Warren Buffett, long a critic of the excesses of Wall Street and the risks of derivatives, is emerging as a stalwart defender of the financial system.
　　At Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting here this weekend, the legendary investor mounted a vigorous defense of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., sued for civil fraud by regulators and under assault by Congress for its business dealings. And he praised the business model of Moody's Corp., whose ratings agency has been lambasted as too cozy with bankers.来源：考试大
　　Though he acknowledged that banks and other financial firms had engaged in excesses in the years leading up to the crisis, he didn't lay blame at their feet. Wall Street was caught up in a "mania that prevailed throughout the investment world," he said.
　　"I haven't seen anything in Goldman's behavior that makes it any more subject to criticism than Wall Street generally," Mr. Buffett said at a news conference Sunday, the day after Berkshire's annual meeting.
　　Mr. Buffett's remarks contrasted with his long-standing mantra against what's he has called the self-serving ways of Wall Street and, to an extent, the ethos of his shareholder meeting generally.
　　The event, held far from financial centers and attended this year by some 40,000 investors, is a sort of pep rally for Berkshire and its brand of Main Street, basic-business values investing.
　　"I was surprised by how strong he stood by [Goldman]...and that he wasn't more critical of the Wall Street culture," said Justin Fuller, partner at Chicago's Midway Capital Research & Management, which closely tracks Berkshire.
　　Mr. Buffett's long-time partner, Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger, was blunter in his criticisms of Wall Street. The financial industry is "a very defective system," he said at a press conference Sunday. "When systems are defective, very good people will start doing things...that are counterproductive."
　　Mr. Munger placed the blame on lax or dysfunctional government regulations, comparing the relationship between banks and regulators to that between a tiger and a tiger keeper.
　　"When the tiger gets out and starts creating damage, it's insane to blame the tiger, it's the idiot tiger keeper" that deserves the blame, he said.
　　To some extent, Mr. Buffett's defense of Goldman and Moody's could be expected: Berkshire has invested billions in financial firms including Goldman, a close partner for decades. It is also an investor Moody's, though it has been selling the firm's stock in recent months.
　　Mr. Buffett addressed in detail the Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud charges against Goldman, which allege the bank defrauded investors when it created a mortgage investment, dubbed Abacus, with the help of a bearish hedge fund and failed to disclose the fund's role and position. Goldman says it did nothing wrong.
　　"I have no problem with that Abacus transaction. If there were other things that were hugely troublesome, I haven't seen them," Mr. Buffett said. He referred to his experience nearly 20 years ago helping to save Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers, then a big holding of his, from a scandal. "That was my big fear at Salomon—that is always the worry, that you haven't really found the problem yet," he said
　　Mr. Buffett said parties to the deal, which plunged in value when the housing market fell apart in 2007, should be responsible for their own actions. "It's a little hard for me to get terribly sympathetic for a bank that made a bad credit deal," he said.
　　The "allegation alone causes the company to lose reputation" and "hurt morale," he said. But he said the charges need more proof beyond the SEC's allegations if they are to have a lasting impact on Goldman.
　　He offered strong support for Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, saying in response to a question about a successor to Mr. Blankfein: "If Lloyd had a twin brother, I'd go for him."
　　Mr. Buffett also defended Moody's, which owns one of the ratings firm that critics say amplified the crisis by giving triple-A ratings to assets that ultimately collapsed.
　　Ratings outfits such as Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. have "incredibly wonderful businesses," he said, adding that their "pricing power is significant." But he conceded that "many feel that the ratings agencies let them down."
　　Mr. Buffett did have some criticisms for investment banking. "There's a lot of good in it, and there are a lot of things that take place on Wall Street that we don't like," he said.
　　Mr. Buffett said Berkshire recorded a first-quarter profit of $3.6 billion, compared with a net loss of $1.5 billion a year earlier.
　　Mr. Buffett said the company's results show the global economy is showing significant signs of recovery for the first time. Operating profit was $2.2 billion, reversing a year-ago loss of $3.2 billion.
　　"What was sort of a sputtering recovery months ago seemed to pick up steam in March and April," Mr. Buffett said. "We're seeing a pretty good uptick."
　　Mr. Buffett has also been taking heat for a push Berkshire has made on Capitol Hill for exemptions for several large derivatives deals his firm has made in recent years.
　　A bill before Congress could force Berkshire to post billions in collateral for the deals. In the past, Berkshire hasn't been required to put up much cash—if any—to back its derivatives transactions.
　　Mr. Buffett said he is confident that his firm would likely not be required to post collateral on existing derivative contracts under the financial-overhaul bill currently before the Congress.