(laughter) >> jon: is warren buffett a socialist? you have no [bleep] clue what socialist is, do you. hey, that george clooney always banging different broads what a year. (laughter) -- what a queer. (laughter) >> jon: so closing a few corporate tax loopholes and returning the top marginal tax rate to the 90s economic boom time levels is class warfare. and if there's one thing the rich have learned, it's that class warfare is hell. >> he invoked the corporate jet class. >> so that's a whole new category of people to demonize, right. >> soak the rich, it's their fault. >> barack obama's tax on these evil, disgusting corporate jet owners. >> demonizing the rich as evil, as lazy, as inheriters of their wealth. >> he's saying fat cats. >> it's disappointing. it's class warfare and the kind of language you would expect from a leader of a third-world country, not the president of the united states. >> jon: true, because united states of america is not a third-world country. by any measure. except perhaps income in equality where we rank--

well i don't hate warren buffett but i have to tell you after reading his piece. he sounded a little like a thought old old man he seems a little angry perhaps that you know the world is moving on without him i also thought it's astonishing that the president now is trying to garner some legitimacy by saying i agree with warren buffett we need to do this and that raise taxes this is ministration this president in particular is entirely too cozy with these mega investors and ultimately the actual product and the rhetoric don't accord if you're saying you're saying that he's he's an angry old man because the world is moving on without him and then you're saying he's in tight with the president i would say if you're in tight with the president the world is not moving away from what i was saying ok well they are saying let me just ask a very simple question what is socialist about asking billionaires i mean he makes the point that he pays seven you pay seventeen percent of total total taxes and his secretary pays what thirty four percent i don't i don't have the artic

warren buffett and president called for tax hikes on the rich and 15% fewer of them. that's the decline in number of returns for those making over $200,000 a year. pretty much ben stein makes in a day. and that would be a 55% drop off in tax returns for those making over 10 million dollars, so ben stein, that's not is a good trend. >> well, it's not a good trend, but there is he' still plenty of rich people. we desperately need government revenue. where else except rich people if they have the money to buy bentleys, and they have the money to buy jet airplanes and money to pay more taxes. >> you're saying 200, 250,000 jet airplanes and-- >> no, i'm talking about people like you, have incomes of 10 million a year or more. >> you know, well, by the way, in issue of fairness, no one leaves into the 50% who aren't paying any income taxes that are credited. >> brenda: on pay income tax, too. >> neil: before we get to-- >> you have to take, you have to take away half of their net would worth to get what the bush tax cuts took away from the richest 1% of americans. >> and th

and more i think you realize he'd rather be working had no job at all warren buffett has made big big news this week he wrote an op ed the new york times saying his tax raised and seventeen percent taxes is a billionaire and secretaries pain twenty some odd percent people in fact actually here's this quote he said while the poor middle class fight for us in afghanistan and while most americans struggle to make ends meet we mega rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks my friends and i have been coddled long enough billionaire friendly congress it's time to get our government to get serious shared sacrifice box news call up followed up i call it an ice socialist take a look at this. warren buffett one aka the new york times today said we should be i think you mentioned earlier we should be we should be taxed more i guess for the people who are going to live up to because you've got the ones who create or you're not getting any of these job creators tax them a little bit more because they're not doing enough already what is this i mean is he completely a socialist so very simpl

and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture billionaires tell you whom warren buffett calls out his fellow rich buddies to pay their fair share america's support is important all action congress plus our corporations really people as mitt romney and sarah palin and rand paul say all of it that controversy will issue of corporate personhood later and so. you need to know this let's listen to warren buffett the billionaire and one of the richest men on planet earth as some advice for lawmakers when it comes to taxes in an article in today's new york times buffett argued for his own taxes to be raised as well as others just like it writing while the poor and middle class fight for us in afghanistan and while most americans struggle to make ends meet we mega rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks my friends and i have been coddled long enough by a billionaire friendly congress it's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice off its message fell on the ears of president obama who is hosting a town hall in minnesota to kick off a three day bus tour ac

