Bankrupt Buffett: Donate $50 Billion Toward Paying Down The US Debt
Everyone's favorite oracular-orifice-of-the-oval-office may perhaps have met his match (if not in real terms, in rhetoric) as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Warren Buffett call each other's bluff...again. As reported in Time's Swampland, the cantakerous Kentuckian said that if Buffett was feeling 'guilty' about paying too little in taxes, he should 'send in a check'. The flim-flam improves though, as Buffett mocks the 'Buffett Rule Act' that enables the rich to donate 'extra' money on their tax form as a "policy only a Republican could come up with" and then goes on to lay down the gauntlet, pledging to match one-for-one all such voluntary contributions made by Republican members of Congress. "I'll even go three for one for McConnell", Buffet pronounced (with a metaphorical white glove to McConnell's face) noting that he was not worried about the bill. So there it is, Republicans only have to donate $50 billion toward paying down debt to bankrupt Buffett.
Time Swampland: Warren Buffett Ready to Take Republicans’ Tax Challenge
Warren Buffett is ready to call Republicans’ tax bluff. Last fall, Senator Mitch McConnell said that if Buffett was feeling “guilty” about paying too little in taxes, he should “send in a check.” The jab was in response to Buffett’s August 2011 New York Times op-ed, which made hay of the fact that our tax system is so unbalanced that Buffett (worth about $45 billion) pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Senator John Thune promptly introduced the “Buffett Rule Act,” an option on tax forms that would allow the rich to donate more in taxes to help pay down the national debt. It was, as Buffett told me for this week’s TIME cover story, “A tax policy only a Republican could come up with.”
Still, he’s willing to take them up on it. “It restores my faith in human nature to think that there are people who have been around Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think that [the deficit] can’t be solved by voluntary contributions,” he says with a chuckle. So, Buffett has pledged to match one for one all such voluntary contributions made by Republican members of Congress. “And, I’ll even go three for one for McConnell.” That could be quite a bill if McConnell takes the challenge; after all, the Senator is worth at least $10 million. As Buffett put it to me: “I’m not worried.”
...
Buffett doesn’t want to hobble capitalism. He just wants to give it a heart.
...
When I ask whether Romney is a job creator or a job destroyer, Buffett says that while businesses shouldn’t have around people they don’t need, “I don’t like what private equity firms do in terms of taking out every dime they can and leveraging [companies] up so that they really aren’t equipped, in some cases, for the future.”
...
The article goes on to discuss why Buffett believes housing will bounce back, his views on China-US tensions, and why education can't solve all American's problems. Quite a set of prognostications but still we suspect Bufffett's fortune is safe (and perhaps even a single A-share of BRK will be enough to cover the Republican gambit).
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Buffett has lost his mind somewhere in his bathtub.
Buffet is a bastard!!!
-John
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190626526192&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Whatever reason people at ZH hate Buffett, he's still right about something being wrong with the system in that he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary.
And people here should be spending more time denouncing the greedy, corrupt fucks in Congress than Buffett.
He doesn't pay taxes at all, and then he says everyone else should pay more, that's what's wrong.
Yeap !
Buffet pays 35% tax through Birkshire Hathaway and a 15% tax on his dividends, so his taxes are actually pretty large. Anywho, even if Buffett, one of the richest guys in the world, donate his entire worth to the US, that would barely put a dent in the US budget problems. It goes to show that the US has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
TheSilverJournal.com
Don't hate the playas, hate the Game! Can 80,000+ pages of IRS regulations really be enough? </sarc>
yall dont get what he is saying.....
-It restores my faith in human nature to think that there are people who have been around Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think that [the deficit] can’t be solved by voluntary contributions-
What he is pissed about is that congress spent the time to write and vote on a bill to allow for people to voluntarily donate to reduce to deficit when we all know that is the most ignorant debt reduction idea they have thrown out there....not to mention the time they wasted dreaming up this just to spite Buffett when they should be working to figure out how to cut spending. Buffett knows it will take real reforms, spending cuts, and tax increases that will stall growth for decades to really tackle the problem.
Or not.....we could just keep coving the hole in the boat with more money while our elected officials acts like a monkey trying to fuck a football
"Buffett when they should be working to figure out how to cut spending"
Figure out how to cut spending...hmmm...? How difficult can that be, really? Is it difficult to "figure out" how to spend? Maybe the vast majority of government spending has no warrant under the constitution at all. But if that were done, that would mean that the US is a nation of law, not human caprice. Just saying...
