm sure we could figure out what to do with taxes if we got into a room. At the end of the day, I'd be willing to bet that the people who posted in topic could come to agreement with a tax plan that works. That is my opinion any way.

The people who we have elected in Washington D.C. on the other hand are driven by their base and IMO will continue to push the same line and not sincerely drive towards a workable solution.

 

[Hot Mega]

.

Nice sketch....looks a little like me when I was younger.

 

[adeptblue]

Nice sketch....looks a little like me when I was younger.

lol

Not a yawn at the posters here...a yawn for same ol' politics.