Yesterday on CNBC, Rick Santelli asked what was a most interesting and important question in the midst of all the rhetoric about the “Buffett Rule”, which Larry Lindsey, former Federal Reserve
Governor referred to as “substance free”. The question he asked was “How are my kids’ opportunities affected by the number of millionaires” there are in this country? He went on to point out that the opportunities for his children are however affected by the trillions of dollars in deficit spending that continues unabated. I think his point was that, while there is so much focus on a proposal that will make no difference to our deficit, our politicians continue down the same dangerous path of spending. They seem unwilling or unable to tackle the issues that are causing long term damage to the economy and potentially our way of life. It will be up to the American people to decide whether we continue down this path, or not. Those difficult choices will have a much greater impact on the opportunities for our children and our grandchildren than the so called “Buffett Rule” targeting millionaires and billionaires.