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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: SAMSON123 on May 01, 2010, 07:53:13 AM
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Buffett Under Fire For Goldman Ties
by Scott Patterson and Susan Pulliam
Friday, April 30, 2010
(http://l.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2010/04/30/buffett-goldman.jpg)
Soon after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS - News) alleging fraud, Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein asked Warren Buffett for tips on how to handle the explosive situation, according to people familiar with the matter.
WSJ.com:
Mr. Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A - News) invested $5 billion in Goldman at the height of the financial crisis, told Mr. Blankfein he would let him know if he came up with any good ideas.
Berkshire shareholders heading to Omaha, Neb., this weekend may soon get a view into Mr. Buffett's thinking. "I expect to get multiple questions about Goldman and I'll give extensive and complete replies," he said in an interview Thursday.
Charlie Munger, Mr. Buffett's longtime business partner at Berkshire's helm who shares the stage with him at the meeting, will likely have some choice words for Wall Street.
While Mr. Munger thinks Goldman did nothing illegal, the firm was engaged in "socially undesirable" activities, he said in an interview after the SEC lawsuit was filed.
"They were very competitive in maximizing profits in a competitive industry that was permitted to operate like a gambling casino," Mr. Munger said. "The whole damn industry lost its moral moorings."
He added that he believes Goldman is "more prudent and ethical" than other big Wall Street banks.
Goldman didn't comment. Late Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan is conducting a criminal probe into the bank's mortgage trading.
The SEC alleges that Goldman defrauded investors when it created a mortgage investment with the help of a bearish hedge fund and failed to disclose the fund's role and position. The bank has denied wrongdoing.
The suit is potentially of special concern to Mr. Buffett, known for his ethical standards. Ever since he was a small-town money manager in Omaha, where he has lived most of his life, he has lambasted the aggressive, self-serving tactics of Wall Street's banking elite.
It was Mr. Buffett's reputation and leadership that helped save another Wall Street investment bank, Salomon Brothers, from the brink of collapse when it was embroiled in a bid-rigging scandal involving Treasury bonds.
Mr. Buffett seized the reins at Salomon in 1991 and steered it through the crisis (it was bought by Citigroup). In testimony before Congress on the events then, Mr. Buffett said he wanted Salomon employees "to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper."
When Berkshire's Goldman deal was announced in September 2008, Mr. Buffett indicated that his investment was based in part on his belief in the quality of Goldman's management, including Mr. Blankfein. Several top managers, including Mr. Blankfein, were grilled by Congress this week regarding the SEC lawsuit and, more broadly, the firm's loyalty to clients.
Speaking of Mr. Blankfein on Thursday, Mr. Buffett said: "I first met him some years before our investment and have gotten to know him well. I was obviously impressed with him." He added that he has known every head of Goldman since Gus Levy led the firm more than three decades ago.
Mr. Buffett continues to earn huge profits from his Goldman investment, which pours more than $900 a minute into Berkshire's coffers, or $500 million a year. "If he could do [the Goldman investment] again he'd do it in a heartbeat," said Glenn Tongue, a partner with T2 Partners, a New York hedge fund that owns Berkshire shares.
Another issue that could emerge at the meeting: Mr. Buffett's views on financial regulation. Mr. Buffett himself has been drawn into the clash as his hometown senator, Democrat Ben Nelson, has broken ranks with his party, partly to oppose a provision Berkshire also has fought. The proposal, which concerns derivative contracts, could force Berkshire to set aside billions in collateral for a number of contracts the firm has written in recent years. Other companies also could find themselves on the hook to post more collateral.
Berkshire executive David Sokol met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to try to get the provision struck from the bill. Mr. Buffett has made a number of campaign contributions to Mr. Nelson and the men are longtime friends.
In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Nelson said he objects to the amendment because he feels it is wrong for any company. The provision "may affect several hundred major American businesses, including Nebraska's own Berkshire Hathaway, and other Nebraska businesses as well," the statement said.
Despite such issues, investors heading to Omaha say they expect a return to the upbeat atmosphere of previous years. The 2009 meeting was a relatively subdued affair as investors grappled with a crippling recession.
But in the past year, Mr. Buffett made his biggest deal, the $26 billion purchase of what Berkshire didn't own of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
In February, Berkshire became a component of the S&P 500 index, a result of a stock split carried out for the Burlington purchase. The split made owning Berkshire stock a possibility for many smaller investors.
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What's the point of this? To commend him for recognizing an incredible business opportunity? Looks like his massive stock purchase is paying off.
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What's the point of this? To commend him for recognizing an incredible business opportunity? Looks like his massive stock purchase is paying off.
Warren "the weasel" Buffet has been saved plenty of times thanks to his buddy's in Washington.
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Warren "the weasel" Buffet has been saved plenty of times thanks to his buddy's in Washington.
Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
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Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
OH Please EL CHAPO...fill our minds with your economic expertise so we can all have a side busting laugh....
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OH Please EL CHAPO...fill our minds with your economic expertise so we can all have a side busting laugh....
You want a side busting laugh? How about you acting like you passed sixth grade physics.
