Buffett: Hedging His Hedging?

No sooner do I note here the other day that Warren Buffett seems to be lining up with climate skeptics and saying nice things about the Keystone pipeline, than I find this very revealing chart from OpenSecrets.org about the rather conspicuous ramp-up of lobbying by Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway:

Berk Hathaway copyHmmm.  What happened in 2009 that so suddenly changed Buffett’s spending for lobbying?  I can think of one thing.  Probably you can too.

So is he lobbying to support Obama, or to preserve his own capital from Obama’s onslaughts?  I have a hunch Buffett wouldn’t want the new regime created by Dodd-Frank to designate Berkshire-Hathaway as a SIFI (systemically important financial institution), subject to intrusive scrutiny and regulation.

(Hat tip: RS.)

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