Rich Germans want to pay more taxes

[AnitaPeterson]

So far, many responses seem to indicate a) that a "massive investment in ecology, education and social justice" - the purpose of the German initiative - is not desirable; b) that governments should not be trusted, and c) all "liberals" (whatever that means) are crooked and shallow.

I also see suggestions that private donations (i.e. "leave money on the doorstep of a poor family") are preferable to any other type of long-term investment or effort (contrary to the "give a man a fish..." traditional wisdom).

I also see criticism leveled against Canadians, Europeans and everyone else who's not "red, white and blue" (preferably as much of the latter as possible).

Now I understand better why some of you have so much disdain for things like Net Neutrality, social programs, public healthcare and everything else that has, at its heart, an idea of solidarity and cooperation among humans.

Moonbeam is right, some of you have a deep hatred for other human beings, as well as yourselves. It's unsettling to realize we belong to the same species.

"Après nous, le Déluge". Beautiful.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
So far, many responses seem to indicate a) that a "massive investment in ecology, education and social justice" - the purpose of the German initiative - is not desirable; b) that governments should not be trusted, and c) all "liberals" (whatever that means) are crooked and shallow.

I also see suggestions that private donations (i.e. "leave money on the doorstep of a poor family") are preferable to any other type of long-term investment or effort (contrary to the "give a man a fish..." traditional wisdom).

I also see criticism leveled against Canadians, Europeans and everyone else who's not "red, white and blue" (preferably as much of the latter as possible).

Now I understand better why some of you have so much disdain for things like Net Neutrality, social programs, public healthcare and everything else that has, at its heart, an idea of solidarity and cooperation among humans.

Moonbeam is right, some of you have a deep hatred for other human beings, as well as yourselves. It's unsettling to realize we belong to the same species.

"Après nous, le Déluge". Beautiful.

We have a disdain for forced charity and taxation because our govt has proven time and time again it can not be trusted with our hard earned money. Just this week in MN while they are cutting state programs for the poor and school system we find out a sex offenders jail purchased 50,000 dollars worth of 50 inch sony plasma TVs for the inmates so they can bond in a group setting. Nevermind the fact they already get a TV in their rooms.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
I also see suggestions that private donations (i.e. "leave money on the doorstep of a poor family") are preferable to any other type of long-term investment or effort (contrary to the "give a man a fish..." traditional wisdom).

That's not exactly the only way of giving to others.

There are plenty of non-profit organizations that do much better work. And they won't spend a portion of your money killing people overseas either.

Government is not a charity. Charities don't take money by force, they accept money voluntarily, and many of them very successfully. And they spend the money much more wisely than government.

I think it's insane to want to give even more money to government when other organizations could make much better use of those resources.

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: Specop 007

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Specop 007
When Mr. Buffet donates all his wealth to charity or government, keeping only enough for a modest living, then I'll listen to him lecture others about giving.......

Its very easy to preach, much more difficult to practice......

Buffett begins donating 85% of his wealth.

He keeps his salary at $100k/year.

I'm been to the outside of his home, it isn't bad, but it certainly isn't that fancy either. Nor is it in an expensive area or even a top neighborhood in Omaha.

Buffett eats mostly hamburgers and fries. I have good friends who are friends of Buffet (more friends with his wife than Warren himself). They can attest that even when eating Thanksgiving meals with Buffett, he eats McDonald's bugers and fries.

True, keeping 15% is still a lot. But he basically is following exactly what you wanted.

Biggest smackdown ever.

Buffet truly is a great person, he's the anti-thesis of your average Republican.

Right there is the problem. He is, frankly, at the end of his life. So NOW he suddenly decides to give away his wealth after enjoying it for decades, and as such thinks all the rest should follow suit?

Hes as crooked and shallow as any liberal, and far more dangerous.

Except he's never really 'enjoyed' his money, you idiot, he's lived frugally all his life (as has been pointed out twice now)

Frugal? Maybe for a billionaire, but not for most of us lol

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Specop 007

Originally posted by: Ausm

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Specop 007
When Mr. Buffet donates all his wealth to charity or government, keeping only enough for a modest living, then I'll listen to him lecture others about giving.......

Its very easy to preach, much more difficult to practice......

Buffett begins donating 85% of his wealth.

He keeps his salary at $100k/year.

I'm been to the outside of his home, it isn't bad, but it certainly isn't that fancy either. Nor is it in an expensive area or even a top neighborhood in Omaha.