You have added nothing to this discussion. The point is this is an actual project by NASA, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. As I said and the article says, the first attempt to detonate Jupiter occurred in 2003...produced an earth sized explosion but no blazing fireball. Second attempt now involves more plutonium on a smaller planet with a different chemistry. TO give the hypothesis you gave about necessary factors for an explosion to occurs on earth is just that A HYPOTHESIS, as the factors of earth are entirely different than Jupiter or Saturn. How radioactive reactions occur in space, on planets with massive gravities, different chemistry, incredible atmospheric pressures etc etc...could be the difference between a big KABOOM or a big SILENCE. Nonetheless the point in my article is not that the KABOOM could or could not happen, but the fact that MAD MEN are trying to bring this to fruition.
LOL!
The funniest part is that there are at least half a dozen more quotes from that thread that are just as hilarious as this one.
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Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
I never said he was a completely shitty investor but its a reported fact that he has people in Washington pulling strings and making exceptions for him all the time. He's been saved from losing money more than once by his chums and that is something most others (99%) don't get the benefit of.
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You want a side busting laugh? How about you acting like you passed sixth grade physics.
LOL!
The funniest part is that there are at least half a dozen more quotes from that thread that are just as hilarious as this one.
The laughable part is a school drop out like yourself living in a dirty roach and cat filled trailer actually thinking you are intelligent enough to hold any kind of conversation on any topic.Maybe your EL CHAPO gimmick is more intelligent. Try bringing him to the forefront again. And while you are at it make sure you expound on us your great wisdom in Economics...and after you do that lets hear some knowledge on physics.... I posed questions to you befoer that you NEVER answered.
I just want to laugh until my side hurts hearing some illiterate, shmoe who stalks the message boards, inform the educated on what he only wish he knew.
yuk yuk yuk :D :D :D
Now go ahead...I am waiting on the Economics part first... You should be good with economics from balancing your welfare checks..
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Hahaha, an engineer who doesn't understand physics. Now I've seen it all!
You have added nothing to this discussion. The point is this is an actual project by NASA, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. As I said and the article says, the first attempt to detonate Jupiter occurred in 2003...produced an earth sized explosion but no blazing fireball. Second attempt now involves more plutonium on a smaller planet with a different chemistry. TO give the hypothesis you gave about necessary factors for an explosion to occurs on earth is just that A HYPOTHESIS, as the factors of earth are entirely different than Jupiter or Saturn. How radioactive reactions occur in space, on planets with massive gravities, different chemistry, incredible atmospheric pressures etc etc...could be the difference between a big KABOOM or a big SILENCE. Nonetheless the point in my article is not that the KABOOM could or could not happen, but the fact that MAD MEN are trying to bring this to fruition.
You have added nothing to this discussion. The point is this is an actual project by NASA, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. As I said and the article says, the first attempt to detonate Jupiter occurred in 2003...produced an earth sized explosion but no blazing fireball. Second attempt now involves more plutonium on a smaller planet with a different chemistry. TO give the hypothesis you gave about necessary factors for an explosion to occurs on earth is just that A HYPOTHESIS, as the factors of earth are entirely different than Jupiter or Saturn. How radioactive reactions occur in space, on planets with massive gravities, different chemistry, incredible atmospheric pressures etc etc...could be the difference between a big KABOOM or a big SILENCE. Nonetheless the point in my article is not that the KABOOM could or could not happen, but the fact that MAD MEN are trying to bring this to fruition.
You have added nothing to this discussion. The point is this is an actual project by NASA, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. As I said and the article says, the first attempt to detonate Jupiter occurred in 2003...produced an earth sized explosion but no blazing fireball. Second attempt now involves more plutonium on a smaller planet with a different chemistry. TO give the hypothesis you gave about necessary factors for an explosion to occurs on earth is just that A HYPOTHESIS, as the factors of earth are entirely different than Jupiter or Saturn. How radioactive reactions occur in space, on planets with massive gravities, different chemistry, incredible atmospheric pressures etc etc...could be the difference between a big KABOOM or a big SILENCE. Nonetheless the point in my article is not that the KABOOM could or could not happen, but the fact that MAD MEN are trying to bring this to fruition.
You have added nothing to this discussion. The point is this is an actual project by NASA, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. As I said and the article says, the first attempt to detonate Jupiter occurred in 2003...produced an earth sized explosion but no blazing fireball. Second attempt now involves more plutonium on a smaller planet with a different chemistry. TO give the hypothesis you gave about necessary factors for an explosion to occurs on earth is just that A HYPOTHESIS, as the factors of earth are entirely different than Jupiter or Saturn. How radioactive reactions occur in space, on planets with massive gravities, different chemistry, incredible atmospheric pressures etc etc...could be the difference between a big KABOOM or a big SILENCE. Nonetheless the point in my article is not that the KABOOM could or could not happen, but the fact that MAD MEN are trying to bring this to fruition.
LOL!
Why did you run around from the volcano hoax thread? It's hilarious how fast you disappear anytime you're asked to refute a point with hard evidence and not rambling, incoherent nerd rage meltdowns.
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Hahaha, an engineer who doesn't understand physics. Now I've seen it all!
LOL!
