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"A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing"
Submitted by Mike Krieger of KAM LLP
This really bothers me. You have to love that Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world, has deemed himself representative and ambassador for those making $250,000 and more..."People like myself" he says. People that take home $250,000 a year before taxes are somehow in the same category as the richest man in the world? I would say there is a fairly large gap between a $250,000 annual income and a $45 billion empire. And how did the powers that be arrive at this arbitrary yet significant figure of $250,000 as the line for dividing rich and poor? Warren, why not donate your money to the government that you feel so strongly should be funded with more money from the "rich" that you have appointed yourself representative of? I am beyond disgusted by these righteous "do as I say, not as I do folks that have already made a fortune and yet are lobbying for higher taxes as though they are elected representatives for the government's definition of "rich", meanwhile by and large their wealth has already been made and tax policy is immaterial to their incremental future wealth. If he feels so strongly about what people like him should be paying, WHAT'S STOPPING HIM? Pay more then, Warren, if it means so much to you. Nobody is stopping you and the government will gladly accept a larger check from you on April 15th. Meanwhile stop meddling in the business of people that are eons and light years away from you in wealth and are still working daily to achieve their own financial success and stability. And I'm not against paying more in taxes...I'm just against higher taxes as long as it's being funneled to the reckless careless idiots in Washington DC currently in charge of spending it...but that's subject for another conversation altogether.
- Written by a friend of mine last November
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Anyone that has read these pieces for a while knows where I stand on Warren Buffett. Namely I can’t stand him. It has nothing to do with the fact that he has so much money. I am not an envious person and moreover I think having wealth anywhere near his is more of a curse than a blessing. The reason I can’t stand him is because he is a fraud. While he may have been a great investor at one point, he is more of a great actor than anything else. Here is one of the richest people in the world. He sits there in Nebraska, chuckling, drinking his cherry coke and eating hamburgers in this pathetically obvious attempt to convince the masses he is “just like us.” The term wolf in sheep’s was invented for guys like this. Like most people out there I don’t like bad guys. The trick; however, is that the most dangerous bad guys don’t come out and tell you they are bad guys and how they are going to fleece you. What they do is pretend they are the good guys. Pretend that they are on the side of the little guy or working for the “collective good,” which is a preposterous statement because there is no such thing. Human desires and notions of what is a good life are as varied as the stars in the sky. Once we start allowing officials or rich people to define “collective good” you can be sure we are finished.
I am currently rereading Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Thoreau has been described as “an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist.” In other words, in my mind a true American hero. I was struck by this line as I was reading it the other day:
If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry and parching wind of African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me – some of its virus mingled with my blood. No – in this case I would rather suffer evil the natural way. A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much.
Thank you sir.
So back to Buffett. The truth of the matter is, as I and other have exposed these last several years, is that he essentially runs a financial services company. When the system itself was threatened the status quo was threatened. Buffett stepped in and became a government agent once he saw the writing on the wall. He did not step up for America. He did not step up for the people. He stepped up for himself and his legacy. He stepped up to save the status quo because he is the status quo. All of this raises a very serious issue in America right now and one that needs to be dealt with in the next crisis (which has arrived) or we will never be able to recover into the world’s most vibrant and dynamic economy again. A lot of people lament the lack of upward mobility in the U.S. right now and I share those sentiments. However, equally important is downward mobility. What makes the concept of America unique is not merely the concept that the poor can become rich but that the rich can become poor. It is this second part that is the most dangerous to social cohesion when it disappears. Unfortunately, the system that we have today of an unholy alliance between Wall Street, Washington D.C. and the multi-national corporations (including the military industrial complex of course) stands there holding onto all the levers of power to serve as gatekeepers of their own empires.
