Buffett Opposes EFCA: "I'm Against Card Check" (VIDEO)

Labor leaders and the Obama administration won no favors from Warren Buffett on Monday morning when the famed investor offered unequivocal criticism for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Just days after Barack Obama and Vice President Biden both offered one-line endorsements of the legislation -- which would make it easier for unions to organize -- Buffett, in an appearance on CNBC said the following of labor's legislative priority:

"I think the secret ballot's pretty important in the country," said the Oracle from Omaha. "I'm against card check to make a perfectly flat statement."

Business interests, of course, are clearly at odds with the Employee Free Choice Act. And while Buffett is a progressive on many causes -- chief among them tax policy -- he is, at his heart, a businessman.

Labor representatives, when asked about the comments, noted that Buffett went on to say that unions and the workers that make up their forces have "not been well-treated by the tax code that we've had over time." They also noted that he misrepresented the crux of the legislation, claiming it would end the secret ballot when, in actuality, it would provide workers a choice between using a secret ballot or majority sign-up in their efforts to unionize.

That said, Buffett's remarks are great fodder for EFCA-opponents. And a Republican strategist trying to gin up opposition eagerly sends over these two quotes showing that Obama greatly values Buffett's economic advice:

- Obama Says Buffett Has "Shaped" His Ideas. "In last week's final presidential debate, after Republican John McCain raised questions about his rival's ties, Sen. Obama said, 'Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker ... who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House.'" (Monica Langley, "Volcker Makes A Comeback As Part Of Obama Brain Trust," The Wall Street Journal, 10/21/08)

- Obama Campaign On Buffett: "We Look Forward To Him Helping Out Our Efforts." "'Warren Buffett is a great friend and an important force in the global economic community. We look forward to him helping out our efforts,' said Obama spokesman Bill Burton." (Celeste Katz, "Buffet Of Praise, Cash For Hil At Buffett Dinner," [New York] Daily News, 6/27/07)

Comments

[artisthawk]

His first statement about having a secret ballot shows he does not know what the EFCA contains. He can help Obama all he wants but he does not know this subject.

[gladiator777]

Funny how all these people who voted for Obama and supported him now don't support many of his plans...ironic isn't it?

[harriscrl3]

Buffett is an expert on workers now is he? I mean give me a break he needs to stick with what he knows about and BUTT OUT.

Carol

[ohiodem250]

Card Check is bad policy plain and simple. It's an over-reaction from labor to the very real upper-hand that management has. The answer, though, is not to adopt the same dirty tricks that management has but rather to strip those dirty tricks away.

Instead of card check to certify a union, they should require a secret ballot to DEcertify a union (currently, they use the so-called "card check" to decertify which is a complete benefit to management). And instead of mandating a firm time period of mandatory and binding arbitrage of the labor contract, they should have a shortened and firmly enforced time period from card signing to secret ballot.

[jane gutowski]

buffet criticized a lot of proposals that obama is pushing yet buffet says he totally supports obama. is he afraid of being attacked like santelli and cramer ?Is he afraid gibbs will try to make a joke out of him like gibbs does to avoid answering questions?

[kw7777777]

I lost a lot of respect for Mr. Buffet today.

[Renee27]

On CNBC Warren Buffett said that everyone thought the housing prices would keep going up, and not come down. "The oracle" didn't recognized a bubble and how OTC derivatives were tied into it? How can that be?

What Worries Warren Buffett (March 3, 2003)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/855968/posts

(The link to the original Fortune article above is not functional. The article seems to have disappeared from CNN-Fortune website, instead they reference it in following article below):

Buffett to investors: Do nothing (March 7, 2003)

http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/07/commentary/bottomline/lashinsky/index.htm

Also see page 14 “Derivatives” of 2002 Berkshire Hathaway annual report

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2002ar/2002ar.pdf

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/27/news/newsmakers/gross_banking.fortune

Google: The Great Derivatives Smackdown (Forbes) and Buffett warns on investment time bomb (BBC) – both written in 2003

[Pupster]

My goodness, how well you cherry-pick. In fact, you cherry-picked so well that you completely ignore the many times Buffett warned about derivatives for years and years. Or his comments about housing prices from 2003. Lovely.

Congratulations on your ability to take items that are out of context or dated way before things blew up. It only shows how unfamiliar you are with Buffett's stances. You fail.

[Renee27]

You didn't read my post and you didn't read the links. I am just presenting facts, you can come up with your own conclusion.

In my opinion perserving the PR legacy of Warren Buffett should be the least of our concern. If he is so concerned with his legacy then he should be helping Pres Obama find were the bodies are buried (figuratively speaking), and coming up with concrete solutions to help main street. But instead he is fighting against Employee Free Choice Act. Now Republicans can quote him when they campaign against it. Thanks again Warren

[schatsie]

Read the book Free Lunch and then think about this business man again... AND REMEMBER, in the 1950s when he started the investment company he started with the value of $35,000 from an inheritance... That would be the equivalent of at least $350,000 today...nice chunk of change to start with....