Now that I re-read my posts on the whole impossibility of physics being uniform throughout the universe, the more of an idiot you are in not knowing this. I am glad you reposted this...makes you look like the fool.
Nonetheless you still have not answered the questions regarding Economics or Physics...Could it be your lack of education is showing??? Hmm? If not I am waiting on answers
And so far as the volcano thread goes/went...I made my point. I have learned in life never to argue with a fool. If he says teh sky is yellow let him believe it...it will only work to his demise.
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If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
Hahahaha. It just keeps getting better! Nice job editing your post from "Cassini" to that crap you just regurgitated.
You might be the first person to have earned an engineering degree without having actually attended college. The internet and google are such fascinating things. Unfortunately, as technologically advanced as the internet is, it's still incapable of curing mental retardation. :-\
Again, why did you run from the Volcano hoax thread? You were asked to provide evidence and took off like a scared little bitch. What's the matter? Your CT sites couldn't refute photographic evidence, Jag?
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Hahahaha. It just keeps getting better! Nice job editing your post from "Cassini" to that crap you just regurgitated.
You might be the first person to have earned an engineering degree without having actually attended college. The internet and google are such fascinating things. Unfortunately, as technologically advanced as the internet is, it's still incapable of curing mental retardation. :-\
Again, why did you run from the Volcano hoax thread? You were asked to provide evidence and took off like a scared little bitch. What's the matter? Your CT sites couldn't refute photographic evidence, Jag?
Just answer the economics question please....and then give a short excerpt on physics...I am waiting..
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Just answer the economics question please....and then give a short excerpt on physics...I am waiting..
Why would I answer your question when you've spent the last 72 hours avoiding mine? I even sent you a PM bringing to light the fact that you're avoiding the thread. You not responding to my PM and still avoiding the thread after the bitch slapping you got just shows that even you know your bluff was called. Should I bend over backwards while you avoid a thread like a little coward? No, I think not, SamsonEnterprises.
You claimed to have a master's in engineering and can't understand basic physics concepts. Not much more needs to be said. :D
If Luke can not understand the difference between earth and one of the gas giants then there is little I can do to make him understand that what is possible on earth is IMPOSSIBLE on the gas giants. The sun is not merely some ball of gas burning in space. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Methane are highly explosive on earth in an oxygen rich environment but in space they are inert gases. To assume the criteria for a reaction on earth will work on another planet of different physical characteristics and properties is foolish....
LOL!
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Now that I re-read my posts on the whole impossibility of physics being uniform throughout the universe, the more of an idiot you are in not knowing this. I am glad you reposted this...makes you look like the fool.
LMFAO! In case you haven't realized it, you're looking like the fool, Jag...
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What's the point of this? To commend him for recognizing an incredible business opportunity? Looks like his massive stock purchase is paying off.
Exactly...
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Exactly...
You are not taking into consideration that Buffet is an insider and that being he knew in advance the whole Goldman Sachs scheme to defraud not only investors in america, but WORLD WIDE. On the surface it looks innocuous, but just below the surface it is another ponzi scheme, another defrauding, another crime that has been carried out on people costing jobs, investments, companies, even whole countries (Iceland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, America and even the giants like Japan, China, Germany) to lose everything and at the very least shake their economies. Once again...only because the government of america sponsors a lot, you ..RIGHT NOW...are not feeling what the rest of the world is feeling, but soon american government will not be able to keep paying to keep merchandise cheap, paying to bail out banks, insurance companies and Wall Street firms. You will see empty supermarkets, loss of or lack completely services like electricity, gas, oil; you will see the cost of products sky rocket as companies try and survive the economic loss by charging people ridiculous prices and fees. At that time the reality will hit you an you will understand that there is a difference between someone who honestly invests and succeeds as opposed to someone like this guy, who like a hen looks to gather wealth underneath him as though it will benefit him. Buffet is an old man who is going no where and is enjoying nothing. At best with the BILLIONS in his coffers he can only contribute to foundations, organizations, non profits and groups in need. His years before him are far shorter than the years behind him, so looking to accumulate more and more is silly at best. What he has now will last him many many lifetimes of which he does not have and hearing him talk about investing or why he invested in this or that is sickening to my ears.
What will he do with this money?
What will he invest it in (without looking for returns)?
How is the economic situation effecting his mindset?
Does he even give a damn that his profits are made on the backs of so many who have lost so much?
I don't envy or worship the guy like many do. Money is to be used to some good end, not hoarded up like a squirrel and nuts.
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Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
Buffett knows how the market is controlled a lot better than you do. He has inside info. He was probably assured by politicians and banks that his investment would pay off because of Goldman's high frequency trading computer that would control the stock prices.
Bottom line is yes Buffet made a lot of "money". Only time will tell how much that money is really worth. Is it really backed by anything or is it phantom fake Weimar money??
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I never said he was a completely shitty investor but its a reported fact that he has people in Washington pulling strings and making exceptions for him all the time. He's been saved from losing money more than once by his chums and that is something most others (99%) don't get the benefit of.
It's not Warren Buffet that they're saving... it's their own damned investments they're looking out for.