I came to the party far too late (I was playing with my new AR Drone which I am contemplating as a remote controlled "perimeter security vehicle")...
But if you think I would have had something witty to say here just +1 as a bonus for the fact that I have confirmed: a quad copter is a quality solution to check what is outside the fence (I will be erecting).
And then -1 the fact that in a stiff wind its about as useful as a Eunuch stripper at a bridal shower.
It is very cool: http://youtu.be/aRDYdZxkXnQ ... and $300 but includes a forward and below camera and is controlled by an I-Pad or other such I-tool.
Bastards dont include replacement blades though ($6)...which you might need if you test fly at night...in 5 knots of down wind...in 18 degree weather...with scattered woodlands...and a problem with your LOFT...
Lack
Of
Fucking
Talent
I think his offer is a zero sum game?
It is Buffett who has informed Obama that taxing the "wealthy" a bit more will solve the budget problems. Obama repeats it about once a day in a speech. I've never head Buffett demand that Obama reduce spending, not one time. Increasing taxes will have no effect on debt level as the Dems have already promised to spend increasing amounts forever.
If the elected officials would simply stick to doing it to footballs it would be fine with me. Seeing what O'Banger is doing to criple the country is distressing. Buffett brayes but never pays. He has the trust funds set up so that the pols will not get to spend his wealth.
TheSilverJounrnal, You numb-skull, BRK doesn't pay dividends. BRK absorbs are dividends of the companies they own and keeps them.
and those dividends aren't taxed, at all.
Correct.
His end of life guilt trip, about his billion dollars in tax savings crisis...does not necessitate a tax increase emergency on mine or anyones part.
Choke it up Patriot Buffet!!! ;-)
As one ages, thinking about how you can justify yer existence before the throne of God occupies more of yer time. "Tis easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven."
"What does it profit a man to gain the whole World, yet lose his own soul?"
Alleviate some suffering: http://www.worldvision.org (arguably, the most efficient charity in existence!)
Theres a lot of things the ole boy could have done different. Everyone begins to think about this once they cross a certain age.
Some very much sooner than others. But rarely the projection of guilt the way he's trying to do it. But what was his position when the cap gains & div interest rate tax policies were being discussed and implemented?
The guys a joke.
Buffett is an outspoken supporter of the Federal Estate Tax. That sort of tax is immoral (imo). Buffett is an SOB for advocating it.
Buffet is disingenuous in his offer.. McConnell should demand that Buffet make his matching donation according to the ratio of his net worth or income to that of each member who takes him up on it. THen buffet would think twice before showing what a vainglorious populist pandering stupid ass he really is.
very good point, wish someone in congress would run with that
Fuck Buffet And Congress! Call both bluffs, strip salaries (and retirements) from the worthless POS congress and let Buffet match that. Just a thought...
nice. Even the guys in prison, fearing the maker, don't ask folks to match their goods.
An 8-K that Steve Madden, Ltd. (SHOO) filed January 9 – combined with a little rooting through the footnoted archives (home of this little gem from July, 2005) – brought to mind the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
In this case, the common theme is Steve Madden’s ever-expanding paycheck, thanks to a very long contract that assures him all kinds of new wealth, including raises of approximately $2 million each year. Yes, you read that correctly!
The new agreement, which is a confusingly-named exhibit attached to the 8-K, is entitled “Second Amendment to Third Amended Employment Agreement.” Like an impressively engineered platform sandal, that document raises Madden’s base salary to bold new heights. Back in 2005, shortly after Madden finished serving a 41-month sentence in a Florida federal prison for insider trading and stock fraud, Madden’s employment agreement at the time assured him a base salary of $600,000 and a 7% raise every other year as a cost of living adjustment. Contrast that with this new agreement, which – effective January 1, 2012 – gives Madden a new base salary of more than $5.41 million.
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The single-digit cost of living increases from 2005 are gone. In their place is a promise that Madden’s “base salary shall be adjusted annually as set forth on Exhibit B attached hereto and made a part hereof….” for the term of his employment agreement, which runs through December 31, 2023, one of the longest contracts we’ve ever seen in over 8 years of reading these things. And, as mentioned, Madden will get a raise of about $2 million each year. Regrettably, the table on Exhibit B won’t reproduce well into this web page; however, here are the numbers for Madden’s future base salary rates:
BASE SALARY
2013 $7,416,667
2014 $9,666,667
2015 $11,916,667
2016 – 2023 $10,697,917
In addition to also giving Madden an “Annual Cash Bonus” and a “New Business Bonus” (to be determined based on a percentage of earnings and revenues, respectively), the new agreement gives Madden restricted shares of stock worth $40 million.
