Warren Buffet A Rich Buffoon?

A Class Warrior Without Class

Recently Warren Buffet was quoted in a Ben Stein article in the New York Times as saying “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning”. Ben Stein prefaced his article by writing he “had the pleasure of a lengthy meeting with one of the smartest men on the planet, Warren E. Buffett”.

Mr. Buffet’s Secretaries And Clerks Pay Too Much Taxes?

Earlier, Mr. Buffet entertained us with his stunt about his secretary paying relatively more taxes than himself. More details on that are provided in the same article: “Mr. Buffett compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all. It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office.” And Mr. Buffet wonders “How can this be fair?” … How can this be right?”. How stupid is he pretending to be? Or who is trying to fool?

What was not mentioned in the article that Mr. Buffet’s secretary likely makes between $200,000 and $500,000 per year.

Mr. Buffet Wants To Coerce Other Rich People

To Pay More Taxes

Mr. Buffet wants to coerce other rich or affluent people to pay more taxes. Why?

·         He is at the end of his life and made already billions of dollars.

·         He already donated a large portion of his wealth to a tax exempt foundation run by Bill Gates and his wife

·         Perhaps, he is of the judgmental opinion that other rich people are squandering their money or life in decadence and only he understands that government knows better how to spend your money

·         I am sure he has other unconvincing reasons

Mr. Buffet Why Don’t You Pay More Taxes

If Mr. Buffet is indeed so offended, he alone should pay more taxes. Anyway, if Mr. Buffet truly feels he is not paying his share in taxes he can freely and voluntarily pay as much taxes as he likes. I am sure, the treasury would accept any check by Mr. Buffet.

Conclusion

Is the Sage of Omaha just loosing his wit? Or is he a reelection campaign aid to the current President? Is he just grumpy? Or is this just a show of crony capitalism?

I guess article by someone who interviewed in his own words one of the smartest men on the planet should be taken with the biggest grain of salt on this planet. So much for Ben Stein and the New York Times.