Opinion

Buffett loses his halo

The Issue: President Obama’s references to Warren Buffett in support of his tax-hike plans.

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Charles Gasparino finally says what needs to be said (“Saint Warren’s Dark Side,” Post-Opinion, Feb. 1).

The difference between what Democratic and Republican presidents can get away with is staggering. Warren Buffett, if championed by a Republican president, would have had his whole life thoroughly investigated by the media. But the silence now is deafening.

C. Honadel

Staten Island

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I wonder how many 1 percenters Buffett and those in the Obama administration have employed over the years to dream of creative ways to rig the system for them but then complain that the system should be fixed.

I’m sure when Buffet dies, all his money is going to be taxed without the benefit of all that estate planning.

Bobby Vessecchia

Manhattan

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Gasparino charges that Buffett “made his vast fortune enjoying that favorable treatment” — the 15 percent capital-gains rate.

Actually, Buffett made his vast fortune by holding rather than selling his Berkshire Hathaway shares — making the capital-gains rate irrelevant.

Gasparino suggests that something inappropriate took place when Buffett made investments in Goldman Sachs and General Electric prior to “massive federal aid” but never explains what was inappropriate.

He raises the SEC investigation into Buffett’s lieutenant’s stock trading as “one of the most sordid corporate affairs I’ve seen in a long time” but then acknowledges that he doesn’t know if it was outside the law.

James Glickson

Manhattan