Buffett: Thumbs Down on Bush's SS Piratization

Warren Buffet doesn't think much of Bush's SS scam. This quote below is from the Omaha World-Herald (registration required):

Warren Buffett, the 74-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and his 81-year-old partner, Charlie Munger, launched an impassioned defense of Social Security at the company's annual meeting Saturday, with Munger terming Republican efforts to overhaul the program "twaddle."

While they did not directly discuss President Bush's proposal to allow Americans to divert some of their Social Security taxes to individual investment accounts, Buffett and Munger said the country faces far more pressing problems than the projected Social Security insolvency in 40 or 50 years.

Buffett said government officials should instead be focusing on trimming the budget deficit, which stood at more than $412 billion last year. "Anything that would take Social Security payments below their present guaranteed level is a mistake," said Buffett, a Democrat. "The obligation of the people who do well in this society is to provide a reasonable level of sustenance for those in their later years."

Munger, who called himself a "right-wing Republican," said, "Republicans are out of their cotton-picking minds to be taking on this issue now. "Munger cited nuclear tensions with North Korea and Iran as issues the administration should be working on instead of "wasting its good will over some twaddle."