They couldn't give a poop about Buffet, ...but they're all invested with him. The more he makes the more they make.
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LMFAO! In case you haven't realized it, you're looking like the fool, Jag...
Hey I'm only just seeing this thread now. tHis is my 2nd post in the entire thing.
If you think I'm Samson... you're the fool. ::)
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I don't envy or worship the guy like many do. Money is to be used to some good end, not hoarded up like a squirrel and nuts.
I had heard that about Buffet. I don't know if it's true, but I heard he lives a very frugal "middle class" lifestyle.
I have to wonder about people like that. They have all the money in the world and can afford the very best,
...but their eyes light up over the Kmart blue light special.
I'm not saying people should be greedy and live lives of excessive gluttony or indulgence, ...but geez louise, if you got it, at least use some of it. Despite all his faults at least a guy like Robert Mugabe knows how to get a little enjoyment out of the money he spends. Have you seen his place? That would almost be worth having to move to Africa.
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Hey I'm only just seeing this thread now. tHis is my 2nd post in the entire thing.
If you think I'm Samson... you're the fool. ::)
What do you care or what business is it of yours how he spends his money. He's already said he's giving it away to charity via the Gates Foundation. How terrible he's not using it to live lavishly. ::)
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What do you care or what business is it of yours how he spends his money. He's already said he's giving it away to charity via the Gates Foundation. How terrible he's not using it to live lavishly. ::)
Why would a multi BILLIONAIRE give his money away to another multi BILLIONAIRE...Hmmmmm?
In all honesty why rack up Billions only to GIVE IT AWAY?!?!!?!!?!?...Makes it sound as though he is working for Bill Gates.
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Hey I'm only just seeing this thread now. tHis is my 2nd post in the entire thing.
If you think I'm Samson... you're the fool. ::)
Hahahahaha! Still denying it. How sad.
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Why would a multi BILLIONAIRE give his money away to another multi BILLIONAIRE...Hmmmmm?
In all honesty why rack up Billions only to GIVE IT AWAY?!?!!?!!?!?...Makes it sound as though he is working for Bill Gates.
What difference does it make? Maybe he thinks Gates is doing a good job. Or is that not nefarious enough for you, huh? No secret sinister plot. No outer space battles. No reptiles walking around as humans. Or perhaps you just can't figure out how to spin this to make it look as though you are "in the know"...
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Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
LOL
Yes BF, Ziggy is once again out of his element.
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Warren Buffet invested his own money in GS after seeing a good investment opportunity. I'm guessing that seems hard for you to understand given your scant economic knowledge.
LOL BF owning knowledgless cauck lubers like in the good old days LOL!!!!!!! BinrappedDunHIm once again making a fool of herself.
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What do you care or what business is it of yours how he spends his money. He's already said he's giving it away to charity via the Gates Foundation. How terrible he's not using it to live lavishly. ::)
I'm not declaring how he should spend his money. that's not my place to do, ...but I am entitled to my opinion that it is highly unusual if not downright wierd. I personally would give someone like that a wide berth. Most people I have seen who have acted that way are usually driven by a hidden agenda, and are using that money for something else.
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Why would a multi BILLIONAIRE give his money away to another multi BILLIONAIRE...Hmmmmm?
In all honesty why rack up Billions only to GIVE IT AWAY?!?!!?!!?!?...Makes it sound as though he is working for Bill Gates.
Unless there's a hidden mutual agenda they both share. ???
Does Buffet have kids? If so I'll bet they're pretty pissed about his will. lol
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LOL BF owning knowledgless cauck lubers like in the good old days LOL!!!!!!! BinrappedDunHIm once again making a fool of herself.
Well, well, well it's eyeliner wearing, fruity haircut, drives a pink Hummer, fat fuck of a homo again. Did they let you out of the hospital for that anal damage already?
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UPDATE...This guy just won't quit supporting Goldman. He must have quite a lot of his "ASSets" invested into this fraudulent company.
Feisty Buffett supports Goldman, high on economy
Reuters
(http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20100503/i/r2545608007.jpg?x=213&y=175&xc=2&yc=1&wc=409&hc=336&q=85&sig=2OmWiw_eesZsvEHyGexCXA--)
Warren Buffett talks with a reporter at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting Reuters – Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett talks with a reporter at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting …
By Jonathan Stempel and Svea Herbst-Bayliss Jonathan Stempel And Svea Herbst-bayliss – 58 mins ago
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Sunday intensified his feisty defense of a controversial mortgage transaction marketed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), saying the investment bank's behavior does not warrant public fury.
Buffett also said he is seeing real signs of improvement in the economy, especially in manufacturing, though it will take another year for a sustainable housing recovery to take hold.
The world's third-richest person spoke at a press conference, a day after his company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) held its annual meeting for tens of thousands of shareholders.
Berkshire owns $5 billion of Goldman preferred shares with a hefty 10 percent dividend, and Buffett has become Goldman's most powerful defender since it became the target of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's civil fraud lawsuit.
The April 16 complaint alleged that Goldman hid from clients that securities underlying the mortgage transaction, Abacus, were chosen by Paulson & Co, a hedge fund firm betting they would lose value.
