Balance the debt on the backs of Billionaires?
Here’s some perspective..IF the US Government confiscated every dime Warren Buffet has, we could use his tremendous wealth to cover what we ADD to the National debt each day for less than 10 days!
Added comment: 7/23/ 0924 hrs
What we all need realize is the public education system of the United States has failed us all. The people we send to Washington don’t seem to understand the most basic principles of running a business or a government.. “having a budget”.
Washington DC >will< spend any amount of money you send them, double their income and it will all be spent.
American taxpayers are either too inept or too lazy to comment on the reality that Washingot DC manages our money in exactly the same way Lindsay Lohan manages hers.
George,
The best idea I have seen so far is a national sales tax. It would be the only tax levied on Americans.
Join this Face Book group, and ask Darr Fisher questions:
Fair Tax .org
Andy
Andrew,
Flat tax would be great.. BUT..
NO one wants to see the real problem…double the revenues, and these whores in Washington woudl spend it on the day it arrives! People sent to Washington often have no business sense, they prostitute themselves by telling people they can have it all…if you just vote for me.
They need a budget same as we have in our houses… Bring back Clinton, he understood the concept…
WE are bankrupt, the only way out is to reduce spending, our government has promised to do that in the past, but they seem incapable of following through on their promises.
love your site. warren wants to be taxed more! he’s a good american. he knows that his wealth has come from the sweat of hard working americans like you and me. our wages have not moved for 30 years,plus we now have to pay a good share of our health insurance provided by our employers. it now takes two people to make enough money to be middle class, IF you’re forunate enough to have decent jobs. my mom got to stay home and keep an eye on us 3 boys thank God! not so these days even if she’d like to. of course it’s not the whole solution, but i say let him and others like him pay!
Ken,
The point I attempt to make is the greatest wealth holders in the world CAN NOT save us!. As I mention Warren’s great wealth (if we robbed him of every penny would only cover what we add each day for 10 days!
WE GET NOWHERE by increasing the taxes on the rich past their fair share. If Warren wants to pay more, no one is stopping him, It’s easy to send in extra money. Why doesn’t he lead by example?
My wages went up 12.5 times over 30 years. A lot of that was due to inflation..
No one should expect to get rich working for others…..
george, never expected to get rich. just wanted to be able to buy a new car every couple of years like my dad did. he made $11.84 an hour in 1980 with full ride insurance for his family. packing house job. most around here[iowa] consider their pretty lucky if they’re making that,remember the bite the insurance takes too. 30 yrs later. not all can own their own business,someone has to make the widgets you know. there are just too many loopholes and deductions so the wealthy can escape paying their “fair share”. as i said before of course it”s not the whole solution,but we’ve got to something besides throwing the poor and middle class under the bus.
Ken,
It’s not any solution at all. The problem is spending, and most of us should recongnize that we can NOT send the Federal Goverment an amount of money to cover our debts unless they have a budget, they’ll spend it all and more! If you believe this is possible, then I encourage you to give your wife permission to spend any amount of money she wants. All the problems you mention are secondary to putting a balanced budget in place.
People who want the bigger wages generally go to where those big wages are, we shouldn’t expect them to come to us.
Ken,
I know quite a few millionaires who never felt they had enough money to buy a new car every couple of years. When I was about 22 years old, a Mechanical Engineer by the name of Bob King was kind enough to give me some good advice. He was one of my Heros. He designed automated systems for saw mills and was a self employed designer/engineer. I was invited over to his place several times for BBQ, and One bit of advice I never forgot was….. “NEVER buy a new car! Let the other suckers pay the huge penality for driving the car across the white line for the first time.”
The money you make needs to last you a life time. If you are married, wives generally live longer than us, so best to save some to help her along as well.
I drive cars till they roll over and die.. one of my bosses once told me I needed a new car..he was worried that people would think badly of me driving a car that needed the hood repainted. I figured if it bothered him enough, he could offer to buy me a new car.
I live in a 1400 square foot home, no way I’m going to live in 3500 square feet and pay to heat it and cool it.. yet alone pay the tax man.
I guess we all have to make up our mind what’s important in our lives..