I read a great article on a related topic recently. It was called “Central Planning and The Fall of the US Empire.” http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/07/journal-central-planning-and-the-fall-of-the-us-empire.html One of the most significant conclusions in my opinion was the following:
The answer is that an extreme concentration of wealth at the center of our market economy has led to a form of central planning. The concentration of wealth is now in so few hands and is so extreme in degree, that the combined liquid financial power of all of those not in this small group is inconsequential to determining the direction of the economy. As a result, we now have the equivalent of centralized planning in global marketplaces. A few thousand extremely wealthy people making decisions on the allocation of our collective wealth. The result was inevitable: gross misallocation across all facets of the private economy.
To see what this extreme wealth concentration looks like as a distribution, we don't have to look further than income distribution in the US (classic power law). The liquid wealth of those on the extreme left of the curve completely outweighs the 99.5% of the population to the right (the distribution is FAR more skewed than most people even imagine -- Republican or Democrat). This graph would also be a good way to demonstrate how decision making in a bureaucratic dictatorship in a country like the Soviet Union looked like before it collapsed.
Once again this brings us back to good old Uncle Warren. Have you noticed that Obama can’t make a speech these days without saying “Warren Buffett say this…or Warren Buffett says that.” I mean give me a freaking break. It seems that Buffett has been named head of the U.S. economy and basically Obama just picks up the phone and whatever uncle Warren says goes, despite the fact that the guy has a huge stake in one thing and one thing only. Preserving the status quo and preserving his legacy.
The Wolf Invests in Bank of America
The interesting thing about today is that I had intended to write this piece on Warren Buffett all week. It was just really fortuitous timing that this Bank of America news came out today. Gosh where to start. First of all, this $5 billion preferred investment by Uncle Warren in preferred stock is extremely bearish for the market, the economy and the financial system. This is not an investment, it is political-economic strategy. It tell us so many things that we probably already suspected. It tells us that Bank of America did indeed need capital. Even worse they probably need so much that they went to Uncle Warren for five big ones so that people would just look the other way and gain “confidence.” This is how out to lunch these guys are. They don’t understand that the root of the lack of confidence is that the people see a country devolving into a Banana Republic led by greedy oligarchs and politicians stealing everything in sight as the ship sinks. So then they roll out the number one crony capitalist in America, tell us he is investing in Bank of America and expect that to lead to confidence!! What a bunch of maniacs run this nation. This is 1789 France folks as I have said many times before.
Second, the fact that TPTB are resorting to Uncle Warren for everything now may mean the Fed is out of the game. No one has confidence in the Fed to come save the day so they need the next thing. That next thing is Uncle Warren. Unfortunately it’s not working and it is not going to work. You can see it in the market today. People are waking up. They are starting to see through the matrix. Buffett is a fraud and a shill. If you follow him it will be right over a cliff.
The Baby Boomer generation is getting old and their ideas about how political systems and economies operate are getting even older. My generation is coming into its own and we will determine our own destinies. You can step aside gracefully or you can be pushed aside. Either way your days of running the lives of this planet are numbered. The Fourth Turning is here.
Peace and wisdom,
Mike
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What I think happened is that Buffuck, due to his dementia, forgot that he promised Obama he would infuse BAC with cash until it "just hit him" while in the bathtub.
Either that or Warren is trading on inside info he obtained from Obummer on a bailout but knows that he's too valuable to the administration to ever be prosecuted for trading on the info.
Ghost of Matt Simmons past.
Insider trading is always allowed amongst the wicked.
More help for deadbeats.
Where is the cash for people who pay their bills, or paid off their house? The smash to their net worth has been cushioned by the US Govt . . . how?
"My generation is coming into its own and we will determine our own destinies. You can step aside gracefully or you can be pushed aside. Either way your days of running the lives of this planet are numbered. The Fourth Turning is here."
And of course, YOUR generation will be different. Now that is funny stuff!
To quote an even earlier generation than mine, "I fart in your general direction!"
