I read a really interesting Op-Ed piece the other day, written by Warren Buffett. THE Warren Buffett. I believe he is one of the wealthiest people in America. The kind of money he, and quite a few of his pals have, is money that could never be spent in their life times. Imagine that? Money you could never spend? An endless supply of it.
The article he wrote was for The New York Times. It was titled "Stop Coddling the Super Rich". He basically wrote about how our leaders have asked us Americans to sacrifice, in these terrible economic times. Yet, when he questioned his uber-rich pals, about how these sacrifices were effecting them, they all agreed that they had all been spared. None of them were hurting, struggling, going without. They were all untouched.
He went on to say that it is us, the poor and middle class, the ones fighting in Afghanistan, the ones struggling to make ends meet, the ones losing our homes, and experiencing job loss, the massive amounts of us depending on food stamps to feed our kids,...we are the ones that are doing the sacrificing. The people with less. The people with little. The people with nothing. We are the ones that are doing the sacrificing, and paying the most taxes, to protect the super rich.
I get it. They work hard. They made money. Why should they have to sacrifice? Why should they have to foot the bill for a floundering nation? I mean, it seems that it makes perfect sense for the poor and middle class to keep footing the bill. Instead of asking super wealthy Americans to pay as much taxes as we do, why don't we instead take away teachers jobs, and cut programs like WIC, that feed newborns, and their mothers. Why don't we cut school lunch programs, that families depend on feeding their children with, and in some cases, is the child's only real meal of the day. Let's possibly cut Social Security benefits to people depending on that money. Let's cut out Head Start programs, that children count on, and even better, cut welfare programs.
Let's continue to ask the wealthiest, smallest percentage of Americans to sacrifice the least, and deny programs that help Americans to do the very minimum. Survive. Educate. Feed. Our elected officials are protecting the wrong segment of our country. They are cutting things that we all need, to protect those with so much. I am relieved to know that I am not the only one that thinks that this is insanity. Warren Buffet said in his article that government revenue sources came from personal income taxes, and payroll tax. 80% to be exact. "The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15% on most of their earnings, but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes.It's a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot".
If our leaders are asking all of us to make sacrifices, shouldn't they be across the board? Shouldn't we all be shouldered with the same burdens? And shouldn't those of us who can't really shoulder too much of this burden be asked to carry less? It all seems a little bit skewed to me. Warren Buffet ended his article with this: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice".
I couldn't agree more.
The article he wrote was for The New York Times. It was titled "Stop Coddling the Super Rich". He basically wrote about how our leaders have asked us Americans to sacrifice, in these terrible economic times. Yet, when he questioned his uber-rich pals, about how these sacrifices were effecting them, they all agreed that they had all been spared. None of them were hurting, struggling, going without. They were all untouched.
He went on to say that it is us, the poor and middle class, the ones fighting in Afghanistan, the ones struggling to make ends meet, the ones losing our homes, and experiencing job loss, the massive amounts of us depending on food stamps to feed our kids,...we are the ones that are doing the sacrificing. The people with less. The people with little. The people with nothing. We are the ones that are doing the sacrificing, and paying the most taxes, to protect the super rich.
I get it. They work hard. They made money. Why should they have to sacrifice? Why should they have to foot the bill for a floundering nation? I mean, it seems that it makes perfect sense for the poor and middle class to keep footing the bill. Instead of asking super wealthy Americans to pay as much taxes as we do, why don't we instead take away teachers jobs, and cut programs like WIC, that feed newborns, and their mothers. Why don't we cut school lunch programs, that families depend on feeding their children with, and in some cases, is the child's only real meal of the day. Let's possibly cut Social Security benefits to people depending on that money. Let's cut out Head Start programs, that children count on, and even better, cut welfare programs.
Let's continue to ask the wealthiest, smallest percentage of Americans to sacrifice the least, and deny programs that help Americans to do the very minimum. Survive. Educate. Feed. Our elected officials are protecting the wrong segment of our country. They are cutting things that we all need, to protect those with so much. I am relieved to know that I am not the only one that thinks that this is insanity. Warren Buffet said in his article that government revenue sources came from personal income taxes, and payroll tax. 80% to be exact. "The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15% on most of their earnings, but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes.It's a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot".
If our leaders are asking all of us to make sacrifices, shouldn't they be across the board? Shouldn't we all be shouldered with the same burdens? And shouldn't those of us who can't really shoulder too much of this burden be asked to carry less? It all seems a little bit skewed to me. Warren Buffet ended his article with this: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice".
I couldn't agree more.
Amen.
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