And because one $40 million stock grant might not be enough for a guy, there’s also a section called an “Additional Restricted Shares Amendment” which gives Madden even more restricted shares of stock worth – you guessed it – another $40 million.
Finally, the new agreement touches on one other big topic. Back in 2007, Madden borrowed $3 million from the company in exchange for this Promissory Note (amended in 2009) that promised to repay the loan with 6% interest by June, 2015. The new amendment, though, indicates that the board is evidently in a forgiving mood, based on the following passage:
The company seems to be humming along at a good clip, with the stock price up almost 29% from a year ago (although sales are up in part because of the Cejon and Topline acquisitions that occurred in 2011). But for Madden himself, the raises are a bigger and bolder, kind of like the stratospheric-heeled shoes that some women wear (although how they walk in them, we’ll never know). We’ll leave it to investors to figure out the very important question that consumers with a penchant for heels also face: How high is “high enough”?
http://www.footnoted.com/my-big-fat-deal/sky-high-comp-for-steve-madden/
double
While I agree he needs to pay more in taxes, your premise is a bit misplaced if you think the Uncle is not greedy and corrupt.
No one should have to pay federal income taxes, not even WB. They are a 20th century invention whose time has past. End the IRS!
Failed experiment, time to end the personal income tax.
Thank you Captain Obvious, where would we be without yer insight?
You need to research all the arguments about what he does and doesn't pay before making comment.
If Buffet really cared about paying his fair share he would pay the back taxes Berkshire owes. He recently received a sweetheart deal courtesy of the taxpayer (us)!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-...
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/forbes-warren-buffetts-real-reason-taxes-...
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-09/wall_street/30497222_1_to...
can we stop it with this canard? deliberately conflating income taxes with capital gains taxes is ridiculous. Buffett of course pays a far, far higher tax rate on income than his secretary does. and of course capital gains taxes are lower than income taxes - because you're putting your money at risk, and all investment would crumble if the risk/reward ratio saw the reward denominator double or triple.
no income earners in this country show up to work every day only to find out they lost $100K at the end of the year.
plus, its even false that Buffett's capital gains rates are lower his secretary's income rates. Buffett's companies all have to pay the 35% corporate tax rate, and 7.5% FICA on every employee's salary - that's money taken out of his pocket before he even gets to distribute it.
Even if all of us schmucks were to donate $15 trillion to pay off the entire debt, the government will run up another $15 trillion of debt in 10 years since we are averaging $1.5 trillion deficit per year under Bojangles
How many congressmen/women and senators are not millionaires? I'm sure that would be an interesting statistic, anyone?
How many billionaires had congressional dads?
..." his [Warren Buffet's] father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress"
You mean, "the system" he lobbied very, very hard over a long, long period of time to create, of course.
Besides, big a tool as is Mitch McConnell he's perfectly correct about this - if WB thinks it's wrong that he pays a lower tax rate than does his secretary he can rectify that any time he wants by sending-in more of his loot. Greedy and corrupt as are the tools in CONgress, they're pikers compared to the Crony-Capitalist of Omaha, frankly.
If there were cosmic justice in the universe, Buffett would be a Walmart greeter in his dotage.
Here's an idea fer ya Warren buddy, how about for the next five years just take the standard deduction. No itemization. No Sched A. No buying 'o the tax reductions. Just the standard 11 5 thou for yourself and the missus and another 8 for the two exemptions. Skip the credits and misc deductions and pay the standard rate on your income minus the 20 grand. Good luck!
And that's how you can tell that the entire fucking system is fucked up. Because the above is about the response you could expect from an honest man, who just happened to be a US Senator when challenged by Mr. "I'm a self made billionaire who just happens to be the son of a senator with a silver spoon in my mouth and a trust fund" Buffett. Instead we get posturing over who cares more for the little guy.
So Buffett gets robbed er, taxed at a lower rate than his secretary. That's something to be proud of, not ashamed of.
As has been stated several times, folks like Buffett are lying when complaining about "unfair" tax rates. I've yet to hear Buffett, or any I'm-not-taxed-enough moron, advocate for lowering everyone's tax rates to Buffett's level. Instead the deficit - and its inevitable expansion - is raison d'etre for increased taxation. Where does the self-licking ice cream cone end?
