On the occasion of Berkshire Hathaway's special shareholder's meeting regarding the Burlington Northern acquisition, Warren Buffett was given the bulk of the 8-9AM slot on today's CNBC morning program. As usual, the on-air co-anchors treated Buffett like some sort of oracle, hanging on his every word.
But the bright spot is that they asked him a range of questions, giving viewers a chance to gauge Buffett's thinking and perspective on a number of business issues.
As if to answer my question at the end of yesterday's post concerning the Cadbury-Kraft deal, Buffett expressed his lack of agreement with the latter's CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, on buying Cadbury, and at this price.
Buffett said lots of nice things about Rosenfeld's operation of Kraft, and personal integrity, but explicitly voiced disappointment with the acquisition, and the inability to vote his shares against it. When asked if he would "vote with his feet," selling his Kraft shares, the investor waffled and declined to answer directly. He's no fool, and understands that saying so on CNBC would be tantamount to losing some significant percentage of value in the 9+% of Kraft that Berkshire owns.
Perhaps the next more salient comment Buffett made was to, once again, venerate Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and declare that the federal government had saved America in September and October of 2008. He then sort of hedged, saying that 'doing something,' in effect, was more crucial than exactly what was done. That he wasn't saying they did exactly the right things, but at least they didn't stand by and do nothing.
I have to say, I'm disappointed, but not surprised, by Buffett's attitude and remarks. He seems to be a cheeerleader for government, and I wonder if it's not his objective to simply be left alone. If he were critical, he probably fears retribution from Congress and/or the administration.
You know, keep your friends close, your enemies closer.....
Anyway, it's unfortunate that Buffett won't comment on the excessive intervention, propping up failed industries, coddling unions and sidestepping perfectly good bankruptcy procedures, all of which the government did in response to the financial debacle of 2008.
If someone of Buffett's purported stature and sagacity won't speak truth to power about government overreach into the private sector, who ever will?
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