Tonight kicks off the class warfare campaign

[Sasquatch]

I cannot wait. 

Obama to focus on economic fairness in State of the Union

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/21/10206065-obama-to-focus-on-economic-fairness-in-state-of-the-union

Buffett's secretary to join Obama

Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union...

Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett for nearly two decades, has become a symbol in the White House's fight over the tax code and economic fairness.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/buffetts-secretary-to-join-obama-112046.html

Reckon anybody will ever ask Buffet, or Obama for that matter, why he simply doesn't pay her more? 

[Sasquatch]

BTW, I bet this will help get the riots started for the OWS folks.

George Soros will probably be orgasmic. I hope he isn't at the speech. He would behave like Pee Wee Herman in a movie theater.

[NCVol]

I cannot wait. 

Obama to focus on economic fairness in State of the Union

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/21/10206065-obama-to-focus-on-economic-fairness-in-state-of-the-union

Buffett's secretary to join Obama

Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union...

Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett for nearly two decades, has become a symbol in the White House's fight over the tax code and economic fairness.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/buffetts-secretary-to-join-obama-112046.html

Reckon anybody will ever ask Buffet, or Obama for that matter, why he simply doesn't pay her more? 

Not sure what she's paid, but it's irrelevant - paying her more wouldn't solve anything.  Unlike true capitalists, working people can't elect to receive their compensation in the form of capital gains or dividends, or a form of salary called "carried interest" like Romney, all of it taxed at 15%. 

Look at any CEO's pay.  It's a reasonable salary - often around $1 million plus or minus a little bit (or, in the plutocrat world, a few $hundred thousand**) - with all the rest coming from stock options taxed at preferential rates, which is how they ELECT to be paid. 

I'm all for pointing this out on a national stage.  We should have the argument about whether or not a $billionaire should pay a lower share of their income in taxes than their staff.  If you think it's fine, that's OK. 

The only reason to avoid the DEBATE, i.e. brush the incredible tax loopholes available to the ultra-wealthy under the rug, is because these kinds of policies are best kept secret if you're a plutocrat.  OWS has succeeded in at least making these kinds of things AN ISSUE THAT IS NOW OPENLY DISCUSSED.  Surely if you can defend Romney's 14% effective rate, while you and the janitor pay more than 15% on your wages just in payroll tax, you'd welcome the opportunity to do that!!  Right??!!  And if we have an election where this is a fundamental issue that distinguishes the candidates, that's a good thing, IMO.  Not just the Presidential race, but all up and down the ballot. 

** Romney for example talked about his speaking fees as "not much" or similar words.  It was about $370,000 or more than TEN TIMES THE ANNUAL MEDIAN WAGE. 

[Sasquatch]

I hope you will remember all of this while Obama is speaking. Then realize he is surrounded by and advised by Wall Street multi-millionaires. It IS an election year. So appeal to the robots that will pull the lever for Obama and never put 2 and 2 together.

Also, remember this when you see Buffett's secretary in the "special" box:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-23/buffett-s-burlington-northern-among-winners-in-obama-rejection-of-pipeline.html

Also think about how much Buffett shelters from taxes, which as you said, his secretary cannot do. Then, of course, see how you can spin it so that you make Romney or whoever has an "R" after their name look bad.

BTW, when Romney said he didn't make much in speeches, he was probably comparing himself to Slick Willie Clinton.  

[NCVol]

I hope you will remember all of this while Obama is speaking. Then realize he is surrounded by and advised by Wall Street multi-millionaires. It IS an election year. So appeal to the robots that will pull the lever for Obama and never put 2 and 2 together.

Also, remember this when you see Buffett's secretary in the "special" box:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-23/buffett-s-burlington-northern-among-winners-in-obama-rejection-of-pipeline.html

Also think about how much Buffett shelters from taxes, which as you said, his secretary cannot do. Then, of course, see how you can spin it so that you make Romney or whoever has an "R" after their name look bad.

BTW, when Romney said he didn't make much in speeches, he was probably comparing himself to Slick Willie Clinton.  

I'm not sure how many times I have to point out without any prompting the Obama team is plutocrat friendly.  How many times do I have to type, Larry "Eight million man" Summers [with $8M being his speaking and director fees from Wall Street in the 10 months of 2008 before being named to the cabinet] before it sinks in that I'm fully aware of who is dictating policy in the communist union loving liberal marxist's White House.  I've typed it 100 times at least - will you get the point after 200 times? 

BTW, you do KNOW the communists have won, right?  You're aware that my argument is the plutocrats have won and part of the proof is what liberal socialist commie and union loving Obama HAS DONE, which is coddle the plutocrats and sign exactly nothing that really changes the direction of the country.  And the right wingers say I'm wrong because communism now = plutocracy and rule by the rich, for the rich, regardless of political party. 

