I don't know if Buffet is a hypocrite; however his insurance business does stand to gain a huge amount of business should inheritance taxes increase in one form or another. Reason is that insurance companies sell lucrative insurance contracts on old founders who are near death, so that when they die the insurance payoff covers the tax penalties. The insurance contracts are written off by the company while the person is alive and then the payoff pays the death taxes.
I had no idea that Berkshire was so involved in the life insurance industry, rather than reinsurance! He's very modest about it in their annual reports, apparently.
A quick look at Wikipedia's entry on Berkshire Hathaway would have revealed that BH owns Geico, General Re (reinsurance) and yes, some life insurance companies as well.
That's true. Perhaps the part of my comment referring to Berkshire's presence in the reinsurance industry was a subtle clue that I was aware that they had a presence in the reinsurance industry. It would be helpful to explain why Berkshire's CEO would sacrifice his excellent reputation as a fair guy -- a reputation absolutely necessary to Berkshire's strategy of deploying capital cheaply by being the buyer of first resort -- in order to enhance the performance of "some [nameless? nonexistent?] life insurance companies" rather than his flagship holdings like Geico, General Re, MidAmerica, Marmon, etc.? It's a crazy theory. I think the death tax is a poor idea, but this Buffett fellow seems legit.
