Bob, and I mean this with all seriousness, SELL!! The over-valuation is so fucking crazy on TSLA right now that it makes the Dot-Com look like Berkshire Hathaway.

THIS IS IT IN A NUTSHELL.

Buffett Blames Congress for Romney's 15% Rate


Warren Buffett, the billionaire calling for more taxes on the rich, said Mitt Romney's U.S. tax rate of about 15 percent reflects poor laws rather than failings by the candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

"It's the wrong policy to have," Buffett told Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu in an interview today. "He's not going to pay more than the law requires, and I don't fault him for that in the least. But I do fault a law that allows him and me earning enormous sums to pay overall federal taxes at a rate that's about half what the average person in my office pays."

Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) , supports Democratic President Barack Obama and said Congress needs to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to close the budget deficit. Romney has agreed to release his 2010 tax return tomorrow, under pressure from Republican opponents, after saying he pays about 15 percent. Romney co- founded Boston-based private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC.

"He makes his money the same way I make my money," Buffett said. "He makes money by moving around big bucks, not by straining his back or going to work and cleaning toilets or whatever it may be. He makes it shoving around money."

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

When will he do this? On is death bed?

A tax-deductible foundation is not the federal mafia. Donating to a foundation is voluntary. Buffoon wants the fed mafia to shakedown more evil rich people.

FAIL. I mean, *coughFAIL*cough



>> ^notarobot:

cough
Fortune reports that Buffett will donate 85 percent of his fortune amassed from stock in the Berkshire Hathaway company to five foundations.
The donations, which will come from Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shares, would amount to about $37 billion, based on current values.
Five-sixths of the money reportedly will go to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which specializes in finding cures for diseases that plague impoverished nations. [source=abc news]
cough
>> ^quantumushroom:
PAT BUCHANAN: Why doesn’t he set an example and send a check for $5 billion to the federal government? He’s got about $40 billion.
What's Warren Buffoon waiting for? A gun in his face like the rest of us get?

*cough*
Fortune reports that Buffett will donate 85 percent of his fortune amassed from stock in the Berkshire Hathaway company to five foundations.

The donations, which will come from Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shares, would amount to about $37 billion, based on current values.

Five-sixths of the money reportedly will go to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which specializes in finding cures for diseases that plague impoverished nations. [source=abc news]

*cough*

>> ^quantumushroom:

PAT BUCHANAN: Why doesn’t he set an example and send a check for $5 billion to the federal government? He’s got about $40 billion.
What's Warren Buffoon waiting for? A gun in his face like the rest of us get?

>> ^omnistegan:
I'm willing to bet he's the only richest man ever to have a "Philanthropy" section on his Wikipedia page.

Not necessarily. Doing some research for my website, I found out the philanthropy is the norm among the world's gazilionaires.

Large donations have been made recently by:
* Bill Gates of Microsoft to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* Carlos Slim Helu of Latin American telecoms to health programs in Mexico
* Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google to Google.org

Rugar, I can't read such large unparagraphed blocks of text without straining my eyes. I've just quickly skimmed your post.

***

"I personally think that society is responsible for a very significant percentage of what I've earned."

—Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

***


You're being silly with your insinuation that I'm potentially not aware of underground transactions because I don't live in the United States--unless you think that's the same as not living on planet earth.

You wanted to see if the money could - hypothetically - be located for the US to have universal health care. I pointed you in what I think is the right direction. You're opposed to my suggestions on ideological grounds. Are there any suggestions you'd have been willing to consider? You've given me the impression that the answer is no and that therefore you'd already arrived at your conclusion before you asked the question. This is what is meant by "trolling". I didn't call you a troll.

The argument around wealth vis a vis labour and productive property collapses into the chicken/egg paradox--except, unlike with chickens, wealth always scales back to labour. There's no getting around it; it's turtles the whole way down.

Returning to the original question; the United States could still possibly see every single citizen covered under some form of public health insurance. But to do so a great deal of money needs to be located. This money can be raised by returning corporate tax rates to prior levels and fairly taxing the very rich.

I've read your complaints about "social engineering" or coercion or whatever, but I don't think they're that significant. I suggest that your protests arise from an absolutist abstraction. As I've already stated my concern for social justice is not at all in the abstract. People die every day for lack of health care.

Ultimately society as a whole must be the final arbiter of the public good--and to that end it can always draft and pass legislation after weighing respective consequential harms and benefits.

The quotation that follows is excerpted from this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/31/usnews

_________________________________________

Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the "Sage of Omaha", has complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff - including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn (£25bn), said: "The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic; I don't think it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."

During an interview with NBC television, Mr Buffett brandished an informal survey of 15 of his 18 office staff at his Berkshire Hathaway empire. The billionaire said he was paying 17.7% payroll and income tax, compared with an average in the office of 32.9%.

"There wasn't anyone in the office, from the receptionist up, who paid as low a tax rate and I have no tax planning; I don't have an accountant or use tax shelters. I just follow what the US Congress tells me to do," he said.

Mr Buffett also took a pot shot at hedge fund managers. He said: "Hedge fund operators have spent a record amount lobbying in the last few months - they give money to the political campaigns. Who represents the cleaning lady?"

_________________________________________