[DaCoach]

I am completely behind the EFCA as soon as a secret ballot is mandatory. Change the effective date of the ballot to be a not unreasonable time from the filing of the card requests. Make certain that the names of the employees requesting the validation are private. Require that any employee signing a card is allowed to vote even if he is no longer an employee at voting time.

But the use of a secret ballot is essential and should be mandatory.

[jotunloki]

The current law requires scheduling of a vote as soon as possible. The problem is, company management gets repeated postponements. All a company would have to do is temporarily pad the payroll to invalidate your idea of allowing a fired card signer to vote, not to mention the tactic of claiming that the card was not valid for one reason or another.

[DaCoach]

That's easy to remedy.
1. Don't allow postponements without permission of the petitioning employees.
2. Don't allow added employees to vote.

My belief is that a guaranteed secret ballot election would not only be appropriate but it would also eliminate the only real negative reason that Congressmen would have to vote against it. It seems obvious to me that's the way to get this needed legislation approved.

[JakeMontero]

Buffett is a brilliant guy and is a supporter of our President. You may have a different viewpoint on the secret ballot but learn how to disagree respectively. Some of you are caricatures of union 'thuggery' -- something that plays right into your proponents arguments.

[jsgaetano]

Buffett knows investing... but why does anyone think he knows anything about this topic? He hasn't spent his life working on labor issues.

I like Buffett, don't get me wrong. But he has as much knowledge on this matter as a geologist trying to tell us global warming is false.

[Pupster]

And you know this how?

My guess is that Buffett is more familiar with this topic than you and I ever will.

[schatsie]

Well he is familiar with putting STATE SALES TAXES in his OWN pockets and letting the working stiffs pick up the shortage...Check out MidAmerican Energy in IOWA and OREGON....why he feels the need to keep state sales taxes forcing the people who are buying the utilities to pay even more taxes...Just like Bill Gates and the Weis who refuse benefits to their employees...It's fine that they can fly off in their corporate jets which are also a 'business expense'' (so guess what we get to pick up the shortfall there as well)...

and take wonderful vacations which are business expenses. but treat their bottom rung employees like nothing...and their customers (for Mid American) like fools.. The only questions is how much of his income is offshored???

[JustLucky]

This thing about Buffet or any of these people being more familiar with a topic than you or I ever will be is something that comes to me time and again when I see all the armchair experts or pundits sounding off about what all the top economists should be thinking and doing. Buffet is fascinated with money and economics - it's his hobby, his happiness, and his life, and has been for many years. It's not as if he cares about having a lot of money for a fancy lifestyle - his only real splurge is his private jet, which I think is actually just a membership to a private jet service anyway, but he just finds money fun to work with.

[jsgaetano]

Just another right winger worshipping someone because they have money.

Think for yourself. Money doesn't make you smarter.

[artisthawk]

Probably, but his first statement is incorrect.

[citizensrus]

What is a caucus? Obama was elected because of the caucus.

[Ravenback47]

Buffett just proves that he's no different than the rest of the business world. I'm so tired of hearing praises about him, and people showing great interest in what he has to say. After all that has happened, I don't have much respect for many of them. The bottom line is that he hasn't created anything at all. He makes money off of other rich people. Has he built any products or innovated any production processes? And I wish all of the pseudo-economists would stop giving their opinions about the economy. None of them have ever attempted to build up the confidence of the American consumer. They just spew negativity and despair. So what he lost $5 billion. He has plenty left, and most of that is just on paper anyway. Sometimes, if you have nothing good to say, then don't say anything at all. Pundits, spinmeisters, and self-appointed experts take heed.

[Pupster]

This only shows your own ignorance. "I don't know anything about this guy except he's a businessman, and so it's easy for me to pigeonhole him." Learn a little something about the man and what he stands for and you'll likely change your ignorant mind.

[artisthawk]

His first interview statement is incorrect.

[Cronus1]

Doesn't the Constitution say something about the right of assembly? Right of free speech? Freedom of association? So how come we have any laws dictating who can have a union, how they have to go about getting a union, what they can and cannot bargain over.

Why isn't there a Department of Religion? Why doesn't the government dictate who can be a minister of god? Who is entitled to join such an organization, how it is set up, report income and expenses and explain why the money was spent and allow members to refuse to have their tithe spent to fulfill political agendas.

I say get rid of the Department of Labor, the Slave Labor Law, and the Right to Work for Less Laws in the states. If this is truly a liberty loving nation and a capitalist one at that, then economic power should prevail. The owners of commerce versus the producers of commerce. The owners versus the workers. Let the market sort it all out.

[jnah]

still have faith in the markets huh? the whole idea that started economics is that markets rarely have efficient outcomes and that interventions are necessary to arrive at ideal outcomes.

[skymuffin]

Can you name how many union officials have been interviewed on the news and on these pundit programs?

The views that we are getting from corporate media are one-sided. Almost all of the traditional news media have had to deal with unions: they try to bust them, flout contracts, and otherwise undermine union representation.