bayam on June 26, 2008 at 2:54 AM

.

I wish Econ 101 was a mandatory course for presidential candidates and members of congress.

duff65 on June 26, 2008 at 3:02 PM

.
…and for some HA posters…..

What I don’t understand about the wealthy Democrats like Buffet is that they know the Democrat’s tax policy is often dumb–like say capital gains taxes

Buffet is the greast investor of all time and simply understands how to work the system better than just about everyone in this country, including you. His credentials as a captialist are untouchable. Buffet understands that his and all companies decide to expand based on customer demand- not because of lower capital gains taxes. The empirical evidence of business activity during periods of low capital gains taxes back this up- there’s simply no link (no, the real estate boom that carried this economy didn’t result from low cap gains.) Do you really think you know more about the effect of capital gains on business growth than Warren Buffet? Give me a break.

One of the great frauds perpetrated on ‘conservative’ voters started when wealthy families like the Waltons- who didn’t earn a dime of their inherited wealth- started to donate heavily to politicans to overturn the ‘death tax’. Most conservatives took the sucker route and jumped on board despite reports from the CBO and other reliable sources that it would nearly bankrupt the country over time.

It doesn’t matter if the world’s greatest capitalists like Buffet and Gates rail in opposition to eliminating inheritance taxes- as if inheritance taxes somehow benefit them… What the hell do they know compared to the trust fund babies of Waltons and the Hiltons!

Now he appears to be deeply disappointed too.

The price of gasoline means nothing to him.
A higher tax rate is no skin off his a$$.
Your greatest worries are his entertainment.

Video: Warren Buffett knocks Obama over windfall profits tax on oil

Barack Hussein OBummer is your typical, classical tax the crap out of you democrat. But if I were him, I’d tread carefully on his misplaced threat. There’s nothing saying that when it becomes less profitable to deliver oil to the United States, that these companies that the Bummer wants to tax into submission, are compelled to stay here. We could all end up walking, with fuel-less cars parked. Expect it with this typical nit-wit in the white house!

Warren Buffett rocks. He is an American treasure whether you agree with him or not. I wish I could be his buddy just to hear what he thinks.

ThackerAgency on June 25, 2008 at 5:45 PM

Well, it is College World Series time – and after that’s over, the Omaha Royals will be back to a regular schedule. Just head on to the big O on the Mo, drive on down 13th street to Rosenblatt Stadium, walk up and buy yourself a ticket for a day game, and you could find yourself sitting right next to Warren.

Well, at least during the 80′s and early 90′s – Buffet was known to just show up at the stadium, walk up to the box office and buy himself a ticket, then sit back and watch the game with everybody else.

He’s probably still living in the same Ranch home near 72nd Street that he and his wife bought back in the 60′s.

Amazing guy.

So he wants to create a tax to give people money to pay the tax.

Odd as it sounds to say about a billionaire – this makes him an idiot in my book.

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands
If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane….

It’s still good to know that even a liberal like Buffett thinks Obama is going too far in his confiscatory taxes. That says a lot.

Warren Buffett knocks Obama over windfall profits tax on oil. Liberal, Obama supporter, capitalist.

You can add “racist” to that list now that Buffet obviously does not understand the Hope and Change ™ that is President Obama.

Consider this Obama’s answer to McCain’s gas tax holiday: Foolish economically, but too politically appealing to pass up.

The difference between the two gestures is that McCain’s is merely feckless, while Obama’s is foreseeably, demonstrably, inevitably disastrous.

iurockhead on June 25, 2008 at 6:04 PM

Nyet. See above. The guy was completely sincere. His kids get sh!t when he croaks.

I just love his work, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Margaritaville.” He truly is a national treasure. )

ThePrez on June 25, 2008 at 5:49 PM

I’m proud to say that he attended my alma mater. For three quarters.

———————

Who knew that Warren was a racist?

“Consider this Obama’s answer to McCain’s gas tax holiday: Foolish economically, but too politically appealing to pass up.”

One minor difference is that McCain economic foolishness gives money back while Obama’s takes more.

I am a big fan of Bufffett’s investment strategy but remember that he is going to do and say what is in his best interest. The death tax, what does he care, he will be dead plus even if it was a 90% death tax, his kids would still be extremely wealthy.

AndrewsDad on June 25, 2008 at 5:51 PM

According to what he said at an event I attended, his kids get nothing. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. He’s got big issues with inherited wealth.

His investment philosophy is pretty simple and he comes off as a very humble guy but don’t kid yourself, the guy is a shark as the people of Gillette found out…

The death tax is awful. But people can go to their attorney and set up either a revocable or an irrevocable trust in which their estate can be organized to avoid the death tax.

maverick muse on June 25, 2008 at 5:55 PM

Sure, if they are tax law-savy and have the means to pay a good tax lawyer to set it up and maintain it. Buffet and Bill Gates and the like want the death tax to stay the way it is becasue they won’t pay it, they have all their assets in a taxproof fortress. It’s the small business owners, and people whose wealth is not suitable for a trust who pay through the teeth, which means the revenue rolls in from other peoples death taxes, not Warren’s.

Now, if the death tax were restructured such that there were effectively no shelters, and Buffet and Gates still support it when their estates will take the full hit, then my apologies to them.

Admittedly, silliness is often in the eye of the beholder. I don’t have a problem with inheritance taxes–which for reasons utterly mysterious to me seem to be a fetish of some on the right who aren’t children of the wealthy. I can’t think of anyone better to tax than wealthy dead people. I’d love to run a government off of just that, usage taxes, and natural resource extraction taxes.

(irrelevant factiod: Buffet’s daddy was the type of congressman some people here have wet dreams over. if you look at the D-NOMINATE data, he was so far to the right that he’s about off the map.)

Buy Danish on June 25, 2008 at 5:59 PM

Two T’s in Buffett, btw: Jimmy and Warren, who claim they are distantly related.