Warren Buffett Should Put Up or Shut Up Over National Debt Donation

Our public servants(congress) have been challenged by Mr. Buffet. He will match all monies/donations from any of the politicians. Haven't heard our entitled lawmakers step up to the plate. I haven't heard any of them taking any cuts. (repost)

Better than half of the politicians should be behind bars.

Congress is full of people who do nothing for our country except take our money when they get their paychecks for doing nothing. We need to replace the whole bunch and start with a clean slate in Congress.

We all know that talk is cheap, and words alone cannot buy a thing. How about after an election, all federal campaign monies be used to go toward a payment on OUR national debt. Then see how fast those huge contributions dry up. That way both parties are making an effort to fix what they help brake,but never have a plan to fix.

"Nobody is going to give money directly to the government to be mismanaged. "

Maybe this was the point he was trying to make.....

No one in the Congress is willing to put up the first buck?

I see you are defending our poor congressmen and women. How about defending the poor and working class people that are struggling,working two jobs to make ends meet,pay their taxes on time only to get more of the same from our government,more fees,more taxes,stealing from social security,stripping medicare,telling people they are lazy and can find a job if they want to. As they continue to collect a large salary,great benefits,retirement and generous stipends. Use your power of the stage you are on to stand up for the every day people,not the elite,spoiled brats that they are.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no
pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void
effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this
contract with Congressmen/women.

Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in
Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.

Robert said - A few months ago Forbes published a list of the 400 richest Americans. Their total net worth -- 1.5 Trillion. If you confiscated their entire net worth we wouldn't pay for the deficit this year alone -- estimated to be 1.65 Trillion.
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True, Robert, but no one is asking to pay off the debt in 1 year.
So you would do what - nothing?

It would help to stop making the deficit worse than necessary. The first rule of holes is, when you're in one, stop digging.

THIS is why we need to correct the tax code:

Revenue now runs about 14-1/2% of GDP, about 4% less than when Reagan left office. What does that 4% add up to?

Applying that 4% to the GDP from 2004:

.........................GDP...................................4% of GDP
2004.....$11,788,900,000,000.00...........$471,556,000,000.00
2005.....$12,554,500,000,000.00...........$502,180,000,000.00
2006.....$13,310,900,000,000.00...........$532,436,000,000.00
2007.....$13,969,300,000,000.00...........$558,772,000,000.00
2008.....$14,270,500,000,000.00...........$570,820,000,000.00
2009.....$14,014,800,000,000.00...........$560,592,000,000.00
2010.....$14,551,800,000,000.00...........$582,072,000,000.00
2011.....$15,198,600,000,000.00….…...$607,944,000,000.00 3rd qtr 2011
Total................................................$4,386,372,000,000.00

That’s roughly $4.386 trillion of the national debt due to the tax cuts. That is 29% of the national debt.

our elected officials should be payed what they are worth. nothing.

He should tell congress he will pay dollar for dollar what ever they put toward the US debit. Cut the spending.

If 15,000 billionaires gave one billion each, it would cover the 15 trillion debt. Unfortunately, there are only 403 billionaires in the US.
The only really big numbers in all this is congressional spending. If that is uncontrolled, even Buffet won't make a dent.

What is there about 'a challenge' that this author doesn't understand? Given the ridiculous ineffectual BOOBERY that we have ALL witnessed over the past three years, is there ANYONE who thinks 'their congressmen' have actually DONE THE JOB FOR WHICH THEY ARE PAID? I would be happy with legislation that stated that Congressional salaries would be FIXED to the national DEFICIT. The bigger the deficit, the LESS salary they would be paid on a percentage basis. I wonder how long THAT would take before the deficit was eliminated and the budget was under control? Any BETS??

Poupard, it's not wasting money idiot, he's come out and said the wealthy should pay their fair share and close the loopholes started by the Bush administration that permits corporations to pay little to no taxes. With thinking like yours, it's no wonder our gov. is going bankrupt.

Perhaps he ( the old geezer) could start by paying his tax bills?

Why does L. Vincent Poupard expect political leadership from a private citizen first? How about some leadership from our elected leaders?

Gee....I thought Buffett put his money where his mouth was. Apparently all the talk is coming from the other side who seem to flap their gums but won't open their wallets. As usual, Buffett's critics can't see the forest for the trees. They can't see he is putting th unfairness of the tax code on trial in the court of public opinon.

Buffett just wants Congress to up the tax on the rich and famous, of which he is a part. He knows you can't just donate money to lower the debt. Most members of Congress are fairly well off. They don't want to taxes on themselves. Americans should really try to get whatever law or amendment repealed, that took the Congress out of Social Security. Putting the Congress back under the Social Security where they suppose to be, should get some problems fixed rather quickly. This also applies to Medicare and Medicaid.

Even if Warren Buffet put up first his money first the Polititians are not going to put up any money, they are a part of the Ameriician Greed System, they have made laws to protect them selves, we really have no say in any of the laws they make because we voted for them.

48% of americans pay no taxes. When are they going to pay for their share of government services. ?