Warren Buffett still loves capitalism

With many billionaires apologizing for what capitalism has wrought, at least one man isn’t distancing himself from his love of the free-market economy, Andrew writes in his latest column.

“I’m a card-carrying capitalist,” Mr. Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting over the weekend. “I believe we wouldn’t be sitting here except for the market system,” he added. “I don’t think the country will go into socialism in 2020 or 2040 or 2060.”

“There is something oddly refreshing about Mr. Buffett’s frankness,” Andrew writes. “Many of today’s business leaders appear to publicly wring their hands over the state of inequality or take moral stands on public policy issues. But when it comes to offering up concrete solutions and actually making the hard decisions that could affect their bottom lines, they have much less to say.”

“He believes that the pursuit of capitalism is fundamentally moral — that it creates and produces prosperity and progress even when there are immoral actors and even when it creates inequality.”

Mr. Buffett also dismissed the E.S.G. movement, in which investors and policymakers attempt to fix capitalism by focusing on environmental, social and governance initiatives. “We are not going to tie up resources doing things just because it is the standard procedure in corporate America,” he said.

More: ICYMI, here’s a cheat sheet to the highlights from Berkshire’s annual meeting.

Occidental raises its cash offer for Anadarko

Occidental juiced its acquisition bid last night by increasing the cash component of its offer in an effort to outdo Chevron, Clifford Krauss of the NYT reports.