>> tom: warren buffett rides to the rescue, investing billions of dollars in bank of america. analysts call it an important vote of confidence. >> today's deal takes away a lot of uncertainty-- not just about capital levels, but about management. >> susie: then, the man behind the iphone, the ipad and all things apple is stepping down. we talk with a top analyst and a management expert about apple after steve jobs. it's "nightly business report" for thursday, august 25. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. two iconic american companies-- apple and bank of america-- and two iconic c.e.o.s-- steve jobs and warren buffett-- in the spotlight today. susie, investors spent the day trying to figure out whether it's time to buy or sell shares of apple and bank of america. >> susie: tom, steve jobs and warren buffett are visionaries t

to begin warren buffett turned heads this week when he wrote this in the new york times he wrote while the poor and middle class fight for us in afghanistan and while most americans struggle to make ends meet we measure which continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks my friends and i have been coddled long enough billionaire friendly cars it's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice talks news followed up by accusing buffett of being a socialist. warren buffett wrote an op ed in new york times today so we should be i think you mentioned earlier we should get we should be taxed more i guess for the people who are doing a little cuddling you guys want to create your article you know these are job creators tax them a little bit more because they're not doing enough already what is this i mean is he completely a socialist so my question what's socialist about asking millionaires and billionaires to pay the exact same tax rate as their secretaries i think warren buffett should go and write a check to start the ball rolling on tax rates not voluntary contributions i

billionaire investor warren buffett shakes up his portfolio, people pay attention. the company he chairs bought 1.5 million shares of the discount retail chain dollar general for about $50 million. he also picked up about two million shares of the insurance data phone. it rose almost 5% on monday. that's not bad money for mr. buffet. he increased his considerable stake in wells fargo bank by almost ten million shares and almost doubled his holdings in master card. but buffet sold six million shares of the food giant kraft. he still holds more than 150 million shares of that company. of course, why not? because after all, companies whose products you understand and i don't imagine he understands food pretty well like the rest of us andrew. >> i know the way around chocolate bars since -- buying a discount rye tailer and a credit card operator. there's a theme going on there as the u.s. struggles with a much weaker economy. buffet has made billions about how he coaxes profits from his investments. now he's telling u.s. congress that it needs to coax more taxes out of

this from kevin -- warren buffett is on track. i embrace this idea 101%. this alone will not solve our problems, but it's a step toward the solution which we all know has to be multifassetted, including increasing revenue and a spending reduction. and this from daryl -- they should pay their fair share. the backs of the middle class have been carrying the load long enough. our backs are broken. keep the conversation flowing, facebook.com/carolcnn. >> carol, you're not mean, are you? >> no. i try to be very nice, although i really don't like your suit today. >> you don't like my suit. that could get you a raise, being mean to me. listen to this next study. >>> men, carol, who rated themselves high on a scale of being agreeable, they earned about 18% less than guys who aren't so nice. that's $9,772 less annually than the mean guys. women who rated themselves as agreeable earned only 5% less than their meaner co-workers, about $1,800 a year less. that study, by the way, put together by folks at notre dame, cornell and the university of western ontario. >>> yo

warren buffett puts the rich on notice. the billionaire continues to make the case the mega rich should be asked to pay their fair share of taxes and that's not sitting well with republicans on this "american morning." >>> all right. good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, august 16th. this is "american morning." a lot going on this morning. let's get -- >> why is there a lot going on? isn't this august, not supposed to be a lot going on. >> don't you wish one day we'd say there's nothing going on, go home. >> change the channel. a lot has to do with the economy, up first president obama talking jobs in the heartland of america. the president is in iowa this morning. no straw polls. no campaigns -- it's a campaign stop. it's a campaign-style trip through three mid western states. he'll meet with a group of farmers and small business owners today. he's been making his pitch for job growth and sounding a familiar theme that republicans are playing politics with the economy. >> the problem we have is not with our country. the pr

knows as alan greenspan said it warren buffett said they don't have to default they could print but that's worse especially if you're a bond holder and you get paid back with monopoly money and so what this means is that all debt in dollars should be downgraded whether it's treasuries muni's corporates you name it if it's pay you back in dollars get rid of it all right now let's talk about the whole rating agency motif you know how they how they have the role that they've played in this crisis and what's been going on the last few years because during the lead up to the crisis they document very well in your book crash proof and crash proof two point zero you talk about how the rating agencies were remez in that they gamed the derivatives a collateralized debt obligations and these other concatenations of bastardizations the securitization is triple a rating so why suddenly did they get religion how did that how did that happen because they were they were in you know. it's funny that the obama administration is saying well why should we listen to s. and p. after all they got it so wrong wi