Not a thing will change until the facts are faced. This nation is not productive enough to consume as much as it does. Too many want an upper middle class home and a couple of $30000 cars plus a bunch of other stuff and they want their government to micromanage everyone’s business and life, they want the most incarcerated nation on earth, they want a trillion dollar miltary, they want their kids to get $100000 college degrees so they don’t have to do real work in a factory when they grow up, they want $500000 spent so they can live their last cancer ridden days in misery instead of dying reasonably and it all requires borrowing money that has been invented from nothing and taking advantage of temporary cheap labor over seas. I hope they can’t put the budget back together and the whole stimulus enconomic system we live under that favors the gatekeepers of the stimus collapses. I hope it means that people end up driving thrifty cars and living in thousand square foot ranch homes that they had to save for. I can’t believe anyone who is wise has invested in goverment bonds and I see no reason why it should be an emergency if their investments fail. If you invest in a piece of crap like the us government why would you expect any different? Really. I hope they can never again borrow even 1 penny again. Borrowing is for people who will take money, do something productive with it to create wealth and then pay it back and have made more than enough to cover the interest. There is almost nothIng done by government that is not a ridiculous failure. It’s crap. It’s not even good compared to other governments. Who else cannibalizes productive business for political gain or even just for the thrill of exercising authority? I am loyal to the people and business and land and some of the past of America , but not in the least to it’s corrupt dying empire of a government. I want to watch it burn. I crave reading about 10,000,000 unemployed fed and state workers living in tent cities and eating UN porridge. Really. I’m fed up with their excess, authority, greed, violence. City states will be an improvement.
I am amazed when people have a differing view on this I can no longer even speculate on where they are coming from. My imagination is not that vivid.
As a final thought, here is some imagery: you have just put in a ceiling fan and as per your state building code, which is based on national codes and is very uniform. You’ve just filed a form to have your county building inspector come out and examine your work. He arrives in his white county suv and steps out with his shiny black boots, crisp brown leather jacket, cellphone holster, two way holster and clip board. He then collects his $75 fee before intruding into your home and doesn’t even really look at your work before leaving a pink illegible document that means you’ve acheived approval from authority.
How did this happen?
The way that national sales tax would work is that it would be inflicted on americans with a promise that the other federal taxes would be eliminated real soon now just after the blue ribbon bipartisan commission reports to the new tax elimination tsar and it passes both houses by a fillibuster proof majority and gets signed by the statist in chief. The new tax elimination tsar would be just as effective as the drug elimination tsar. Btw, why is tsar good? Weren’t we tought that tsars were authoritarian thugs that screwed up so bad that their peasants revolted and went commie? And the Feds will not be able to shove tax reform to the state level. They can’t even get Real ID through even with the big stick of withholding hiway funds.
Regarding (paraphrased) “we can’t all own small businesses, someone has to build the widgets”–that’s what small businesses are for. Americans are proud people who buy machine tools and make widgets better and work only the way someone with the creativity and pride of ownership will work.
Regarding ‘buy a new car’:
Why? Pride? Fear of being thought less of?
Or my all time favorite “it gets better mileage!” So let me get this straight…. My current car that I own outright gets lets say 20mpg. That shiny new “X” car gets 25mpg – but costs “$25k”.
Fuel is about $5.00/us-gal (I’m in Canada). That’s roughly 5000 gallons, or 100,000 miles, or 7 1/2 YEARs of my current average driving. At which point, that ‘cheap flimsy’ new car will probably be dead, and/or worth it’s weight in scrap.
I’m not even factoring in financing costs (granted, I’m also not factoring in average ongoing repairs on the current ride – so I figure they offset each other).
BTW, if you’re wondering… I’m driving a $70,000+ car (that I let someone ELSE buy new!) that I picked up for $2,000 (since the dealership told them it needed yet another $5,000 in repairs!). My total investment in it less fuel to date (10 months later) has been a tad over $5,000 including initial purchase.
Point to all this is? DIY!! Become self sufficient. Fix it yourself. Build it yourself (where practical). Isn’t that half the point of Utterpower in the first place?!
Right on the Mark! Canada has it’s full share of DIYers.. good ones!
i just can’t seem to help myself, George…
as someone that has never bought himself a new car, only bought one set of new tires for one car (that got about 1800 miles on it before i parked it for 30 years and watched them rot away) and another pair of new for a pickup that were scrubbed off in under 500 miles due to a loose tie rod. i just don’t have the desire for anything new!
i get excellent service from used tires for some reason, as well as good used cars/trucks, for a fraction of what new stuff costs.
then again i have never bought a new home, favoring the older one that needs resurrection to some extent. something about sweat equity appeals to me on a basic level i suppose.
i grew up a poor boy and didn’t really know it, did everything i could to make a dime from an early age, and have owned or co-owned 5 businesses to date and will likely own as many more before i die.
