Is it possible to become filthy rich without losing your soul?

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Warren Buffett is the 2nd richest man in America and guess what he said?

. “The country’s second-wealthiest man, Warren Buffett, was on Capitol Hill yesterday. He wants to know why he pays a smaller percentage in taxes than his receptionist. He’s even offered $1 million to any of his billionaire pals who prove him wrong about their percentage and their receptionist’s percentages. But mostly they’re in hiding over the issue.”

“He crunched the numbers,” ABC correspondent Bianna Golodryga said. “Buffett pays 18 percent to the feds. His receptionist, like the rest of his staff, pays nearly twice that – 33 percent – a lopsided equation that put Buffett in a Robin Hood frame of mind.”

Buffett is filthy rich, but he doesn’t live like a rich man.
 
vern_humphrey said:
So prove to me that the top 1% gets more services, dollar-for-dollar than they pay in.

And when you do that, add in the services the lower, non-taxpaying people get – dollar-for-dollar.

Then add what the middle class gets – dollar-for-dollar.

Then take me in the back room and show me your economic perpetual motion machine.😉
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I thought economics is not a zero-sum game (unlike your implicit appeal to the first law of thermodynamics that states that energy must be conserved). I thought transactions can be Pareto efficient.
 
vern_humphrey said:
If they don’t get more in services, who does?

The fact is, the lowest income levels get more than they pay in. Everyone else gets less.
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Tell me, why is government always considered a zero sum game?

After all , who gets more than they give from Wal-mart? The answer is everybody. Nobody is forced to shop or work at Wal-mart.

Now, if Bill Gates get’s less in benefits from the US government than he pays in taxes, then why doesn’t he just move everything to Bermuda? Or are you saying that Bill Gates is too stupid to realize that he has that option?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
This is an excellent question, and of course, as Christians we have to be different from the rest of society. Our culture worships wealth. While it is reasonable to make money, even become “filthy rich”, we need to remember that in the end, what we make is not worth much in the grand scheme of things.
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Of course. This is how I have instructed my kids. In my greedy youth, I turned away from my true desire to teach because I was told “it doesn’t pay well,” but I would have been a very happy teacher IMO. My oldest son just graduated high school and feels a strong calling to law enforcement. I have encouraged him to pursue it. We need good law enforcement officers (regardless of type - FBI, local, etc.).

What I don’t do is worry too much about those who are “greedy.” They will deal with their attachments to sin in their own time. For more information, please see the quote in my signature.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
Tell me, why is government always considered a zero sum game?
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How many automobiles, toasters, or televisions does government manufacture?😉

Again, give me a dollar-for-dollar accounting to prove “the rich” get more out than they put in.
 
vern_humphrey said:
How many automobiles, toasters, or televisions does government manufacture?😉

Again, give me a dollar-for-dollar accounting to prove “the rich” get more out than they put in.
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Why don’t you answer my question?
Now, if Bill Gates get’s less in benefits from the US government than he pays in taxes, then why doesn’t he just move everything to Bermuda? Or are you saying that Bill Gates is too stupid to realize that he has that option?]
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stinkcat_14 said:
Why don’t you answer my question?
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Because you won’t answer mine.
Give me a dollar-for-dollar accounting to prove “the rich” get more out than they put in.
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Instead you run away from hard numbers and want to ask why Bill Gates doesn’t leave the US. Don’t ask me that, ask Bill Gates that. And don’t lead him.
 
vern_humphrey said:
Because you won’t answer mine.

Instead you run away from hard numbers and want to ask why Bill Gates doesn’t leave the US. Don’t ask me that, ask Bill Gates that. And don’t lead him.
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The point of course is that the top 1% of taxpayers don’t have to be in this country. They have the means and the ability to get a better deal on taxes someplace else. If they can move someplace else and pay less taxes, then why don’t they. There are only two possible explanations:
  1. They benefit more from being in the US than it costs them in taxes.
  2. They are stupid.
So which is it?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
The point of course is that the top 1% of taxpayers don’t have to be in this country. They have the means and the ability to get a better deal on taxes someplace else. If they can move someplace else and pay less taxes, then why don’t they. There are only two possible explanations:
  1. They benefit more from being in the US than it costs them in taxes.
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If you believe that, prove it. Show that the rich get more, dollar-for-dollar from government.

You are trying to beg the question here – unable to support your claim with dollars-and-cents facts, you want me to accept some intangible as the true value. Since I don’t accept it, you’re stuck.
 
vern_humphrey said:
If you believe that, prove it. Show that the rich get more, dollar-for-dollar from government.

You are trying to beg the question here – unable to support your claim with dollars-and-cents facts, you want me to accept some intangible as the true value. Since I don’t accept it, you’re stuck.
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In other words, you think the rich are stupid. That is your choice.
 
vern_humphrey said:
No, that is your falsehood as you try to weasle out of providing dollar-for-dollar figures.:rotfl:
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While I know don’t have the exact dollar figures. There are two things that I know are true:
  1. Protecting property rights are valuable, because if they weren’t protected there would be no investment. After all, how much investment occurs in Somalia?
  2. The rich have plenty of options as to where they can locate.
So the question is, why would they pay taxes to the US if they could get a better deal elsewhere?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
While I know don’t have the exact dollar figures. There are two things that I know are true:
  1. Protecting property rights are valuable, because if they weren’t protected there would be no investment. After all, how much investment occurs in Somalia?
  2. The rich have plenty of options as to where they can locate.
So the question is, why would they pay taxes to the US if they could get a better deal elsewhere?
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That’s begging the question – asking us to accept your premise so you can prove your premise (how does one get to be a college professor without knowing that?)

The question is, how many dollars do they pay in taxes, and how many dollars do they get in government services?

Until you can answer that question, the rest of us have leave to say that your claim that the “rich” get back more than they put in is just so much hot air.
 
vern_humphrey said:
The question is, how many dollars do they pay in taxes, and how many dollars do they get in government services?
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Of course the problem is, that we really don’t know how much the rich actually pay in taxes. We know how much they are legally responsible for, but we don’t know the economic incidence of taxes.

For example, when I work in the summer, I only work if I am offered enough on an after tax basis, so my minimum hourly rate includes the extra tax I must pay. In this situation, who is really paying my taxes me or my clients?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
Of course the problem is, that we really don’t know how much the rich actually pay in taxes. We know how much they are legally responsible for, but we don’t know the economic incidence of taxes.
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And until we do, any claim that they get back more than they put in is just so much hot air.
stinkcat_14 said:
For example, when I work in the summer, I only work if I am offered enough on an after tax basis, so my minimum hourly rate includes the extra tax I must pay. In this situation, who is really paying my taxes me or my clients?
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Wow! You’ve just discovered that the customer ultimately pays the taxes!! Write that up, and you’re a shoo-in for a Nobel prize!😃
 
vern_humphrey said:
Wow! You’ve just discovered that the customer ultimately pays the taxes!! Write that up, and you’re a shoo-in for a Nobel prize!😃
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The customer doesn’t always bear all the burden, it depends on the price elasticity of supply and demand. I don’t think we want to go there though.
 
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