Buffett Risks the Wrath of the Republicans Yet Again

They will call him a socialist. Some of them will call him a communist. The Republicans will be sharpening their teeth and loading up the weapons that they fight so hard for the right to carry, because

has once again publically criticized tax rates offered to millionaires and billionaires. Of course, Buffett is not a socialist (and he certainly is not a communist – any such claims are ridiculous), he is simply a successful, extremely rich man who has retained his conscience. When Buffett first made public his opinion that people who earn as much money as himself are not paying nearly enough in taxes, one of the big cries from the right went something like, “well, what is stopping you? Feel free to make a donation.” That was mildly amusing, and it struck a chord with many, but it missed the point. Buffett is saying that people at any income level will of course pay as little tax as possible within the legal limits. That is every man's right. Were he to singularly make a contribution, that fails to address the larger problem – many other millionaires will not choose the same path. Well, God bless Buffett, the unlikely billionaire champion of the people, because he is at it again. According to

, Buffett has weighed in on the “Mitt Romney only pays 15 percent in taxes” debate, and ruffled more conservative feathers in the process. Naturally, he has condemned the fact that Romney is able to pay just 15 percent. What is key though is that he is criticizing the policy and not the man. “It's the wrong policy to have,” Buffett told Bloomberg. “He's not going to pay more than the law requires, and I don't fault him for that in the least. But I do fault a law that allows him and me earning enormous sums to pay overall federal taxes at a rate that's about half what the average person in my office pays.” Buffett seems to make Republicans froth with fury because they see him as one of them, one of the upper elite who is turning his back on his own people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Buffett is one of the most level-headed people in America, perhaps the world, because he is able to see past his own wealth, he sees through knee-jerk reactions such as immediate donations, and ignores the almost violent vitriol from the right about “leeches on society paying no taxes at all”. He sees through all of that and can view what needs to be done to achieve a better America. Buffett does not blame individuals, because that is a pointless endeavor. Rather, he looks at the bigger picture. He understands that the economic situation in this country is not as simple as “rich people contribute, poor people do not”, and he wants to bring some balance. Who can argue with that? On Romney, Buffett said to Bloomberg, “He makes his money the same way I make my money. He makes money by moving around big bucks, not by straining his back or going to work and cleaning toilets or whatever it may be. He makes it shoving around money.” Isn't honesty refreshing?