WARREN BUFFETT - The American Dream Is Over. The American Nightmare In Full Force

 American billionaire Warren Buffett has spoken out about the effects of income inequality, describing poverty as an “American Nightmare” that he believes should be a part of the debates leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world, addressed the topic while speaking to PBS Newshour. Acknowledging that the American dream has proven true for many people over the course of his lifetime, Buffett nonetheless pointed out that poverty remains a major issue.

“The American dream has been very real for millions and millions of people over the years,” Buffett noted. “But there’s been an American nightmare that has accompanied that.” “I think the Earned Income Tax Credit is by far the most useful tool to really minimize poverty in this country,” Buffett extolled. “It does not interfere with the market system and it can be geared in various ways to reward work. And you not only want people to have a reasonable income, but you want them to feel good about what they do in life, and that means the dignity of a reasonable job, even though it may not pay very well, with that pay being supplemented by a larger income tax credit “Since 2000, 95 percent of new households in King County have been either rich or poor. A mere 5 percent could be considered middle income.” Between HUD home assistance programs, the Homeownership Voucher Program(which helps some to pay monthly mortgages) and other government subsidies for things like health care and food stamps, there is an increasing incentive for families on-or-near the line of poverty to fall below and take government help because staying above the line could mean drowning – or at best, treading water.

Now, Zero Hedge published a report seconding that with data showing that even that low figure has been fudged, and the that the real rate of homeownership is even lower than previously thought! Being self-employed (i.e. owning your own small business that does not require employees) is an integral part of the American Dream. Many start out dreaming of a corner office in Corporate America, but as they move up the ladder, many become disillusioned by the process and the goal: do I really want to spend my life making big-shots even wealthier?

It isn’t easy to earn enough to afford a middle class life via self-employment.Including the professional class, perhaps 3% of the workforce is truly independent. At a packed session in Davos, former hedge fund director Robert Johnson revealed that worried hedge fund managers were already planning their escapes. “I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in a press release earlier this month that “Preserving the Dream” was this year’s theme for “National Homeownership Month.” The press release is replete with both the right- and left-wing variants of “American Dream” rhetoric—the “Ownership Society” palaver of the Bush years and the egalitarian pandering of the Clinton






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