Obama Admin Steps on Toes of Obama Backer Warren Buffett

Buffett Says He Can’t See Rationale for Bank Levy

 

Obama's soak-the-rich policies are finally getting to the point of annoying Obama's own backer, the otherwise-sensible Obama supporter Warren Buffett.  And Buffett is finally annoyed enough to elbow back -- not directly at Obama, of course, but with a nice, sharp dig at Congress.

 

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett opposes President Barack Obama’s proposed levy on financial institutions because firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. already repaid bailout funds.

“I don’t see any reason why they should be paying a special tax,” said Buffett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. Supporters of the plan to tax the banks “are trying to punish people,” he said. “I don’t see the rationale for it.”

Obama announced a plan last week to impose a fee on as many as 50 financial companies to recover losses from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The levy would apply to firms with more than $50 billion in assets, including Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, two companies that Berkshire has investments in. It would exclude Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage lenders taken over by the U.S.

“Look at the damage Fannie and Freddie caused, and they were run by the Congress,” said Buffett. “Should they have a special tax on congressmen because they let this thing happen to Freddie and Fannie? I don’t think so.”

Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and other beneficiaries of the bailout such as Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.repaid the money they got from the government. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac owe about $110 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Unnecessary Rescue

“Most of the banks didn’t need to be saved,” Buffett said. “Including Wells Fargo.”

Later in the same article we are reminded that Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway is the largest stock investor in Wells Fargo.  So Buffett has a very personal reason to be annoyed at Obama's attempt to soak all the largest banks, including Wells Fargo.

I'm not in favor of the proposal either, but it's nice to see Buffett finally squirming after having backed Obama and lent false credibility to the redistributionist.  Now Buffett is about to be hoisted on his own petard.

Comments

[benning]

Hoist that petard real high, and shake it for a while! Make Buffett squeal!

Leftists can never be trusted, and Buffett should have known better.

[Gary]

Big Trouble in Little China me thinks. The Obama socialist/Marxist ideology finally scored a blow that caused the Buffett Capitalism some meaningful discomfort.

Now, if the Independents will wake up and smell the 'Juan Valdez', we may recover some of the spilled milk in congress...

How's that for an adage rich environment?

[Gina Cobb]

Gary -- That is "adage rich" indeed. You must be drinking the right kind of coffee!

It sounds like benning is in a good mood today too!