Buffet: Sen. Warren More Effective If She Was 'Less Angry' (VIDEO)

[JDPriestly]

47. Of course. Hillary represents his interests to the detriment of the rest of us.

We need some balance in our economy that does not shove the losses of the risks of our financial institutions and investors onto the middle class and the poor. Right now, and since Reagan at the very least, the wealthy get to take risks, and when they miscalculate and lose, they expect the rest of us to tighten our belts while they get bailed out.

That makes for a lot of problems, and Elizabeth Warren's perceived anger is the least of them.

Hillary's subservience to wealth and influence is going to engender far more anger than Warren's statements which illuminate the heart and soul of the problem: the fact that if I take a risk and lose, my losses are my problem. In fact, if my boss or my state or someone else takes a risk and loses, it's my problem. I may lose my job or not get a raise or take a cut in hours or pay because someone else made a bad bet.

On the other hand, when a guy like Buffet (and I have no problem on a personal level with Buffet or Hillary or anyone else) makes a bad bet, he just reaches deeper into his pocket full of millions, makes another bet and hopes and knows that it will turn out better. And when he can't do that, the government bales him and his friends out.

If you get into your 80s, and you own a home but need to go into a nursing home, you spend down all your money and then Medicaid or Medical starts paying your nursing home bills and takes your house. Your heirs are out of luck unless you were savvy enough to protect your assets by giving them away when you are young. For the middle class, the cost of long-term care eats up the family inheritance. For the rich, the cost of nursing care is a trifle. So they have fought for the protection of their extra money from estate taxes. Another advantage that the rich have: The threats to their wealth are so different from the threats to the wealth of everyone else that they can buy access and laws that give them and their children a huge advantage.

Sorry, but I see these things and I finally have a venue -- the internet -- to explain them. I am basically a very happy person. I suppose I sound bitter but it is just because I see the game played around me. Thus far, I am really not one of the worst losers in that game, but somehow (probably my deeply religious family and heritage) the fact that the game is so, as Elizabeth Warren explains, "rigged" to favor those who have, to perpetuate their wealth and also "rigged" to not just impoverish but in many cases even disenfranchise the middle class and poor that I cannot remain quiet, see and know what is going on and say nothing.

I believe that capitalism can raise the boats of all members of society because it permits creative people to explore their creativity. It allows the economic freedom we need to have a progressive society, not just a progressive economy.

B U T, capitalism has to be tweaked so that it fulfills its promise and really does provide opportunities to those who have so much to give. Capitalism has to operate in a healthy society to fulfill its promise. And we cannot have a healthy society when the few grab their wealth and leave the rest of society owing, owing, owing and never accumulating much or even any wealth at all.

Education debt and the fact that the interest rates on education debt are higher than the interest rates that banks pay when they borrow from the government is an excellent example of how the wealth is transferred not from the rich to the poor but from the poor to the rich. How many college graduates in this country, especially those with advanced degrees are saddled with cruel debt that is preventing them from starting their own businesses, causing them to delay in starting a family and believing they will never own a house -- far too expensive.

We have so much to change if we are to get the best out of capitalism and out of our society, it isn't funny. When I hear Elizabeth Warren talk, I tend to think that she, as a lawyer who has studied the subject of bankruptcy and why ordinary people end up in bankruptcy courts, sees things somewhat as I do. Talk to ordinary people who have financial difficulties and you will see that they are confused and do not know what went wrong in many cases. Look at the law. Look at the way banks and our financial system works. You will see how the taking of risks by the wealthy actually in some ways draws money away from everyone who is not wealthy.

I do not think that Hillary Clinton understands this reality or has any motivation or desire to do anything effective about it. On the other hand, I recognize that she has a heart for the poor and cares about the issues of women and children. But I do not think she has the experience, the academic understanding or the heart to advocate for changes and programs that can lead us to deal with these problems.

I am disappointed that Warren Buffet who is an intelligent person as well as a wealthy one does not seem to understand that it is going to take a person who can express anger to get the inert thing we call government to do anything to stop the ball rolling toward even more injustice and more social inequity.