Apologies, dear readers, for being AWOL the last couple weeks. Like Brian, I too have been balls to the wall at my day job (which of late has been my nights and weekends job as well). To get things back on pace, how bout some of today’s news:

Warren Buffett says he should pay more taxes.

Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the “Sage of Omaha”, has complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff - including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn (?25bn), said: “The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It’s dramatic; I don’t think it’s appreciated and I think it should be addressed.”

This is a case of the old glass half empty/half full disagreement. (As an engineer, I always considered the half filled glass to be terribly over-designed, but that is another matter). Is Buffett paying too little in taxes or are his employees paying too much? I tend to think the latter, because my default is to always favor lower taxes. Buffett clearly has a predilection toward higher taxes. I guess when you’ve got $52 billion in assets, an extra 20% tax on your $40 million a year income just isn’t that big a deal. “Hell, jack it up an extra 30%, what do I care? I could retire now and live off my assets until the sun explodes!” I wonder if Buffett, or anyone for that matter, clearly understands to what extent Buffett’s employees are being soaked due to taxes whose original intent was to hose the ultra-rich. The AMT comes to mind. One might also wonder how many of those oft maligned tax loopholes for the rich that Beffett has taken advantage of to get down to his 18% payroll/income tax figure. Finally, Buffett is overlooking one tiny detail. His money is his money. If he feels the government isn’t stealing enough of it, I’m not sure there’s anything stopping him from writing a check to uncle Sam to make up the difference. Other peoples’ money, on the other hand, is other peoples’ money. If the government raises Buffett’s taxes, then it raises others’ as well. And some of those people might not be so eager to feed the blob.

The only reason this is news is because Buffett is a rich liberal spouting the approved talking points. He has no special credibility in commenting on public policy. In fact, he’s what I’d call an intelligent fool. The kind of smart-idiot who can wit his way to a multi-billion dollar fortune, but can’t see the philosophical differences between inheritance and wealth redistribution.

In other news:

During the latest Democrat excuse for a debate, Dennis Kucinich confirmed that he has indeed witnessed a UFO. Oblivious to the irony, he later insisted that President Bush may be in need of psychiatric help.

Just to clarify. Iran’s nuclear ambitions and willingness to plunge the world into an era of darkness are real. UFOs are not.

Speaking about the President’s mental health, Kucinich adds:

There’s a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If there isn’t something wrong with him, then there’s something wrong with us.

“Us”? How many of you are in there, Dennis? And no, there’s nothing wrong with President Bush, mentally (except that he’s a liberal, which hasn’t been recognized as a mental disorder…yet). So I guess that just leaves you. You, and whoever “us” is.

In other news:

China is being plagued by Carter-esque fuel shortages.

Supply shortages. Long lines at the gas pump. It’s strange, even with oil prices approaching inflation adjusted all time highs (1981), similar to those we experienced in the Carter era, we don’t have any of these things here in America. We’ve got plenty of gas. How can that be? It may have something to do with the conspicuous absence of shortage causing nationwide price-caps like those imposed by China. Remember this the next time liberal activists and their henchmen in congress accuse fuel companies of price-gouging and insist that gasoline price caps are necessary. Like these people who are practically begging for them.

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