Warren Buffett: ‘Stop Coddling the Super-Rich’
Photo: Mark Hirschey (CC)
Billionaire Buffett sounds off in the New York Times:
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.
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…
Warren Buffett: ‘We’re Still In A Recession’
The Oracle of Omaha says what all of us know, no matter what the government says: WE ARE STILL IN A RECESSION! He adds, “We’re not gonna be out of it for awhile.”
Billionaires Donate Half Their Wealth To Charity
Ever wonder what billionaires do with all their money while the nation is struggling in debt? Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched The Giving Pledge earlier this year, beginning this expensive trend. NBC reports:
More than three dozen of America’s wealthiest individuals and families have joined Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in agreeing to give away at least half their fortunes to charity.
The announcement was made Wednesday by The Giving Pledge, an effort officially launched by Gates and Buffett earlier this year to persuade the richest people in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice, either during their lifetime or after their death.
In addition to Buffett and Gates — America’s two wealthiest individuals, with a combined net worth of $90 million, according to Forbes — 38 other billionaires are taking the give-it-away pledge. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive…
Basically, It’s Over: A Parable About How One Nation Came To Financial Ruin
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s less famous but no less capable colleague at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, makes some ominous predictions for 2012 (albeit in the form of a modern-day parable), and this time there’s nothing sketchy about the science. Be afraid, people. His parable appears in Slate:
In the early 1700s, Europeans discovered in the Pacific Ocean a large, unpopulated island with a temperate climate, rich in all nature’s bounty except coal, oil, and natural gas. Reflecting its lack of civilization, they named this island “Basicland.”
The Europeans rapidly repopulated Basicland, creating a new nation. They installed a system of government like that of the early United States. There was much encouragement of trade, and no internal tariff or other impediment to such trade. Property rights were greatly respected and strongly enforced. The banking system was simple. It adapted to a national ethos that sought to provide a sound currency, efficient…