Goldman rejected the allegations, and Paulson was not charged. Buffett on Saturday said he loved the $5 billion investment and defended Goldman's chief, Lloyd Blankfein.
"I don't have a problem with the Abacus transaction at all, and I think I understand it better than most," Buffett said.
Sitting beside Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Buffett said he saw nothing in Goldman's behavior to justify the intense criticism it faces.
"It's very strange to say, at the end of the transaction, that if the other guy is smarter than you, that you have been defrauded," Buffett said.
Buffett also said he had no reason to believe Goldman misled ACA, which helped create Abacus, about Paulson's involvement, and that it should not have mattered to ACA.
"Any bond insurer that is making a decision about what to insure and what to charge for it should not care a whit about who is on the other side of the transaction," he said.
Buffett said Berkshire itself is better off because it regularly enlists investment banks, such as Goldman, including when it was much smaller in the late 1960s and needed capital.
LIGHTER MOOD
Like shareholders, including the many who streamed to Buffett's barber to get a trim, Buffett and Munger appeared more relaxed at this year's events relative to last year, when worries about the economy and swine flu prevailed.
During the press conference, Buffett took a bag of peanut brittle from Munger -- saying "I'll get that Charlie" -- and ostentatiously gnawed it open with his teeth.
Just over an hour earlier, Buffett appeared at the nearby, Berkshire-owned Borsheim's Fine Jewelry, where he played table tennis with Ariel Hsing, 14, the top-ranked U.S. female player under age 20. Buffett unveiled, as a joke, a giant blue paddle to give him a better shot of winning. (Didn't help.) Several Berkshire-themed items at Borsheim's sold out.
At the press conference, Buffett's said Berkshire's manufacturing businesses, including the conglomerate Marmon Holdings Inc and toolmaker Iscar Metalworking Cos, are benefiting from "pretty significant improvement.
He said luxury goods units including Borsheim's and the NetJets Inc plane leasing unit are seeing improved business, albeit from a "very, very low level," while results for housing-sensitive businesses such as Acme Brick Co and the insulation maker Johns Manville remain "very poor."
Yet Buffett cautioned policymakers not to artificially stimulate housing sales and perhaps derail a recovery.
"What would bother me is if we were to overstimulate them, and create a permanent overhang," he said. "I want to have a sustainable recovery, and I don't think you're going to have to wait more than a year for that."
At the press conference, Buffett maintained enthusiasm for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, saying "there's no one in the United States that I know of whom I would rather have running the Fed than Ben Bernanke."
"HIGH-IQ BOOBS"
Buffett has a much longer-term horizon for his largest acquisition, the $26.5 billion February takeover of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
"The key factor in our railroad investment is whether more people are moving goods 10, 20 or 50 years from now," he said. "The odds of that happening are extremely high."
Buffett and Munger had harsh words for some professions, including accountants and investment bankers, whom they said in part caused the 2008 crisis because they were too greedy and could not stand up to management.
"Everywhere you look this problem has been caused by high-IQ asininity" perpetrated by "high-IQ boobs," Munger said. "People who know the edge of their own competency are safe, and those who don't, aren't."
Munger added: "Investment banking will behave more responsibly if we as citizens force it to behave more responsibly."
And while Berkshire wants to make non-U.S. acquisitions, Buffett admitted its size rules out most countries, where the businesses or financial markets are too small. Berkshire's market value is about $190 billion, Reuters data show.
"Business opportunities, we can stretch out to 30 or 40 countries," Buffett said. "Our problem is finding them."
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Buffet is about as far away from a regular investor as you can get. He isn't some run of the mill trader or some other shit. The guy is very connected and you can bet your ass that his investment in Goldman wasn't some "risk" he took because he is some "aw shucks" grandfather figure.
He has gone under the radar (astonishingly enough) for so long because he is that well connected. The grandfather image of some doddering old coot who "hit it rich!" that he and the media has cultivated also has helped him in this regard.
Don't get me wrong, the guy has made some VERY smart and shrewd moves...but in this case, Buffet is more equal than some others.
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Unless there's a hidden mutual agenda they both share. ???
Does Buffet have kids? If so I'll bet they're pretty pissed about his will. lol
There is a saying that goes..."YOU ARE KNOWN BY THE COMPANY YOU KEEP"
Could this be the reason Buffet is giving his money to Gates?...Sickos
Bill Gates And Eugenics: Using Vaccinations To Reduce Population
(http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/AIDS%20and%20Population%20Elimination/bill_gates-abortion.gif)
March 6, 2010: F. William Engdahl / Financial Sense - March 4, 2010
Microsoft founder and one of the world’s wealthiest men, Bill Gates, projects an image of a benign philanthropist using his billions via his (tax exempt) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to tackle diseases, solve food shortages in Africa and alleviate poverty. In a recent conference in California, Gates reveals a less public agenda of his philanthropy—population reduction, otherwise known as eugenics.
Gates made his remarks to the invitation-only Long Beach, California TED2010 Conference, in a speech titled, “Innovating to Zero!.” Along with the scientifically absurd proposition of reducing manmade CO2 emissions worldwide to zero by 2050, approximately four and a half minutes into the talk, Gates declares, “First we got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.”1 (author’s emphasis).
