Mega-mogul Warren Buffett has made a lot of money in our (semi) capitalist system. And he has schizophrenically spent a lot of time supporting politicians and policies that will drag us further still from our successful capitalist roots.
One way Buffett and Leftist mega-moguls like him help the Cause is to…”invest” in private entities with a Progressive bent. But it’s not an investment in the sense that they hope to glean a financial return. What they are doing instead is propping up failing business entities for ideological reasons.
Remember Air America? The failed, bankrupt, corrupt Leftist radio network. That perpetually hemorrhaged cash, but kept receiving cash infusions — I mean “investments” — from Leftist benefactors…I mean “investors.”
This “business model” appears to be back in full force with Buffett.
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As has been much discussed, newspapers are dying. By and large, the Jurassic Press has long been a Leftist anachronistic mess, which has not handled at all well the Internet revolution.
The epitome of the Progressive print species, the New York Times, recently needed to stave off oblivion with a massive cash infusion from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú.
Buffett must have liked what he saw from Slim. So much so that he’s going big on Big Print – purchasing 63 newspapers. Propaganda, Inc.? Perhaps. Included in the mix is the currently conservative Richmond Times-Dispatch — we’ll see how much longer that inclination lasts.
And the Media Marxists — who routinely lambaste media ownership consolidation — have somehow found a way to be thrilled with the Buffett Big Business newspaper conglomeration. Shocker, I know.
And Buffett isn’t finished with his Obama and Leftist prop-up party.
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Buffett also just purchased 10 million shares of Obama’s Pet Rock, General Motors (GM). Whose stock has been in free fall since GM’s 2009 full-on transformation into Government Motors.
After a 2011 of tax-free “record” profits, and multiple awards for the (unprofitable, unpopular, combustible) Chevy Volt, GM stock is down by more than a third.
Now, perhaps Buffett thinks it’s hit rock bottom and is ready to soar. But he is a man who obviously knows business decisions — and GM’s business decisions are…suspect.
…GM acquired AmeriCredit and renamed it GM Financial to expand its subprime auto lending and leasing.
Subprime lending? Meaning like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for Government Motors? Why, yes.
Just another in a long series of brilliant GM business moves.
Government Motors, as we said, sells Volt hybrids for $41,000. Volt hybrids cost GM $41,000 to make. It’s a zero-sum, non-profit product…
GM (in 2010) received more green (non-energy) energy patents than any other organization on Planet Earth…
And in bad joke harmonic convergence, GM spent $3 million to install solar panels at a (non-profit) Volt manufacturing plant – in order to save $15,000 a year in electricity….
And if you haven’t yet had enough GM solar, and you liked Solyndra, and Beacon Power, and Ener1, and….
Through Venture-Capital Arm, General Motors Pushing Boundaries of Innovation
…Since its inception, General Motors Ventures has closed on 13 investments worth around $60 million, according to (GM’s Tim) Brumbaugh.
They include a $7.5 million investment in Sunlogics PLC — a manufacturer of solar-energy systems — and a $6 million investment in Proterra Inc., which makes zero-emission transit buses….
Would someone of Buffett’s business caliber look at this cavalcade of mess and say, “I need to get in on that?” Probably not.
Would someone of Buffett’s ideological persuasion look at Obama’s floundering, foundering Government Motors and reelection effort and say, “I guess I’ll get in on that.” Much more likely.
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We will see more of this. Leftist mega-moguls propping up — or setting up — private sector “business interests” to advance their ideological ones. There are, after all, no campaign contribution limits here.
Leftist Obama fan Warren Buffett is, once again, setting trends.