Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

ghoti said:
Cant we blame George Soros yet? You know, his like the super big evil guy. Has lots of money, says nice things about people, grows democracies, helped Hungary become a democracy, he believes in welfare. He just has to be the big evil here. We gotta blame the guy doing the most good. Im sure thats how it works around here.
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I don't like Soros much. Mostly because he's the behind Gunfree SA though. :D For another thread though.
Albereth said:
I'd suggest that he wasn't a libertarian then.
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I don't follow.

Arthur said:
Here the world-wrecking colelctivists go again. There are so many false and fatuous assumptions in this story it beggars belief. As if the money belongs to the people or society or someone others than its owners.
This whole mess is caused by countless state interventions in the market that make possible the insanity that now reigns supreme.
Why not take a look at this video to see how deep the problem is, and how we got here. It's 5 years old but more relevant than ever.
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To understand Buffets reasoning you'll have to read about his ovarian lottery story. Basically he said that all he accomplished was possible because his country, family and society allowed him to accomplish it.
 
Albereth said:
Libertarians have the view of don't mess with me, and I won't mess with you. For Buffet to really hate Rooseveldt seems that the balanced equation was, well, unbalanced.
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Rooseveldt was seen as the Uber Socialist bringer of capitalist death back then. Libertarians didn't dig him. At all.

[video=youtube;effDfpKYcVo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effDfpKYcVo[/video]
 
Albereth said:
Sure - but unless it was personal.....i.e. Rooseveldt went after Buffet, I don't see where the hate would come from.
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Um ok, but not every reasons like you do. Some people hate others because of their skin colour, economic policy preferences or choice of food.
 
Albereth said:
Sure - but unless it was personal.....i.e. Rooseveldt went after Buffet, I don't see where the hate would come from.
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Um, where do you get the idea that the libertarian political philosophy is only about personal action and injustice? It's a broad movement from those seeking a simple limitation of government power all the way down to anarchists. FDR was a proto-fascist Augustus-like dictator. I wasn't around in his time and I hate him.
 
Arthur said:
Here the world-wrecking colelctivists go again. There are so many false and fatuous assumptions in this story it beggars belief. As if the money belongs to the people or society or someone others than its owners.
This whole mess is caused by countless state interventions in the market that make possible the insanity that now reigns supreme.
Why not take a look at this video to see how deep the problem is, and how we got here. It's 5 years old but more relevant than ever.
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Nice video, thanks
 
Hard Rain said:
Well, it's just hard to take the economic opinions of a man seriously when he says that F.A. Hayek was a member of the Chicago School of economics and associates his approach with the efficient markets hypothesis. Ridiculous.
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Strange, billionaires and world leaders take him seriously. Guess you are a better judge of character than they are.
 
ghoti said:
Strange, billionaires and world leaders take him seriously. Guess you are a better judge of character than they are.
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Arguing from authority again, ghoti. Your fallacious reasoning never gets old, does it? Interesting how when your man gets caught out clearly misrepresenting/confusing his economic theory all you have to fall back on is the fact that he's a big shot...

P.S.

I'm still waiting on your definition of "middle class" from ages ago...
 
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Warre...ich?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

He's at it again. Warren Buffett has taken to the op-ed pages of the New York Times today to sound the bugle once again for his raise-taxes-on-the-rich crusade. Buffett writes,

I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.

...[F]or those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate.

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.
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How noble and generous sounding -- that is, until you realize that Buffett has quite a lot to gain from higher taxes on the super rich. The Washington Examiner's Tim Carney unearths Buffett's suspect motives.

Buffett Profits from Taxes He Supports

Buffett regularly lobbies for higher estate taxes. He also has repeatedly bought up family businesses forced to sell because the heirs’ death-tax bill exceeded the business’s liquid assets. He owns life insurance companies that rely on the death tax in order to sell their estate-planning businesses.

Buffett Profits from Government Spending

Buffett made about a billion dollars off of the Wall Street bailout by investing in Goldman Sachs on the assumption Uncle Sam would bail it out. He also is planning investments in ethanol giant ADM and government-contracting leviathan General Dynamics.

If your businesses’ revenue comes from the U.S. Treasury, of course you want more wealth.

