[DanielBMarkham]

"Honest" as in "straightforward," "direct" As opposed to convoluted or hard-to-interpret. Not honest as in telling the truth. If I tell you that it was about time to make an honest offer on a house, that doesn't mean that somehow you have been lying all along. The social utility argument was, in my mind, his best one. He should have been more direct about making it.

The first part was simply an expression of my bias. I owed that to the reader.

Good grief.

[festivusr]

I'd posit that your real point is exactly that which you say you don't want to argue. It's a strong statement and worthy of discussion.

Much more interesting to discuss that than how clear Buffett's argument is. (Which is quite clear, in my opinion.)

[DanielBMarkham]

Last comment: this has long ago passed the point of diminishing returns.

I originally wrote "intellectually dishonest" mostly out of habit. It's a phrase I like. But then I looked at it and realized that was way too harsh of a statement. Buffett is not lying here. He's just a nice old man (probably a little on the cranky side) who wants to play at politics a bit.

I don't think there was any subterfuge or lying at all going on. What I think is that he could have used a good editor, but probably when you are worth 3 kazillion dollars it's tough to get somebody to take you out to the woodshed and tell you to tighten up your piece, make a thesis, and then support it. I have structural problems with the article, not concerns about the honesty of the author.