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A Quick Look at Bloomberg News's Opinion Section for March 20, 2012

Let's start the day with some tricky yes-no questions. (Spoiler alert! The
answers are: "Maybe"; "No"; "Yes"; "On second thought, no"; "Definitely,
no"; and "Are you kidding?")

Has Warren Buffett lost his touch? "Berkshire stock hovers at about a 10
percent premium to the company’s estimated $110 billion per-share book value
at March 31, 2012, (assuming the overall book value increases in a rising
stock market by about $10 billion this quarter) and perhaps below a
liquidation price," answers View columnist Alice Shroeder. "In essence, the
market is placing no value on Berkshire’s prospects. I believe two basic
problems have brought Berkshire to this pass. First, Buffett’s investing
record has been underwhelming for the past few years, except for special
opportunities linked to his own reputation and relationships. Second,
Buffett has lost stature because of the way he uses his role as a
public figure. And both of these situations will be difficult to reverse."
[2]Link.
Links:
2. http://bloom.bg/GzHv9m

Can Mitt Romney lose the nomination? "Almost every Republican nomination
contest sees a division between establishment-oriented candidates and
conservative insurgents," writes columnist Ramesh Ponnuru. "The balance of
power is held by those voters -- sympathetic to both the insurgents and the
party establishment -- who describe themselves to pollsters as “somewhat
conservative.” The establishment always wins these fights, for several
reasons. Its candidates make the necessary accommodations to stay acceptable
to the center of the party. Voters who want a conservative insurgent almost
invariably fail to settle on one candidate to play that role. They also
sometimes favor candidates who, for one reason or another, just aren’t
plausible nominees."[3] Link.
Links:
3. http://bloom.bg/GzZ20L

Will we ever know who's behind all those political ads on TV? "Since the
Federal Election Commission has shown itself to be virtually incapable
of ensuring transparency in campaign finance, it would be nice if someone
else picked up the slack," note the View editors. "It turns out someone
can. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed requiring
broadcasters to post online the name of anyone who buys time for political
advertising along with the purchase price and airdates. It’s an excellent
idea, made more salient in an era of shady super-PACs. It can be
accomplished with no great effort by broadcasters." [4]Link.
Links:
4. http://bloom.bg/GzCXmP

Is Benjamin Netanyahu bluffing on an Iran attack? "Last week, I argued that
Netanyahu's campaign to convince the West that Iran’s nuclear program
represents a threat -- not only to his country but also to the entire Middle
East and beyond -- has worked so well that it could represent the perfect
bluff," writes columnist Jeffrey Goldberg. "After interviewing many people
with direct knowledge of internal government thinking, however, I’m highly
confident that Netanyahu isn't bluffing -- that he is in fact counting down
to the day when he will authorize a strike against a half-dozen or more
Iranian nuclear facilities." [5]Link.
Links:
5. http://bloom.bg/GA1F3S

Can we just soak the rich and move on? "In this age of austerity,
many governments are looking for ways to fill gaps in their budgets by
taxing the rich more," explain the View editors. "These proposals make for
great politics, but terrible economics. This week, the U.K.’s coalition
government will produce its budget for the next year. Among proposals being
discussed between the coalition partners is a so-called mansion tax -- an
annual 1 percent levy on homes worth more than 2 million pounds.... The tax
would raise about 1.7 billion pounds annually, according to a Liberal
Democrat estimate, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a nonpartisan
think tank in London, says is about right. That would barely scratch the
budget deficit, which the institute projects to be 124 billion pounds over
the next year." [6]Link.
Might a spot of dirty weather have fouled the Tea Party's hopes? "The Tea
Party came into prominence in a series of protests around the country on tax
day, April 15, 2009. Sunny skies in some parts of the country encouraged
large and boisterous rallies, while in other places rain suppressed the
attendance. If the areas that nature randomly selected to have good
weather that day subsequently became more conservative, that would suggest
the Tea Party had a real impact beyond what would have happened in its
absence. How much of a difference can a rainstorm make? It turns out a lot.
At least that’s the message from some striking research by four young
scholars spanning the political spectrum -- Andreas Madestam of Bocconi
University and Daniel Shoag, Stan Veuger and David Yanagizawa-Drott of
Harvard University." [7]Link.
Links:
6. http://bloom.bg/GzM2LR
7. http://bloom.bg/GzO9R2

Also, op-ed contributor Shikha Dalmia on Detroit's latest fiscal disaster;
World View blog contributors Nicholas Noe and Walid Raad on Syrian
explosions; and the editors' breaking views at The Ticker.

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