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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (636661)	11/19/2011 6:01:28 PM
From: Brumar89	3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1583396

Warren "Tax Me More" Buffett's Company Sues IRS Over "Illegal" Taxation Oh my. NetJets, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., this week sued the Internal Revenue Service over what it called an "illegal" $643 million tax assessment. The IRS had determined that NetJets had failed to collect a "ticket tax" from its customers—the same tax that's paid by passengers every time they fly on a commercial flight. ... "The IRS's assessments in this case improperly extend application of the ticket tax beyond commercial airline and charter passengers, to persons who own the aircraft on which they fly," the company said in the suit. NetJets also claimed that the IRS hadn't attempted to assess such taxes on rival fractional-jet businesses, placing the company "at a significant disadvantage." Now on the face of it it seems Buffett's company is right. Why should people who own the jets pay a "ticket tax"? You don't buy a ticket to ride on something that you own. But "corporate jet owners"? Aren't they the lowest of the low or something? And Buffett is suing to keep their costs down and protect them for unfair taxation? Oh and remember when Obama wanted to change how evilllll "corporate jet owners" were taxed? Yeah, Buffett opposed that too. Buffett and his management team have a fiduciary obligation to fight this on behalf of their clients. But the idea that Buffett then will turn around and say other people (presumably including most of these same clients) should be taxed at higher levels to satisfy his moral vanity is an amazing twist of logic. Hypocrisy thy name is Liberalism (and always has been). minx.cc

To: longnshort who wrote (636661)	11/20/2011 8:56:12 AM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1583396

Occupy Wall Street protesters stay at $700-a-night hotel ................................................................................................................. By CANDICE M. GIOVE November 20, 2011 nypost.com no, we won’t go — unless we get goose down pillows. A key Occupy Wall Street leader and another protester who leads a double life as a businessman ditched fetid tents and church basements for rooms at a luxurious hotel that promises guests can “unleash [their] inner Gordon Gekko,” The Post has learned. The $700-per-night W Hotel Downtown last week hosted both Peter Dutro, one of a select few OWS members on the powerful finance committee, and Brad Spitzer, a California-based analyst who not only secretly took part in protests during a week-long business trip but offered shelter to protesters in his swanky platinum-card room. J.C. Rice NO PARK-ING: Instead of Zuccotti Park squalor a swanky room at the W Hotel Downtown was more comfy for Brad Spitzer (pictured) and other well-heeled protesters. J.C. Rice A room at the W Hotel Downtown Gabriella Bass Peter Dutro “Tents are not for me,” he confessed, when confronted in the sleek black lobby of the Washington Street hotel where sources described him as a “repeat” guest. Spitzer, 24, an associate at financial-services giant Deloitte, which netted $29 billion in revenue last year, admitted he joined the protest at Zuccotti Park several times. “I’m staying here for work,” said Spitzer, dressed down in a company T-shirt and holding a backpack and his suitcase. “I do finance, but I support it still.” During his stay, hotel sources said, he and other ragtag revolutionaries he brought into the hotel lived like 1 percenters. He would order up a roll-out bed to accommodate guests, they said. “He’s here all the time,” a hotel source said. “We all see him at the protest.” Spitzer denied sheltering Occupiers. He claimed he only invited in a blogger buddy living at the park to wash off his camp grime. Meanwhile, Dutro, 35, one of only a handful of OWS leaders in charge of the movement’s $500,000 in donations, checked in on Wednesday, the night after police emptied Zuccotti Park. While hundreds of his rebel brethren scrambled to find shelter in church basements, Dutro chose the five-star, 58-story hotel, with its lush rooms and 350-count Egyptian cotton sheets. He lives only a short taxi ride away in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. “I knew everything was going to be a clusterf--k in the morning,” he told The Post, alluding to Occupy’s own disruption plans. “How would I get over the bridge when they were shutting it down?” The tattoo artist-turned-Occupy money man took the elevator up to the fifth-floor welcome desk, where a disc jockey spins tunes and guests enjoy a vista of the growing freedom tower. He said he spent $500 of his own money to get the room because he wanted a good night’s rest ahead of the cause’s two-month ceremony the next day and raucous post-raid protests. “I knew . . . there was a high probability of getting arrested,” he said. “I wanted a nice room. That’s OK. Not everybody there is dirt poor.” He paid for the palace with his American Express card. “It is an expensive hotel. Whatever,” he said. The rooms have 37-inch flat-screen TVs, window seats overlooking the city and iPod-dock alarm clocks. Visitors can order 12-year-old Glenlivet scotch for $375 a bottle, or an $18 pastrami sandwich, from room service. There’s even a menu for four-legged guests, including a $16 dog dish of Niman Ranch ground beef. He claims he chose the W for its convenience, not its luxury. “I’m not in the business of throwing money away,” he said. “It’s the only room I could find.” And he claims he took care of comrades in less-comfortable digs. “I took food to all those churches,” he said. “I got them cigarettes.” Occupiers told The Post that they witnessed other General Assembly and group leaders stay in both the W Downtown and the Marriott Hotel — and said that key players were not present when cops stormed Zuccotti. Read more: nypost.com