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What Will Buffett's Response Be Now That Goldman's "Ethics" Are Exposed For All To See?
Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu does a great job deconstructing the hypocrisy behind Warren Buffett's Goldman investment - she quotes Alice Schroder author of Snowball, who says, "I've always wondered why Buffett would trade his skepticism for an investment in Goldman Sachs. It looks it was a mistake, it was a mistake for Buffett to invest this money in Goldman and to compromise his philosophy on Wall Street." What philosophy? That of the benevolent old uncle who is happy to rip the entire silver market apart and demand physical when he knows full well (as does the CFTC) that it is an impossible request? Or that of the guy who pretends to have principles when he is fully aware the government will always bail him and his investments out at the expense of the middle class? We eagerly await to see Berkshire's press release on its Goldman investment after this development.
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Warren Buffett is a snake just like the rest of the Ponzi perps. He is part and parcel of the FIRE economy. Do we even need to revisit the massive fraud of side letters at General Re? He personally turned his back on a whistleblower within Coke (Coke eventually settled with the SEC, so the allegations were true). Enough with this old crook.
Yeah, Buffett should be doing time!
+10
Warren Buffet got me to believe he had principles, then reality taught me otherwise.
General Re fraud was really a repo 105. WB probably created them.
I say he fakes a heart attack and moves to Jamaica. He does want dreds after all.
Yeah, and his neighbor on one side will be Michael Jackson with Ken Lay on the other.
Yeah. And I can't wait until his WFC commercial real estate holdings blow right up in his face, too.
Anybody who goes on TV as everyone's favorite uncle is suspect. Carl Icahn is too busy making money to waste his time being glorified by the MSM.
Buffets too busy helping the poor to worry about all this. He's a hoomanitarian.
The headline is fine, but the point on physical silver delivery is poor.
It is very inconsistent with prior posts on physical precious metals, so it looks a bit like a split personality disorder. I understand Zero Hedge is not one individual, but that is a big inconsistency. My accurate perspective is that he actually was keeping the silver market honest, based on manipulation to drop the paper silver price to make the dollar and treasuries look better (the ongoing manipulation). I recommend changing that sentence or risk looking like a hypocrite. As far as investing to try to buy low and sell high as an investor, I don't fault him at all (excluding any pump & dump / manipulation / illegal activities).
The point on investing in Goldman and possible bad PR fallout is legitimate.
I don't like Marxists that just try to take down every authority figure and institution regardless of merit, we have examples of countries that have followed that path and it would not benefit the quality of life of Americans.
Hear, hear.
We'd be in a lot better shape right now if more of Wall St. had been more like Buffett. He's a long term value investor who shys away from technology and other areas he doesn't understand well, he's (generally) anti-derivatives and he hardly lives a lavish, rich asshole lifestyle. When he does screw up or strays from his core competency - like when he recently got burned selling S&P puts, he's up front and contrite about it. Sure he has some advantages like his cost of capital but it's legit. I wish the political leadership of this country worked to benefit their shareholders the way Buffett does his.
And ZH is the last place I expected to see someone getting knocked for demanding PM delivery from a contract. That's not how we do things in this here market boy.
Give me a break.
I'm late to this and so am not conversant in all things Buffet. Disregarding all of the other charges against him, how is a guy who is asking for delivery of the silver contracts that he bought, that were sold legitimately to him, supposed to be responsible for tearing the silver market apart?
Isn't a knight in shining armor just what the metals longs were waiting for? Is this perception of Buffets intentions misconstrued? Your linked article is somewhat beyond my pay grade but what I have taken away from it is that there is a certain amount of gamesmanship going on in the futures market but that is the world of trading. Has he done something illegal in his silver trading or immoral?
I thought that the strategy of the hard metals longs was to take delivery and force the shorts to deliver on their naked promises, thereby finding price discovery through the fundamentals; there being being an oversupply of concentrated paper promises to deliver. You, know that, I know that and Blind Freddy knows that it would take a man with a lot of backing, to take on the bullion banks of JP Morgan, HSBC and Bear Sterns.
Why the gripe, Tyler?
Salomon, now Goldman.
The Patsy at Wall Streets' table.
So true. he does seem to have a secret compulsion for that kind of glamorous trading, even if it is just by proximity
Umm...how do I put this?...well, MR. BUFFETT IS AN A**HOLE.
I wanna make some illegitimate children with Betty.
I think the lady at that furniture company he bought is Blankfeins mother.
Always wondered why Buffett felt compelled to go on CNBC and talk to the dimwitted Becky Quick. Why does he like the spotlight so much? After the Tiger Woods episode, it seems our "Icons" are nothing but shams. I would not be surprised if this friendly old "uncle Warren" is not implicated in this mess somehow too.
