Maybe it's not really his money, and it is held in trust for the CIA, to be recycled through the Gates Foundation.
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned she's a "kid" (compared to him). I see the reactions to the thread though, and let me you something, you guys are cold too. America has not respect for the artist class, so while she might be making do on her own, she's barely keeping her head above water, and with her not having any insurance, that may or may not be the case in the future. This country is all about having yours and taking care of yours with the loot, frankly I'm amazed that you're missing the point that the Buffet really is a skinflint, to his own people no less. Poor little rich girl. P.S. If his mother were still alive, I wonder if he would have thrown her under the bus?
And in case you read the article, you would see that he has been "guilted" into giving money to his other kids and grandkids (while ostracizing her). Hell, money ain't even close to being the most important thing in the world anyway ... Buffet just got a lot smaller in my eyes.
I did read the article. I think it shows how much Buffett understands people. One of the things people do wrong in this world is let people take money for granted. The article doesn't talk about him giving money to his other grandchildren out of guilt. It says he probably does it to reward them for not being jackasses like his disowned granddaughter. For a man who gives so much every year to charity, you would think people would be mad she is complaining about living on ONLY $40,000 a year when the median HOUSEHOLD income in the USA is around $48,000 The sells paintings for $8,000...she can get a second job and get health insurance.
Read the book: http://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warr...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229558793&sr=8-1 It's a very good read and gives your his perspective on things. Although I enjoyed Lowenstein's earlier biography, Schroeder's is more complete.
She should make friends with Charlie Munger (he's made some bad picks/choices before) maybe use his influence to get back in Warren's graces.
I agree 100% with Buffet and his opinions about inheritance. He says that inheritance taxes need to be kept high. The rewards should go to the people who did the right work, not the people who were born in the right family. If you don't keep inheritance taxes high, you'll end up with just a few families controlling most of the wealth. Nobody else will have any motivation to develop new industries, the economy will stagnate. I know of a family where the father did quite well and gave each of his children a lot of money. None of his kids had any motivation to succeed, they all ended up as alcoholics and drug addicts. I'll make sure that my kids get a useful education and good career. I tell them to worry about their marks in school, I'll worry about the tuition bills and such. Beyond that I would be very careful about any more money that I gave them. I'd want to make sure that I'm not causing them more harm than good with any gifts, that I'm not giving them a white elephant.
i always thought of him as a poser. (we all are though so who cares) hes got the masses worshiping him not only for his achievements but his so called non existent "tv" personality. (id do the same) He is portrayed as just an all around great guy who became wealthy as hell through simple philosophy. Yeah right. I think having CNBC and what not glorify him just shows his true intentions. As for the niece thing, I never thought she said anything that would be taken offensively. I think it fell right in line with the image he has been portraying so I wonder how much of the story we actually have. 40k a year sounds difficult to live on in S.F. to me. I'm assuming it costs a small fortune to live the American dream there however.