84 year old Warren and his 91 year old side-kick Charlie Munger were waxing wise at the Berkshire annual pow-wow the other day.
Warren is considered the second richest man in the world after Bill Gates, and Charlie is on the Forbes billionaire list in his own right.
The billionaires think we should not raise the minimum wage, because raising the minimum wage would hurt poor people.
Yup, paying the working poor a decent wage would just fuck them up.
Why can we not just call bullshit on such odious and obvious bullshit?
America is brain-dead.
Showing posts with label Warren Buffett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warren Buffett. Show all posts
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Thursday, January 23, 2014
As cancer slowly drains your life and bankrupts your family, isn't it comforting to know someone is profiting from your misery?
Ran across this headline at Money Morning; "Buffett: scrap Obamacare and start over."
I thought, oh thank goodness, here's a name Americans trust coming out for single payer health care.
Turns out the folks at Money Morning were doing the old "bait 'n switch."
The only reference to Buffett in the article is a quote from four years ago wherein he advises Obama to start over on his health care plans. Buffett himself is resolutely committed to for-profit health care, as evidenced by his investments in for-profit health care operators.
After all, his personal plan covers everything and he can afford the deductible. As for those of you who don't share his good fortune, tough luck; you should have worked harder and then you'd be rich like Warren Buffett.
What their article is really about is how you can profit from Obamacare, like Warren is doing.
Yet, while millions of Americans loathe every facet of The Affordable Care Act, as it's officially titled, another group of Americans see it as a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to get rich: Investors.
Yup, you too can be an investor getting rich on someone's cancer. Or heart disease. Or kidney failure. Or whatever.
Point is, don't get hoodwinked into feeling sorry for folks who fall sick. They're not a pity party; they're an investment opportunity.
Ya, they'll be dead and their family will be suffering the repercussions of bankruptcy for generations, BUT YOUR PORTFOLIO IS GONNA BE BURSTING WITH PROFITS!!!
It's health care, the American way!
I thought, oh thank goodness, here's a name Americans trust coming out for single payer health care.
Turns out the folks at Money Morning were doing the old "bait 'n switch."
The only reference to Buffett in the article is a quote from four years ago wherein he advises Obama to start over on his health care plans. Buffett himself is resolutely committed to for-profit health care, as evidenced by his investments in for-profit health care operators.
After all, his personal plan covers everything and he can afford the deductible. As for those of you who don't share his good fortune, tough luck; you should have worked harder and then you'd be rich like Warren Buffett.
What their article is really about is how you can profit from Obamacare, like Warren is doing.
Yet, while millions of Americans loathe every facet of The Affordable Care Act, as it's officially titled, another group of Americans see it as a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to get rich: Investors.
Yup, you too can be an investor getting rich on someone's cancer. Or heart disease. Or kidney failure. Or whatever.
Point is, don't get hoodwinked into feeling sorry for folks who fall sick. They're not a pity party; they're an investment opportunity.
Ya, they'll be dead and their family will be suffering the repercussions of bankruptcy for generations, BUT YOUR PORTFOLIO IS GONNA BE BURSTING WITH PROFITS!!!
It's health care, the American way!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Why Canada needs a Charter of Economic Rights
Here's something for the 400 soon-to-be unemployed Heinz workers in Leamington to mull over.
According to Forbes, Warren Buffett is the world's 4th richest man, with a net worth of 53 billion dollars.
Jorge Lemann is the world's 33rd richest man, with a net worth of 18 billion dollars.
Just to put a billion dollars in perspective, a typical Heinz employee in Leamington would have to work for 20,000 years to make a billion dollars.
Warren stands tall at 83 years old, atop a 53 billion dollar loot-pile
Jorges loot-pile is barely half that size.
Warren and Jorge have joined forces to buy the HJ Heinz company with a view to making themselves more money.
Because apparently they don't have enough.
This will be achieved by deploying the usual slash-and-burn strategies that have enriched hedge-fund shitbags for generations. Every dollar that can be leveraged out of a worker's pocket and diverted into the obscenely engorged wallets of Warren and Jorge is a step in the right direction.
Whether that destroys workers, their families, and their communities is quite irrelevant. It's all about "efficiency," don't you know?
Bullshit!
It's all about making obscenely rich people richer.
The layoffs and plant consolidations looming at Heinz contribute nothing of value to the overall economy. The Lemann-Buffett rape of HJ Heinz is a prime example of non-productive economic activity.
For starters, profits on non-productive economic activity should be taxed at a rate of 100%.
That would de-incentivize the Lemanns and Ackmans and Romneys of the world.
They could turn their attention to doing something useful for society!
Beyond that, as a society we need to get away from the idea that "democracy" is about nothing more than voting for one party or another every few years. Democracy should value the interests of ALL members of the society. We need to put the interests of the worker in Leamington on a par with the interests of Buffett or Lemann making their next billion.
Without economic democracy there is no democracy at all.
In the meantime, this is one household that is going to muddle through without using any HJ Heinz products from here on in.
Hope you do the same in your household.
According to Forbes, Warren Buffett is the world's 4th richest man, with a net worth of 53 billion dollars.
Jorge Lemann is the world's 33rd richest man, with a net worth of 18 billion dollars.
Just to put a billion dollars in perspective, a typical Heinz employee in Leamington would have to work for 20,000 years to make a billion dollars.
Warren stands tall at 83 years old, atop a 53 billion dollar loot-pile
Jorges loot-pile is barely half that size.
Warren and Jorge have joined forces to buy the HJ Heinz company with a view to making themselves more money.
Because apparently they don't have enough.
This will be achieved by deploying the usual slash-and-burn strategies that have enriched hedge-fund shitbags for generations. Every dollar that can be leveraged out of a worker's pocket and diverted into the obscenely engorged wallets of Warren and Jorge is a step in the right direction.
Whether that destroys workers, their families, and their communities is quite irrelevant. It's all about "efficiency," don't you know?
Bullshit!
It's all about making obscenely rich people richer.
The layoffs and plant consolidations looming at Heinz contribute nothing of value to the overall economy. The Lemann-Buffett rape of HJ Heinz is a prime example of non-productive economic activity.
For starters, profits on non-productive economic activity should be taxed at a rate of 100%.
That would de-incentivize the Lemanns and Ackmans and Romneys of the world.
They could turn their attention to doing something useful for society!
Beyond that, as a society we need to get away from the idea that "democracy" is about nothing more than voting for one party or another every few years. Democracy should value the interests of ALL members of the society. We need to put the interests of the worker in Leamington on a par with the interests of Buffett or Lemann making their next billion.
Without economic democracy there is no democracy at all.
In the meantime, this is one household that is going to muddle through without using any HJ Heinz products from here on in.
Hope you do the same in your household.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)