Buffett, Warren
1930–

Buffett's documented public values: progressive taxation (the Buffett Rule, 'my secretary pays a higher tax rate than I do'), long-term-over-short-term capitalism, fierce critic of stock buybacks and excessive executive compensation, anti-inheritance-dynasty (the Giving Pledge), pro-free-trade, pro-banking-regulation, anti-crypto, deeply institutionalist, and Midwestern civility. Paxton wins partial credit on no-state-income-tax framing and anti-ESG litigation but loses on tariffs (Buffett is fiercely anti-tariff), the personal scandals Buffett would find disqualifying for any Berkshire executive, the crypto-enthusiast posture, and the personal-attack campaign style. Talarico would line up with Buffett on higher taxes for billionaires, the stock-buyback tax, closing corporate $0-tax loopholes, anti-tariff position, and the anti-corruption framing. Talarico loses points on the $15 federal minimum wage (Buffett has historically favored EITC expansion over minimum wage hikes as more economically efficient) and on some of the sharper anti-billionaire rhetoric that Buffett himself has criticized as counterproductive. The Buffett grader is interesting precisely because his framework rates Paxton lower than most other 'business' graders do — Buffett's institutionalism and concern about American institutional decline make him much more skeptical of the Trump-Paxton mode than the WSJ ed board is.