Of course, what charlatans like Buffett really mean to say is, "we need a law requiring higher tax rates for everyone....one that is equal parts complex so as to allow me and my fascist friends to escape taxation of all kinds will exacerbating the burden of the unwashed masses."
The (obvious) trick here is implementing higher taxes using the kind, gentle face of a billionaire as a cover. Otherwise voluntary contributions would be made. What a ruse.
Shame on you Buffett.
$50 billion is chump change to congress. Pass the buffet billionaire tax bill, have Bernanke borrow the funds and snag some free Buffet Bucks.
Trickle down Reagonomics, life is good at the top. Ah ..... the good old days (the 80's) nailing anything that moved.
He is smelling his own farts in the tub. Can you imagine how many brain cells each sniff kills?
I will kick in a 10 spot
I'll take "Bankrupting Buffett" for $500 Alex.
Exactly! The RNC and every other American concerned about the deficit should send money to McConnell and take Warren Buffoon, er Buffett on his generous 3 to 1 offer. The US debt is not 15 trillion it is only 5 trillion and Buffoon owes the rest!
Any honest person would know the Pubs just got schooled again.
The RW vitriol at Buffet would be a lot less if he was wrong more than once in a great while.
McConnell's office already came out with a statement that they refuse to pay any more taxes.
Is Zero Hedge going to run an article on the Der Spiegel piece which calls out today's US Republican party? http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,800850,00.html
Are you Becky Quick or just a WB Cartoon. Sheesh.Even clowns don't use shit as lipstick.
Can't forgive the arithmetic error:
If everyone else contributes 5T, then Buffett will contribute 15T --> 20T
The real number is closer to 15 T / (1 + 3) = 3.75 T --> Buffett will contribute 11.25 T --> total 15 T
Buffet has become more of a political prostitute than an investor, these days.
What an ass.
That pork chop needs to be fed to the dogs because he's going rancid.
Buffet is the Jacob Marley of the 21st century; I can hear his chains rattling already.
"I wear the chain I forged in life..."
Wonderful imagery, Eb. Buffett is a singular and worthy reciprocal for Jacob Marley, Esq.
Buffet probably hears them rattling as well...
Jacob Marley was a saint compared to this evil MF'er from Omaha. He has just barely beaten the S&P over the past 5 and 10 years.
the first thing children learn on the multiplication table
0 x any number = 0
Yep. I was going to predict that this challenge would cost Buffet $1.86.
$1.09
I don't think Buffett learned anything past that.
Buffet should put up his Bank of America warrants. That should be easy for the Republicans to match
This is what Amerikan business and politics has become. I am convinced that 95% of the ONE PERCENTORS would have nothing if it were not for government fraud and fat cating. Take away the government milk and most of the 1% would be flat fucking broke. McConnell and Bath Tub Boy included.
That's the ultimate joke of our "meritocracy". Wealth in the post-industrial age and especially since the 1980s has been legislated and enshrined by policy. A caste has been formed which always runs to DC asking for handouts when things go bad
I'm a proud 1 percenter! I own my own business (17 years), and except for one consulting gig with the SEC (which I lost because of the ineptitude of the SEC attorney), I have neve sucked on the government "teat". In order to be so bitter, you must have a job and a boss.
Shhh don't interrupt the self loathing.
What a piece of werk you are, bitchin' about female 2nd-class Iranian/Arab citizens AND the lack of respect being shown to crony capitalists -- try thinking yer premises through to their logical conclusions -- you'll find some inconsistencies...
Fuck Buffet.
Warren needs to expand his challenge to include the donkey side of the aisle as well. While I'm no Buffett apologist, he deserves a green arrow for this thread at least.
Celebrating an inert, gaseous fool - only a job Becky Quick could love.
But let me start at the beginning of this tale of the Geezer .... Every economy/market is driven by people.
The rest of the World lost millions of value producing people (creating goods, services, taxes, etc) during WWII. The US economic miracle post-WWII was a function of being the only country with a base of people to drive the economy.
Buffet, to his credit, bought stocks of companies leveraged to this growing market and poised for oversees growth. He benefitted from the greatest peace time economic period in the history of the world. He was a buy and hold fuddy duddy and for that we celebrate an inert, gaseous fool. Huzzah.
