Warren Buffett - "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich" - Page 27

On August 18 2011 00:03 Equity213 wrote:
Accounting standards in the developed world are very stringent,

On August 17 2011 23:21 Haemonculus wrote:

Where the hell do you live? 80k? Most teachers make roughly half that. They also furnish their classrooms out of their own pocket. My cousin teaches 4th grade at a public school in a very rich/yuppie part of town. The PTA gave her... $80 to spend on classroom supplies. Everything else, pencils, markers, books, crayons, cleaning supplies, posters, games, paper (for 30 kids), etc, she has to buy herself. Ever wonder why your teachers in elementary school were so stingy about not mistreating crayons? Because when you break them, *she* has to go buy new ones. She's also making a fraction of that 80k you're talking about, and puts in a LOT of hours. I'm honestly rather offended that you'd insinuate that teachers are overpaid.

On August 18 2011 01:25 tiffany wrote:

right, the task at hand is to reduce the deficit, not pay off the debt. actually paying off the debt lost feasibility well before current times (taking a guess here but i'd say probably after the new deal or around the vietnam war)

On August 18 2011 01:45 akalarry wrote:


note my last sentence. i didn't insinuate anything. my sister was a public school teacher in los angeles for 2 years. she's told me enough about the situation. not so much the money she earns (which was exactly what you said), but rather how the underprivileged children and bad parenting will never allow them to even graduate high school.

also we had to buy our own crayons (just a fun anecdote, not to show our school was poor)
most ppl had this:

we were so jealous when some kids had these

On August 18 2011 02:01 leveller wrote:
So there are people out there who think its a bad idea to make multi-gabillionaires pay a little more taxes to help out everyone? I dont see why americans hate their governement, where is your compassion for your fellow man? Some people act like they would rather let poor people starve to death in a ditch than each chip in and help out. Look at yourselves monsters.

On August 17 2011 23:33 Tien wrote:
Haemonculus

I defend the rich because I have zero faith in how the government spends and wastes money.

It isn't the rich's fault America's public debt is at 100% of GDP.

On August 17 2011 23:49 Rassy wrote:
and full agree on the comment about silly people who dont trust the government but do trust big international cooperations (who in the end run the government) to do "the right thing"
LOL

On August 18 2011 02:01 leveller wrote:
So there are people out there who think its a bad idea to make multi-gabillionaires pay a little more taxes to help out everyone? I dont see why americans hate their governement, where is your compassion for your fellow man? Some people act like they would rather let poor people starve to death in a ditch than each chip in and help out. Look at yourselves monsters.

On August 18 2011 02:13 Darksteel wrote:
Surely it weren't the poor people who ran the economy and ruined the stock market. The rich people are usually rich because they are high up in the society, thus having considerable influence on politics and economy.

They could have used their socio-economic influence to guide your country to better path. Not to suggest politicians are corrupt, but I think its pretty clear they receive campaign money, endorsements etc from rich and influencial people, thus giving said people influence on who has better chance to get elected etc.

On August 17 2011 23:54 thebigdonkey wrote:


I haven't seen anyone argue that spending isn't the problem. It has been the problem for a decade now, everyone agrees on that, thus it's largely irrelevant to this discussion. The issue is somehow, during that time we were cutting taxes when we shouldn't have been. Nobody is proposing that any increased revenues simply be dumped back into more wasteful spending, I think all of us just want to start filling in the debt hole we've dug ourselves. In the near future, if our politicians have half a brain, taxes will be rising on almost every group. All I'd like to see is a reevaluation of how the wealthiest are taxed.

On August 18 2011 02:19 TanGeng wrote:


It's as funny as the people scared of big corporations but fully trust the wholly owned and influenced federal government...

On August 17 2011 23:49 Rassy wrote:
and full agree on the comment about silly people who dont trust the government but do trust big international cooperations (who in the end run the government) to do "the right thing"
LOL

On August 18 2011 02:23 Iodem wrote:


In the US, there's a bit of a belief that people deserve to keep what they have earned.

The top 1% already pay 22% of all federal taxes, so the argument is somewhat to related to how much 'their fair share' should be.

But the other issue is that some corporations game the system through regulations in the tax code and pay little to nothing in taxes. So in some cases, increasing tax rates really won't do much. The US Tax code needs to be reformed if you want a significant revenue increase.



If we hadn't acted like corporatists and socialized the losses and let them fail on their own, we would've been better off in the long run.

On August 18 2011 02:31 BlackFlag wrote:


How much of the wealth do the top 5-10% own? 50%? 75%? (I don't want to look it up right now) So it would only be sensible if the pay taxes accordingly.

On August 18 2011 02:01 leveller wrote:
So there are people out there who think its a bad idea to make multi-gabillionaires pay a little more taxes to help out everyone? I dont see why americans hate their governement, where is your compassion for your fellow man? Some people act like they would rather let poor people starve to death in a ditch than each chip in and help out. Look at yourselves monsters.

On August 18 2011 02:29 Tien wrote:


You think large unions and pension funds don't bribe the government?

Where do you think the democratic party gets most of their funding from?

Definitely not the rich corporations.

Government is bribed by both sides.