Dear Mr. Buffet,
Kudos for your op ed article in the New York Times. We at Innovation Toronto agree that your taxation suggestions could be most helpful and show true leadership at a time when so little appears to be available. Given the current political climate, action is unlikely to happen soon but in the meantime something interesting could be done almost right away.
So here is the beginning, perhaps, of a simple series of helpful ideas.
Why don’t you, and the other small group of super-rich who feel the same way, create a temporary “Taxes I’m Willing to Pay to Help Fund” while the politicians and bureaucrats continue their debates about what to do.
This temporary fund could take some interesting immediate action trajectories including:
- The Miracle on Main Street: finding those who need a hand up and not a hand out – invest some start-up capital in the dreams of innovators and influencers and let their new activities help others. Rather than soliciting need and ideas, put a few trusted individuals on the road to find out and pleasantly surprise the most promising individuals/organizations that they find. Get media to follow their trials and tribulations – now there is some content for Reality TV.
- The Detroit Phoenix Project: Detroit could be the perfect host for The Global Innovation Center. Imagine the impact (and the tourist draw) if all of the latest and most promising new gadgets and technologies from around the planet were showcased together in Detroit? Tie it together with a little seed funding perhaps, innovation-driven school programing, a road show (actually rail show) of interactive exhibits whistle-stopping through towns and cities around the country (using leading-edge train technology of course) with the latest sexy innovations . . . you get the idea. The ripple effects could be amazing.
- Fill in this blank.
- and this one too . . .
A few things for consideration:
- This kind of project approach is something that you guys in the money stratosphere could set up in your sleep. You have all the connectivity and organizing needed right at your finger-tips.
- These could easily be set up as projects with a beginning, a middle and an end. It doesn’t and shouldn’t have to go on for ever – only until the tax sanity returns 🙂
- It would send a message of hope to all Americans through real action while others just talk. People need something to believe in again and this could be a very visible start down a new road to recovery.
- The super-wealthy, who are perceived by some as being only about themselves, could get some very public good PR – and deservedly so.
- Detroit (we confess to no connectivity to anyone there) could become the lightening rod for the regeneration of a new American Dream based on innovation, invention and creativity.
- There might even be some tax breaks for those who step up . . . 🙂
Mr Buffet, these are just some thoughts and ideas from some admirers of your country who are watching with interest your struggles to reinvent yourselves.
Sincerely,
Innovation Torontoᔥ
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