+1000
This is the most objective evaluation I've seen so far of WB's life. You've given him credit where it's due, but you're not over doing it, and you're recognising the importance of luck as well.
Honestly I like his challenge to the Repubs - he called Mitch McConnell's bluff superbly.
Just like Andrew Carnegie endowed the Staten Island Ferry, and JD Rockefeller 'donated' a Cloister transported brick by brick from France, and JP Getty built a public museum, so too does Warren, Earl of Buffet bequeath his subjects something to remember him by.
This is why they are called "Nobles"!
Only they can discern beauty in a world afflicted by ugliness and stupidity.
I Love This Man! There should be statues....
Awesome.
heh
I volunteer to overfeed the pigeons.
Circus Maximus....bitchez
Exactly. This is all bullshit for the barely-politically-aware sheep to step in.
Meanwhile, the looting continues unabated.
Buffet doesn't care, he will die soon, all that money will go nowhere.
Buff Feet has done some good things. He has no relationship with the people that matter,
HIS CHILDREN! 2oo $ mean more to Warren Buffett , than the approval of his children!
Buffett is a tool of the Illuminatti
Actually, only 16.67 Billion. Donate it to McConnell, then he can make the donation for all. Buffet is another Limosine Liberal peice of shit like Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell.
No... Donate it to me.
I'll forawrd it to Senator McConnell.
It's the only sure means of adequate oversight.
Take the funds and purchase T-Bills -- then burn the lot of them in front of The Bernank!
"So there it is, Republicans only have to donate $50 billion toward paying down debt to bankrupt Buffett."
(Rummaging through the couch cushions mumbling)...this fucker already has preferred shares on my countrys full faith & credit anyways, so what the hell...I'm goin all in...lol.
It's a pleasure to " re- make " your aquaintance.
Tip o the hat
If the Buffet Bitch will match it, then good, but it will cover one months worth of Obama's deficits.
Stop the friggin' spending, it's not working anyway! Let the people keep their own money and spend it allfuckinready. Tax holiday for anybody under 250K/yr, for 12 months, and none for the fat mouthed Buffet-man.
The income tax is unconstitutional.
I think you're absolutely right. There isn't even an actual law on the books for it. And the Constitutional Amendment allowing it was done fraudlently. It only legitimately passed 20 states and it needed 2/3. The rest of the states counted were overtly fraudulent, not even technicalities, but documented frauds. There were situations where votes were not taken, counted, or properly recorded by the states, or the results not even sent in by the states, yet counted as having been passed anyway, by any means possible, until the Feds got their magic number. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was stunned to find that out.
The documentary on income tax and our economic fascism:
America Freedom to Fascism
Snippet, IRS's Sheldon Cohen's response when asked about the income tax law:
DECEPTION - IRS Exposed by Aaron Russo - YouTube
The late Aaron Rousso did the above great documentary on the whole thing. He even interviewed a former IRS head, Sheldon Cohen, and couldn't get him to produce the income tax law. Cohen got nasty and ended up threatening Rousso on camera when Rousso mildly pressed him about it. No one gets to see the law because there isn't one.
Rousso's vid included people who have challenged and won jury trials because the IRS could not produce a copy of the law during their trials. Former IRS agents were interviewed who said it is a fraud. They were equally stunned to find there had been no written law for what they had been enforcing. Some now work for the other side. There were jury members spoke and were shocked and flabbergasted the IRS could not produce a written law the defendant had supposedly broken, even after asking for a copy repeatedly from the judge during the trial and deliberations. They found the defendants not guilty.
And this is all way beyond the fundamental notion that an exchange of labor, for a prescribed amount of money, is a neutral trade. And a government that taxes a man's labor is demanding slavery of it's free and sovereign citizens.
Buffet's fluffer Becky was on CNBS this morning asking a Fed Clown (governor) if the Fed independence is threatened since Ron Paul got 2nd place last night. Fluffers should fluff and teabag, not be heard.
She used the wrong word, instead of independence, she should have used existence.
Buffet's got a few small coins in Switzerland for Becky, awaiting her ownership upon his demise.
BTW, she has a really long space between her penciled-in upper lip and her nose - looks oddly stretched.
Buffett the poster child for crony capitalism. How does that piece of shit sleep at night. Thanks for ushering in facism here in the US asshole. BTW where is the SEC on Charlie "The Frontrunner" Munger?
buffett is an economic thug!
CIA plant