this idea that not everyone can own a business? i really do not understand this! if you have a lawn mower you can start a lawn care business, even if you don’t own one you can surely rent one to get started!
how many kids started mowing lawns as a business? how many picked up paper routes? or other simple jobs like cleaning gutters or running errands for some elderly lady down the street? these are businesses that anyone can do if they so choose. surely they are not as glamorous as a silicone valley tech upstart, but i would bet they are less stressful and more fulfilling at the end of the day.
in my opinion no one needs a 30k dollar car, or a 3500 sq/ft new home, when a 3k dollar car and a 1500 sq/ft will in almost every case more than suffice.
also in my opinion anyone that wants to be in business, can be in business… and if they do their homework going in and set it up right can also benefit from the same tax loopholes that buffet or general motors enjoys. often times it is these tax benefits that are the most attractive reason for being in business.
as for making money working for the other guy…
if you want to make better money, go to where the money is! this means you often time must relocate across the country, and it also means that there will be tradeoffs, however it is also true that if one does his homework he will find area’s where the wages are higher and the cost of living is such that it will not consume the increase in wages… thus he be better off!
sitting in one place complaining about one lot in life is just silly in my opinion, if you don’t like where you are perhaps it is time to do some homework and make a change?
i realize what i suggest requires some thought, some research, brushing up on ones basic math skills, asking questions and doing some work.
seems it is easier to complain that it is to actually do what is needed to make a change.
as for taxes…
a national sales tax will come along at perhaps 1% but will escalate to 10% in 10 years or less, all the while they will conveniently never get around to changing the existing tax law.
in my opinion the government will not wait to spend every additional dime of tax income they receive, they will spend what they project they will receive 10 years down the road “today”! and we will just be right back where we are today, only a lot more broke than we are now.
bob g
Bob… you said it well. Yesterday I flew my paraglider off Tiger Mountain. When I landed around 7pm, there was still a woman in the LZ running a juice station right where hikers go up the trail, and pilots fold wings, and check gear. She made a lot of money yesterday! One thing I noted.. people were asking if she would come back because they liked her products, and I think we all liked here as well.
A business woman making good money! real DIYers are creative people, and they are natural ‘small business owners’. You can really piss off a DIYer telling him he can’t
I note a tone in the voice of half or more of Americans, they have been brought up to believe the US Government owes them a job! In the long term, that is impossible to do. Obama will continue to prove that, and we’ll see how many generations suffer to pay off the stuning added debt.
Today, I was checking out a few face book pages, and noted a guy whining about the rich getting a few tax breaks on private air planes or yahts they buy. This gives us an oppurtunity to study people. Part of America sees these rich people getting away with something. The other part of America understands that wealth will never be created by government, and they see these so called tax breaks as incentives to encourage people who have the money to buy ‘toys’ that make a lot of jobs for Americans. How you choose to see it says a lot about you. I not sure people understand the difference between printing money and earning it. I believe I see this in the over unity crowd, The people who buy junk that promises to double fuel milage when you bolt in on your car ‘KNOW’ that big oil is out to enslave them by keeping these devices secret! They have been raised to hate the companies that employ us. Making a profit is evil, and they see themselves as helpless to do anything on their own.
My dad told me I can have anything I want!!! “Just save your money”. So if you want a new car….or not save $. I believe you can give some people $10,000.00 and some will save it or buy a used car and most will go buy(finance) a $50,000.00 car/boat with it. The government is following the same path … raise the Debt limit so we can borrow more!? There needs to be a serious change and none of us are going to like it! No matter what it will come from the haves pocket with a new or used car!
Dave
Dave H.
“Just save the Money” Great idea, but old fashioned I think.
i never said we don’t need to stop spending like drunken sailors,just want these corporations to pay some tax like the rest of poor suckers. as for warren buffet and that crowd,i don’t think they consider the government a charity. he’s not going to give them money unless he has to,but if required to he will. and he says that would be ok. i don’t have a big house or new car,i’m glad you all own your own businesses,hire some of the unemployed would ya?
Debt limit—what debt limit??
“All government overspending creates a constituency for its own perpetuation.”
Grover Norquist
True statement!—but that’s how they get re-elected.
Question: Will we ever get serious about government fiscal responsibility?
8 minute video (if you’re interested): http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/index.html
Stossel lays out a way to completely get rid of the deficit. I don’t claim to be a budget expert, he says. But others, such as Chris Edwards at Cato and Stuart Butler at Heritage, are. They found lots of serious cuts. My staff found a few more, and put together a list that would completely balance the budget:
Total Cut: $1,882,619,000,000
Current deficit: $1,645,000,000,000
Surplus Achieved: $237,619,000,000
(Research by Maxim Lott and Charles Couger.)