Let me make this clear - when I call it a plutocracy, I don't say, "Only when the GOP is in charge."  The whole point of condemning the system as a plutocracy is to explicitly and forcefully recognize that IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO IS IN CHARGE, THE COUNTRY IS RUN FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CEO CLASS.  And so, we have a liberal communist socialist marxist union lover (Obama) who panders to Wall Street.  The most radical socialist communist class warrior in all of HISTORY!!!! who proposes .... minor tweaks around the edges to our current trajectory.... 

Not sure what else I can say, or what else the OWS movement can say - they're not out there holding Obama 2012 signs, and making clear distinctions between GOP and Democratic politicians.  They're out there condemning the system as it is, during the administration of a DEMOCRAT!!  If they believed Obama was the answer, there would be no need for mass protest.  Obviously, his short term indicates the problems are systemic, and exist independent of the party system, which is itself corrupt. 

What's missing is any acknowledgement of these facts from the GOP lemmings.  They're under the impression that the problems began sometime around January 20, 2009, and will end the day we elect a republican who promises to take Buffett's tax rate to zero!!  And to pay for that obliterate Medicare, Medicaid, SS and the rest of the safety net.  More riches for the plutocracy, austerity for the proles.  That's the right wing antidote to a Wall Street friendly Obama. 

And so, I welcome this debate.  The presidential race might not change anything at all, but the House and Senate races can, as can the races down ticket in all kinds of races.  If we draw a distinction between those who would defend the status quo and those who forcefully assert it's corrupt and broken, that's a good thing, EVEN IF WE END UP WITH a PLUTOCRAT FRIENDLY WHITE HOUSE.  It's not going to change until there is a mass movement for it to change.  The money is too dominant.  So we have to start with the debate and I welcome that debate. 

[MRM]

Let me make this clear - when I call it a plutocracy, I don't say, "Only when the GOP is in charge."  The whole point of condemning the system as a plutocracy is to explicitly and forcefully recognize that IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO IS IN CHARGE, THE COUNTRY IS RUN FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CEO CLASS.  

Totally agree. It's like I've been saying for some time, they pretty much operate the same way aside from some social issues.

[Sasquatch]

Good point:

State of the Union Preview: Housing and Fairness Don't Connect

If the theme of tonight's State of the Union address is fairness, then President Obama would be wise to steer clear of housing; most of the proposals to fix the nation's still struggling real estate market are intrinsically unfair to a large majority of Americans.

From a mass refinance plan to mass mortgage principal forgiveness, the supposed "fixes" will reward some at the expense of far more.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/state-union-preview-housing-fairness-192810704.html

[Just Win]

Truly a disgusting display of class warfare baiting at its worst. The Buffet secretary prop was rather amusing. A simple way to lower her taxes is simply.y pay her in Bershire stock. Then she will have the same effective rate as Crony Capitalist Warren. BTW, did you see how Warren' drooped a dime and told Barry to kill the Keystone Oil Pipeline because it would hurt Berkshire's railroad holdings. How about NVC? Is this an i.e. of Crony Capitalism like Solyndra?

[Flummoxed Lummox]

Truly a disgusting display of class warfare baiting at its worst. The Buffet secretary prop was rather amusing. A simple way to lower her taxes is simply.y pay her in Bershire stock. Then she will have the same effective rate as Crony Capitalist Warren. BTW, did you see how Warren' drooped a dime and told Barry to kill the Keystone Oil Pipeline because it would hurt Berkshire's railroad holdings. How about NVC? Is this an i.e. of Crony Capitalism like Solyndra?

[Flummoxed Lummox]

[Sasquatch]

 

Andrew Sullivan: "I was hoping for a vision. I was hoping for real, strategic reform. What we got was one big blizzard of tax deductions, wrapped in a populist cloak. It was treading water. I suspect this will buoy liberal spirits, but anger the right and befuddle the independents. It definitely gives the Republican case against Obama as a big government meddler more credibility. I may be wrong - but the sheer cramped, tedious, mediocre micro-policies he listed were uninspiring to say the least... We voted for Obama; now we find we got another Clinton."

I guess at the end of the day, what you truly get with Obama is HOPE for CHANGE.

[NCVol]

Truly a disgusting display of class warfare baiting at its worst. The Buffet secretary prop was rather amusing. A simple way to lower her taxes is simply.y pay her in Bershire stock. Then she will have the same effective rate as Crony Capitalist Warren. BTW, did you see how Warren' drooped a dime and told Barry to kill the Keystone Oil Pipeline because it would hurt Berkshire's railroad holdings. How about NVC? Is this an i.e. of Crony Capitalism like Solyndra?

Well, it could be Buffett ordered it killed, or it could be that the route through Nebraska wasn't going to fly in red state, GOP run Nebraska, and the stunt of forcing an early decision on a pipeline with an unknown path across the country, which guaranteed a rejection FOR NOW of the proposal, was a dismal failure, since an early decision guaranteed rejection. 

BTW, what's the talking point for jobs created by this thing up to?  3 MILLION!!! or something?