Warren Buffett, Robber Baron?

Did you know that the life insurance lobby is actively lobbying to restore the estate tax? 

Why would the life insurance industry care about that? It turns out that ten percent of life insurance industry revenue is related to the estate tax. Wealthy people take out life insurance in order to reduce estate taxes because when you die, your life insurance payout doesn't count as part of your estate.

Did you know that Warren Buffett owns six life insurance companies? Did you know he supports the estate tax? You do now.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/warren_buffett_robber_baron.html

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I don’t think you can call Buffett a Robber Baron, anyone who knows anything about robber barons knows they don’t exist anymore. The closet you come is probably Rupert Murdoch and that’s really stretching the definition (though he’s probably just as hated as a baron was/is). If you want a classic portrayal of a Robber Baron, watch Deadwood, especially the third season, with William Hearst portrayed brilliantly series, THAT’s a robber baron. The Estate Tax (or Death Tax/ Inheritance Tax wherever you live) we talked about in a post yesterday is a majorly contentious issue in the States, if Buffett is actively supporting it, who knows? He owns so many companies I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t realise he owns six insurance companies!