I believe the essence of Buffett's argument has to do with fairness.
Who stands to benefit most as a result of national defense, on a purely economic basis...who has the most to gain or lose, the poor or the wealthy?
Who benefits the most by health insurance for all? The corporations, as if people get better care quickly, they will have less sick days.
The bottom line is that a more productive work force is one who is properly taken care of, so the load should be shouldered more by those who can afford it, as it really is in their best interests to do so.
Do the wealthy really want a level of poverty that drives the "serfs" to a life of crime? Who would they try to mug, steal from, etc?
Public health care would reduce expenses for business, better education produced better workers, better family life produces less drug addicts and criminals.
Buffett may be completely self absorbed, but his absorption is in the form of enlightened self interest, knowing that what keeps the masses happy, healthy and working is best for business.
As much as the right wing klannish would like to return to slavery, serfdom, debtor's prison, child labor, and abuses seen at the beginning of the industrial revolution, we are not likely to regress back to that time frame, the people will revolt...
It was shown in a recent study that the wealthy of the world donate less than 1% of their worth to charities...which is pathetic, especially in a country that prides itself as Christian and charitable.
You Pal Michael Moore was asked about his health insurance for his employees...his answer was zero deductible, full dental, no 90 day waiting. Is that because he cares, or because he wants healthy happy workers?
At some point it really would help if the klannish would understand the value of productivity, how much of their present tax dollars are wasted on health related issues, crime, etc. quite a bit of which would be less of a factor if we had an electorate who were not worrying about what happens if they get sick or can't work or can't afford to retire due to real inflationary pressures.
The boomers are going to be retiring soon, and they will want to take advantage of the promises of social security and health care. Where is that promised money coming from if not increased taxes?
I don't see the right wingers complaining about VA benefits, which is essentially socialized medicine for a select group. The wingers believe they earned it, I agree, but I also believe the Constitution is clear that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is a human right, and in a society in which the wealthy benefit most from our system of government, should be taking on a greater share of the responsibility for what they get. If citizenship really meant something, perhaps we would be doing more to protect it, and not sacrifice the real cost of illegals to help the bottom line of business owners. How can business owners call themselves patriotic by hiring illegals? Yet, my guess is the klannish ones wear an American flag lapel pin, voted for Bush, and say the pledge of allegiance and sing the National Anthem regularly...all the while they are profiting and paying less taxes because they are cheating the system and all Americans by hiring and employing illegals.
Taxes are not a curse, they are the blood we all pay for the quality of life in America, which is on the decline for most. Most of us don't have to spill real blood to have the benefits of the greatest nation on earth, so the least we can do is pay our fair share in the form of taxes.
It really is ludicrous if the klannish and Liberidiots would just step back from their American fantasy.
There position now would be analogous to a bunch of serfs in the feudal system who were against taxing the ruling class. Somewhere along the line the American dream brainwashed away all common sense from the klannish and Liberidiots when it comes to taxing the upper 1%. They have the same delusion working as a kid in the hood who thinks he is one day going to play hoops in the NBA. Get real, most of yall are never going to get into the wealthy club, you are just chasing the carrot of the American way dreamed up by the ruling class to manipulate your dreams into their profitability.
This is not to say that we can't have a more efficient government, a flat tax, or other factors that will eliminate pork and waste, the defense department alone wastes trillions of dollars. The tax revenue lost via illegals is also a huge loss to revenues that could benefit the shrinking middle class. Wages are artificially low due to illegals and exporting jobs to slave style labor overseas.
Oil and insurance company profits are through the roof, yet 46 million Americans are unable to afford health care.
We used to have a middle class where the wife could afford to stay home and take care of the kids, be there when the kids got home....now we don't have that situation with regularity. Women have to work, it is an economic necessity just to survive with reduced wages, or wages that are not growing as fast as real costs of living.
Something is terrible wrong with this picture, for a society that claims to be leading civilization into the next millennium.
The wealthy are getting wealthier thanks to tax cuts, and their increased wealth is not going back into a system that helps all the people to improve the quality of their own lives. The middle class is being squeezed like nobody's business, and the middle class are not the ones who are in control, because they continue to vote in frauds who lower taxes for those who don't need taxes lowered. Still under the spell of the American dream and the right wing propaganda, which is a complete delusion.
Where is the real nationalism in this country? Have we really be reduced to just waving flags after 911, but not really caring about the quality of lives of the American people?
How can people claim to love their country, and allow such economic disparity, people having no health care, a shrinking middle class, corporate profits sheltered from taxation by keeping the money off shore?
I don't know what it will take for real Americans to wake up and take care of our own, but my guess is that it won't be pretty.