They don’t need to drive us deeper in debt. They choose to.
So, what should the federal government really do, and at what cost?
Read more, including details of proposed cuts at: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2#ixzz1TV9sYSaZ
I’m betting there are some cuts you will not agree with. So, I repeat:
“All government overspending creates a constituency for its own perpetuation.”
So, what should the federal government really do, and at what cost?
As of yet, I don’t think there’s been any real effort to curb our spending, we are likely in a death sprial now, but obama care expenses haven’t even kicked in yet!
I wish Congress WOULD spend like drunken sailors . At least they spend their OWN money ! It is a myth that top income earners don’t pay their fair share of income taxes. The top 10% of income earners pay well over half of the income taxes paid in this country. Almost half of the population pays no income taxes at all. Business owners would love to hire workers if the demand was there for the product they would produce. Excessive government regulations and the threat of higher taxes serve only to quench entrapanurial spirit . Get government out of the way, let people keep more of what they earn , and watch the economy take off !
I remember when I was in the U.S. Navy back in the 80’s and when it was time for the budget to get renew, it was almost an order to spend what was left in the funds before the allocated time ended. Every last penny had to be spent!!!
If you double the taxes that businesses and business owners have to pay, where will they get the money to pay more employees?
People complain that corporations don’t pay enough taxes. Then in the same breath they complain about job outsourcing. These people consider GE to be evil because they 1: don’t pay as much taxes as these people feel they should and 2: move their manufacturing facilities out of the US.
There couldn’t possibly be a connection, right? Whether or not you think it is evil, that is the way the market works. If they cannot make a profit here and the government taxes what they make overseas (which it is now doing) so that they cannot make a profit there either, who will make the goods we need? Will the government send armed soldiers to force them to work and produce? If so, who will pay the soldiers?
All this crap has been tried before, in Soviet Russia and in other places. It didn’t work. The ruling class (and there was one, even though they claimed to be creating a “classless society”) lived in luxury, while everyone else was literally starving. There was no middle class.
I realize that most of the people spouting this nonsense were indoctrinated in government-run schools, but can’t you at least make some feeble effort at cognitive thinking?
don’t know where you get your facts. Fact is most of the top corp’s pay little or no tax and get subsidies too. and if they did they just pass it on to us. BUSH”S unnecessary war and tax cuts have alot to to with where we are to today. add on wall street greed . funny how we had a surplus when clinton left office, 8 years later we are in the crapper!
Ken.. you can twist the truth any way you want.. no doubt you’ve already blamed Bush for starting a third war under Obama’s watch too, and I’m sure you’ve blamed bush for not ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanastan.. the ones Obama promised to end if he were elected. And of course.. that hell hole in Cuba that Obama promised to close if elected.. George Bush again right?
Nice try on blaming wall street for everything, fact is it was YOUR government who failed to oversee fannie mae and the insane loans they were making was a root cause of our finnancial meltdown.. .. have it your way Ken.. you and Obama can blame all on George Bush.. As for Clinton, if you had a decent memory, you’d note that the economy was ‘tanking’ when clinton was still in office.. Seems you only remember the liberal propaganda that you swallowed hook line and sinker..
isn’t it Your government too, George? can you say iraq wasn’t a lie and a waste? if we would have just took care of business in afganistan we wouldn’t be there now. talk about twisted truth. both parties are to blame. Just saying NO isn’t going to get us out of this mess,so lookout hell,here we come!And what are you saying only the rich should buy new cars? how the hell would we get the used ones we both drive?
Ken..
You’re free to form any conclusion you like.. I note that we seem to have added a war recently, and our President had promised to end them, what’s that all about?
As for new car purchases…. I’m confident there will always be a bumper crop of people to buy new cars. Among them will be people who are barely making other payments.
Yes, it is my government too, “a fat bloated hog infested with every kind of parasite”.
i think libya is a NATO war. As we are bound to that treaty,I think the President has done as little as possible and still kept our word as a nation. i don’t like it either. NATO needs to disolve. we need to bring ALL of our troops home,Germany, South Korea and wherever else. it’s time we took care of our own needs instead of the worlds. George, i’m not a liberal as you called me,i vote for who i think is a honest man. i voted for mcain because as far as i’m concerned he’s paid his dues. and i think he’s a reasonable fellow. i know he’s called a rino,but he knows there has to be compromise. that’s how our system works. unless you control the whole show.