Back in my stock-broker days I had a great business partner who happened to a giant Warren Buffett fan. He had read all about the Sage of Omaha, could recite the stories, and given the field we worked in and Buffett’s success in it, that admiration was well placed. But my old partner was also a raging Limbaugh listener and a staunch social conservative. So I wonder where he’d be these days what with Buffett joining forces with a Kenyan Socialist to tax the job creators of America. Would he be swayed by Buffett’s advice to tax the rich more, or would he be among those now demanding the Sage’s tax returns as part of an intimidation campaign?
The Hill reports big names in Congress are starting to say Buffett “needs to reveal his finances if his views on tax rates are going to serve as the basis for Obama administration policy.” NRSC chair John Cornyn (TX), who took the call to Twitter Thursday, explained to ABC News that knowing how Buffett makes his money could change the way people view the so-called “Buffett Rule” that President Obama …
What a great idea. From now on whenever a politican says anything about the rich, the rich have to pony up records to back up what the politicians is saying. I’m all for that. When Eric Cantor says we can’t tax rich people or corporations because they are the job creators, I’d love to see all their raw data on finances, taxes, and workforce changes so that experts can sift through them and see if Cantor’s claim holds water. But on Buffett, well, here’s the hilarious thing: these clueless wingnut idiots apparently didn’t bother to make the most cursory check before firing off their not-so-veiled threat:
Warren Buffett has already made his 2010 tax return public. Appearing on Charlie Rose last month, the billionaire investor brought his tax return along to prove his point about the Buffett Rule, which has become the centerpiece of President Obama’s new plan to raise taxes on the super-rich.
Now this puts the Teaparty in a bind. Buffett is a self-made billionaire and therefore pretty close to a deity in the micro-brains of the extreme right. They’ve already taken a big chance by possibly angering one of their demigods. Do they now apologize at the altar of Wealth, or engage in the usual goal post hyper-drive and demand more documents while proclaiming the ones made public a forgery?
The second one. The rich may be right-wingers’ demigods, but are only worshiped as such if the rich person in question is white, straight, male, Christian and, most of all, Republican. If you don’t fit that bill, you run afoul of the other hatreds of the raving right, and lose your demigod status. Such is life in Wingnuttia.
You pose this as a rhetorical question, right? We all know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it will be the latter. Might I suggest that they start searching for the true financial documents in Kenya? ;^D
Off topic: Just wanted to say that I’m enjoying the hell out of your blog! You have, in my estimation, a near perfect balance of scientific wonderment (especially astrophysics, squee!) and right-wing political incredulity. Kudos and many thanks!
I could make a fortune selling goalposts that have been retrofitted with a turbocharged V8…..
Um, yeah, but, how about the long form?
I can’t suppress the giggling.
Of course, Buffett foresaw that people would object and demand his tax return. Revealing it at the outset, before they could even demand it, was brilliant. It makes them look like complete idiots.
Hmmm… well, maybe making them look like complete idiots isn’t such an accomplishment.
I’m waiting for some wingnut to demand that Buffett’s returns be audited (if they haven’t been already). No doubt they think Buffett must have cheated if his reported effective tax rate isn’t high enough to make any rational billionaire consider retirement or relocation to some tax haven to escape the USA’s confiscatory, job-killing rates.