special treasuries it will save the taxpayers a lot of money if warren buffett a really buy our debt if we pay nothing and of course he also said that the federal government has a pretty impressed well you know what good is that to our creditors it's great for the government because it you know it inflates away its liabilities but it also inflates the way the public's assets including the asses of ward a warren buffett of course he's criticizing. s. and p. for missing some private housing bubble he missed it too he got it completely wrong in fact many of his companies might have gone bankrupt if the financial institutions were bailed out by by the u.s. government but big the two trillion dollars math error so-called is again based on s. and p. not calculating the full amount of the savings that congress claims are going to be made over the next ten years based on what they agreed to but almost all of the two trillion in cuts happen sometime after two thousand and seventeen they'll be a different president will be a different contract congress they will not be bound by anything that w

of warren buffett of course he's criticizing. s. and p. for missing some private housing bubble he missed it too he got it completely wrong in fact many of his companies might have gone bankrupt if the financial institutions were bailed out by by the u.s. government but they did two trillion dollars math error so-called is again based on s. and p. not calculating the full amount of the savings that congress claims are going to be made over the next ten years based on what they agreed to but almost all of the two trillion in cuts happen sometime after two thousand and seventeen they'll be a different president will be a different contract congress they will not be bound by anything that was agreed to last week the only thing that counts are the customer made to the two thousand and eleven budget and there are not in fact i just heard barack obama speak and you know last night talking about the need for more tax cuts he wants to cut taxes for the middle class and for the poor or anyone to spend more money i government infrastructur

and warren buffett, i mean, i would be in favor of raising taxes on warren buffett. let's have a voluntary raising of paying taxes. if you want to pay more taxes like warren buffett, you can put your rate up to 80%. he can pay 100% as far as i'm concerned. what i'm worried about is what that doll to small and medium sized businesses and investment. basically, we lowered taxes dramatically three times. kennedy, reagan, and bush. each time we've gotten a big economic bounce. >> let me ask you if you don't run, rudy, which of the candidates at the moment is the one that you would feel most comfortable being the nominee for the republicans? >> i haven't really focused in on it. i think that governor perry's record as governor of texas is an excellent one. ten years of excellent management. he has kind of the background that president obama lacked. but michele bachmann and governor romney also have things to argue in their favor. i'm a close friend of rick santorum. so there are a lot of -- and newt gingrich may be the single smartest guy in the entire race. so you've go

blog that they would have gotten if that had turned from warren buffett as they would have gotten from the fat so why wouldn't they just go to the fed for that money could they could borrow that money from the fed for a twenty fifth of what they're eating corn buffett why would you pay twenty five times more six percent as opposed to a quarter percent for money that you supposedly according to the management of bank of america you don't need that doesn't make any sense and contrary to promoting confidence i think it sounds an awful lot like what happened in two thousand and eight when everybody ran around and said we're will capitalize we don't need money and then three weeks later they blew up well and at the same time just after that deal went through with buffett we see bank of america close to another major developing reported to sell half of its stake in china construction bank so it's bank of america as well capitalized why are they selling assets and getting investment from warren buffett i think in clapping i think the real problem with bank of america is with a geisha risk the

. >> warren buffett is going to invest in a bank of america. and norfolk virginium as a navy fleet leaves port this is all in preparation for hurricane irene they are heading to a safer place we will be right back and laugh. writing for the opening bell on wall street as futures were down and we have had three winning days in a row on wall street nasdaq was up 22 asian stocks are up and oil prices are up in asia. we are keeping an eye on bank of america stock warren buffett is investing $5 billion in bank of america >> a new poll shows americans all look on the economy is damn more adults are blaming former president george bush then they are blaming of president obama. half of the survey think he should get a second term. >> steve jobs was the balance point of that company and now we're going to see a different company >> apple stock after closing took a big drop in we are keeping our eye on apple shares and steve the job when we come back. the bay area -- a place with natural beauty and a forward thinking spirit. at bank of america, we've bee

