This...This....and again THIS!!!

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

Now my question is: why aren't more gazillion-aires supporting Warren Buffett in his stand?
Cynical me: 'cos they're greedy and are secretly plotting to bring down Warren Buffett for his betrayal. *duh*
Optimistic me: 'cos they are quietly agreeing with him and gave him their approval prior to his speaking out.
Apathetic me: I don't give a damn. Ask me again when I will be impacted.

Frick. Governments around the world need to stop pandering to and molly-coddling the rich. The incomes of the middle classes (lower-middle, middle, upper-middle...the whole frickin' middle class dammit) combined outrank that of the rich/super-rich.

Funny. Only during election years do governments "pay attention" to the grassroots. That's another thing. I don't understand why you call the general public "grassroots". I mean. I get what you're trying to connote, but can't you think of a more edifying word?? Like say salt of...the.......earth. No. Ok. How about the people who matter....most. Too long. Um. Lemme think about it.

In any case, kudos to Warren Buffett for voicing what countless middle-class people have been saying. I just hope more of the Million/Billionaire Club will do the decent thing.

The Purpose of Politics is to What Now??

The Onion published a story on...actually. I have no idea what the story really is about. All I got out of it was that the Republicans sole reason for existance is to make President Obama's life hell and cause him to lose 4 years (or 8 years, if he gets re-elected) of his daughters' lives. Whatever happened to making a country a better place? Whatever happened to working for your contituency? When did politics degenerate to become so overtly evil? note: I'm not saying that politics was never evil. And more importantly, what is wrong with these Republicans that they are able to spew such poison against another human being? Has ideology become so important to them that fundamental human courtesy and decency have fled their psyche and vocabulary?

The article is called "New GOP Strategy Involves Reelecting Obama, Making His Life Even More Miserable" and assuming The Onion is a reliable media outlet, this is just disturbing to know.

"If you look at what we've accomplished as a party in the last four years—making President Obama lose his temper on multiple occasions and even causing him to storm out of a meeting in frustration—it doesn't make sense for us to throw all that away, not when we could do so much more," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said. "If by being impossible to work with we are able to make the president physically shake with frustration during every single meeting, give him the nervous tick of mumbling angrily under his breath, tarnish his entire legacy, and in the process completely destroy his faith in humanity, then we've succeeded as lawmakers."
"If you thought this debt ceiling thing was bad, wait till you see how unbearable we are when it comes time for the Bush tax cuts to expire," Cantor added. "We are going to pummel this man over and over and over until he regrets ever getting into politics."

How far we've fallen from the days of Abraham Lincoln and the declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. "All men are born free and equal, in dignity and in rights, and, being endowed by nature with reason and conscience, they should conduct themselvesas brothers one to another"pffffft.