On an ABC interview to be shown tomorrow evening billionaire Warren Buffett claims that rich people like him should be paying more income tax. Does this mean the rich are starting to "get it"? In a recent book by Ralph Nader called "Only The Super Rich Can Save Us", Nader says that the failure of the Democratic Party to really change things proves that we may now have to rely on the very same people who created this financial mess to wise-up and think more of the collective good. Dare I say a little more Socialist?
I wouldn't count on it. This kind of talk by Buffett -- and all that philanthropic work in Africa by him and his buddy Bill Gates seems genuine and encouraging. But will it lead us in a direction away from an increasingly troublesome disparity between rich and poor? I very much doubt it. The rich are mostly hardened egotists with a pessimistic view of society. Grab it all before the ship goes down is their view of the world. I think it would be closer to reality to say, "only the poor can save us". Market Capitalism is a train wreck on the edge of a cliff. It is in a self destruct spiral. It can only be saved by "an alert and knowledgeable citizenry", as Dwight Eisenhower so famously put it some fifty years ago.
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