Buffett eats mostly hamburgers and fries. I have good friends who are friends of Buffet (more friends with his wife than Warren himself). They can attest that even when eating Thanksgiving meals with Buffett, he eats McDonald's bugers and fries.

True, keeping 15% is still a lot. But he basically is following exactly what you wanted.

:thumbsup:

Warren Buffet does practice what he preaches

No, he suddenly decided, at age 75 I might add, to start giving it away. This isnt a life philosophy for him. This is something he just suddenly decided to do and thinks we should all do it.

Wait, so its ok for someone to amass BILLIONS and enjoy it but because he has a change of heart at age 75 suddenly no one should ever have the same opportunities??

Makes perfect sense to me.......

Yep. He certainly didnt have this philosophy until recently. Its like when a mass murderer 2 weeks before his execution decides to be religious

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
If the taxes were to be used in a manner that will actually benefit the country vs handouts/pork, people might be more willing to accept a higher tax rate.

Consider taxes to be an investment - what is the ROI. In Germany and other countries, the ROI for a higher tax may be better than what the US crooks provide in our governmnet.

If we didn't have so much damn pork and the feds concentrated on only issues of constitutional importance our taxes wouldn't need to be higher...actually they would be much lower.

Can you imagine the political and press fallout for Obama if he cut any of mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare (Probably not), defense, homeland security, Veterans benefits?

Remember the crazyness when he only increased the Defense budget by 3 billion?

Those combined make up 83% of the budget.

You could slash every other department (Justice, CIA, FDA, USDA etc.) in half and the average person would see a few hundred less each year in taxes...

 

[Praxis1452]

It's 44 people... jeez, this is the worst idea ever. 44 people out of how many, wish to have the rich pay a higher tax. Why can't they just donate their own money. ffs, this is ridiculous.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
I also see criticism leveled against Canadians, Europeans and everyone else who's not "red, white and blue" (preferably as much of the latter as possible).

The hypocrisy of the OP is delicious. You have no problems leveling criticism against Americans. Or, as you put it in your subtitle:

"I wonder why you'll never hear that from rich Americans"

Do as I say, not as I do, isn't that right? Then you resort to the typical, whiny insult: "Americans are just red, white and blue arrogant blowhards" :roll:

We have all been trolled. Well done. /golfclap

 

[JSt0rm]

to the op: Did you expect a different reaction? lol

 

[Moonbeam]

The Germans could even make communism work and proved it.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: PokerGuy

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: PokerGuy
So we know there's at least 44 retarded people in Germany.

If they feel they want to do more, and that they have more money than they need, they can always pay more in taxes. Heck, donate it all away if they want.... but nooooooooo. In the typical liberal moronic way, they want to force everyone to send more money to the government for crooked politicians to waste. Yeah, that sounds brilliant. :roll:

Sadly, that idiotic mentality is somewhat pervasive among liberals.

I don't know about these 44 individuals, but Warren Buffet feels the exact same way and based on the fact that you post like a retard here while Buffet is highly regarded in intellect, i'm going to have to say, you're an idiot.

Warren is another of these idiots, albeit a rich one. Just because he knows about investing doesn't make him any more of an expert on politics than anyone else. If he wants to "pay his fair share", he can hand all his money to the government for them to waste, but don't force me to do the same. It would be more useful to just burn my cash than to have the crooks in DC waste it.

I guess Bill Gates is an idiot too. He's also complained that our tax system is broken and that he should be paying more.


As far as the crooks in DC are concerned, I'd just point out that while most people complain about them, 50+% of Americans keep voting for them. Once you're able to understand why that is, you'll see why the real problem is people just like you, blind partisans who demonize the opposition while eagerly swallowing whatever your party feeds you. We unfortunately have a whole country of malleable bots, trained to absorb marketing campaigns engineered to push your buttons and manipulate your beliefs, incapable of analyzing them critically to see the bullshit behind them. That, my friend, is why you believe what you do and why Washington D.C. is so full of crooks and liars of both political persuasions.

 

[JSt0rm]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger
I guess Bill Gates is an idiot too. He's also complained that our tax system is broken and that he should be paying more.


