Buffett: Stop Blaming The Rich For Income Inequality

[Bricktop]

All this is in addition to his companies helping Canadians and Americans save for their retirements and capitalizing companies.



Do you know an iconic Canadian owned corporation would have been Kaput if not for both Gates and Buffet?

Amount donated in 2012: about $3.1-billion



Top beneficiaries: Howard G. Buffett Foundation, NoVo Foundation, and the Sherwood Foundation.



Background: He is the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, an insurance and investment company.



Mr. Buffett, age 82, pledged 12,220,852 shares of Berkshire Hathaway class "B" stock, valued at more than $1-billion, to each of his three children's foundations. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation gives money to agricultural development, clean-water projects, and programs working to fight poverty. The NoVo Foundation, co-founded by Peter Buffett and his wife, Jennifer, seeks to improve the well-being of girls and women globally and supports economic and education programs. The Sherwood Foundation, founded by daughter Susan Buffett, supports social-justice and early-childhood education.



This pledge follows a 2006 promise to give each foundation about $1-billion, which Mr. Buffett has been steadily paying off each year.



He will begin paying down this latest commitment later this year.



In addition, Mr. Buffett gave stock worth close to $1-million to a charity in 2012 that he declined to name and 10 shares of stock, currently valued at about $12,000 apiece, to each of 15 elementary-school students who won an educational contest sponsored by Mr. Buffett called the "Grow Your Own Business Challenge." The contest is associated with "The Secret Millionaires Club," an animated television show that features Mr. Buffet and seeks to teach children about business and personal finance.

https://philanthropy.com/article/No-1-Warren-Buffett/155467">https://philanthropy.com/article/No-1-W ... ett/155467">https://philanthropy.com/article/No-1-Warren-Buffett/155467

Well, its clear that their pseudo-philanthropic largess has at least ONE person fooled.



"I've got 70 billion and people are pissed. What shall I do?"



"Give less than one percent to some noble charity."



"Great idea!!! Then I can claim it as a tax deduction. Oh, and raise prices by 1 percent while we're at it. Then I can give even MORE away whilst not losing any money at all".

[RW]

Bingo.

[Anonymous]

I do not understand why anyone wants the kind of money and possessions that entertainers, athletes or business tycoons have..



But, it is not as wrong as coveting.

[J0E]

Warren Buffett says boosting the minimum wage won't help, but then fails to mention the fewer 'entitlements' which the average American gets in relation to his counterparts in other industrialized nations.



On top of having a lower minimum salary and having to work more hours, many American workers are not covered by medical insurance. So if he or she is making only $7 per hour and a European is making $16 per hour plus medical benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation per year, then the European has a much higher wage with all his or her benefits.



I think the average American worker would be green with envy if they really knew how shortchanged they are and how much less they're getting in relation to workers in other countries. Even Canada, which has a comparable minimum wage still gurarantees its poorest workers access to state run hosptials along with health insurance at competitive rates relative to the private US healthcare system.

[RW]

I do not understand why anyone wants the kind of money and possessions that entertainers, athletes or business tycoons have..



But, it is not as wrong as coveting.

I disagree.  It's greed.  Far worse than coveting IMHO.

[easter bunny]

I do not understand why anyone wants the kind of money and possessions that entertainers, athletes or business tycoons have..



But, it is not as wrong as coveting.

I think it's because our culture measures their "net worth" in dollars. It's like a bunch of little kids each demanding a little more ice cream than the other ones got. It satisfies their fragile little egos and makes them feel important.

[Bricktop]

Warren Buffett says boosting the minimum wage won't help, but then fails to mention the fewer 'entitlements' which the average American gets in relation to his counterparts in other industrialized nations.



On top of having a lower minimum salary and having to work more hours, many American workers are not covered by medical insurance. So if he or she is making only $7 per hour and a European is making $16 per hour plus medical benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation per year, then the European has a much higher wage with all his or her benefits.



