Are you suggesting the US just eliminate these organizations or that politicians should adjust their directives through policy and doctrine? Because if it's the latter, then you're likely not going to affect any real savings as a percentage of the budget.

I'm in the financial industry, neck deep in it, and we operate under oppressively redundant regulations; the cost of which we pass on to our clients who pass them on to you and the federal government through tax deductions. The problem is that regulations were written to benefit the largest and most politically influential banks.

In fact, Mitt Romney discusses this scenario very elegantly in his book. Too bad more people didn't read it, as this election will really have some consequences. :-)

Solar energy subsidies dwarf the above by near orders of magnitude. Do you think those subsidies should cease as well?

We could do the above for the common good, but it is not enough *significantly* cut taxes. To do that would require cutting or eliminating entitlement spending. And besides, once a tax is levied, the imperative is to spend that money, not return it.

Apparently Bertrand Russell was a fool. Who knew?

Any post critical of Obama is, by new definition, racist.

You forgot leftist! A Linux and Leftist circle jerk. Why am I still here? I guess I'll always check in.

Why haven't you moved to South Korea?

Best comment so far. Wish I had some points.

Ok that's strange. One of my responses was modded to 0, then to 1 and I still couldn't see it. Will have to figure out the settings.

I hear what you're saying, but disagree with your point of view. I would like to elaborate, but my responses are getting censored/modded out of the discussion by those that need to control the debate.

I don't agree with this characterization of his role at Bain because it is simply not accurate. I would encourage those reading this to not rely on politically charged rhetoric as their primary source of information about Romney's career at Bain.

I could not disagree more! The character and success of the United States is all about "venture capital". Romney's got EXACTLY the right executive experience as a CEO and a state governor to get capital flowing again to US businesses helping them to increase payrolls and become more internationally competitive.

Will he be successful as president? Who knows. But he's a much better set of dice to roll in 11/2012.

LOL. We did not share an office. I, along with a dozen or more other people, attended a handful of meetings which he also attended.

Here we go. The hard and heavy wheels of destruction are starting to turn. Inevitable I suppose.

IMO, Romney is, intellectually and experientially, the most qualified candidate for US president that we've seen in the last two centuries. I'm not sure what kind of president he'll end up being, but he is certainly qualified for the role and infinitely more qualified than the current US president.

FWIW, I had the opportunity to work in fairly close proximity to the man back in 1994. Back then I got the distinct impression that he was generally the smartest guy in the room. But what really stands out in my memory was a meeting where various topics of quantitative finance were discussed...in detail. He was very comfortable with partial differential equations. :-)

You are wrong...as usual

No! You can't tax rich people TOO MUCH because if you do, then capital flight will occur.

You're not entirely correct. Short term capital gains occur when profits are generated on assets owned for less than a year. These gains are fully taxed as income. Long tern capital gains ( > 1 year) are taxed at a lower rate. In Buffett's case, he has owned his BH shares since they were created, so he just sells off enough shares throughout the year to cover A PORTION of his income needs.

Hello taiwanjohn, nice to meet you. I'm a "Fat-cat commodities gambler" here in Chicago. Have been in the business for over 20 years along with writing proprietary software for other "fat-cats" and "fat-cat firms" for even longer. I too pay taxes (a very large amount) and spend money in our economy just like you. So what industry and line of work are you in?