Calling Warren Buffett A Socialist Is Ludicrous

Of course, it was inevitable. As soon as Warren Buffett came out and publically said that the super-rich, like himself, should be taxed more, knee-jerk, reactionary right wingers were going to throw the “S” word at him. It is a laughable notion – one of the most successful traders in history wants to march America towards communism. His critics seem to be completely thrown by the fact that Buffett, gasp, has a conscience. The number that keeps getting thrown around by Republicans is that 47 percent of Americans do not pay any federal tax at all. This seems to get the right wingers riled up more than anything else. But of course that is the case, because 47 percent of Americans do not earn enough to pay tax, if they earn anything at all. That leads neatly to another point. The trend among Republicans seems to be to say that, if a person is not working and paying tax, it is because they do not want to work or pay tax. Apparently, 47 percent of Americans are lazy people. Moochers. That is absolute nonsense. I live just outside of Detroit. Try coming here and telling the thousands of families suffering because of the decline of the motor industry that they are lazy. Of course, there will always be people who take advantage of the system. That is the price of freedom. But in a civilized society, the priority should be to make sure the people that need help get it, not to stop the few bad eggs from sitting pretty. That is why Buffett is right, and that is why Eric Bolling looked so silly last week when attempting to label Buffett a socialist on Fox Business. “Is he completely a socialist and playing into Mr. Obama's hands of tax anybody who makes money and give it to people who don't work,” said Bolling. “So basically anybody who disagrees with you is a socialist?” asked Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Columbia University and the only knowledgeable person on the show. “Now Warren Buffett, one of the greatest profit makers in history is a socialist? I mean come on. He's simply saying that people have to pay their fair share, number one. Number two, there's not the great economic penalty that we previously thought there was for people doing so.” At this point, predictably, Bolling threw the 47 percent figure at Lamont Hill and asked if that was fair. “Absolutely it is,” he said. The great lie in this country is that anybody who wants to make money and be successful is a capitalist fat cat, while on the other side there are socialist reds who want to equally distribute the wealth while sitting on their lazy behinds. In fact, it is possible to believe in a nation with a capitalist structure while also holding dear the idea that fellow citizens who need help should get it. Warren Buffett just proved that. He is not a socialist, just a warm-blooded human being.