Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair. So defense spending, they may look at it, but they are not happy about it even though it has gone up 74 percent over the last 10 years. Now, again, we should look at Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett made the point that he paid only a 17.7 percent tax on his $46 million in earnings while his receptionist paid 30 percent on her wages. Imagine, in 2008, the 400 richest income-tax filers paid an effective rate of about 18 percent. Take ExxonMobil: They paid an effective rate of 18 percent on $7 billion, whereas the average family making a combined $100,000 had a higher effective rate. Let's give tax breaks to the middle class, not to the wealthiest who have everything and more and whose children's children's children's children will be fine. This is America. This isn't prerevolutionary France, where the King had everything. If there was a family supported by two teachers, and they made $106,000, they had a higher tax rate than ExxonMobil. But, still, if we look around the country at Republican legislators and governors, they are going after the teachers--who are so wealthy--while the people who are making the millions and the billions they give more and more to. I don't understand it. It is trickle down, I guess. Somehow somebody will spend something at the very top, and it will trickle down. That is all fine, but they have enough to trickle down already, so we don't have to add to it.…”