I think the average American worker would be green with envy if they really knew how shortchanged they are and how much less they're getting in relation to workers in other countries. Even Canada, which has a comparable minimum wage still gurarantees its poorest workers access to state run hosptials along with health insurance at competitive rates relative to the private US healthcare system.

Right on. US workers, many who rely on tips, are getting screwed.



Meanwhile, the moguls make more and more money...

[Odinson]

I do not understand why anyone wants the kind of money and possessions that entertainers, athletes or business tycoons have..



But, it is not as wrong as coveting.

Wealth represents power...

[Anonymous]

I do not understand why anyone wants the kind of money and possessions that entertainers, athletes or business tycoons have..



But, it is not as wrong as coveting.

I think it's because our culture measures their "net worth" in dollars. It's like a bunch of little kids each demanding a little more ice cream than the other ones got. It satisfies their fragile little egos and makes them feel important.

I agree easter bunny.

 ac_smile

[Romero]

An Atlanta, Georgia television station has made national news with its fantastic investigative reporting on the conservative "corporate bill mill," ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. The station's Brendan Keefe followed Georgia state legislators to a resort hotel in Savannah last week, trying to find out what they were doing in closed door meetings where he, as a credentialed reporter, was not allowed. He had to go to a former member of ALEC to find out.



"It's really a corporate bill mill," said Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat who has served in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly for years. "They're cranking out legislation, putting it into the hands of legislators who go back and file it."



Orrock would know. She was once a member of ALEC.



"The corporations that are there have equal standing with the legislators," Sen. Orrock said.



"You mean they can vote?" we asked.



"They absolutely can vote, and truth be told, they write the bills," she answered, referring to the lobbyists.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/26/1387897/-Atlanta-Georgia-station-exposes-ALEC-sausage-making">//http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/26/1387897/-Atlanta-Georgia-station-exposes-ALEC-sausage-making

[Bricktop]

And this is the country that wants every other country to be just like them...



Fuck that.

[J0E]

How is Buffet's wealth a benefit to mankind?



He sounds like a sick ass money hoarder to me.

Of course he is, as are the rest of the Super-Rich.



They can't possibly spend it in their lifetime, let alone 100 more.



It's all about the Power, Baby, all about the Power.



The same kind that allows some ugly 4'10" Jim Pattison-like Super-billionaire to have a bevy of Super-Models grovelling at his feet.



Or being able to tell off Governments, Heads of State,



and even other billionaires.....



ie - Larry Ellison, Oracle Super Billionaire, recently bought out the entire island of Lanai, once owned by Dole Pineapple & he outbid Bill Gates for the honor. So Larry can turn his nose up at his Microsoft Rival, and man that must feel goood.



....It's all about the Power, Baby, all about the Power.



And of course, money is power. The more they have of it, the better.

[Bricktop]

Money is NOT power.



It is only "power" in the sense that we allow the holders of it to dominate. We are in awe, so to speak, and acquiesce to their selfishness and greed like sheep to a sheepdog.



The "superwealthy" should be pilloried and despised, not respected and revered.



I have no issue with a successful man living on, say, 2 million a year...success should be rewarded. But 70 BILLION? No man is worth that much. He has harvested that obscene amount through deceit and greed.

[RW]

Money is NOT power.



It is only "power" in the sense that we allow the holders of it to dominate. We are in awe, so to speak, and acquiesce to their selfishness and greed like sheep to a sheepdog.



The "superwealthy" should be pilloried and despised, not respected and revered.



I have no issue with a successful man living on, say, 2 million a year...success should be rewarded. But 70 BILLION? No man is worth that much. He has harvested that obscene amount through deceit and greed.

If you hoard cats or figurines or newspapers, or adult diapers, you are sick.



If you hoard money, you are successful.



WTF?

[Bricktop]

If someone has made THAT much money, they have clearly been ripping their customers off.



Same applies to Gates et al.



If their commodity makes them THAT rich, they have profited too much by charging more than the product is wortt.