All of the comments here attacking Warren Buffett's authenticity, suggesting that he should put his money where his mouth is and write the Treasury a big fat check, are missing the whole point.
Services provided by the government are public goods. It's blindingly obvious that a single person cannot pay for those public goods. Just Buffett's own contributions, no matter how much he donates, will not be enough to solve our budget issue. It's called shared sacrifice because it's meaningless unless everyone participates.
It's like the neighborhood park (i.e. medicare/social security): Everyone wants one, but nobody wants to pay for it. In steps the neighborhood's rich kid (Buffett), who suggests that all the rich kids pitch in to pay for the park. If that happened, everyone would be made better off, but one kid alone isn't enough.
This is a very canonical problem of public services provisioning and funding. It's completely naive to sit back and suggest Buffett tackle the issue himself, because we all know that's ridiculous.
Open your eyes. The problem is not Buffett's to solve. But he recognizes that there is a problem.
Apologies for the harsh tone, but it baffles me how members of Hacker News can think so naively. The attacks on Buffett are utterly unfair and unjustified. We should all have an open mind and try to understand the proposal.
Services provided by the government are public goods. It's blindingly obvious that a single person cannot pay for those public goods. Just Buffett's own contributions, no matter how much he donates, will not be enough to solve our budget issue. It's called shared sacrifice because it's meaningless unless everyone participates.
It's like the neighborhood park (i.e. medicare/social security): Everyone wants one, but nobody wants to pay for it. In steps the neighborhood's rich kid (Buffett), who suggests that all the rich kids pitch in to pay for the park. If that happened, everyone would be made better off, but one kid alone isn't enough.
This is a very canonical problem of public services provisioning and funding. It's completely naive to sit back and suggest Buffett tackle the issue himself, because we all know that's ridiculous.
Open your eyes. The problem is not Buffett's to solve. But he recognizes that there is a problem.
Apologies for the harsh tone, but it baffles me how members of Hacker News can think so naively. The attacks on Buffett are utterly unfair and unjustified. We should all have an open mind and try to understand the proposal.