Wouldn't you know it, I ended up having so much fun this weekend I never got around to posting on the blog. What a tragedy. I went to an interesting place on Saturday night, the Ghost bar: http://www.n9negroup.com/#/ghostbardallas/main/ Probably the most pretentious place I've ever been in, but if that's what helps certain people get through the week, I wish them the very best...
So, Warren Buffett had all sorts of things to say over the weekend. It's funny, he used to pride himself on being a real recluse, but over the last couple of years he hasn't shunned public attention like he used to. He turns 78 on Saturday (I'm sure you all already knew that and have sent cards) and I'm wondering if he doesn't see the candle beginning to flicker; maybe he'll spend his last years with a larger role publicly. To summarize his comments, he still believes the mortgage meltdown and subsequent financial crisis will wreak havoc on the stock market, but also thinks the US stock market is very attractive right now as some stocks that have trended with the overall market have become undervalued. For any Budweiser fans, or shareholders, it's interesting to note Buffett sold nearly two-thirds of Berkshire's 35.6 million shares of Anheuser-Busch Cos. stock because he hadn't been sure Belgian brewer InBev SA's takeover bid of $65 a share would succeed. Anheuser agreed to the $52 billion bid in July. He closed by noting that he is the greatest investor there ever was and everyone should love him like a teddy bear...
A new Ipod nano will be coming out in the next two months. I know everyone is super excited. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it will be: white, thin, of simplistic design and have no more than one main button.
Look for the drive-by media to basically be in a constant state of exuberance that will border on psychosis this week as the democrat convention rolls forward.
Criminals have begun to use Euros instead of Dollars in some black market transactions. What a horrible side effect of a weak Dollar. I was so proud of the Dollars place as the #1 currency of choice for black market operations.
I'll post about the how each candidate's tax policies would affect retirement savings next. Until then!
Showing posts with label Buffett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buffett. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Let's get this rolling...
I am finally at a point where I believe I will be able to update this daily or at the very least every other day. I certainly hope so.
There was a flurry of activity this morning in the investing world. First, Ben Bernanke had a meeting of the nerd-minds in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to discuss the state of the financial markets. Bernanke still appears to be more of an inflation dove as he said the following (presumably using a chart with two lines):
"If not reversed, these developments, together with a pace of growth that is likely to fall short of potential for a time, should lead inflation to moderate later this year and next year."
Bernanke's expectations that the economy will continue to moderate and thus bring down commodity prices continue to worry me. His apparent unconcern for inflation and a weak dollar are troubling at best. A stronger dollar would fight inflation, bring down commodity prices and nominally decrease the value of the government's deficit. A few individuals on the Federal Reserve Board have dissented with him on the past couple of rate decisions. I wonder how long he'll be able to hold them off...
GM, Ford and Chrysler have asked the government for a $25B bailout. Not surprising given the bailouts extended to Fannie and Freddie as well as Bear Sterns and IndyMac, but logically these are completely different situations. In the Bear Sterns fiasco, the government underwrote loans so that the company was able to be acquired; the shareholders and management walked away with nothing respectively. In Fannie and Freddie, they were government insured entities whose sole purpose was to extend mortgages to those unable to ascertain them through conventional means and in IndyMac, the bank was allowed to go solvent, with the FDIC insuring deposits, but once again shareholders and management left with nothing. Here, the "Big Three" are asking for money without any change to structure or management. What a joke. It's of course one of the smartest moves they've probably ever had, given that they announce this during an election, each candidate will have to walk with glass slippers as they explain why they support/don't support and why you should vote for them. If the "Big Three" spent as much time on product development as they have on the hatching of this plan maybe they wouldn't be bleeding money like a dying drunken sailor. Also, when will the moniker "Big Three" be dropped? Unless of course we're allowed to follow-up "Big Three" with whatever we'd like. "Big Three" disaster; "Big Three" failure; etc. etc.
I just read that Warren Buffett thinks now is the most attractive the US stock market has been in a long time. I'll post a full review of his comments over the weekend along with anything else of relevance that comes out of the economic symposium in Wyoming.
There was a flurry of activity this morning in the investing world. First, Ben Bernanke had a meeting of the nerd-minds in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to discuss the state of the financial markets. Bernanke still appears to be more of an inflation dove as he said the following (presumably using a chart with two lines):
"If not reversed, these developments, together with a pace of growth that is likely to fall short of potential for a time, should lead inflation to moderate later this year and next year."
Bernanke's expectations that the economy will continue to moderate and thus bring down commodity prices continue to worry me. His apparent unconcern for inflation and a weak dollar are troubling at best. A stronger dollar would fight inflation, bring down commodity prices and nominally decrease the value of the government's deficit. A few individuals on the Federal Reserve Board have dissented with him on the past couple of rate decisions. I wonder how long he'll be able to hold them off...
GM, Ford and Chrysler have asked the government for a $25B bailout. Not surprising given the bailouts extended to Fannie and Freddie as well as Bear Sterns and IndyMac, but logically these are completely different situations. In the Bear Sterns fiasco, the government underwrote loans so that the company was able to be acquired; the shareholders and management walked away with nothing respectively. In Fannie and Freddie, they were government insured entities whose sole purpose was to extend mortgages to those unable to ascertain them through conventional means and in IndyMac, the bank was allowed to go solvent, with the FDIC insuring deposits, but once again shareholders and management left with nothing. Here, the "Big Three" are asking for money without any change to structure or management. What a joke. It's of course one of the smartest moves they've probably ever had, given that they announce this during an election, each candidate will have to walk with glass slippers as they explain why they support/don't support and why you should vote for them. If the "Big Three" spent as much time on product development as they have on the hatching of this plan maybe they wouldn't be bleeding money like a dying drunken sailor. Also, when will the moniker "Big Three" be dropped? Unless of course we're allowed to follow-up "Big Three" with whatever we'd like. "Big Three" disaster; "Big Three" failure; etc. etc.
I just read that Warren Buffett thinks now is the most attractive the US stock market has been in a long time. I'll post a full review of his comments over the weekend along with anything else of relevance that comes out of the economic symposium in Wyoming.
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