The investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett unleashed a withering attack on Donald J. Trump on Monday for refusing to release his tax returns, asserting he had something to hide, and for misleading voters about his success as a businessman and ability to improve the American economy...
But an article this afternoon on Yahoo Finance told a different story:
Buffett told Charlie Rose in a recent interview that he loaded up on $12 billion worth of stock since the election through the end of January. He didn’t specify the securities he purchased at the time.
(It turns out he's bought Monsanto, Sirius XM, various airlines, and a lot more Apple.)
If Buffett felt that Trump misled voters about his ability to improve the American economy, why did he load up on stocks as soon as Trump was elected? Shouldn't he have been lightening up instead?
How would he have reacted to Hillary victory?
It's always more informative to see how people act than to just listen to what they say. And the way Buffett voted with his wallet was a lot more convincing than what he said last summer.
That's why they call them limousine liberals.
That's why they call them limousine liberals.
They preach to you about the value of diversity, but live in communities which are almost entirely white.
They say wealthy people should be taxed more, then use every trick in the book to avoid paying taxes themselves.
They lecture us about how we have to conserve energy, then take private jets themselves.
All in all, they're not very persuasive.
Posts
13 comments:
A friend of mine used to work for Berkshire Hathaway, and she worked in an office that prepared their tax submissions. She said that the initial submission to the IRS was always rejected.
I don't know enough about big money tax submissions to say whether this is completely normal or not.
But it always struck me as a little odd for a Leftist like Buffet. Shouldn't he be most willing to go above and beyond his tax burden? why attempt to short change the US government, when you're position is that taxes are too low, and there should be more and more government spending?
- Ed
Ed --
Thank you, illuminating story.
Teddy Kennedy was the same way, always advocating higher taxes for the rich, but then, before he died, he somehow managed to transfer his entire estate to Tortola, so that it wouldn't be subject to estate taxes. Kennedy was a classic limousine liberal in every way. He advocated wind power, but then nixed turbines off the coast where they might spoil the view from Hyannisport. He advocated busing to achieve integration, but his sons went to Groton and Andover. He was a "feminist" except in his private life. And after Nixon pardoned Agnew, he thundered on the floor of the Senate, "Is there one standard of justice for the rich and another of the poor?" -- Just four years after he got away with a slap on the wrist for Chappaquiddick.
Is Warren Buffett an actual liberal or one in name only? Why exactly is he a liberal - what's the benefit to oneself or one's country being a liberal? Why do so many of these super rich people seem to be liberals?
- birdie
Birdie --
The way it was explained to me a long time ago is that rich people are liberal because they just want to keep people from outright revolt. For instance, a lot of them support affirmative action because it's the best way of keeping blacks from outright constant civil disobedience, from rioting, etc. If you give them enough, that will keep them semi-satisfied, and that will preserve the status quo. So what if affirmative action hurts middle-class whites, it doesn't affect them, since they've already made their pile.
I think it's also that paying lip service to liberal pieties is the path of least resistance for a lot of these rich people. They don't want the media to turn against them, so they kowtow to the reigning liberal orthodoxies, whether or not they believe them.
Buffett only appears hypocritical if you make the assumption the entire world revolves around stock performance. It's perfectly possible to believe trump is good for stocks but sucks for the country or world at large.
Bob J
Bob J --
That would be possible, yes, but if you take another look at Buffet's quote, what he said was that Trump had misled voters about his ability to improve the American economy. And stocks do generally mirror the success of the economy, so that very specific statement is what make Buffet a hypocrite.
Stocks mirror corporate EPS vis a vis alternatives like CDs, bonds, commodities. They certainly don.t mirror wages, unemployment or the burden the coming trump inflation is going to put on people.
Bob
Bob --
It's true that stocks don't mirror wages or unemployment; but they do mirror inflation, very much so, especially the dividend-paying stocks. So if Buffet thinks Trump is going to be so bad for inflation, why would he be loading up on stocks?
Personally, I think Trump's policies are going to be inflationary. Higher employment, higher wages, and possible tariff are all inflationary, so I've actually been playing with gold stocks for the first time my life. In any case, all of these things are double-edged swords, and every silver lining comes with a cloud. But I do think a sizable fraction of the population which had left the work force will return, and wages will in general rise. Trump is far more focused on keeping jobs here than Obama ever was.
Private prison stocks are hot since the election (CXW), but I think the real money will be in war related stocks.
Bob
Bob --
The defense stocks are up, but bear in mind, Trump seems to be the first President to be aware of -- and be doing something about -- the fact that the defense companies may be charging too much for their fighter jets, etc. Look at how he already renegotiated the price for Air Force One, and those fighter jets from Lockheed (?). Also, private prison stocks may be up, but so are the banks, the techs (look at AAPL), some of the internet stocks (most notably AMZN), gold stocks (JNUG), auto (GM and TSLA, though F has remained stagnant), etc. The Dow was at roughly 18,000 on election day, now it's at 20,750, and the other indices are up commensurately. To point out just prison stocks is misleading.
Spoken like a good republican. Stay in gold, it's a good place to be in turbulent times.
Bob
Bob --
Democrats just can't stand the fact that the market is up so much since election day. They've been predicting a crash ever since November 8, but somehow the market just doesn't seem to cooperate with them. How frustrating it must be.
Touche. Later.
Bob
Post a Comment