Warren Buffett

By James J. Cramer

He's our Mozart, a manager who has mastered the monetary metier. He's our Shakespeare, a financial writer who puts everyone else to shame. He's our Joe DiMaggio, with a stock-market hit streak that will never be bettered. He's also our George Bailey, the too-good-to-be-true capitalist. And if he weren't such a nice guy, we would all be jealous of him instead of in awe of him and his plainspoken nature.

He's Warren Buffett, the man who built Berkshire Hathaway into the most successful investment vehicle in history. That would be enough if he weren't also the repository of all that is honest and wise in finance, someone who should be exhibit A in all the white collar prosecutions under way. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, despite the protestations of the defendant that he didn't know that what he did was wrong, we present you with Warren Buffett, who made fortunes without cutting a single corner, without being greedy and without a whiff of scandal."

His secret is to have no secrets. He tells you in his annual reports, the best read of all finance documents, exactly how he made his money in the previous year. His reports should be taught in school--not only in business school but also in high school and, yes, Sunday school. He knows what he knows and doesn't try to know more than that. He avoided tech because he professed not to understand it. His ignorance cost him a couple of years' underperformance, but he quickly caught up and passed everyone else by focusing on bonds and housing plays--two boring, overlooked areas that turned out to be the best-performing sectors of the past decade.

Lately Buffett has become more than just a financial wizard. He waxes about the absurdity of cutting taxes for those who least need the money, and he can't figure out the wisdom in abolishing the inheritance tax, even though he probably has more skin in the game than anyone save Bill Gates. The Bushies, tired of his scolding, have tried to portray him as a crotchety Nebraska coot who has lost a step. The reality is that Buffett is simply a capitalist who genuinely believes our species is capable of reciprocal altruism. His number should be retired, his jersey hung from the rafters of the New York Stock Exchange, and the pantheon closed because he has no equal in the game.

--By James J. Cramer, markets commentator for TheStreet.com and co-host of CNBC's Kudlow & Kramer