Of course, the obvious difference between me and Warren Buffet is wealth. Mr. Buffett is wealthy beyond belief. His secretary earns over $100,000 a year, for goodness sake! I don’t earn anywhere near that, and the money I earn is wage income, not the capital gains Mr. Buffett lives on these days. I have savings, but nowhere close to his (and we’re reasonably close in age).
I learned something today that just set me back on my haunches. I learned that, in spite of Mr. Buffett’s great wealth, he still draws a Social Security check, and participates in the Medicare entitlement program for senior citizens. (hat tip to Michael Medved). This fabulously wealthy man, who can well afford to pay for his living expenses and health care out of his well-stuffed pockets, instead is living off those in this country (like me, for instance), who work and pay FICA taxes out of our paychecks. He donates the big bucks to Bill Gates’ Foundation, while he draws his Social Security.
This is a moral problem, in my opinion. I find it disgusting that this man, who like his fellow progressives, is in favor of higher tax rates on all working Americans, has absolutely no trouble asking US to pay for HIM with our wage income. If you have read my previous post “No Social Security or Medicare For Me”, you are aware that I have decided that when I am eligible (next year, when I turn 65), I intend not to register for either Social Security or Medicare. I fully intend to be a productive member of society as long as I can, and never retire. So I think that makes me a better person than Warren Buffett, no matter how much he may have contributed to society in all his years as an investor. He still partially lives off his neighbors (yes, you out there too), while I do not, and will not.
Well said, but you should check whether your medical plan at work will continue to cover you after you become eligible for medicare.
“I learned that, in spite of Mr. Buffett’s great wealth, he still draws a Social Security check, and participates in the Medicare entitlement program for senior citizens.”
I beg to differ here because I do not and never will believe in income redistribution and that is exactly what Social Security and Medicare deductions were every time I took home my paycheck. I believe it’s irrelevant whether or not you need those payments; I was given no choice in the decision to deduct 15% of my income and was promised I would get it back. In the meantime, if I’d had that money to invest on my own, I would have an extraordinary HSA fund and put insurance companies out of business.
This is simply what I want- my hard-earned money back whether I need it or not. I pay exorbitant income and property taxes so I’m more than contributing my fair share as it is.
In the meantime, 49% of the American population pays no income tax at all but are happy to use public schools and libraries, city infrastructure such as highways and roads, parks, police and fire dept protection, etc. etc.
I am a capitalist and this is where I draw the line.
Check out the date of that post. Before my forced COVID retirement. And you don’t get your money back, you get other working folks’ money. SS is a pure pass-through system now. Most recipients draw much more out than they contributed, which is why the system is effectively bankrupt. I am on the dole now too.