Summary
Warren Buffett gave $1.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to family foundations and detailed plans for distributing his $147 billion fortune after his death.
His three children will oversee giving the remainder within 10 years, with designated successors in case they predecease him.
Buffett, 94, reaffirmed his belief in avoiding dynastic wealth, favoring philanthropy instead.
Over the years, he has donated $55 billion to the Gates Foundation but plans to shift focus to his family’s foundations.
Buffett continues leading Berkshire Hathaway while preparing Greg Abel as his successor.
Yeah, must be great to be white collar. It took me loads of training and certifications and ongoing certs to make far less.
Thing is, corporations will and have always tried making as much as possible. That isn’t Warren’s fault. He just didn’t do anything to fix it. The reason he and all these other billionaires can do this is because our shit government has undone taxes on the wealthy for the past 65 years. Our crooked government is to blame for the massive disparity. Not the guy who threw money at company’s he thought would continue to prosper. He’s just a symptom if he wasn’t involved with paying off and bribing the government. No idea if he has or not, there.
So tax the fucking rich. You should be making at least as much money as me. It sounds like you are a skilled laborer, and that work has value. Value that your bosses and superiors are taking for themselves. If you produce goods worth 300k/year, don’t you think you’re entitled to 200k of that? That still leaves 100k for the company and operating costs. Why should the CEO get most of it? They’re literally taking your money. Yes, its because the system is broken. But the fix is to tax the fuck outta the billionaires and use the government to redistribute that wealth through free health care, free education through college, and investing in our infrastructure like our power grid, water supply systems (remember Flint?), passenger rail, and investing in cities designed for humans.
We don’t need to be a communist state like Russia or China. We can fund the whole thing with capitalism. We can even have an exuberant luxury class if we still want that for whatever reason. Taking away 90% of Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffet’s wealth still leaves them the richest people in the world.
Capitalism is fine but has been allowed to run completely out of control to the benefit of a shockingly small minority of people.
I’m all for taxing the rich and universal Healthcare. As for money, it sadly won’t ever happen in my timeframe. Been a firefighter and emt for over 15 years. The public wants their taxes low. If I were making 74k I’d practically feel like a millionaire.
OK first off thank you for everything you do for your community. First responders are criminally underappreciated. My uncle was the fire chief at the volunteer fire department across town, and I have heard lots of stories from him about how hard that job can be and how underappreciated they are by the town.
I stand by everything I said. You of all people should be making at least 150k with all the work it takes to become and stay certified (which should not cost you anything). You literally save peoples lives, that alone is worth the money. We can pay for that with a wealth tax on people like Bezos and Buffet. We don’t need to tax the middle and lower classes, the billionaires already have all the money we’ll ever need. Even for your town, no matter how small or remote. Seriously, check this link. The money is already there.
We can buy you the best gear, training, and equipment. These are not expenses like politicians like to tell us; they are investments in our community. And we use the government accountability office to make sure that money goes where it is supposed to and isn’t embezzled away.
And it isn’t like you’re going to just sit on that money either. You’ll spend it on goods and services from the people and businesses around you. Its a direct demand side stimulus. Everyone benefits.
You’re right though. Probably none of this will ever happen. That doesn’t mean its the wrong solution to our problems. I think a big reason for our current situation is just how much money flows through Washington. Its unacceptable that Elon Musk spent 145 million to win Pennsylvania for Trump, just like it was unacceptable for Harris to raise a billion dollars. Its unacceptable that our congress people spend most of their time campaigning for money instead of legislating, and its unacceptable that our supreme court justices (all of them) are accepting bribes. That money comes with strings attached, and they very rarely benefit working class folks.
And just for the record: I was enlisted for nearly a decade. I spent my 20s refueling aircraft on various air force flight lines, so I truly understand the struggle. When I got out it wasn’t clear to me how I was going to be able to support myself. My situation has drastically changed since then, but I have been there. It fucking blows.
Thanks. Yeah, my best friend is now retired air force. I was going to join myself but I’m mostly deaf in my left ear so they weren’t going to allow me to do a lot of the things I was interested in doing.
Yeah they’re real picky about who they let in. I get it, but it also keeps a lot of people who would otherwise make good Airmen out.
Anyway I have two rules when posting here:
I uh… wasn’t great about rule 1 here (sorry 😬), and I outright broke rule 2 at least twice. I’ll leave these comments up for a bit then I’m deleting everything and this account.
It was nice talking to you. I hope your situation improves somehow. I’ll be advocating for policies to help you, wherever you are. Maybe things will never change, but they’ll definitely never change if we don’t demand it.