In plain English, one of the most powerful men in the world states clearly that he expects vaccines to be used to reduce population growth. When Bill Gates speaks about vaccines, he speaks with authority. In January 2010 at the elite Davos World Economic Forum, Gates announced his foundation would give $10 billion (circa €7.5 billion) over the next decade to develop and deliver new vaccines to children in the developing world. 2
The primary focus of his multi-billion dollar Gates Foundation is vaccinations, especially in Africa and other underdeveloped countries. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a founding member of the GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunization) in partnership with the World Bank, WHO and the vaccine industry. The goal of GAVI is to vaccinate every newborn child in the developing world.
Now that sounds like noble philanthropic work. The problem is that the vaccine industry has been repeatedly caught dumping dangerous—meaning unsafe because untested or proven harmful—vaccines onto unwitting Third World populations when they cannot get rid of the vaccines in the West. 3 Some organizations have suggested that the true aim of the vaccinations is to make people sicker and even more susceptible to disease and premature death.4
Dumping Toxins On The Third World
In the aftermath of the most recent unnecessary Pandemic declaration of a global H1N1 swine flu emergency, industrial countries were left sitting on hundreds of millions of doses of untested vaccines. They decided to get rid of the embarrassing leftover drugs by handing them over to the WHO which in turn plans to dump them for free on select poor countries. France has given 91 million of the 94 million doses the Sarkozy government bought from the pharma giants; Britain gave 55 million of its 60 million doses. The story for Germany and Norway is similar.5
As Dr. Thomas Jefferson, an epidemiologist with the Cochrane Research Center in Rome noted, “Why do they give the vaccines to the developing countries at all? The pandemic has been called off in most parts of the world. The greatest threat in poor countries right now is heart and circulatory diseases while the virus figures at the bottom of the list. What is the medical reason for donating 180 million doses?” 6 As well, flu is a minor problem in countries with abundant sunshine, and it turned out that the feared H1N1 Pandemic “new great plague” was the mildest flu on record.
The pharmaceutical vaccine makers do not speak about the enormous health damage from infant vaccination including autism and numerous neuro-muscular deformities that have been traced back to the toxic adjuvants and preservatives used in most vaccines. Many vaccines, especially multi-dose vaccines that are made more cheaply for sale to the Third World, contain something called Thimerosal (Thiomersol in the EU), a compound (sodium ethylmercurithiosalicyla te), containing some 50% mercury, used as a preservative.
In July 1999 the US’ National Vaccine Information Center declared in a press release that, “The cumulative effects of ingesting mercury can cause brain damage.” The same month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerted the public about the possible health effects associated with thimerosal-containing vaccines. They strongly recommended that thimerosal be removed from vaccines as soon as possible. Under the directive of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, the Food and Drug Administration also determined that infants who received several thimerosal-containing vaccines may be receiving mercury exposure over and above the recommended federal guidelines.7
A New Form Of Eugenics?
Gates’ interest in inducing population reduction among black and other minority populations is not new unfortunately. As I document in my book, Seeds of Destruction,8 since the 1920’s the Rockefeller Foundation had funded the eugenics research in Germany through the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institutes in Berlin and Munich, including well into the Third Reich. They praised the forced sterilization of people by Hitler’s Germany, and the Nazi ideas on race “purity.” It was John D. Rockefeller III, a life-long advocate of eugenics, who used his “tax free” foundation money to initiate the population reduction neo-Malthusian movement through his private Population Council in New York beginning in the 1950’s.
The idea of using vaccines to covertly reduce births in the Third World is also not new. Bill Gates’ good friend, David Rockefeller and his Rockefeller Foundation were involved as early as 1972 in a major project together with WHO and others to perfect another “new vaccine.”