The young generations have no choice. They will have to behave differently in order to survive. The Baby Boomer gravy train is coming to an end. The Fourth Turning is not a choice, it's a consequence of the complacency of the previous generation to allow things to deteriorate to such a state.
Exactly what I have been saying for a while, the status quo is a threat to the survival of us and our children, sometimes doing what has to be done is a bitch, bitchez!
. . . just be careful and aware when you decide which "previous generation" is responsible for the "deterioration". . .
you may find that it's not just "the boomers" who sold you & yours (& mine) out long ago,.
Pull your pants up for starters!
Remember that old fuck's multi-trillion $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ bet on Dow 3,000,000? when the whole thing falls apart, he's gonna go down as the biggest piece of shit ever. Jubilee.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT. I forgot his Leap Call on the S&P.
He acts like he is doing everyone a favor but in realtiy he is only looking out for himself. He is selfish and self centered. He would not have done it if it did not directly benifit HIM and his investments. Plus, he is first in line if they go into Bankruptcy and is getting a 6% return.
Our society is full of those shitty narcissists like him. We have peak everything.
Exactly, which is why I have said so many times that Buffet is not particularly intelligent, but more a function of the time frame he worked within and the crony capitalist state that allowed him to "succeed", if success is measured in hoarding cash.
The fact that his father was a wealthy US Senator may also have something to do with the success of this self made man.
"This is how out to lunch these guys are. They don’t understand that the root of the lack of confidence is that the people see a country devolving into a Banana Republic led by greedy oligarchs and politicians stealing everything in sight as the ship sinks."
Bingo!
The days of buying the BS are over, no more bialouts, no more 'stimulus' no more home mortgage program...its over they just havent announced it yet.
I'd say that Krieger is the one "out to lunch" with that observation. To think that Buffet doesn't understand is to give him cover for his evil ways. He knows damn well what he is doing, and what the ramifications are.
To him its not a devolution, but an evolution. The suffering of the little people is merely the price to be paid for all the "greatness" they do. Otherwise, he'd STFU and GBTW, instead of playing politics.
Buffett, the fraud, is trying to pretend he's a modern day JP Morgan "I'm here to buy stocks" (just not the common)
What an asshole
Warrens mantra, 'more taxes for billionaires' is a diversion while he mops up americas wealth. Will peasants with pitchforks buy Warrens mantra when time comes to punish the guilty?
Exactly. Why is he "investing" $5B? If BAC is near bankruptcy and desperately needs the $5B, and his only reward is to save a major financial institution, then kudos to Buffett. He, himself says this is not the case. If he's investing $5B in the hopes of generating a return on his investment, "Why?" He certainly doesn't NEED the extra money. Why didn't he write a $5B check to the IRS since he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
Great article. I wonder if $5B of common shareholders could convert to preferred shares under the same terms? Not likely. This deal is just plain robbery. Buffett is just looking out for #1. Not sure why he bothers at his age. Not enough room in the coffin for all that cash.
So there is too much of a concentration of weath at the top, so much so that it is distoring the markets and acts like a central planning agency in itself (I agree 100%), but we should not tax those people any more? How do any of you propose to shrink the relative wealth and influence of the black hole that is the concentrated wealth of our current crop of bankers?
Guillotines. Firing squads. Confiscation. You know, the usual.
For Buffet it is like a boost to the entire Market. It helps to protect his investment in GS and Wells Fargo. He also has a large investment in other stocks like Coke, Kraft, etc. This is not his generosity. He is trying to protect his investments.
Plus, he gets 6% interest in PREFERED Stock. Where else can he get 6%? Even if they go Bankrupt he is first in line with his investment.
Now, if he had invested in the common stock that would be different. He is such a shill.
Excellent point. Along those same lines...
Jesus tells us that if we love and show compassion on only those who are our friends we really are not doing what God desires.
