Comments on: Buffett’s crisis bets outrunning his freight train

By: Gotthardbahn

Gotthardbahn — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:49:49 +0000

Warren Buffett likes trains – which isn’t a bad thing – and his pal Bill Gates is the single largest shareholder in Canadian National Railways, so it’s hardly surprising the sage of Omaha bought himself a shiny new electric train set to run under the tree at Christmastime. People nowadays look down on railroads: too much capital, too much labour, too much history, too much TOO MUCH. Mr. Buffett isn’t stupid, nor is Mr. Gates. Consider their investments in rail as something to emulate.

By: Shortsqueeze

Shortsqueeze — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:15:17 +0000

Not wishing to decry entirely a seeming earlier ability to “call” the markets correctly, the basis for which said ability I cannot with any certainty ascertain as being either skill or just luck, I must therefore revert to the common disclaimer that “past results do not imply or constitute a guarantee of future performance or profit” as a means whereby I can launch a critique of the venerable gentleman in question.
Warren Buffet has not only, to use his own phrase “taken an all in wager on the resilience of the US economy” via the Berkshire acquisition of Burlington, he has also placed a massive bet on the future prosperity and economic stability of China, which is not really the same game of roulette in my opinion.
I just hope for his and the Berkshire shareholders sake it turns out better than his earlier punt at shorting the US dollar a couple of years ago.
He seems to have missed the earlier lesson of his short dollar trade and has again ignored the fact that markets have a tendency to be “irrational” a lot longer than he can ever hope to remain solvent.

By: Woltmann

Woltmann — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:36:30 +0000

Goldman is a criminal enterprise and Buffett is a criminal by association.