The Future Of The Corporation By Robert Kuttner

[Demeter]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18761.htm


11/22/07 "New York Times" -- -- LAST WEEK, superinvestor Warren Buffett, America's second richest man, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the subject of why people like him can well afford to pay taxes. In fact, Buffett is ceasing to be among the very wealthiest because he is giving most of his fortune away to philanthropies while he is still alive.

"Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise," Buffett told the senators. "Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward a plutocracy."

Buffett also proposed higher taxes on the wealthy in order to give working people a break on their payroll taxes, which now cost three Americans in four more than they pay in income taxes. And he supports taxing hedge fund bonuses at the same rate as ordinary income, so that billionaire hedge fund managers don't pay taxes at a lower rate than the people who clean their offices.

The conservatives on the committee were somewhat nonplussed, since Buffett is a poster boy for capitalist entrepreneurship. He isn't supposed to hold such views. And indeed, few Americans of great wealth do.

Another one who does is William Gates Sr., who writes in the current issue of the magazine Politico with coauthor Chuck Collins that "Without our society's substantial investments in taxpayer-funded research, technology, education, and infrastructure, the wealth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans would not be so robust."...The source of great wealth is not just private entrepreneurs, but the society they inhabit and the public resources on which they build...Leaders like Warren Buffett should be prized, both as executives whose civic values shame their peers, and as advocates for better tax-and-spend policies generally. If society is to get the resources so that healthcare and secure retirement (not to mention child care and job training) are not left to the whims and public relations of corporations, Congress had better follow Buffett's lead on tax equity, and restore our ability to finance these benefits as citizens.

Robert Kuttner's new book is "The Squandering of America: How the Failure of our Politics Undermines our Prosperity."

[nightrider767]

1. Warren Buffet, New American Hero

Sure he's no John Wayne, but he can really say it like it is.

You go Warren!

[Skittles]

5. good thing he is "no John Wayne"

John Wayne was a piece of SHIT republican

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Demeter.:thumbsup:

[Demeter]

4. MY Pleasure, Uncle Joe

[Double T]

3. Great article with a totally valid point. Now the quest is to find legislators........

that will sustain the Estate Taxes on the filthy corrupt rich that don't believe there should even be an Estate Tax. The conservatives crashed US in 1929 and they're well on their way to doing it again. We need SANE, STRONG legislative leadership which has been absent for decades; current 'leadership' included.