Buffett defends Goldman

He tells his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that the embattled Wall Street bank was not involved in improper activity in relation to a mortgage deal that went south. Asked who he would choose as an eventual successor for Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Buffett said: "If Lloyd had a twin brother I'd go for him." Buffett is hardly a disinterested observer: He invested $5 billion in Goldman at the height of the financial crisis, and Goldman is paying him a 10 percent annual return, or $500 million a year. From the WSJ:

The audience's reaction to Mr. Buffett's comments on Goldman was tepid. While a number of comments by the Berkshire chairman in the morning were greeted with strong applause by the crowd--almost entirely made up of Berkshire investors--his comments on Goldman were largely met with silence. "I was surprised by how strong he stood by [Goldman] out of the gate and that he wasn't more critical of the Wall Street culture," said Justin Fuller, partner at Midway Capital Research & Management, which closely tracks Berkshire.

From the NYT:

Mr. Buffett's longtime lieutenant, Charles Munger, tempered his boss' kind words. Mr. Munger, Berkshire's vice chairman, said that investment banks have often taken on "scuzzy" customers that they should have avoided. And he added that there is a difference between behaving legally and behaving ethically -- and that simply following the former should not be the basis of a business's conduct. Mr. Buffett added that Goldman is a longtime adviser that "helped build Berkshire Hathaway" by selling them businesses for more than 50 years.

Below are some comments from Berkshire shareholders in Omaha today for the annual meeting. Most feel that the Goldman accusations have been overblown.