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Warren Buffett, having already joined the billionaires’ club, enlists the president in restricting membership so it doesn’t get so crowded in there… Sometime around the tenth century A.D., probably in the southern Tang dynasty of China, a practice grew popular that horrifies us today. They called it foot binding. One story has it that young dancing girls were considered so lovely and talented that all women, even when full-grown, would be prettier if only they had the tiny feet of dancing children – so they arranged it. Another story has it that a popular empress had a club foot, and...

US president Barack Obama, in a populist step designed to appeal to voters, will propose a 'Buffett Tax' on people making more than $1 million a year as part of his deficit recommendations to Congress on Monday. Such a proposal, among suggestions to a congressional super committee expected to seek up to $US3 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years, would appeal to his Democratic base ahead of the 2012 election, but may not raise much in revenues. White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said in a tweet on Saturday the tax would act as "a kind of [Alternative Minimum...

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials. With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama’s effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats’ support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid. Mr....

In his increasingly desperate attempts to pander to a population that has by now entirely given up on the hope, and barely has any change left, Obama is going for broke (or technically the reverse) by setting the class warfare bar just that little bit higher. This time around, his targets are millionaires, who according to the NYT are about to see their taxes soar. Or not: nobody really knows if the proposed "Buffett Rule", affectionately known for crony communist #1, will impact just millionaires income tax, which incidentally is the same as what everyone else is paying, or, far...

A portfolio manager who paid a total of $5.3 million for two meals with Warren Buffett has just been hired to help pick stocks at Berkshire Hathaway. In a news release this morning, Buffett's company says 50-year-old Ted Weschler of Charlottesville, Va., will join Berkshire early next year. He is currently managing partner at the hedge fund he started in 2000, Peninsula Capital Advisors. Weschler joins 2010 Berkshire addition Todd Combs as a portfolio manager. And in an unusual twist, Fortune's Carol Loomis reveals this morning that Weschler met Buffett by winning Buffett's annual charity "Power Lunch" auction for the...

C’mon, IRS. “Stop coddling the super rich.” Contrive to successfully extract the taxes they already owe.Mr. Buffett, I barely want to waste my breath on your blatant hypocrisy.And, Mainstream Media (by which I mean the NYT, which ran Buffett’s obnoxious op-ed in the first place), WHERE ARE YOU?From NewsMax: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett triggered a major debate over taxes recently when he wrote in The New York Times that he should be paying more to the federal government. He called on Washington lawmakers to up tax rates on the rich.But it turns out that Buffett’s own company, Berkshire Hathaway, has...

Warren Buffett has made a career out of casting himself as a common man -- a folksy octogenarian from Omaha who also is the richest man on earth. The billionaire everyman never misses an opportunity to sow his optimistic seeds about stock ownership and America’s future, while professing his profound desire to pay more taxes. Yet when it comes to investing his own billions, this common man has little time for common stocks, but plenty of time for special deals that save him taxes and almost always put him ahead of mere mortal shareholders. Such was the case this past...

Warren 'Raise My Taxes' Buffett's Company May Owe IRS $1 Billion By Noel Sheppard Created 08/30/2011 - 5:29pm As NewsBusters reported Monday, American media almost completely ignored a report that Warren "Raise My Taxes" Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway has been fighting with the IRS for almost a decade over taxes it owes. On Tuesday, the organization digging into Berkshire Hathaway's numbers, Americans for Limited Government, estimated the total could be as much as $1 billion: Using only publicly-available documents, a certified public accountant (CPA) detailed Berkshire Hathaway’s tax problems to ALG researcher Richard McCarty. Now, the American people have a...

Remember when Warren Buffett — a staunch Obama supporter — said that rich people like him would be willing to pay more taxes to help out? If you do, it will probably shock you that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has back taxes dating back to 2002. The New York Post explains: That’s right: As Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson notes, the company openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002. “We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years...

Wealthy people across Europe are following in billionaire Warren Buffett's footsteps by calling for higher taxes on the rich. In Germany, a group of 50 people, called "The Wealthy for a Capital Levy," have urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to make people like them pay more in taxes and "stop the gap between rich and poor getting even bigger," The Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday. In France, 16 of the country's wealthiest people, including billionaire L'Oreal heiress Lilliane Bettencourt and oil company Total's chief executive Christophe de Margerie signed a petition calling for wealthy people to make a "special contribution" to the...

