Tax the Rich… What A Concept

Tax the Rich… What A Concept

Rarely does a billionaire write an opinion piece in The New York Times that receives a positive response.

When someone like Warren Buffett urges U.S. law makers to raise taxes on the country’s super-rich to help cut the deficit, it’s a pretty big deal that makes many people shake their heads in disbelief.

On the one hand, the vast majority of people will say, "you an ungodly amount of money and you have some nerve complaining." Then there are those that will say, that your opinion is spot on and the rich do need to pay more in taxes, and, "you have an ungodly amount of money."

According to Mr. Buffett, the concept of shared sacrifice should apply to all Americans…yes, even billionaires with ungodly amount’s of money. The Tea Party’s line-in-the-sand, that implicitly states that government spending must be slashed while taxes can never be raised, even for the superrich, is an unsustainable strategy that lacks any semblance of common sense and leadership.

Too many American families and small business across our nation are struggling and need help. They no longer have the patience for all the Washington shenanigans’ that has led S & P to downgrade our credit rating. If this country is going to pull itself our of the ditch then its going to take compromise and shared sacrifice from everyone, yes, even millionaires and billionaires who have ungodly amounts of money.

It’s embarrassing and shocking when a billionaire has to scold our elected leaders to act in the best interest of our nation. But who better than a man who has an ungodly amount of money in his bank account to speak truth. To be sure, there are many die-hard, self-described capitalist that will swear we will let loose the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse if we dare ask the superrich to pay their fair share in taxes.

The Republican Party and their Corporate Overlords will shape the narrative into the following sound bites, “The rich are not like us, they create jobs, they can’t pay higher taxes, corporations will pack up and leave if their taxes go up, its democratic socialism, etc.”

And unfortunately, some people will buy the con-job, hook, line and sinker. After all, the rich and the powerful in this country have always been very successful at making solidarity, and communalism appear blasphemous.

Perhaps John Steinbeck had us figured out when he said. “Americans don’t like socialism, because the poor here see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

In the meantime, one lonely billionaire with ungodly amounts of money has stated what is normally considered unthinkable.

And America is still standing…imagine that.