Posts Tagged ‘Warren Buffett’
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 19, 2011
As the saying goes, “There’s no news like old news.”
And so, that’s the case with this entry.
I have little doubt that you – indeed that very few Americans – have read the 2003 Report to Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway.
However, I have – and I read it when it was published in 2004.
In it, one of the world’s wealthiest men opines about corporate practices that have grieved Americans, the excesses of which have outraged many, if not most.
The report is available here, in its entirety, from the Berkshire Hathaway website.
Excerpted here below, for your convenience, are Warren Buffett’s thoughts from his 2003 Report to Shareholders.
I can understand why the Treasury is now frustrated with Corporate America and prone to outbursts. But it should look to Congress and the Administration for redress, not to Berkshire.
Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934.
Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning. Today, many large corporations – run by CEOs whose fiddle-playing talents make your Chairman look like he is all thumbs – pay nothing close to the stated federal tax rate of 35%.
In 1985, Berkshire paid Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Uncategorized II | Tagged: Berkshire, Berkshire Hathaway, business, Chief executive officer, Corporate governance, Investment Company Act of 1940, Investment Company Institute, management, Mutual fund, Todd Combs, United States, Warren Buffett | 1 Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 15, 2011
Op-Ed Contributor
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
By WARREN E. BUFFETT
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Uncategorized | Tagged: American, Berkshire Hathaway, Congress, Giving Pledge, government, Income tax, law, money, money wealthy, Payroll tax, politics, Republican, rich, tax, Tax rate, taxes, United States, Warren Buffett, wealth | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Tim Pawlenty (R), Governor of Minnesota, official portrait
Tim Pawlenty (R), former two-term Minnesota governor who balanced the state’s budget without raising taxes, and GOP presidential hopeful, is casting stones at the White House.
At the University of Chicago recently, he said, “President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare.” While he is the first to level such a charge against President Obama, several critics accused his predecessor – President George W. Bush – of the same thing. However, the one, and perhaps most important, person to validate that assertion against Bush II was none other than Berkshire Hathaway Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett. In his 2003 report to share holders, Buffett wrote,
“Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning. (emphasis added) Today, many large corporations – run by CEOs whose fiddle-playing talents make your Chairman look like he is all thumbs – pay nothing close to the stated federal tax rate of 35%.”

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett speaking to students at Kansas University School of Business
While it seems Pawlenty is disgruntled with national economic performance, he interestingly suggests that Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Even MORE Uncategorized!, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home. | Tagged: Barack Obama, Berkshire Hathaway, Corporate tax, economy, Google C++ Testing Framework, GOP, Governor of Minnesota, hoodoo, Jeffrey Frankel, Republican, Tim Pawlenty, United States, voodoo, Warren Buffett | 1 Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Even “
the Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, in his report to stockholders in 2003 wrote “
Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. “Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning.(emphasis added) Today, many large corporations – run by CEOs whose fiddle-playing talents make your Chairman look like he is all thumbs – pay nothing close to the stated federal tax rate of 35%.”
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Posted in - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Berkshire Hathaway, God, Goldman Sachs, Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, Lubrizol, United States, Warren Buffett | 4 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 17, 2009
So began the paragraph on a document sent to a retiree friend of mine.
The next paragraph read in part, “You may qualify for extra help paying your Medicare prescription costs.”
As I pondered the question it was suddenly obvious that everyone has “limited income and resources,” including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
…unless, of course, you’re God.
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that? | Tagged: advertising, Bill Gates, God, health, healthcare, life, limited income, Medicare, prescription, reform, resources, retirement, stupid questions, Warren Buffett | Leave a Comment »