The 20 Richest Americans Are Greedy Takers—Not Inspirational 'Makers'

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/20-richest-americans-are-greedy-takers-not-inspirational-makers




Bill Gates

Bill Gates may be a knowledgeable and hard-working man, but he was also lucky and opportunistic. He was a taker. In 1975, at the age of 20, he founded Microsoft with high school buddy Paul Allen. This was the era of the first desktop computers, and numerous small companies were trying to program them, most notably Digital Research, headed by brilliant software designer Gary Kildall. His CP/M operating system (OS) was the industry standard. Even Gates' company used it.

***SNIP

Warren Buffett

At first glance, Warren Buffett seems to be a different breed of multi-billionaire, advocating for higher taxes on the rich and a reasonable estate tax. But his company, Berkshire Hathaway, hasn't been paying its taxes. According to the New York Post, "the company openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002."

***SNIP

Larry Ellison

Ellison was #1 on Sam Pizzigati's Greediest of 2013 list. A well-deserved ranking. Since 2008 the Oracle CEO has awarded himself tens of millions of dollars in stock options and performance pay, most of it either tax-deferred or tax deductible. The money taken from the taxpayers served as a nice down-payment on Ellison's purchase of the sixth-largest Hawaiian island.

Koch Brothers

This is an easy one, sad to say. Koch Industries is taking away our clean air and water, taking its waste to Detroit and Chicago, trying to take away the minimum wage, seeking to take down renewable energy initiatives, and taking away jobs

[JDPriestly]

1. Interesting, but a lot of them are just using perfectly legal tax avoidance methods.

They are just playing by the rules, but they hire people to make sure they know the rules to play by.

Congress is to blame if these fat-cats aren't paying their fair share of taxes. Similarly, Congress is to blame if the minimum wage is so low and these men pay it to their employees.