warren buffett investing on bank of america. on very important terms for berkshire hathaway. shares of the company jumped on the news. the big meeting in jackson hole, how does the economy shape up for the rest of the year. joining me is jack ablin. jack, good to have you on the program. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, maria. >> so, the markets have been watching and waiting to see what ben bernanke would say and do at this summit in jackson hole, wyoming. what is your reaction to the speech? >> well, i think it was pretty much big swing and a miss for the market. we had a big buildup earlier in the week in stock prices. i was fearful that that was in anticipation of the chairman coming up with some new magic solution. but realizing that he doesn't have a lot of arsenal left, i didn't -- you know, i have to imagine he didn't sleep very well thursday night and, of course, friday morning, we saw that he really put the ball back into congress and the president's court. >> yeah, he said things like, look, we need to see fiscal policy, that encourages companies to cre

warren buffett weighing in. what he says should have happened. what it means for everyday americans. could your credit card feel it as soon as tomorrow? >>> on the run, three young siblings who replaced bonnie and clyde, opening fire on police, robbing a bank and taking off. tonight what their mother told abc news. >>> "the help" the blockbuster book about the women of the south who were never thanked but quietly gave little girls the biggest gift of all. they listened and loved. >> you are smart. you is kind. >>> and the birthday wish, a wish from an 8-year-old girl turning 9 from her parents and grandparents. extraordinary gift she will give the world. >> good evening. we begin this sunday night with an emerging portrait of the loss, the brothers, fathers, husbanan and sons lost in the deadliest attack yet in for u.s. forces in afghanistan. 30 american troops were killed when an chinook helicopter was shot down this weekend. 22 of them navy s.e.a.l.s. tonight we have learned the u.s. military has sent forces in the battle zone to hunt down the

blog that they would have done as good a term from warren buffett as they would have gotten from the fed so why wouldn't they just go to the fact that money. they could have borrow that money from the fed for the twenty fifth of what they're aiming for in buffett why would you pay twenty five times more six percent as opposed to a quarter percent for money that you supposedly according to the management of bank of america you don't need that doesn't make any sense and contrary to promoting confidence i think it sounds an awful lot like what happened in two thousand and eight when everybody ran around and said world capitalized we don't need a money and then three weeks later they blew up are you scared that more banks then bank of america are not capital i don't have enough cash and could tank. real problem especially in europe is that you have a lot of institutions that have exposure to sovereign debt greece is trading at this point on their two year bond they've already assaulted and haven't paid when you have a fifty percent effective interest rate that's not an interest rate anym

coming up one of the koch brothers response to warren buffett's call for more taxes on the rich in my daily take i'll tell you how it's obvious that the koch's don't want a discussion about how they made their for about how their family made its first millions. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions couldn't break through a bit if we can made who can you trust no one who is in view who would have noble machinery see where we had a state controlled capitalism and school satchels when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more. your take my take is a segment of the show where you have the opportunity to make yourself heard here on the big picture is your chance to share your questions comments rants and observations and i'll try to address them as best as i can my first comment came to us through the form of tom hartman dot com loomis asked were can one find raw data about the taxes paid by the top one percent you hear these figures thrown out all the time in aggregate but direct sources are really provided you know where these can be obtain

last week billionaire capitalist warren buffett called on congress to stop coddling millionaires and billionaires and raise taxes on people like himself the same level that his secretary pays asking that the over rich pay taxes like everybody else didn't just draw the ire of talking millionaire heads like eric bolling of fox so-called news who apparently missed econ one hundred one of those called bof a socialist he also said a fellow fellow billionaire oil all of our charles koch estate and released to right wing media outlets charles koch responded to buffett by writing i believe my business a nonprofit investments are much more beneficial to society well being than spend sunday in anymore money to washington which makes me wonder of charles koch even knows how he made his billions in america because he realized that it was thanks to washington's international treaties negotiated by government negotiators and ratified by the government senate that allowed his dad to do business with joseph stalin and make hundreds of millions by setting up fifteen oil refineries in communist soviet

