Here is how I introduce my latest Q&A podcast:
. . . our guest today is Howard Buffett — Howard G. Buffett — who heads the foundation that bears his name. He has been many, many things in life: businessman, farmer, politician, lawman, conservationist, anti-poverty activist, author, philanthropist — I’ve left out some things. He has sat on every board and committee you can imagine. Heaven knows where he gets the time.
In recent weeks, I have been struck by some news articles, which tell us that Howard Buffett has given over $500 million to Ukraine. To the Ukrainian people, at the time of their direst need.
We begin our conversation by talking about that. I will paraphrase a bit of what Buffett says — paraphrase, but closely:
When Russia went into Ukraine, for their full-scale invasion, it was clear to me that it was going to have an impact on global food security and, obviously, local food security. We work mainly in global food security and conflict mitigation. So the invasion of Ukraine brought those two things together.
The Buffett Foundation has rendered critical aid to the Ukrainians. What they need most, however, is weapons: weapons with which to defend themselves and to hold on to their freedom, their country. This, philanthropists cannot provide.
Buffett says,
Yes, weapons are what the Ukrainians need most, and their next great need is people: soldiers who can fight, because they’re up against an army that just keeps replenishing itself. I mean, look: Russia has used at least 100,000 prisoners that they took out of prison and put on the front lines, and they’re actually trying to coerce Ukrainians in occupied areas to fight against their own country. Putin has no rules. If he is not stopped, he won’t stop.
Buffett has talked with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, several times. Zelensky has been demonized here in America — demonized by “influencers” of a particular bent.
Says Buffett,
People don’t realize the influence of Russian propaganda in this country, through all the social-media platforms and so on. The bottom line is this: You tell me who can step up and do what this president has done. I mean, this guy works 24/7. He’s got to make sure things are going as well as they can in the military. He’s got to keep up an economy that’s been trashed by a war. He’s trying to protect civilians against a guy that is targeting schools and hospitals and churches. I mean, he has more on his plate than anybody I know in the world today. And so it’s easy to criticize. But anyone who criticizes President Zelensky — I challenge them to step up and do what he’s doing. They couldn’t.
Howard Buffett has spent a lot of time — and a lot of money — on the alleviation of poverty, and the hunger that often goes with poverty. How do you address this age-old problem? Buffett says you need to give people opportunity. They must have a way to earn a living. They must have the dignity that comes with providing for oneself. But also — this is key — there must be the rule of law. Without it, nothing matters. Not much good is possible.
Buffett has traveled all over the world. He has been to 154 countries. (There are not that many more in the world.) He has seen the best of human living and the worst. He has seen children dying of malnutrition. He held the hand of a mother in Ghana as her daughter died. He keeps attacking these problems, stubborn as they may be.
He has also worked a fair amount in the fields of law enforcement and drug policy. (He actually served as a sheriff.) We devote a portion of our podcast to this. What are fitting penalties, if any, for drug selling and drug use? Howard Buffett is an unusual philanthropist in that he talks like a policy wonk — he can “drill down” on an issue if you want him to.
Over the years, he has done a lot in the field of conservation. He loves animals, “great and small” (to borrow a phrase). How did it begin? “Well, I started with a dog,” Buffett says. (That’s how it begins for many of us.) “My first dog was a mixed breed named ‘Scout.’” On went Buffett from there.
I ask him a bit about growing up Buffett — about being Warren’s son. Was he living in a fishbowl, there in Omaha? Were all eyes on him? What if he messed up — got arrested while out drinking with his friends or something? Was it a burden, as well as a privilege, being Warren’s son?
He chuckles. “Well, first of all, I never drank, so that helped.” When Buffett was four or five, his maternal grandfather, a doctor, put him on his knee and said, “Let me explain something to you. Every time you drink alcohol, you kill brain cells. And Howie? You don’t have many to give.”
Levity aside, Howard Buffett explains that his father was not really famous until he, Howard, was about a senior in high school. Unless you read Forbes magazine — or an item happened to show up in the Omaha World-Herald — you really didn’t know about Warren Buffett.
At the end of our conversation, we return to Ukraine. Buffett and I agree that Putin is, or can be, quite candid — more than his apologists in the West are. If only people would listen to him.
Buffett:
Putin will tell you he’s not fighting Ukraine — he’s really fighting NATO and the United States. He’ll also tell you, plainly, he’s committing genocide against the Ukrainian people: destroying their nation, their culture, their identity — everything.
This conflict is going to shape our future. If anyone thinks we can escape the consequences of this war, they’re not looking at the reality of it. Because if Ukraine falls, Putin will continue. He will be bolder. He’s going to take more.
Howard G. Buffett is a splendid American. If I were president — there’s a thought! — I would hang the Medal of Freedom around his neck. In the meantime, I have done a Q&A with him. Again, go here.