In ancient Greece, an oracle was a person who could make predictions about the future. Nowadays, we have what you could call an oracle of investing just up the road from Lincoln. Warren Buffett, the “Oracle of Omaha,” is one of the most respected investors worldwide. It’s no surprise, as he’s currently the third wealthiest person in the world.

So when Buffett wrote an op-ed column for The New York Times giving the government advice on reducing the debt and deficit, you’d think his ideas would at the very least be taken seriously. That wasn’t the case last week, though.

In his column , Buffett appeals to the government to raise taxes on him and other millionaires and billionaires, saying that, “While most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.”

Buffett gives the exact number that he paid in income and payroll taxes last year, $6,938,744- “17.4 percent of my taxable income.” That, he says, is the lowest percentage paid by anyone in his office, whose taxes “ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.”

Fox News picked up this story and crucified Buffett for it. They immediately called Buffet out for “class warfare,” which is interesting, because he’s asking for higher taxes on his own class — maybe civil class warfare? He’s even been called a socialist for his opinions. Because, of course, asking the mega-rich to pay a little extra is basically the same as having a complete lack of private property and total government control of the economy.

Ending the Bush-era tax cuts that Buffett is referring to has been a goal of many Democrats since Barack Obama took office. Last December, when Bush’s tax cuts were about to expire, Democrats in Congress tried to extend only the cuts for the middle and lower class, and allow tax rates on the wealthiest Americans to return to their previous levels. Republicans thwarted this plan by threatening to let all of the tax cuts expire.

Fox’s stance is that raising taxes on the very wealthy won’t make a big dent in the debt.

Raising taxes on Americans in the top two income brackets would raise $700 billion over ten years. According to Fox, that’s such a small number it’s not even worth it.

Fox’s alternative? Raise taxes on the middle and lower classes and cut spending. They want the 51 percent of Americans who don’t pay any income tax to pitch in. As Jon Stewart pointed out last week, if you took half of the wealth of the bottom 51 percent of Americans, you’d come out with a little more than $700 billion.

Thank goodness for Jon Stewart for pointing out Fox’s backward rhetoric. They keep calling people out for class warfare, while they actively participate in it themselves. Perfect example: They will fight to the death to not raise taxes on the rich, but they’re more than willing to tax the lower class to death. Maybe it’s only class warfare if you’re attacking people who can fight back?

Apparently the folks at Fox News still think that millionaires are going to pass their wealth on to the rest of Americans. Unfortunately there are some selfishly frugal upper class people who won’t buy a new car every month or hire someone to change the TV channel for them. Just look at Warren Buffett. He still lives in the same modest house he bought 50 years ago. How unpatriotic.

The reporters at Fox seem to think that taking more taxes from rich people, or as they call them, “the productive class,” would kill the economy, while also robbing people of their hard-earned money. Now, I don’t have a problem with people who earn a lot of money by working hard. In fact, I don’t have anything against people like Kim Kardashian who get rich without doing anything. That’s just the way our society is.

What I have a problem with is people claiming that we can’t tax the rich for whatever reason while at the same time claiming that the lower class can afford to pay more in taxes.

What Fox needs to remember is that we have two major crises in the U.S. right now between the mounting federal debt and the languid economy. So to reduce the deficit while stimulating the economy, we need to be careful not to put too much of an economic burden on any one class. By raising taxes on people who can afford it, you add a much-needed source of revenue without having a significant impact on the economy.

That, and that poor people really aren’t trying to steal everything the upper class owns.