Tax Warren Buffett

That's not me being a jerk, that is actually what Warren Buffett wants the government to do. Weird right? I thought high taxes were anathema to economic growth and surely one of the world's wealthiest, self-made men knows something about economic growth.

Maybe Buffett was drunk or the piece was a forgery.  I just don't know.  Certainly it was enough of an insult to failed Republican policies that it drew the ire of the omnipotent Michelle Bachmann who challenged Buffett to make a charitable donation to the government.

Bachmann's suggestion was, of course, first reported by Faux News, the outlet for insanity these days.  But interestingly, even in their report there was criticism of failed conservative economic policy.  Reaganomics, the sacred theory of the trickle down, is clearly a joke.  This is no indictment of the free market, it is an indictment of policies that protect the rich at the expense of the middle class.  In America, we don't have to worry about that much anymore since the middle class is disappearing.

Leo Hindrey, "a member of Buffett's group" (presumably that means Berkshire Hathaway but with the "reporting" done by Fox it is pretty ambiguous) slams trickle down economics in the article, "How is it that 50 percent of the income is now earned by 3 percent of the taxpayers?"

That's a great question, Leo.  It's also a pretty staggering figure.  Half of the wealth in the country is controlled by a mere three percent of the population?  How is that good for anyone?  Have we forgotten that one of the main causes of the Great Depression was the fact that low wages created low demand.  Have we forgotten that American consumption still buoys the world economy?  Are we counting on three percent of Americans to buy enough stuff to keep the wheels of the world economy turning? I sure hope not because that would be very, very dumb.

Of course Michelle Bachmann is very, very dumb.  So maybe that is the assumption she and her ilk are making.  Maybe Warren Buffett, on the other hand, is not so dumb and realizes that an economic resurgence will be built on the back of a large and healthy middle class.  Furthermore, maybe Buffett - like myself and most Americans - wants that to be a large and healthy AMERICAN middle class rather than say a large and healthy Chinese middle class (not that I am opposed to that, I simply want what is best for America first and foremost).

So maybe Buffett's "socialist" idea is about redistributing wealth a bit.  That way we don't have to rely on a handful of rich people to buy thousands of yachts, cars, X-boxes and loaves of bread apiece in order to keep the economy afloat.  Though there are millionaires who make 100x what I do, I am certain they do not eat 100x as much as I do or own 100x as many X-boxes.  They certainly don't have 100x as many yachts, since anything times 0=0.  You get the point.

Think about this the next time you hear some conservative economic guru talk about the miracle of trickle down economics.  Think about it next time you hear a Tea Party clown talk about not raising taxes no matter what.

America needs me and you and hundreds of millions of others to be able to buy.  It's that simple.  So when Warren Buffett calls for higher taxes on the rich, he's not being generous and altruistic; he's being selfish.  He gets it.  He knows that his wealth is built on the diminishing purchasing power of a disappearing middle class.  He knows that, in order to maintain his wealth, he needs to do what is best for you and me and America, not just for him.  Warren Buffett is smart.  Tax Warren Buffett.