Still time to put on more puts before Bernanke delivers his unconvincing "all's well" speech. Besides, though it wouldn't feel good to profit from genuine misfortune, the balance of risks from Irene is obviously not to the bullish side.
http://how-to-trade-armageddon.com/
"My generation is coming into its own and we will determine our own destinies." - They will burn it down before you(we) can lay our hands on it, I have experienced this from my own family I would not expect any better from society
If any1 expects that the old geezers will simply die off and make room for next generations and new ideas, you're in for a surprise, this is a war of Selfish Memes and they can superseed even Selfish Genes
Buffett didn't get rich by taking risks on bets he couldn't afford to lose.
" A lot of people lament the lack of upward mobility in the U.S. right now and I share those sentiments. However, equally important is downward mobility. What makes the concept of America unique is not merely the concept that the poor can become rich but that the rich can become poor. It is this second part that is the most dangerous to social cohesion when it disappears."
Yup.
There's a strong correlation between rich and poor. These states are closely intertwined. Both are illusions. Each thinks monetary status defines themselves.
Technology is "too complicated" to invest in, said Warren, so he ignored it. Instead, he stocked up on bricks and mortar and carpet and other more "tangible" investments. So he didn't see the software revolution coming, and it ran over him.
heads up folks, this just in from IB:
To HKMEX,NYMEX,NYSELIFFE traders:
Thu Aug 25 13:54:57 2011 EST
As a result of the continued volatile trading environment, please be advised that exchange margins and/or house margins are likely to increase overnight and over the next couple of days, particularly in the metals. For exchange specific increases, please visit the respective websites. IB will also be increasing the gold derivatives margin. Please monitor any affected holdings closely and manage your risk accordingly.
Here, here, Krieger!
Becky, your embarrassment factor is rising rapidly. Get some cred already.
B of A needs liquidity badly. On verge of collapse. Buffet to the rescue with a $5 billion preferred stock deal. Monday Buffet talks to Obama. Thursday the White House announces a bail out plan for "distressed residential mortgages". Guess what? B of A is stuffed with these mortgages. Jimmy Boy gets to chow down on free tax payer money. Obama looks good riding to the home owners rescue. Buffet throws a big $35k a plate fund raiser for Obama in NY. Everybody is happy! And the middle class gets presented the bill! Pay Uncle Sam.
We should recall that Warren has decided to donate his fortune to the Gates Foundation rather than to Obama. When he does, it will exempt a lot of money from taxation.
We should notice that tax advantaged foundations only have to give away 5% of their assets each year to retain their exempt status. In most years, a competent manager can earn more than 5%. This means as long as foundation management is careful not to outspend its income, it has eternal life. Foundations also don't have any customers who can influence its behavior through what products they buy and which they do not. A foundation cannot be boycotted and bankrupted. Foundations also have Boards of Directors that are able to appoint new members, so they do not have to report to any shareholders to reign in foundation programs that are offensive or detrimental to the country.
On short, once a foundation has a sufficient corpus of assets, it can almost do as it pleases as long as its behavior is in compliance with the (very broad) law. And such foundations like the Ford, Soros and Tides Foundations are free to forever influence the political process by what third party groups they give grants to.
If anyone will cruise through Discoverthenetworks.com (http://discoverthenetworks.com/) you will see how most big foundations fund leftist causes . .
I read where about 5% of US GDP is in the hands of Foundation as financial assets. If we increase the required payout to something north of 7%, where money managers will not be able to keep the coffers full, then foundations will slowly spend themselves into oblivion. The pain here is that in the short run, we will see increased funding of leftist causes, but we also will force foundations to flush their assets out where they can be taxed when they are paid in wages, or in purchases of supplies. People fret about the influence of big corporations. Well at least the public has some recourse with a company, but they have no recourse with a foundation. It is time to bring mortality to tax exempt foundations!
smart of you to point out that ole Warren & Bill are big on the social control through "foundations" route - it's the ultimate way of steering their "capital" towards their (and their globalist pals) long term goals. . .
