5 ms·

It seems like a bit of class warfare on the part of the Koch's. Without public transportation people in lower income areas can't get to better jobs, healthcare

It seems like a bit of class warfare on the part of the Koch's. Without public transportation people in lower income areas can't get to better jobs, healthcare or schools. People in these areas also don't have access healthy food because grocery stores won't open in areas where the majority of customers use food stamps and government aid. Yes current modes of transportation are becoming out dated the newer modes like self driving cars are not ready for the mass public. What the Koch's fail to grasp is that the more people making a living wage we have means we have less people living off entitlements like food stamps. If we have more people paying taxes instead of living off the taxes of other we will see improvements for all and possibly lower taxes due to a surplus not a deficit. Sorry for the soapbox.

FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
Class warfare has never been gone. It's just that it's only the rich and powerful that wage it, and of course they are winning.
- grasshopperpurp 8y ago
  >There’s been class warfare for the last 20 years, and my class has won - Warren Buffett
  - RobertoG 8y ago
    This is a real quote but, without context, gives an unfair impression about Buffet: he said that while supporting bigger taxation. He also said something in the lines that "he was paying a lower tax rate than his secretary". That sounds crazy to me, but I'm not going to discuss about finances with Warren Buffet.
    - pseudalopex 8y ago
      Most of Buffet's income is long-term capital gains, and he probably pays his secretary well above median.
    - smsm42 8y ago
      > That sounds crazy to me Probably because it's not true. Of course, it all depends also on definition of "tax rate" - are you talking about federal income tax? All taxes combined? Marginal tax rate? Effective tax rate? Single-year or averaged over a period of time? Do you include corporate taxes (which are paid by corporation, but effectively reduce the wealth of corporate owner or shareholder)? Until you define all those, this slogan is meaningless. > I'm not going to discuss about finances with Warren Buffet. He wasn't discussing finance, he was propagandizing. These are completely different games with completely different rules. In finance, numbers and facts matter - if you lie in a financial report, you risk heavy fines or jail, and probably will lose confidence of your business partners. If you lie in propaganda, as long as the lie is believable, well packaged and matches the prejudices of your target audience, you win.
    - grasshopperpurp 8y ago
      Please help me understand how the context of him arguing for a tax increase changes the meaning of the quote. How does the quote (independent of context) give an unfair impression of Buffett?
- RichardRider 8y ago
  MOST political contributions by billionaires go to Democrats and liberal causes. An inconvenient truth you class haters refuse to confront. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/blue-billionaires-on-top-114151 https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/blue-billionaires-on-...
kartan 8y ago
> It seems like a bit of class warfare on the part of the Koch's. You can get richer by increasing your wealth or by decreasing everybody else's wealth. People that think that life is a zero-sum game think that both are the same thing. People with a growth mindset care more about wellbeing over relative richness. Sometimes the best way for me to have more is for everybody else to also have more. And others happiness and wellbeing is part of my own. The Koch's fall in the first category.
ocschwar 8y ago
It's getting pretty intense, too. Michigan and Ohio are both passing rules to limit Medicaid eligibility in counties with low unemployment rates. In both states, those high employment counties are counties with big suburban job clusters and big cities with high unemployment. Now, those city residents will be denied Medicaid because they live "near" lots of jobs which they cannot reach without public transit, which Michigan and Ohio are strangling. This is seriously getting sick.
- scruple 8y ago
  Do you have a source for this? I Would like to read more (specifically Ohio). I didn't have any luck with Google.
speby 8y ago
Not surprising is it. Nevermind their political or philosophical viewpoint, when was the last time a Koch brother or family member took or relied on public transportation?

FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago

Class warfare has never been gone. It's just that it's only the rich and powerful that wage it, and of course they are winning.

grasshopperpurp 8y ago
>There’s been class warfare for the last 20 years, and my class has won - Warren Buffett
- RobertoG 8y ago
  This is a real quote but, without context, gives an unfair impression about Buffet: he said that while supporting bigger taxation. He also said something in the lines that "he was paying a lower tax rate than his secretary". That sounds crazy to me, but I'm not going to discuss about finances with Warren Buffet.
  - pseudalopex 8y ago
    Most of Buffet's income is long-term capital gains, and he probably pays his secretary well above median.
  - smsm42 8y ago
    > That sounds crazy to me Probably because it's not true. Of course, it all depends also on definition of "tax rate" - are you talking about federal income tax? All taxes combined? Marginal tax rate? Effective tax rate? Single-year or averaged over a period of time? Do you include corporate taxes (which are paid by corporation, but effectively reduce the wealth of corporate owner or shareholder)? Until you define all those, this slogan is meaningless. > I'm not going to discuss about finances with Warren Buffet. He wasn't discussing finance, he was propagandizing. These are completely different games with completely different rules. In finance, numbers and facts matter - if you lie in a financial report, you risk heavy fines or jail, and probably will lose confidence of your business partners. If you lie in propaganda, as long as the lie is believable, well packaged and matches the prejudices of your target audience, you win.
  - grasshopperpurp 8y ago
    Please help me understand how the context of him arguing for a tax increase changes the meaning of the quote. How does the quote (independent of context) give an unfair impression of Buffett?
RichardRider 8y ago
MOST political contributions by billionaires go to Democrats and liberal causes. An inconvenient truth you class haters refuse to confront. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/blue-billionaires-on-top-114151 https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/blue-billionaires-on-...

kartan 8y ago

> It seems like a bit of class warfare on the part of the Koch's. You can get richer by increasing your wealth or by decreasing everybody else's wealth. People that think that life is a zero-sum game think that both are the same thing. People with a growth mindset care more about wellbeing over relative richness. Sometimes the best way for me to have more is for everybody else to also have more. And others happiness and wellbeing is part of my own. The Koch's fall in the first category.

ocschwar 8y ago

It's getting pretty intense, too. Michigan and Ohio are both passing rules to limit Medicaid eligibility in counties with low unemployment rates. In both states, those high employment counties are counties with big suburban job clusters and big cities with high unemployment. Now, those city residents will be denied Medicaid because they live "near" lots of jobs which they cannot reach without public transit, which Michigan and Ohio are strangling. This is seriously getting sick.

scruple 8y ago
Do you have a source for this? I Would like to read more (specifically Ohio). I didn't have any luck with Google.

speby 8y ago

Not surprising is it. Nevermind their political or philosophical viewpoint, when was the last time a Koch brother or family member took or relied on public transportation?