An Open Letter to Warren Buffett

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Mises Daily:

An Open Letter to Warren Buffett

 

Mises Daily:Thursday, July 26, 2012 by George Reisman

 

Mr. Warren Buffett

3555 Farnam Street

Suite 1440

Omaha, NE 68131

Mr. Buffett:

You have been quoted time and again, without any denial on your part that I am aware of, as having said, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

In view of the seriousness of this statement, I have to ask you some questions.

Do you intend to be taken seriously when you speak? Do you know the meaning of the words you use? Do you know the source and implications of the doctrines you espouse?

The doctrine of class warfare is a derivative of the exploitation theory, whose best-known proponent is Karl Marx. According to the exploitation theory, profit and interest, indeed, any income other than wages, is an unjust deduction from what naturally and rightfully should be wages.

What makes possible the existence of incomes other than wages, according to Marx, is the same basic fact that makes it possible for a slave owner to gain by owning a slave. Namely, the fact that a worker is capable of producing the necessities he requires in order to have the strength and energy to work a full working day, in less than a full working day.

To use one of Marx's own examples, a worker is capable of producing in 6 hours the food and other necessities that he requires in order to be able to work 12 hours. The 6 hours, or whatever the number of hours may be that the worker requires to produce his necessities, Marx calls "necessary labor time." The hours that the worker works over and above the necessary labor time, Marx calls "surplus labor time."

Just as surplus labor time is the source of the slave owner's gain, so too, according to Marx, is it the read more http://mises.org/daily/6134/An-Open-Letter-to-Warren-Buffett