The results of the WHO-Rockefeller project were put into mass application on human guinea pigs in the early 1990′s. The WHO oversaw massive vaccination campaigns against tetanus in Nicaragua, Mexico and the Philippines. Comite Pro Vida de Mexico, a Roman Catholic lay organization, became suspicious of the motives behind the WHO program and decided to test numerous vials of the vaccine and found them to contain human Chorionic Gonadotrophin, or hCG. That was a curious component for a vaccine designed to protect people against lock-jaw arising from infection with rusty nail wounds or other contact with certain bacteria found in soil. The tetanus disease was indeed, also rather rare. It was also curious because hCG was a natural hormone needed to maintain a pregnancy. However, when combined with a tetanus toxoid carrier, it stimulated formation of antibodies against hCG, rendering a woman incapable of maintaining a pregnancy, a form of concealed abortion. Similar reports of vaccines laced with hCG hormones came from the Philippines and Nicaragua.9
Gates’ ‘Gene Revolution In Africa’
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with David Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Foundation, the creators of the GMO biotechnology, are also financing a project called The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) headed by former UN chief, Kofi Annan. Accepting the role as AGRA head in June 2007 Annan expressed his “gratitude to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and all others who support our African campaign.” The AGRA board is dominated by people from both the Gates’ and Rockefeller foundations. 10
Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Syngenta and other major GMO agribusiness giants are reported at the heart of AGRA, using it as a back-door to spread their patented GMO seeds across Africa under the deceptive label, ‘bio-technology,’ a euphemism for genetically engineered patented seeds. The person from the Gates Foundation responsible for its work with AGRA is Dr. Robert Horsch, a 25-year Monsanto GMO veteran who was on the team that developed Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready GMO technologies. His job is reportedly to use Gates’ money to introduce GMO into Africa.11
To date South Africa is the only African country permitting legal planting of GMO crops. In 2003 Burkina Faso authorized GMO trials. In 2005 Kofi Annan’s Ghana drafted bio-safety legislation and key officials expressed their intentions to pursue research into GMO crops. AGRA is being used to create networks of “agro-dealers” across Africa, at first with no mention of GMO seeds or herbicides, in order to have the infrastructure in place to massively introduce GMO.12
GMO, Glyphosate And Population Reduction
GMO crops have never been proven safe for human or animal consumption. Moreover, they are inherently genetically ‘unstable’ as they are an unnatural product of introducing a foreign bacteria such as Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) or other material into the DNA of a given seed to change its traits. Perhaps equally dangerous are the ‘paired’ chemical herbicides sold as a mandatory part of a GMO contract, such as Monsanto’s Roundup, the most widely used such herbicide in the world. It contains highly toxic glyphosate compounds that have been independently tested and proven to exist in toxic concentrations in GMO applications far above that safe for humans or animals. Tests show that tiny amounts of glyphosate compounds would do damage to a human umbilical, embryonic and placental cells in a pregnant woman drinking the ground water near a GMO field.13
One long-standing project of the US Government has been to perfect a genetically-modified variety of corn, the diet staple in Mexico and many other Latin American countries. The corn has been field tested in tests financed by the US Department of Agriculture along with a small California bio-tech company named Epicyte. Announcing his success at a 2001 press conference, the president of Epicyte, Mitch Hein, pointing to his GMO corn plants, announced, “We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies.” 14
Hein explained that they had taken antibodies from women with a rare condition known as immune infertility, isolated the genes that regulated the manufacture of those infertility antibodies, and, using genetic engineering techniques, had inserted the genes into ordinary corn seeds used to produce corn plants. In this manner, in reality they produced a concealed contraceptive embedded in corn meant for human consumption. “Essentially, the antibodies are attracted to surface receptors on the sperm,” said Hein. “They latch on and make each sperm so heavy it cannot move forward. It just shakes about as if it was doing the lambada.” 15 Hein claimed it was a possible solution to world “over-population.” The moral and ethical issues of feeding it to humans in Third World poor countries without their knowing it he left out of his remarks.
Spermicides hidden in GMO corn provided to starving Third World populations through the generosity of the Gates’ foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Kofi Annan’s AGRA or vaccines that contain undisclosed sterilization agents are just two documented cases of using vaccines or GMO seeds to “reduce population.”
And The ‘Good Club’
Gates’ TED2010 speech on zero emissions and population reduction is consistent with a report that appeared in New York City’s ethnic media, Irish.Central.com in May 2009. According to the report, a secret meeting took place on May 5, 2009 at the home of Sir Paul Nurse, President of Rockefeller University, among some of the wealthiest people in America. Investment guru Warren Buffett who in 2006 decided to pool his $30 billion Buffett Foundation into the Gates foundation to create the world’s largest private foundation with some $60 billions of tax-free dollars was present. Banker David Rockefeller was the host.
The exclusive letter of invitation was signed by Gates, Rockefeller and Buffett. They decided to call themselves the “Good Club.” Also present was media czar Ted Turner, billionaire founder of CNN who stated in a 1996 interview for the Audubon nature magazine, where he said that a 95% reduction of world population to between 225-300 million would be “ideal.” In a 2008 interview at Philadelphia’s Temple University, Turner fine-tuned the number to 2 billion, a cut of more than 70% from today’s population. Even less elegantly than Gates, Turner stated, “we have too many people. That’s why we have global warming. We need less people using less stuff (sic).”16
Others attending this first meeting of the Good Club reportedly were: Eli Broad real estate billionaire, New York’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Wall Street billionaire and Council on Foreign Relations former head, Peter G. Peterson.
In addition, Julian H. Robertson, Jr., hedge-fund billionaire who worked with Soros attacking the currencies of Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and the Asian Tigen economies, precipitating the 1997-98 Asia Crisis. Also present at the first session of the Good Club was Patty Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Gates foundation, and John Morgridge of Cisco Systems. The group represented a combined fortune of more than $125 billion. 17
According to reports apparently leaked by one of the attendees, the meeting was held in response to the global economic downturn and the numerous health and environmental crises that are plaguing the globe.
