Warren Buffett, Treasury Secretary? The Oracle Has No Comment

Bloomberg reported that both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama had entertained the idea of Treasury Secretary Warren Buffett -- and admitted it during the presidential debate on Tuesday:

Both candidates lauded billionaire investor Warren Buffett when asked who they would choose as Treasury secretary.

``Warren would be a pretty good choice,'' Obama said, after McCain raised Buffett's name and that of former EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman. Buffett supports Obama, while Whitman is backing McCain.

See video of the candidates talking about The New York Times

The Times' DealBook blog followed up on Warren Buffett's name as a potential candidate to succeed Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary:

Asked about this, one of Mr. Buffett's aides told Dealbook, "I tried to get a response from Mr. Buffett, and I just got a smile."

BIOGRAPHER SAYS WE WON'T SEE TREASURY SECRETARY BUFFETT

Alice Schroeder, former Wall Street analyst and now the author of a new biography on Warren Buffett, has had great access to the Oracle of Omaha over the years. When asked if she thought Warren Buffett would take the Treasury spot, she said she didn't think so:

Not a snowball's chance that Warren would do it. He hates meetings and would never tie up his schedule that way. It would take him away from his #1 interest, which is Berkshire. He prefers to leverage his time by giving advice.

MCCAIN'S TREASURY SECRETARY OPTIONS

Reuters had reported even before the debate that McCain might tap Warren Buffett for Treasury Secretary:

"I think it would be someone that Americans would recognize that would inspire trust and confidence," the Arizona senator said. "There's people like (Cisco chief executive) John Chambers, there's people like Meg Whitman, there's people like Warren Buffett," he continued, adding that these people could serve in one of many jobs that would need to be filled.

McCain said he would choose a Republican or Democrat who is highly respected to lead the department. Buffett, 78, who McCain admitted may not be interested in the job because of his age or other factors, has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

RELATED:

::Buffett Biographer: "Warren Is In His Element" During Crisis
::Why Buffett Supports Obama

Comments

[electionisover]

Warren is one of the last people I would want in that position. He is a billionaire that makes money by exploiting others weaknesses. Part of that is using his money to manipulate markets.

He clearly has a vested interest in decisions made. I don't want him calling the shots to make him the most money.

[Adrienne Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

It's a done deal, Obama has picked his cabinet, I think Warren will be apart of it! IMHO

[schatsie]

WAIT A MINUTE A Secretary of Treasury
Who defers his tax payments of almost a billion dollars indefinitely with no interest consequences.
Who pockets state sales taxes collected by his utility company (instead of remitting them to the states and forcing the states to increase these sales tax rates to offset the money going in his pocket.
Who includes income tax expense in the utility rates and then offshores the money so he does not have to pay the income taxes taken from the Widows and Orphans..

IF you want him as Secretary of Treasury, just change the name of the position to the Great God of GREED.....and give him another tax break!!! The rest of the world is thinking we are totally insane and becoming a BANANA REPUBLIC!!

[KCFreedom]

Sorry, but I think Warren Buffet has better things to do, like make more billions. He doesn't need that job to do that. What sane man or woman would even want that job after the current meltdown?

Frankly, I don't think Warren is as much of a "good billionaire" as the media play him up to be. He's out to make money, and is good at it, but I'm sure he's got some skeletons in his closet.

I think we need a Treasury Secretary that is not as rich as the more recent ones we had. in fact, I wish we'd get someone from the regulated banking or economics world instead of the speculative investment world like Paulson. They might not be as wreckless. But it might be argued that Paulson is simply doing the work he was told to do by higher powers that be.

[macbabe]

Get some GOOD people giving advice... YES to Buffet!!!

[Maschine]

you guys check his investment in GSachs.....admittedly, he may have cut a good backroom deal, but come on, that is what caused these problems in the first place.

Why does he get a good deal in the backroom, and investors have nothing as the stock sinks.

[readyfornewleadership]

WB is awesome. If he took the job, it would be patriotic

[fisharefreinds]

I hate to tell you this, but Hillary Clinton warned of an October surprise, and she did not mean Rezco--or whatever the name of that guy is in Chicago that bought Obama his house. She meant this!
Now making Buffet head of Treasury is a nice idea, but isn't he "to old," like McCain old?
I like him but doesn't he own alot of Banks?

[realityczech4u]

Ah, the "October Surprise'. Here we are witnessing the grandest conspiracy of all time. Rove/Bu$hKKKo (did I get it right?) are rolling out their master plan to destroy the American economy and the world economy along with it to ensure that the Rethugs (did I get it right?) remain in power.

[fisharefreinds]

I don't know, did you get it right? Anyway, whats so surprising? For months the congress knew there was a quamire in the works on Wall Street.

[vietveter]

"The Oracle Has No Comment"

He has a responsibility to his shareholders

He needs to stay right where he is

[DRaymond]

I don't see Buffet taking the job. He is too much lining himself up for retirement, though I did put him on my 'dream team' cabinet.

Now who I would see taking the job, and would do a good job at it, is Michael Bloomber.

[readyfornewleadership]

"lining himself up for retirement"????

he has tens of billions of dollars. I don';t think he is worrying about retirement

[candide7]

"...Warren Buffett's name as a potential candidate to succeed Ben Bernanke as Treasury Secretary"--I think you mean succeeding Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Bernanke is chairman of the Fed.

[SgtLucifer]

You won't get good ol' Warren to leave Omaha even if you put a shotgun to his head.

[loha]

Well McCain said he was going to run a respectful campaign too, and we see how that is unfolding.

[cariintexas]

John Mc cain KNOWS Buffett has ENDORSED OBAMA, Is one of Obamas advisors, yet Mc Cain, being the scyophant that he is, just loves to drop Buffetts name every chance he gets.

[FearlessFraz]

The question asked by Tom Brokaw was "Who would be your Secretary of the Treasury," not Fed Chairman!!!