Writing over at CNN.com, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch makes the case that Warren Buffett, like Deep Throat of Watergate fame, is given a pass by journalists because he tells them what they want to hear. Here's how the piece ends:
I'm not one who thinks that Warren Buffett needs to write a $10 billion check to the government in order to prove his policy sincerity. But it is worth noting that his big 2006 media breakthrough came not by pledging his fortune to the U.S. Treasury, but to private charity. It's clear which vehicle he finds the most effective use of his personal money. Which suggests an ultimate test for raising the federal tax burden in a way pleasing to Warren Buffett, Barack Obama, and most of the fourth estate: Are we currently getting our $3.8 trillion worth of services? Has the rapidly increasing price tag of government—from $1.9 trillion in Bill Clinton's last proposed budget—come with a commensurate increase in quality? If not, then we need to be cutting and improving government, not having it swallow up more of the private sector. If so, then that's an argument the media should be having, instead of just uncritically high-fiving a billionaire with massive vested interests.
Comments