I'd just like to add that what might seem "leftist" isn't always what it appears. . . for instance, BillyG likes to fund stealth vaccines, supposedly for the "3rd world" benefits, when who is to say those same methods are not used on you and I and our loved ones? plenty of aerosoling going on in amrka & other "1st world" nations, daily, so why think these things are not being added to the mix?
those foundations are also big on sterilising folk, which is a hot topic to be sure, but know that even the "leftist" style includes some old timey sheep-herding / culling under the guise of "charity."
So the younger generations with their pants on the ground are about to clean things up? Give me a break.
didnt' JP Morgan try to buy the market in 29? i mean he lost a considerable part of his fortune trying to put a bid under stocks. now of course there is the entire Fed UST ECB PPT Presidents Working Group on the Financial Markets IMF money printing machines in drone operated helicopters, whew..
and so what's a few billion from an aging billionaire? if Buffett does think he is personally supporting the market, I would call him QUIXOTIC in the extreme. more likely he sees a decent business, which was softened by the actions of Bernanke Paulson, and represents good value.
Living through a currency devaluation and how to cope
I was managing an American subsidiary of a successful large US Company in Mexico. It had been a financial turnaround for our team. Cash flow had accumulated in our bank in Mexico and corporate didn’t want the money repatriated to the US. Although we had already paid a 35% income tax to the Mexican government, we would have to pay an additional 30% exit tax to repatriate the money. In addition, we would have to pay high fees for the peso/dollar exchange, in order to make the transfer. The company wanted to expand our successful business and so we decided to keep the money in Mexican pesos to be used for further expansion.
One morning, as my wife and I were on a trip driving on the highway, we heard a national message from the President of Mexico in 1976, Luis Echevarria, one of the most corrupt presidents in Mexican history. “It is a lie that we are going to devalue the peso,” he said.
Read more
http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/living-through-a-curren...
didn't I read this same shit a couple of weeks ago What fresh hell of trolling is this?
Sheesh I read this exact same shit more than 2 years ago... in an another blog..
Here is the commencement of the new Political System in 8 easy proto-steps:
Fuck You Buffett!
Fuck You BAC!
Fuck You Cramer!
Fuck You Obummer!
Fuck You Republicans!
Fuck You Democrats!
Fuck You CME!
Fuck ALL of the Status Quo!
And if I'm missing anyone or any entity, as I'm sure I am, please feel free to add to the 0H Fuck You list.
FUCK YOU DMV!
These are a few you forgot, luckily, the Exploited remebered them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bZzM4s0Hgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq9S9YnK2rY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adxhto88bYA&playnext=1&list=PL78605413AF407E94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4QeBkNNqA&playnext=1&list=PL5B17BA906FDCB346
that helps the list a little.
Fuck You GS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omW06XfBcsM
Transplant this list into the end of Tupac's Hit 'Em Up. Feels good to rattle off!
Fuck You Microsoft, and your "absorbing" of Skype into your buggy spy system!
Fuck You Google for your heavy VISIBLE hand interference when people use your search engine! (I don't, no flaming pls)
thanks vast-dom, 'twas fun!
Ministry Stimata live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H4ng0LQtUY
The first 6:34 are good, but the bit from 6:34 on is inspiring.
Everytime Uncle B comes out to talk about how great the economy is "really" -- I sell.
Thanks for the editorial.
Crying poor because you only earn 250K is pathetic, get real. Tens of millions of food stamp users and boo-hoo you only earn 250K.
who tol' ya?
Uncle? Grandpa. Why is he still shilling at his age. He's got more money than he and his concubine can spend in 1,000 life times.
There is 37,000 Sept 17 BAC 3 puts bought so far..... hilarious. Buffets intervention lasting less than a couple hours - lol
10,000 lots where bought on the Jan 12 $4 puts........., things that make you go hmmm!
who do you suppose bought those puts?