Mr. ZH, quoting Betty Liu (who has difficulty with words greater than one syllable) is like quoting Melissa Francis on the energy markets. Betty says "Buffett is someone who has always criticized Wall Street". Where did she get that piece of fiction from?
From the previous article regarding silver:
"Rumor is gov’t intercedes and asks Buffet to not do this (take physical delivery...), it would break the industry. (Kind of like how the exchange begged the gov’t to help it shut down the Hunt Bros.) He says ok, and agrees to lend then their silver back to them. Essentially charging them 40% interest to delay delivery for a year."
In other words, Warren Buffet had no intention of taking physical delivery until a pricing contango was reverted and he could basically hold the metal contracts for ransom.
Same deal as he "invests" $5 Billion in Goldman-Sachs but gets special rights assigned to the contract whereby he can re-double his investment at a much lower price than the stock is worth. The man is a greenmail artist and nothing more.
He isn't awaiting physical delivery of silver to maintain his store of wealth, as one would assume. He found a back-door loophole and held up the entire metals industry for a shakedown. Get the facts straight, please.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/exclusive-second-whistleblower-emerges-deep-insiders-walkthru-silver-market-manipulation
:D
"He found a back-door loophole and held up the entire metals industry for a shakedown."
No argument there. But no moral judgment, either. He knew back then that physical delivery was impossible because the PM market was already leveraged due to lack of physical metal per paper claim while the bullion banks and dealers charged storage fees on silver that didn't exist. These weren't civilians rigging silver on the COMEX, these were made men who knew the risks. They couldn't retaliate because guys like Buffet and George Soros sit on the Commission whereas Marty Armstrong didn't have any family affiliation.
Exactly. My point was to counter the argument that the metals boys and girls here make regarding taking physical delivery. That's is all well and good for the average guy who really needs to diversify his holdings and warning them that the paper they hold is NOT gold or silver. No argument there. The average guy should take physical delivery, no doubt.
For Buffett, this was basically an opportunity to run a con-job on the metals market with no intention of taking physical delivery because he knew it would be next to impossible to fill his order.
It's kind of like having a brother that works at Pizza Hut and he tells you that they are out of pan pizza. You go in and demand a pan pizza and when the manager explains, you harrass him until he sends you out the door with a voucher for a free pan pizza when the delivery truck comes in.
Same low-life games- only with much bigger stakes.
Yours is a piss poor argument and I don't get it. You sound bitter for some reason, over some guy who has the manipulators bare ass naked over a barrel, with a giant silver dildo strapped to a fucking machine. Turn the revs up Warren and no lube required.
Come on guys, just leave the smelly old fart alone.... He's a nice folksy old codger, ready for a photo op and to parse out his wisdom, at the drop of a hat.
Now now, let's not make fun of Uncle Warren.
Econolicious
Why would Buffet give a sh*t about GS's ethics. He's getting a 10% pref return on $5 billion and has calls on $5 billion of GS stock at $115. He's probably already hedged the calls and locked in a profit. If you do the math, even at today's closing price he's cleared $750 million in interest on the pref. and is up $2 billion on the calls. F*ck ethics, even for Warren Buffet that's real money.
Nobody, not a single person benefitted from the government bailouts than Buffett. Yes, PIMCO, GS, BlackRock, etc made a killing, but those were firms with many "owners." Buffet personally "lifted" by far most cash than anyone else. And that was AFTER he personally lobbied Paulson.... That was more than enough to figure out who Buffett really is: a ruthless capitalist, and I say good for him!
Jsut don't say that he's anything but...
It's usually the benevolent old uncle that's involved in child porn or child molestation. Why anyone would believe that these billionaires got to where there are is because they are kind and generous is beyond me. The old style robber barons had no problem shafting those around them to make their money, so why would you believe these people to be any different.
If you want to get an inkling of what these people are like try to make time and see the movie, The Long Hot Summer starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and pay particular attention to the character played by Orsen Wells. Ruthless, money grubbing, and power hungry.
The greedy old fart will double down if the price drops below 120. Why not? The taxpayers are pretty much on the hook to buffer any losses the Primary Dealers absorb.
In the elite theatre, his part in the good-guys-bad-guys play is to lead the lemmings over the cliff.
A total shill for GS.
But the appearance of his credibility cracked when he invested in financial WMD after he said they were WMD.
Now this civil suit, nothing more than a little steam pressure valve release. Puny.
Maybe it's time for Warren to retire and join his "cousin Jimmy" in Margaritaville!
I be surprise he raises a big rukus over GS, since he's part of the insider trading ring. He is probably more pisst that he didnt think of the scheme first!
Why'd he do it? Umm, Hank Paulson bailing out Bank of America and Wells Fargo which were two of Berkshire's larger holdings at the time of his Goldman investment plus American Express' mysterious no questions asked grant of Bank Holding Company status, another major Berkshire holding, may be a few reasons! Of course I'm just some crazy conspiracy theorist.