Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Maybe this week we're in Debbie Watch instead of a Warren Watch.
House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on CNN that one of the lasting issues in the 2012 election will be "that question of Warren Buffett's secretary. If you look at the issue through her eyes, we want her to make more money, we want her to have more hope in the future. But the answer is not to make sure that Washington taxes people more."
Last week Debbie Bosanek, the secretary in question, was a guest of Michelle Obama's when President Barack Obama gave the State of the Union address. The president repeated his call for a "Buffett rule" in the tax code that would require people making more than $1 million to pay at least 30 percent in federal taxes.
Bosanek was there because Buffett used her as an example of a salaried person whose rate of income tax, payroll tax and contributions to Medicare and Medicaid were twice as much as his.
The resulting commentary was wide-ranging, from criticism about Buffett's tax ideas and Bosanek's purchase last year of a home in the Phoenix area to support for the longtime secretary. By the week's end, "Debbie Bosanek" yielded 85,000 hits in a Google search, plus nearly 700 under the incorrect spelling "Bosanke."
Margaret Sullivan's blog for the Buffalo (N.Y.) News noted that Bosanek's guest spot in Washington gave her something in common with civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and sports legend Hank Aaron, who attended previous State of the Union speeches.
"I've gotten to know Debbie Bosanek over the years because Buffett is chairman of the Buffalo News and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, is our owner. She's always tactful, helpful, smart — and wisely protective of her boss. So it doesn't surprise me to see her handling her 15 minutes of fame with aplomb," Sullivan wrote.
Bosanek bought her own plane ticket and paid for two nights in a Washington, D.C., hotel, though she said she might negotiate with Buffett about Berkshire reimbursing her for the trip, since she was representing the company.
But there's no need to negotiate, Buffett said in an interview. "I'll pay for that personally."
Friendship emerges
The tax controversy apparently has generated a friendship between Buffett and Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., the only member of Congress known to have agreed to Buffett's offer to match any extra payments that members of Congress make to the U.S. Treasury to reduce the government's deficit.
Rigell, a 50-year-old who started and owns auto dealerships in Virginia, served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps and is in his first term. Last year, he contributed an extra 15 percent of his salary to help pay down the national debt and plans to do the same this year. Buffett agreed to match that amount, and the two met to talk about the issues.
After a breakfast meeting with Buffett, Rigell told the Virginia Pilot News that during his re-election campaign he would no longer stand by a pledge never to vote for a tax increase. He is one of many state and federal elected officials who signed a no-tax pledge promoted by Grover Norquist of the group Americans for Tax Reform.
The story said Rigell analyzed the situation and now believes some revenue increase should be part of federal budget reform, along with cuts in spending and reduced regulation of business. "Everything should be on the table," Rigell said.
Buffett later told Bloomberg TV: "What I really admire about Scott, he is dedicated to getting a sensible relationship between revenue and expenses in this country. It is a tough issue to face. He and I in the first five minutes found we were within fractions of a point, virtually.
"We both feel we could tolerate a small gap between the two, but we know we need more revenues and we have to bring down expenses, and we know it has to be believable. And it has to be attacked right now."
Partnering on Africa
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation is collaborating with the Norman Borlaug Institute to improve African agriculture through an agricultural research and extension farm in South Africa.
Howard Buffett, a son of Warren Buffett, said Africa's damaged soils, lack of access to good-quality farm supplies and inefficient markets for farm produce contribute to hunger in Africa.
The two nonprofit groups are supporting work at the Ukulima Farm Research Center in the Limpopo province of South Africa, which Buffett's foundation created. Buffett said he hopes the work with the Borlaug Institute "will improve agricultural productivity across the African continent, particularly for Africa's poorest farmers."
The late Norman Borlaug was a scientist credited with the "green revolution" that increased crop production in the mid-20th century.
New division
Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. formed a new division, called MidAmerican Renewables LLC, for its wind, geothermal, solar and water-generated energy.
Bill Fehrman, former president of Nebraska Public Power District, is president of the new division, along with his duties as president and CEO of Mid-American Energy Co., which is a regulated utility that provides electricity and natural gas in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Greg Abel, chairman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, said the company intends to expand its renewable energy production. The new division is based in Des Moines and includes MidAmerican Wind LLC, MidAmerican Geothermal LLC, MidAmerican Solar LLC, MidAmerican Hydro LLC and project development and commercial management divisions.
Separately, Forbes magazine reported that MidAmerican got permission in 2003 to build the Black Rock geothermal energy plant in the desert east of San Diego but that obstacles including financing, transmission availability and a steam pipe shortage are delaying the start of the project.
An extension by regulators now gives MidAmerican until Dec. 18, 2014, to start putting steel into the ground.
Partnership grows
Berkshire's NetJets Inc. division is deepening its partnership with German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Bloomberg News reported.
The two signed an agreement to serve 1,000 destinations in Europe, giving NetJets' high-income customers more flexibility in their flying plans.
"The beauty for the customer is he can book a trans-Atlantic flight from Europe to the U.S." on a Lufthansa jet and then schedule domestic flight legs on NetJets, said Martin Riecken, a Lufthansa spokesman.
The Lufthansa-NetJets partnership will compete with services such as Delta Air Lines Inc.'s Delta Private Jets.
Song did air
For the record: Buffett's rendition of "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad" was in fact broadcast as part of a celebration of the Chinese New Year.
China Central Television executives had given conflicting accounts of whether Buffett would simply give a greeting or whether the program would include a tape of him singing from an earlier visit to China, where he visited BYD Inc., an auto and battery company partly owned by Berkshire.
Bloomberg reported that Buffett said "thank you" in Chinese after he finished strumming.
The Omaha World-Herald Co. is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
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