warren buffett joins know talk about his column, the u.s. economy, the global economy, the deficit and the debt and what he thinks we should do about taxes. i am pleased to have another conversation with my friend warren buffett. welcome. >> good see you, charlie. >> rose: all right. this is not a new idea. >> no, it's not a new idea. i've done this three times in terms of checking in my office and ery time i come out to be the low taxpayer but this year i got a little more upset than usual. >> rose: so you decided you wanted to write and express what central idea? >> well, we've been hearing about shared sacrifice. and believe me, the people out there know what they're talking about on that. i mean, there is sacrifice going on all over this country and we're talking about people makingacrices about the promises that have been made to them in the future on some entitlements. so i decided to look around and see if any of my friends were being affected by shared sacrifice and they, like me, are enjoying these extremely low t rates and the very

(laughter) that's less money than warren buffett's cleaning lady pulls out of his shower drain every week. (laughter) no,-- so-- so $700 billion of raised revenue over ten years ain't even worth the effort. i assume these folks have the same why bother attitude towards low level spending cuts. >> a national endowment for the arts, for the humannities, all those frivolous things those should all be on the chopping block. >> federal employees don't pay for parking. >> so that would get them $140 million. >> he doesn't have to waste your tax dollars and travel around in a 1.1 million luxury liner. >> why are we spending $6 million, $1 million on the first lady. >> you got to start somewhere. even when we talk about npr, a million dollars here, that's a million dollars. >> jon: oh, so when you cut t it's a million dollars. but when you tax it, it's oh, $700 billion. all we had to do to raise $700 billion is cut $700,000 nprs. it's almost too easy. but if it's revenue you want, it does happen to be another place instead of the rich that you can look for it. >> warren buffett writing how t

buffett's call to tax the rich. >> warren buffett had an op-ed that he wrote today where he said, we've got to stop coddling billionaires like me. that's what warren buffett said. >> reporter: just as quickly as the president embraced buffet's call, critics like conservative pat buchanan dismissed it. >> why don't you set an example and send a check to the government? >> reporter: in his stop coddling the super-rich op-ed, the billionaire investor said while he paid nearly $7 million in taxes last year, the percentage of his taxable income was less than the people in his office. that's because the superrich get tax breaks on capital gains pay little in payroll taxes. who are the wealthy? to listen to president obama, they make $200,000 or more a year. that would make up 3% of americans or 4 million people. go up the pay scale, and according to the irs, those making $1 million or more equal about 237,000 people. in the $10 million or more club, there are roughly 8,000 people. buffet wants higher taxes on those making 1 million or month. we asked robert timwilliams for a scenario of what

we're talking about warren buffett. cnn's mary snow is joining us with the details of what's going on. mary, tell us what warren buffett is saying. >> reporter: well, billionaire warren buffett has said in the past that the rich should pay higher taxes but today he spelled out specifics in a "new york times" op-ed aiming his message to the members of the congressional super committee tasked with ways to balance the budget. it's gaining a lot of attention. it didn't take long for president obama to start quoting warren buffett's call to tax the rich. >> warren buffett had an op-ed that he wrote today where he said we've got to stop coddling billionaires like me. that's what warren buffett said. >> reporter: just as quickly as the president embraced buffet's call, critics like conservative pat buchanan dismissed it. >> why didn't he set an example and send a check for $5 billion to the federal government. he's got about 40 billion. >> reporter: in a stop coddling the super rich op-ed, the billionaire investor said while h

of them have more garden variety income than warren buffett does. but having said that, the tax rates on the rich and very rich have fallen more than they have for any other group than they have over the last generation. and those are also peat pull who have gottenÑi the biggest pretax raises. if you're looking relative to where we a, where we've been historically, it is true the faxes on the rich and very rich are quite low right now. and that cannot by itself, as party was saying solve the deficit or come anywhere close tight. but there is enough income there that canñr make a substantial >> charlie: now we come to this segment. what happened when you worked hard on tax reform. what did you create and what's happened to it in the years since? >> well tax reform like most laws are like castles next to the ocean. they wash away. what we did then wa we crafted a bill that attracted republicans and democra. we lowered tax rates, which is what republicans wantedand to pay for that we eliminated loopholes. by doing that we got the tax rate fromñr 50