You are hereForums / Issues / The Economy / Warren Buffet Says Trickle Down Economics Hasn't Worked
Warren Buffet Says Trickle Down Economics Hasn't Worked
Link from TPM.
Billionaire Warren Buffett said that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire for the richest Americans and that the "trickle down" economic theory hasn't worked.
"If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further," Buffett told ABC News in an interview set to air later this week. "But I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it."
"The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on," Buffett said in the clip from ABC News' "This Week with Christiane Amanpour."
And these millionaires are begging President Obama to NOT extend their tax cuts. Mr. President, are you listening? Take a few of these rich guys on the road with you or on a couple of cable shows if you need to crush the GOP message and highlight your own focus on the middle class. It's a winning strategy-trust Izzy!
Dozens of America's wealthiest taxpayers -- including hedge fund legend Michael Steinhardt, super trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's fame -- have appealed to President Obama not to renew the Bush tax cuts for anyone earning more than $1 million a year. Calling themselves "Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength," the 40-plus signers today launched a website and a campaign that they hope will draw support from others who agree that fiscal responsibility should begin with those who can best afford it -- as their letter to Obama explains:
We are writing to urge you to stand firm against those who would put politics ahead of their country.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
We have done very well over the last several years. Now, during our nation's moment of need, we are eager to do our fair share. We don't need more tax cuts, and we understand that cutting our taxes will increase the deficit and the debt burden carried by other taxpayers. The country needs to meet its financial obligations in a just and responsible way.
Letting tax cuts for incomes over $1,000,000 expire, is an important step in that direction.
The Patriotic Millionaires campaign, pulled together quickly by the Agenda Project in New York City, just happens to appear on the same day as a new study from the Center for Responsive Politics revealing that half of the members of the House and the Senate are millionaires. That contrasts sharply with the general population, of whom fewer than 1 percent can claim millionaire status.
Thought this was a good place to share this article, too.
Can Bill Gates and Warren Buffet Save the World?
(from The Christian Science Monitor)
Twenty-five years ago, when Steve Hilton was an entry-level guy working in the file room at his family's foundation, he sometimes had to explain his place within the family legacy.
His grandfather Conrad, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper, turned a single 40-room hotel in Cisco, Texas, into an international empire – the ur -American tale of self-made wealth. His father, Barron, expanded the family business even more, eventually selling the hotel conglomerate in 2007.
But both these Hiltons gave away the vast majority of their fortunes, putting their billions into a charitable trust charged to "relieve the suffering, the distressed, and the destitute."
"When I first started, and people said, 'What do you do?' I would say, 'Well, I work for a foundation,' " says the younger Mr. Hilton, now the president and chief executive officer of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the 25th largest charitable trust in the world. "And they would say, 'Oh, you're in construction?' I'd say, 'No, we give money to charitable groups.' And then there'd be a long pause. Then they'd say, 'You don't do that full time do you?' "
Today, however, from icons of pop culture to titans of American business, the act of giving away money, even in staggering sums, is gaining a new cultural momentum. Call it a new form of noblesse oblige, complete with modern media hype and celebrity cachet: It's the rich and the famous now who lead the entreaties to give.
But even the well-publicized efforts of superstars like Bono and Angelina Jolie cannot compare with the potentially globe-changing quest of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, the two richest men in America. For over a year now, in a new voluntary, ad-hoc association called the Giving Pledge, these self-made mega-billionaires have been urging their peers to donate at least half their fortunes for the common good.
They are asking the über-rich in America – as well as around the world – to stand up publicly and commit hundreds of millions, if not tens of billions, of dollars to the charities of their choice. The Giving Pledge, they say, is neither an effort to pool resources nor a call to raise funds for a cause. It is simply a moral commitment to give.
"With wealth comes responsibility to help make the world a better place," says media mogul Ted Turner in an e-mail from Nigeria, where he is surveying efforts to fight disease. "I believe anyone who is fortunate enough to achieve financial success has a moral obligation to use that money for the greater good. America is the world's most generous nation on both a government and individual level. But I believe that we have not yet lived up to our responsibility and can kick it up a notch."