Freeper thread: Warren Buffett's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year

[Honeycombe8]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2837813/posts

This is a thread going on around freeper blogs. I've seen a disturbing trend of DU threads picking up so-called "information" pulled straight from freeper threads.

PLEASE look for objective source cites in some of the threads that are anti-Democratic. They may be there. They may be correct. But they may simply be picked up from erroneous or questionable sources and not checked out.

As for the above freeper thread, here's what Buffett said recently:

"Okay, so just how much does Bosanek earn anyway? Buffett and Bosanek aren’t saying exactly, but he told the Omaha paper that it’s nothing like the $200,000 to $500,000 salary Forbes blogger Paul Roderick Gregory guesstimated based, I believe, on a misunderstanding of what Buffett has said and of what Buffett actually pays. You can see my comments on Gregory’s post here and here. In addition, Forbes privacy blogger Kashmir Hill turned up a 2007 report quoting Buffett as saying, back then, he only paid her $60,000."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/01/27/warren-buffetts-advice-to-a-boomer-buy-your-sunbelt-retirement-home-now/

[JohnnyRingo]

1. First of all, that still puts her firmly in the 1% that pays their share of taxes

Secondly, is she married?
LOL

[Honeycombe8]

2. LOL. Yes, she's married. 55 years old (she looked older than that, to me!)

It sounds like she gets paid maybe about what I get paid. I'm definitely middle class and part of the 99%. She might gt paid a little more. But that doesn't make her part of the 1% privileged class.

[TBF]

4. It might put her in the top 1% of taxpayers, but doesn't account for debt and/or wealth.

Based on 2009 tax year filing data, the Internal Revenue Service says an adjusted gross income, or AGI, of $343,927 or more will put you in the top 1 percent of taxpayers.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/top-1-percent-earn.aspx

[Frustratedlady]

3. If it's anywhere around $60-75K, he should give her a raise. eom

[Gothmog]

5. These claims are false-Here are some facts to use

First, this analysis is based on a misunderstanding of the tax tables and what Buffett actually said Here is a link from Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/01/25/no-you-dont-have-to-make-200000-to-have-a-higher-tax-rate-than-buffett/

Second, Buffett himself has debunked these claims http://www.omaha.com/article/20120127/NEWS01/301279949/672

[TBF]

6. Thank you for this thread - many folks want to focus on what this one particular person makes

but let's think about why the capital class wants us to do that. If we are busy fighting amongst ourselves over which secretary is making how much money, we are totally ignoring the 1% and their enormous wealth.

Once again I would suggest everyone direct their attention back to the topic of inequality. Here are some helpful charts from Mother Jones to assist in that effort:



http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

And, who are the 1%:



http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10/one-percent-income-inequality-OWS

[JoePhilly]

7. Regardless of what she makes, if they attack the amount, are't they attacking the free market?

Here's some rough math I did real quick. But I think its accurate.

Romney made 25,000,000 and paid a tax rate of about 14%, for a tax of about ... 3,500,000 in taxes.

So let's assume that the median income in the us is about 50,000. And that gets taxed at 20%, for a tax of about ... 10,000.

OK, so if we divide 25,000,000 (Mitt's income) by 50,000 (median income), we get the number of median income persons you have to add together to get the income of 1 Mitt Romney.

So that's 25,000,000 / 50,000 = 500 median income people combined income would = 1 Mitt Romney income.

From above, we can calculate how much tax the 500 median income people paid .... 500 median income people *10,000 = 5,000,000.

Let's assume that the 500 median income folks in this analysis have regular jobs ... teachers, plumbers, furniture movers, ... you know, people who actually get up and go do something to make a living.

As a group, those 500 median income folks will have paid 1,500,000 more (5,000,000-3,500,000) in taxes than Mitt Romney did sitting on his ass.

Of course if Mitt has his way, under his tax plan, his tax rate would drop to about 7%, or HALF of what he pays now, or down to 1,750,000.

And that's Mitt's plan for reducing the debt and saving the economy??

[TBF]

9. Great post. nt

[fascisthunter]

8. which means nothing at all... dumb

[madrchsod]

10. she makes what is appropriate for her position as the gate keeper

she`s married and lives in a home that appropriate for their wage level. what is`t mentioned nor will we never know is which stock she owns. we will never know which stock the original investors were given when he started his company.