Well, I suppose if I were a Berkshire shareholder I would be pretty happy with the fire sale prices the Oracle has been commanding for his purchases as well. So, when Whitney Tilson jumps on CNBC to crow about Buffett's shopping spree, I suppose we aren't surprised. Much hay made about Buffett's many off-handed remarks that he wish he had the cost-of-capital of the United States Government, how he'd balance the national budget if he only could wield the Treasury's resources to do so and otherwise save capitalism for the rest of us.*

Whatever you think of Buffett (someone was trying to convince me earlier that he was sullying his name, or that he had sold out by whoring out his reputation to buttress Goldman Sachs) you really have to give it to the guy. If nothing else, he has managed to get a lot of press out of all this. (Ok, I admit it, I just wanted to use the word "whoring" and "Buffett" in the same paragraph).

* Ok, maybe we said that, not Buffett.