Replies to post #217573 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[goodluck]

Where have we Republican gone wrong, when did we surrender our soul to a group of power mongers that economically keep raping the retirees, widows and orphans? Why should the middle cass be weighed down with a 50% marginal tax rate while Gates (and yes, Buffet too) pay a marginal tax rate in the 10% to 20%?

I don't understand why you ask this question post-Reagan. In the 40s-60s there were indeed some very responsible Republicans. And there still are some, to be fair about it. But when the party succumbed to the Reagan admin, that went out the window for the most part. Stockman's book itemizes it. That was when they developed their "Starve the govt" strategy, which allowed them to rationalize lowering taxes while not making the difficult decisions on how and where to lower spending. It became irrelevant, as they figured that an essentially bankrupt/starved govt would have to lower spending, wouldn't be able to afford to do the things they were doing.

Stockman at least itemized programs that ought to have been eliminated and gave reasons why they were unnecessary or wasteful. The new "Starve" strategy didn't require that kind of thought, and Gringrich/Gramm/Reagan Republicans didn't care to do it.

[urmygold1]

rich republicans AND democrats can pay higher taxes.....all they have to do is write a check and send it in...the government will keep it and allow them to do this{vbg} URMY!

[From the East Bay]

Buffett and PTR - PTR ranks 7th in Berkshire's top 10 holdings.
http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=1600811415&tid=ptr&sid=1....

[from the New York Times]

"His top 10 holdings accounted for nearly 90% of the portfolio's assets. Those stocks were Coca-Cola, American-Express, Gillette, Wells-Fargo, Moody's, the Washington Post Company, PetroChina, H&R Block, HCA, and Wesco Financial. Mr. Munger, the vice-chairman of Berkshire, is also the chairman of Wesco, which is also a holding company with assets in insurance and an eclectic group of businesses like furniture rental.

"Perhaps the most intriguing - and most telling - part of his portfolio was the addition to the Berkshire portfolio was PetroChina, the integrated oil and natural-gas company that operates 29 refineries in China. At the end of 2003, Berkshire's shares in PetroChina were worth more than $1.3 billion, nearly 3 times what the company paid for them. (Most of that investment traded in Hong Kong, while the rest was in American depository recepits.)

"In fact, PetroChina stands out in Mr. Buffett's portfolio. In 2003, as investors bid up shares of many stocks that stand to benefit from China's economic growth. That type of spike is not what would be expected in a steady-as-she-goes Buffett stock.
This is a long way from home for a guy who doesn't tradionally
invest overseas," Mr Neenan said. But that may be an indication of how hard it has been recently for Mr. Buffett to find undervalued large capitalization stocks in the United States market."