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Forum Post: Warren Buffett To CNBC: "I Could End The Deficit In 5 Minutes”

Posted 11 years ago on June 5, 2012, 10:34 p.m. EST by Renneye (3874)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

I got this as an email to forward…no link. So here it is verbatim...


“So, How do we get the ball rolling? Smart thinker with good ideas, just needs acted upon……………..

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. Congressional Reform Act of 2012

  1. No Tenure / No Pension.

  2. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.

  3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

  4. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

  5. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

  6. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

  7. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

  8. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

  9. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don’t you think it’s time?

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree, pass it on.

You are one of my 20+ – Please keep it going, and thanks”

20 Comments

20 Comments


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[-] 5 points by infonomics (393) 11 years ago

Excellent.

[-] 3 points by brightonsage (4494) 11 years ago

"and staff." You are on the right track, process wise and your model is correct and the details are sound. It is a good start but it is just a start. The corruption is much greater in scope and depth than you have addressed. It is important to address in a constitutional amendment to make it consistent across jurisdictions and levels of governance.

[-] 2 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

The solutions are easy, its just getting rid of the D and R parties and replacing them with REAL representatives to sign the legislation that is the hard part....

[-] 2 points by stevebol (1269) from Milwaukee, WI 11 years ago

I can turn off CNBC in 3.....2.....1.......

[-] 2 points by Middleaged (5140) 11 years ago

Have you seen Robert Reich Connect the Dots in Beyond Outrage. Point 6 is about 1 minute into it and he points out how we end up turned against each other fighting for what we can in a Vicious Cycle.

http://robertreich.org/post/21230466829

[-] 2 points by know1 (210) 11 years ago

government spending is not the problem. Cynically tring to balance the budget is what made the great depressiion last so long. Its the volume of money being currculated that causes or remidies resessions. But oh mabey im missing somthing, maby the gov is borrowing $ froms the banks and giving it to the banks and their not putting it into currculation

[-] 1 points by writerconsidered123 (344) 11 years ago

maybe

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

rent food and income

[-] 2 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

I brought this up at a GA and was pretty much crucified by half, and the other half were glad I did it.

The time for motivating the taking the next step is past.

Im not sure what the next movement will look like, but there were inherent features built into Occupy that seemed to prevent it from taking action.

[-] 1 points by Renneye (3874) 11 years ago

I very much agree with your last statement! You gotta wonder, what the hell is going on. Very intuitive of you!

[-] 0 points by anarkos (-7) 11 years ago

Stop being against OWS. Try supporting the protest for once.

[-] 2 points by JadedCitizen (4277) 11 years ago

Wow !

[-] 2 points by votasaurus (62) 11 years ago

Great stuff

[-] 1 points by Skippy2 (485) 11 years ago

This country is a representative republic. It was not designed for professional politicians. Please, Vote against every Incumbent. Ask your family, friends and neighbors to do do the same.

[-] 1 points by Misaki (893) 11 years ago

Most people don't want the government to create jobs with government spending, and they would prefer cutting government spending over raising corporate taxes.

If we were to "pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election", the result would be cuts in spending instead of increases and taxes, and so unemployment would go up.

Unless, of course, we adopted the accelerated work week to end unemployment without government spending.

[-] 1 points by Skippy2 (485) 11 years ago

YES!

[-] 1 points by SingleVoice (158) 11 years ago

Totally doable...let's git 'er done.

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

A Congressman/woman

Congress Members

[-] 1 points by writerconsidered123 (344) 11 years ago

I like warren

[-] 1 points by LightenUp (1) 11 years ago

If they did that "before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.", we can really put the pressure on them now with the tools that we have. The question is are we focused enough to do it? Lets email this list to everyone on our email lists and see if we can get some momentum!

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