As far as the crooks in DC are concerned, I'd just point out that while most people complain about them, 50+% of Americans keep voting for them. Once you're able to understand why that is, you'll see why the real problem is people just like you, blind partisans who demonize the opposition while eagerly swallowing whatever your party feeds you. We unfortunately have a whole country of malleable bots, trained to absorb marketing campaigns engineered to push your buttons and manipulate your beliefs, incapable of analyzing them critically to see the bullshit behind them. That, my friend, is why you believe what you do and why Washington D.C. is so full of crooks and liars of both political persuasions.

ownt.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
If the taxes were to be used in a manner that will actually benefit the country vs handouts/pork, people might be more willing to accept a higher tax rate.

Consider taxes to be an investment - what is the ROI. In Germany and other countries, the ROI for a higher tax may be better than what the US crooks provide in our governmnet.

If we didn't have so much damn pork and the feds concentrated on only issues of constitutional importance our taxes wouldn't need to be higher...actually they would be much lower.

Can you imagine the political and press fallout for Obama if he cut any of mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare (Probably not), defense, homeland security, Veterans benefits?

Remember the crazyness when he only increased the Defense budget by 3 billion?

Those combined make up 83% of the budget.

You could slash every other department (Justice, CIA, FDA, USDA etc.) in half and the average person would see a few hundred less each year in taxes...

Given the waste and hit on the economy that Homeland Security has caused...

For every existing dollar that is actually cut (compared to last years spending), I will be happy to incrase my tax payment by $1. Make the government more efficient

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Given the waste and hit on the economy that Homeland Security has caused...

For every existing dollar that is actually cut (compared to last years spending), I will be happy to incrase my tax payment by $1. Make the government more efficient

I like that idea. I like it a lot. We have two interrelated problems. Government wastes a lot of money, but we also aren't taxed enough to pay for the "services" we receive. That would address both ends of the problem, assuming we could ever get Congress to abide by it.

 

[IGBT]

there's nothing stopping rich liberals from writting a check to their favorite social rackett.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Phokus
I don't need statistics to show that [my preconceived notions are correct.]

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Given the waste and hit on the economy that Homeland Security has caused...

For every existing dollar that is actually cut (compared to last years spending), I will be happy to incrase my tax payment by $1. Make the government more efficient

I like that idea. I like it a lot. We have two interrelated problems. (1) Government wastes a lot of money, but (2) we also aren't taxed enough to pay for the "services" we receive. That would address both ends of the problem, assuming we could ever get Congress to abide by it.

Im not sure the second point is true. Until it is known just how much is being wasdted, we wont know if its enough to provide whats needed. Youre view is it isnt, mine is that it is. Neither side can be really quantified. But I think to honestly discuss this you have to ask whether the federal government is providing services it shouldnt. I say yes.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
If the taxes were to be used in a manner that will actually benefit the country vs handouts/pork, people might be more willing to accept a higher tax rate.

Consider taxes to be an investment - what is the ROI. In Germany and other countries, the ROI for a higher tax may be better than what the US crooks provide in our governmnet.

thats because our legislative branch is a bad joke. Not to mention most of the 50 state legislatures.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: K1052
17 of the 25 largest private charitable foundations in the world are from the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...charitable_foundations

IIRC, even 7 or 8 the top 10 or so worldwide charities are primarily US funded and based.

The US gives more public and private aid to the world than than the rest of the developed nations combined.


You Canadians can go fucking lecture someone else about having a conscience.

i would hope that we woudl have the largest charities seeing as our economy is 3 timeslarger than the next largest.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: PokerGuy
So we know there's at least 44 retarded people in Germany.

If they feel they want to do more, and that they have more money than they need, they can always pay more in taxes. Heck, donate it all away if they want.... but nooooooooo. In the typical liberal moronic way, they want to force everyone to send more money to the government for crooked politicians to waste. Yeah, that sounds brilliant. :roll:

Sadly, that idiotic mentality is somewhat pervasive among liberals.

Text

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
fuck liberals that want to take money away from people that work and give it to those that do not.

yes, because this is what all your tax money goes to.


fuck your dumb

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: Atreus21


Your favorite source.

That's only private aid, dummy

Arguably private aid is more effective per dollar spent than government aid given that no private foundation will EVER have the overhead the US government does.

proof?


since when has private charity ever been particularity cost effective?

 

[Patranus]

Seriously. How much do the rich give non-profits?
At least when they give to non-profits they know that THEIR money won't be wasted.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Germany is still relatively homogeneous. If the US were still 90% white I'd gamble that you'd see much more sympathy for social welfare problems.

As of December 2004, about seven million foreign citizens were registered in Germany, and 19% of the country's residents were of foreign or partially foreign descent.

Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born,

not identical statistics, but close enough