If they hike margins again, and they will, I do not think gold will drop very much for very long. And if it does I will just add more stash. Either way, we win.
The name ; Warren buffet... is another tool in the shed, nothing more.. Do you really think Buffet is that stupid to step out in front?
Why didn't Bennie just print them a sack of $$$ and "helo" it over to headquarters? It wouldn't have been any less obvious, and Dear Warren could have been spared the humiliation of meeting with the chain-smoking cheeseburger addict-in-chief.
Excellent article. This guy has got a handle on the idea and can translate it concisely.
Great article, BTW. Can we grant it the subtitle "Or a Jackal in Depends?"
Eddie Vedder is just waiting his time ....................
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUsa77MfVpI&feature=related
Don't forget: The Oracle (not) said "Tax Me!!!"
Or, as the bible would have said: Give to Obama what belongs to Obama. And give to me what belongs to me.
Brilliant!! I have always hated that fraud from Omaha.
True words, lad, well said!
Buffon is just another obnoxious, pompous, greedy asshole.
Buffett is a fraud and a shill...
No shit sherlock. Just the other day he got owebama to change the rules saving him billions on his railroad investment. He also got bill gate's visa slave workers rules relaxed at the same time. this after saying that the congress should raise taxes on billionaires. buffett is a maggot.
yeah he's definitely the real maggot!!
Valuation
The question is not how many arrows the Fed has left. What has happened to the dollar, minus all the Fed’s perception misdirection, over the course of the latest iteration of the sh** show? Warren Buffet took on the figurehead roll of investor, learning at Graham’s knee, and rolling out the prototype feminist organization, to place the Berkshire Hathaway tentacles around the economy, through the growth of derivative insurance, the ultimate Ponzi “profit” machine, feeding acquisition of non-performing assets with unstated government utility guarantees, the profit from which can be recognized at will, in a controlled market built for the purpose. The question currently is how many arrows does Berkshire Hathaway have left and what is the weakness of the positive feedback loop providing all the arrows.
Not to worry. We will get to George Soros, his ilk, and their precious paper in due course of time. The precious metals are transitional only. Ultimately, energy must be converted from non-productive capacity to productive capacity, none of the proprietors are leaving the old casino before capitulation, and George Soros cannot provide the necessary intelligent labor, to recharge the economic activity battery with voltage.
So, what you want is the difference between recognized “profit” and real profit in the slingshot mechanism, but you do not have real profit. The first part is quite familiar; it’s the set-up for static statistics. The second part is the tool provided some time ago, quantum statistics, and the first part depends on the second UNKNOWN. In a nutshell, from the top, currency devaluation feeds economic sectors, which feeds sector monopolies, which feeds, which feeds, which feeds, the economic activity, make-work system.
The bottom up is on the event horizon, and economic profit always equals economic loss. The economic losses are now readily apparent, but where are the economic profits, which “mirror” relativity coming from the Fed, across the looking glass. The wave is built and breaking, and you are riding the wave, with your unique algorithm, a component of the AC, to ensure you do not cross the path of others and get wiped out by the algebraic reduction feeding the DC wave, but where is the exit?
Old statistics provides a picture of the developing gravity. Don’t waste a lot of time calculating it. Simple samples will do. What you want to develop is an instinct for anticipating the outliers that others cannot/will not due to their participation in mythology. The outliers exist in orbitals, in dimensions/ shared algorithms, unseen/unknown to the nucleus. Calculate a few to get the idea as an objective, but instinct, first to time and place, to set up the gate/bridge is the goal.
Direction of currency automatically adjusts speed. If you do not provide gravity with technology, the Fed has no choice but to increase the speed of devaluation. When you have sufficient gravity, “momentarily” remove the looking glass, to flood perception and trigger spring release. Apply direction/brakes to bring the system into the desired orbit. Speciation is complete bifurcation, to an orbit unreachable by the gravity left behind. On the other end of the spectrum, gravity is redeployed/transformed, in stages, to bring the old system along to a new, but much lower orbit.
