Thumbs Up!...Thumbs Down!

We give a big “Thumbs Up” to common sense billionaire Warren Buffett. 

Mr. Buffett spoke out in a recent op-ed piece concerning taxes and shared sacrifice.  Mr. Buffett believes that he and his super rich buddies have not sacrificed enough.  He stated flatly that the wealthy have been coddled by Congress.  He believes that he and his peers have profited handsomely from this country’s free market system and that they should do more to help the country out of its financial funk.

He has a plan.

Mr. Buffett believes that it is grossly unfair that he pays less in taxes than any of the twenty other people who work in his office.  He believes that we should increase the tax rates on those making over $1 million and increase the rates further on those making over $10 million. He does not believe that asking the rich to pay more will discourage investment or job growth.

We applaud Warren Buffett for putting the good of the country first.

We give a big “Thumbs Down” to newbie presidential candidate Governor Rick Perry.

The plain spoken governor had not been in the race for a New York minute when he waded into the manure. 

He started by attacking the President.    The Governor questioned the President’s love of country refusing to acknowledge the President’s patriotism.  Then he noted that he was in the race to “restore the military’s respect in their commander-in chief” while pointing out that he had served in the military while the President had not.

He then set his sights on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, warning that any attempts by the Chairman to solve the nation’s economic problems by printing more money “would be treasonous.”  He then threatened the Chairman, saying that he didn’t know how they handled such behavior in Iowa but: “in Texas he’d be handled pretty ugly.”

The Governor Perry who now boasts of his patriotism and his love of country is the same Governor who, while leading the country’s second largest state, spoke often of seceding from the union.

Buffett's honest, conciliatory and pragmatic statements stand in sharp contrast to the divisive, inflammatory comments uttered by the Governor.