Let's call a spade a spade: Warren Buffett, successful multi-billionaire that he is, is a lobbyist representing himself and his own monied interests. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but let's not let liberals get away with this cunning charade of noblesse oblige when the full picture reveals that they have much to gain from their superficial "generosity."
 
Hard Rain said:
Um, where do you get the idea that the libertarian political philosophy is only about personal action and injustice? It's a broad movement from those seeking a simple limitation of government power all the way down to anarchists. FDR was a proto-fascist Augustus-like dictator. I wasn't around in his time and I hate him.
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And there I was thinking that it was about individual liberty. Sorry, I didn't realise you had to join a club.
 
Albereth said:
And there I was thinking that it was about individual liberty. Sorry, I didn't realise you had to join a club.
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Man is not an island. Commerce requires co-operation. I dunno where you get the idea that libertarianism is about isolated pacifism or something, but as I said before, the term describes a broad political theory from classical liberalism to anarchism.
 
I see the OP link being passed around rather extensively on twitter. Nice one! Loads of people are reading this :D
 
Hard Rain said:
Man is not an island. Commerce requires co-operation. I dunno where you get the idea that libertarianism is about isolated pacifism or something, but as I said before, the term describes a broad political theory from classical liberalism to anarchism.
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I am not sure about pacifism at all. I'd view John Rambo as a libertarian. But I'd stop somewhat short of anarchy. I tend to see libertarians operating within the status quo - and it's the change in that that annoys libertarians. But hatred is a strong emotion and I fail to undertand how it is an appropriate response for a libertarian (BOCTMBOE)
 
Albereth said:
But hatred is a strong emotion and I fail to undertand how it is an appropriate response for a libertarian (BOCTMBOE)
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Using FDR as an example, what do you think is the appropriate response to a thieving, murderous tyrant?
 
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ghoti said:
I see the OP link being passed around rather extensively on twitter. Nice one! Loads of people are reading this :D
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Yeah, unfortunately plenty of people are willing to be duped by this guy...

As most of the media goes gaga over Billionaire Obama fundraiser Warren Buffett calling for tax hikes, (like he did in 2001, and 2004, and plenty of times in between), let’s remember a few things.

Buffett Profits from Taxes He Supports

Buffett regularly lobbies for higher estate taxes. He also has repeatedly bought up family businesses forced to sell because the heirs’ death-tax bill exceeded the business’s liquid assets. He owns life insurance companies that rely on the death tax in order to sell their estate-planning businesses.

Buffett Profits from Government Spending

Buffett made about a billion dollars off of the Wall Street bailout by investing in Goldman Sachs on the assumption Uncle Sam would bail it out. He also is planning investments in ethanol giant ADM and government-contracting leviathan General Dynamics.

If your businesses’ revenue comes from the U.S. Treasury, of course you want more wealth
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WilD_CaT said:
Buffett Profits from Taxes He Supports

Buffett regularly lobbies for higher estate taxes. He also has repeatedly bought up family businesses forced to sell because the heirs’ death-tax bill exceeded the business’s liquid assets. He owns life insurance companies that rely on the death tax in order to sell their estate-planning businesses.
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I'm totally against any form of estate tax. Buffetts got a nice little business built around that though.

Buffett Profits from Government Spending

Buffett made about a billion dollars off of the Wall Street bailout by investing in Goldman Sachs on the assumption Uncle Sam would bail it out. He also is planning investments in ethanol giant ADM and government-contracting leviathan General Dynamics.

If your businesses’ revenue comes from the U.S. Treasury, of course you want more wealth.

Let's call a spade a spade: Warren Buffett, successful multi-billionaire that he is, is a lobbyist representing himself and his own monied interests. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but let's not let liberals get away with this cunning charade of noblesse oblige when the full picture reveals that they have much to gain from their superficial "generosity."
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More on this.
Now the question is, did Goldman Sachs repay its bailouts in full? Honest question, I don't know.
 
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ghoti said:
Nope, most people see the world in a more moderate light. Very few people actually think like you do. Otherwise we would have lots of magical libertarian governments :) Since we have none, and there are no working examples of a libertarian government.... life continues. With or without libertarians.
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Arguments from ignorance and red herrings. You're on fire today, ghoti, but I don't know where you get these notions from. The post-colonial United States is the most prime example of a libertarian government. In any case, good of you not to address any of the criticisms of Buffet's hypocritical babbling.
 
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