But the central theme and purpose of the secret Good Club meeting of the plutocrats was the priority concern posed by Bill Gates, namely, how to advance more effectively their agenda of birth control and global population reduction. In the talks a consensus reportedly emerged that they would “back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat.” 18
Global Eugenics Agenda
Gates and Buffett are major funders of global population reduction programs, as is Turner, whose UN Foundation was created to funnel $1 billion of his tax-free stock option earnings in AOL-Time-Warner into various birth reduction programs in the developing world.19 The programs in Africa and elsewhere are masked as philanthropy and providing health services for poor Africans. In reality they involve involuntary population sterilization via vaccination and other medicines that make women of child-bearing age infertile. The Gates Foundation, where Buffett deposited the bulk of his wealth two years ago, is also backing introduction of GMO seeds into Africa under the cloak of the Kofi Annan-led ‘Second Green Revolution’ in Africa. The introduction of GMO patented seeds in Africa to date has met with enormous indigenous resistance.
Health experts point out that were the intent of Gates really to improve the health and well-being of black Africans, the same hundreds of millions of dollars the Gates Foundation has invested in untested and unsafe vaccines could be used in providing minimal sanitary water and sewage systems. Vaccinating a child who then goes to drink feces-polluted river water is hardly healthy in any respect. But of course cleaning up the water and sewage systems of Africa would revolutionize the health conditions of the Continent.
Gates’ TED2010 comments about having new vaccines to reduce global population were obviously no off-the-cuff remark. For those who doubt, the presentation Gates made at the TED2009 annual gathering said almost exactly the same thing about reducing population to cut global warming. For the mighty and powerful of the Good Club, human beings seem to be a form of pollution equal to CO2.
The Tonka Report Editor’s Note: I really don’t need to add anything to this article other than to reiterate to all not to take vaccinations. If it is not abundantly clear how dangerous they are by now, God help you… - SJH
http://stevenjohnhibbs.wordpress.com/category/vaccinations/
Link to original article below…
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2010/0304.html
http://www.livevideo.com/video/7D23572EB9A74D24A622F331C747F718/eugenics-part-1.aspx
http://www.livevideo.com/video/B5F9CAFBBE854FFA9E1829FB0ACCEF14/eugenics-part-2.aspx
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Buffet is about as far away from a regular investor as you can get. He isn't some run of the mill trader or some other shit. The guy is very connected and you can bet your ass that his investment in Goldman wasn't some "risk" he took because he is some "aw shucks" grandfather figure.
He has gone under the radar (astonishingly enough) for so long because he is that well connected. The grandfather image of some doddering old coot who "hit it rich!" that he and the media has cultivated also has helped him in this regard.
Don't get me wrong, the guy has made some VERY smart and shrewd moves...but in this case, Buffet is more equal than some others.
It's amazing how many people have no clue how common and preferred stock works. Hint: Every share of stock Buffett bought was preferred. ::)
Now we've got the moron SamsonEnterprises acting like it's an anomaly that a guy would support a company where he has $5 billion in preferred stock invested. Especially considering most preferred stock is not as liquid as common stock. Retarded when it comes to physics and retarded when it comes to economics. How's that GED treating you? ::)
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Buffet is about as far away from a regular investor as you can get. He isn't some run of the mill trader or some other shit. The guy is very connected and you can bet your ass that his investment in Goldman wasn't some "risk" he took because he is some "aw shucks" grandfather figure.
He has gone under the radar (astonishingly enough) for so long because he is that well connected. The grandfather image of some doddering old coot who "hit it rich!" that he and the media has cultivated also has helped him in this regard.
Don't get me wrong, the guy has made some VERY smart and shrewd moves...but in this case, Buffet is more equal than some others.
OF COURSE Buffett isn't a "regular investor." ::) However, Buffett didn't make his bones because he was somehow connected. At the level of stature he's attained as an investor, sure he is able to make deals that few others can. He's established that right by his achievements, reputation and track record. Buffett moves the market like no one else in world.
Some people have no idea what they are writing about in this thread.
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I wonder if Obama thinks Buffet has earned "enough money",like he said in his speech when he said "at some point I think you have made enough money".Somehow I bet he thinks its ok if the guy is a democrat.
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OF COURSE Buffett isn't a "regular investor." ::) However, Buffett didn't make his bones because he was somehow connected. At the level of stature he's attained as an investor, sure he is able to make deals that few others can. He's established that right by his achievements, reputation and track record. Buffett moves the market like no one else in world.
Some people have no idea what they are writing about in this thread.
::)
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::)
incredibly insightful ::)
dummy
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You would make the perfect cabana boy.
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You would make the perfect cabana boy.
Benny is 100% right, though. Lot of people seem to justify their shitty investment history by claiming the successful guys are taken care of and what not. Not the case. Then again, the fact that they don't seem to understand preferred stock speaks wonders about how much they really know.
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Warren is also privy to info that the average schomoe is not.
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Warren is also privy to info that the average schomoe is not.
Whatever helps justify it.
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We would all do the same thing under the circumstances. Its not fair, but its reality.
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We would all do the same thing under the circumstances. Its not fair, but its reality.
No, we really couldn't.
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Couldnt or wouldnt? ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Couldnt or wouldnt? ;D ;D ;D ;D
Either or. We couldn't and 99.99% people wouldn't be able to. The guy has been an investing genius for decades.
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What about shouldnt? ;D ;D ;D
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What about shouldnt? ;D ;D ;D
;D
Should've, would've, could've and any other 've or 'nt.