TFP Column: Wasting Away

I think it's great when really rich guys get to pull an 'Ebeneezer Scrooge', repent their life of evil money-making ways, and seek absolution when they begin to see the end of their days approaching.  It makes me feel kind of ... violently ill.

So it was with a certain degree of nausea that I took up comments by one of the richest men (if not the richest) in the world, Warren Buffet in a piece for the TFP entitled: "Wasting Away".  After getting past the shock that this Mr. Buffett wasn't the guy wasting away in Margarittaville, I found that I was still confronted with what seemed little more than alcoholic stupor when he told us that rich people are being "coddled" by not being asked (or forced) too pay enough in federal income taxes.

Now I'm willing to bet my next refund check that Warren Buffett has spent more on people to keep his tax liability as low as possible over the years than I have made in my lifetime.  But hey, who am I to argue with a man who plans to give some $30 Billion (yes, that's with a 'B') to ..... charity.  

Hey wait a minute! If paying taxes is so great, why isn't Jimmy (sorry, Warren) giving all this money to the government?  Could it be that they won't be as efficient in spending it?  Could it be that the Gates Foundation is much more likely to use the money in truly worthy causes?  Could it have something to do with the tax deduction that Mr Buffett will legally get for such charitable donations?

But enough about this all-you-can-tax Buffett.  What I know for sure is that if you want to live anything like Mr. Buffett (or at least like his accountants), you're going to have to catch up on the great things going on in Toledo's largest circulation and Best Weekly Newspaper, the Toledo Free Press.

Editor's note:  I had been looking forward to achieving a milestone in my efforts with the TFP of 100 columns, and had even commented on the situation to Editor-in-Chief Michael Miller.  You can imagine my surprise (and a little disappointment), when having done some cleaning up on the labels for the blog, I discovered that this effort will be the 106th.  It looks like the party is over before it has begun.