With politicians, economists and activists concerned over income inequality in America, billionaire CEO Warren Buffett has offered the real reason he believes the wealth gap has increased.
The Berkshire Hathaway boss has a net worth of $135 billion and is one of the most successful businessmen and investors of all time.
He’s often crafted himself as a friendlier CEO than many, openly stating via his company that he’d bee happy to pay more in federal income taxes. Buffett has even suggested that if corporations like his truly paid their fare share, no American would ever pay ‘a dime of federal tax.’
According to the Census, in 2022 income inequality decreased for the first time since 2007, but the haves and have nots remain far apart and homelessness rates are increasing in cities nationwide.
However, Buffett is adamant that the rich getting richer is not responsible for increasing wealth inequality, but offers a different reasoning, with a warning for those not suited to the current American economy.
With politicians, economists and activists concerned over income inequality in America, billionaire CEO Warren Buffett has offered the real reason he believes the wealth gap has increased
Buffett believes that these figures are simply the results of the United States’ economic system.
‘This widening gap is an inevitable consequence of an advanced market-based economy,’ he wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
He also refused to give into the notion of far-left progressives that the rich are responsible for this gap.
‘No conspiracy lies behind this depressing fact: The poor are most definitely not poor because the rich are rich. Nor are the rich undeserving. Most of them have contributed brilliant innovations or managerial expertise to America’s well-being,’ he said.
He claims that in recent times, the market has rewarded ‘people with specialized talents’ rather than a broad-based job market.
Those who can provide what the market needs do so even more than in the past, while those who don’t get left behind.
‘It was an agrarian economy a couple hundred years ago,’ he said.
‘Very hard, you know, to get 20 times the wealth of the next guy because you were a little bit better farmer. But if you’re better at some skills now, you can become incredibly wealthy at a very young age … You get to capitalize [the] value of an idea. And so the wealth moves big time, even on an anticipatory basis.’
The Berkshire Hathaway boss has a net worth of $135 billion and is one of the most successful businessmen and investors of all time
According to the Census , in 2022 income inequality decreased for the first time since 2007, but the haves and have nots remain far apart and homelessness rates are increasing in cities nationwide
Buffett has warned workers that there is now a ‘mismatch’ between what important jobs need against what the average Americans’ skill set it.
‘It’s simply a consequence of an economic engine that constantly requires more high-order talents while reducing the need for commodity-like tasks.’
He says that ‘a great many people’ will be left behind due to these changes, according to Yahoo Finance.
Buffett says the solution is to make sure good jobs are well compensated and leaders in Washington don’t do anything to change the system.
‘First, we should wish, in our rich society, for every person who is willing to work to receive income that will provide him or her a decent lifestyle,’ he said.
‘Second, any plan to do that should not distort our market system, the key element required for growth and prosperity,’ he wrote.
Ultimately, he thinks the best advice he can give is to ‘bet on America.’
‘They should be willing to bet on America … They should just keep buying and buying and buying a little bit of America as they go along. And 30 or 40 years from now, they will have a lot of money,’ he told PBS.
Buffett believes that these figures are simply the results of the United States’ economic system
Buffett has said a key to his success is his ability to prioritize and use his time wisely – and that is the background to the seemingly controversial quote.
But being able to say ‘no’ to people and opportunities that don’t directly benefit personal or professional growth is the best way to make use of limited time.
However, with the homeless rates going the way they currently are under Joe Biden, the wealth gap is likely to increase further.
The homeless population across the United States has reached an all-time high under the Biden Administration after steadily declining for 17 years, new data shows.
On a single night in 2023, 653,104 people were experiencing homelessness, an increase of 12 percent from the year before, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
That is the highest the population has ever been since the point-in-time count began in 2007 – although the count was skipped in 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The homeless epidemic has reached an all-time high fueled by crime, unemployment, a drug crisis and skyrocketing rents, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans living on the streets.
The spike has happened since Biden took office as Americans have also dealt with crippling inflation and a housing market that has many feeling squeezed.
The Biden Administration has announced several programs to help slow the growth of the homeless population. Two weeks ago, the administration announced plans to help eight states and Washington, DC, ‘unlock critical resources to reduce homelessness by health-related social needs, such as housing-related services.’
That includes plans to offer to pay rent under a new $1.5billlion Medicaid pilot program.
So far, though, the Biden programs have done little to stem the accelerate growth of homelessness across America.
