Someone with an economics background

Another thing, if the new tax system makes me pay more, so be it as long as I see a benefit to my country.  Although I voted for Obama and the Dems, I will be keeping an eye on them to see what they do with OUR money.  Yeah, I can probably manage it better than them, but I know I am not a charity type of guy.  I give to charity but only because I started to itemize my deductions when I bought a home.  Think about that, you would probably call me a bleeding heart, but I am not giving to charity unless I get something for it or I can see a return on my investment.  This is why we need taxes.

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the only benefit to more taxes is bigger government and more spending...if you can even call that a benefit

no one is holding your feet to the fire for your charity...again it's your money. if the government has to give charity for you, i would assume 20 cents on the dollar goes to where it needs to. you have to pay bureaucrats, support lobbyists to get the "charity" in committee for funding

we need taxes for military and general welfare...THATS IT. every other tax is crap...look at your paycheck every two weeks, where does all the money go?

Most of the taxes from my paycheck goes right back into my pocket.  Like I said earlier, I claim like 9 exemptions (which is conservative), so I get a nice return (almost everything).  I suggest buying a house or something. 

Slim, you seem like a nice guy, and you seem to be passionate about your beliefs.  Not trying to be rude, but I just feel like you are slightly over your head in terms of this discussion.  Others have already pointed out the glaring mistakes in this post, so I will refrain from re-hashing them, but some of your points in this and in other posts just don't really make a whole lot of sense.

Its not just you though.  Today, its the in-thing for everyone to have an opinion on economics and taxes when they have no background in it, and no real basis for any of their opinions.  It seems like everyone has an opinion and thinks they know exactly what they are talking about, when very few do. 

I noticed a few pot shots you were taking at Koaj in the thread, and I think that is a poor choice on your part.  I don't post much, but I read a lot of these threads, and Koaj is easily one of the more knowledgable, intelligent posters in this forum.  I don't agree 100% with what he says, but he usually has very strong points, and lots of good information to back it up.

I'd also be careful putting Mr. Buffett on the pedestal you seem to be doing and attempting to use him as a rationale for agreeing with you.  Yes, he is a very rich man, and has built quite a fortune.  But he also gets quite a few breaks that you and I could not get (i.e. Goldman Sachs and GE sweetheart deals) and built the majority of his fortune during a time when the information he used to make his investments was not readily available to the majority of the investing public.  Noone is saying he is not an intelligent man, or that he does not have an excellent track record, but I think it is a mistake to take his thoughts on economics as God's word.

Personally, I think there is a lot that Obama could potentially bring to the table for this country.  Unfortunately, I just don't feel like his economic policies are a good example.  No matter how much you tax the extremely wealthy, the extremely wealthy will always be wealthy.  All he is doing is killing the middle class in a doomed attempt to help the poor.   Saying noone making under $250K would see a tax increase was a great way to get elected.  Just watch when that $250K suddenly becomes a more realistic $100K. 

More taxes going into the most inefficient "corporation" in the country, means less disposable income, which means less spending, which means less business for companies, which means less money for payrolls, which means less jobs.   Very oversimplified explanation, but its one that is hard to argue with.  We are already in an extremely poor economic climate.  The last thing we need to be doing is raising taxes.

It is the ridiculous sense of entitlement of the average american that is to blame for this crap.  Your average american who is making $30K a year, has it in his/her mind that she deserves everything that you or I who may be making $80K or $100K or $150K has.  There is no longer a sense of honor, or working hard, or doing what is right.  Just ridiculous spending and wastefulness.  You can blame it on the media, you can blame it on an overall deficiency in parenting over the last 40 years, personally, my favorite place to put blame is on the attitude that arose in this country in the 1960's and was passed down to the future generations.  Any way you look at it though, this country is now being run by and for the masses of the lazy and the incompetent, mixed in with the misinformed who don't totally understand what Obamanomics will do to this country.

You are correct, this is not a "re-distribution" of wealth.  This is at best an enormous slap in the face to the values that this country was founded on, and at worst, larceny.  I do not have the numbers in front of me, but I would stand to think that a sizeable portion of people who voted for Obama will fall in that $120K-$250K range (my family included).  And if Obama had been truthful in what his tax plan will ultimately be, I think alot of people would have voted differently.  And I cannot wait to see the reaction of those people who were so for Obamanomics when it wasn't their hard earned money he was throwing away, and see how quickly they change their tune.