If you're looking for proof that Too Big to Fail is still alive, and that Washington won't leave large financial institutions to the mercies of capitalism, consider billionaire Obama fundraiser Warren Buffett's $5 billion bet on struggling Bank of America. Buffett, who recently won plaudits for advocating higher taxes, has spent four years betting on bailouts and big government -- and tilting the playing field in that direction by putting his money and prestige at the service of Barack Obama. Buffett gave the maximum donation to Obama in 2007 -- $4,600 to his campaign, and $28,500 to the Democratic National...

The United States tax code is so backward that billionaire investor Warren Buffett pays only 17 percent in income taxes, a rate even lower than that of his secretary. Or so he claims. While I have great respect for Mr. Buffett, and while I agree that our tax code could benefit from major adjustments, Mr. Buffett's statement is misleading. And he knows it. Even worse, when Mr. Buffett implies that wealthier Americans are under-taxed, it gives public officials cover to pursue disastrous policies such as Maryland's failed millionaire's tax, and the pending sales tax on interstate Internet purchases known as...

Warren Buffett has swooped in to save the day, this time for Bank of America. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to invest $5 billion in Bank of America Corp. to help assure investors that the company will not go under. What's with all the recent do gooder deeds? Is this guy considering a run for president in 2012? Probably not. By investing and "bolstering confidence" in Bank of America, Buffett will be rewarded with a handsome $300 million annually. Maybe he can use some of that to donate to his "the rich deserve to be taxed" cause.Already stocks have...

Warren Buffett will host a fundraiser for President Obama next month in New York City, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO told CNNMoney on Thursday. With the 2012 election season just around the corner, the campaign to put Obama back in the White House for a second term is well underway -- and it's not unusual for the campaign to boost the president's drawing power by allowing him to share the stage with a well known benefactor. Billed as an "Economic Forum Dinner with Warren Buffett," the fundraiser will be held at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York and moderated by...

My Response To Buffett And Obama Before you ask for more tax money from me, raise the $2.2 trillion you already collect each year more fairly and spend it more wisely. By HARVEY GOLUB Over the years, I have paid a significant portion of my income to the various federal, state and local jurisdictions in which I have lived, and I deeply resent that President Obama has decided that I don't need all the money I've not paid in taxes over the years, or that I should leave less for my children and grandchildren and give more to him to...

“The President and Mr. Buffett discussed the overall outlook on the economy and the reaction to the headwinds we’ve experienced over the last couple of months," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "They talked a little bit about some possible measures that would spur investment and increase economic growth. And they also talked about some measures that could address the long-term fiscal situation in this country.” Obama also called Mulally, and they discussed the disruptions to the auto industry supply chain caused by the Japanese tsunami as well as ways to stimulate exports and investment. Ford was a major opponent...

The majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the federal deficit should be reduced only or primarily through spending cuts. The survey out Monday found that 56 percent of the NABE members surveyed felt that way, while 37 percent said they favor equal parts spending cuts and tax increases. The remaining 7 percent believe it should be done only or mostly through tax increases. As for how to reduce the deficit, nearly 40 percent said the best way would be to contain Medicare and Medicaid costs. Nearly a quarter recommended overhauling the tax system...

Billionaire Warren Buffett created a stir last week, writing in the New York Times, “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress.” “It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice,” Mr. Buffett urged, specifically advocating that Congress “raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains.” Buffett has a point, of course, perhaps several points. Who can defend the fairness, or even sanity, of a tax system in which a man making tens of millions or even billions pays less in taxes, percentage-wise,...

BILLIONAIRE KOCH TO BILLIONAIRE BUFFETT: Screw Your Call For Higher Taxes -- The Government Is Incompetent Henry Blodget Aug. 19, 2011, 7:10 PM Earlier this week, Warren Buffett called bs on the Republican meme that raising taxes on deca-millionaires and billionaires will clobber the economy. His argument was persuasive--because raising taxes on billionaires won't hurt the economy. Today, in a statement published at the National Review, another billionaire weighs in on the tax issue--Charles Koch. Koch doesn't dispute Buffett's contention that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary and that he could afford to pay a lot more....