When a predator with an unknown algorithm attacks, it is the young intelligent fish in the school that makes the first move, releasing the spring. Everything else is automatic. The system is relatively symmetrical, at equilibrium and otherwise. The difference is pressure on the spring, unseen on the gravity side due to groupfeel constraints. On the other side of the glass, the orbits are just stepping stones.
properly poignant signpost, kev, gracias.
Sorry, but to me Warren Buffet figures don't stack up.
Berkley Hathaway makes a net profit of around 20% all the time. How does it manage that?
Most companies seem to make a net profit before tax of about 5%; so how can Berkley Hathaway make 20% when it basically holds loads of trading companies and then has a management team on top to finance.
Is by any chance a Ponzi Scheme?
When the fiat is relegated to tablecloth status, so will go the Buffet table.
Channel of Doom from 2003
Really look at this, it is beyond amazing. I keep these artifacts in my charts, and I was amazed at how well Nasdaq was following this channel. Then I couldn't remember when I drew the channel, years back.... check it out. And drop a freaking comment already Thanks!
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/
"The Baby Boomer generation is getting old and their ideas about how political systems and economies operate are getting even older."
Interesting perspective since, as a "tail end boomer" I'd like to comment. Many of our "problems" today stem from political and social concepts and decisions made over the past 100 years. To cite some examples from previous generations:
a) My great-great grandparent's generation (1913 Federal Reserve act and Progressive/communist big-government FDR-style quasi dictatorship and the development of the Federal Income tax.
b) my grandparent's generation (1930s - Social Security),
c) my parents (1960s - Great Society, Vietnam and dropping the gold standard [tho many severely criticized Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon for that war), raiding the Social Security "excesses" for Fed Govt use (mid-1960s) and the ballooning of uncontrolled Federal Agencies not accountable to the people and allowing unionization of government employees.
If you want to generationally blame boomers:
I'd take Glass-Steigall repeal as the largest major fubar, and the idiotic change that required the President to spend all the money Congress put in its budget, increasing the SS tax, 3 unpaid-for wars (Iraq, Afg and Libya) and uncontrolled Federal spending and debt.
But this is a pointless exercise.
At the end of the day, we ALL need to work to fix the friggin mess, which means all Americans of all generations. Am highly interested in what you mean by The Forth Turning. Great ideas pushed by strong intelligent leaders is far more important than the "generation" they came from, no?
http://www.fourthturning.com/
The Fourth Turning refers to a book, written back in the 1990's by two societal researchers, Strauss and Howe. I'm really glad I read it then, so much of it makes sense now.
Interestingly enough Howe and Strauss, the authors of the Fourth Turning, were both "BOOMERs," born 1951 and 1947.
Krieger's anti-boomer agit-prop diminishes the value of anything else he says.
I like Krieger for the most part, but have to agreee with you here - sweeping generalisations make for great crowd appeal - but the danger with "crowds" is their absorbing the meme without doing the necessary thinking behind it. . .
Just like with Citi and the government, as soon as it can it's going to 1 for 10 split.
Geez folks, don't make Boomers the scapegoat for this shit. I think the author is confusing Boomers with the Silent Generation. Buffett is part of the Silent Generation. We are living in a system set up by the WWIIs and Silents. They are the ones who live in La La land. I believe the WWIIs and Silents are what keep the hack media in business; they are the ones who worship Buffett.
As far as the generational bullshit is concerned, people who shift blame to another generation are blowing bubbles out of their asses. The ages of the two geniuses are who came up with the idea of the sub-prime mortgage fraud in 2004 were two young wall street bankers aged 32 and 36. The rest of Wall Street quickly picked up on it and sold banks on getting more and more mortgages so they could fill those CDOs up because pension funds and other large funds plus the the individuals who were and are wealthy were hungry for Yield. .
That's why we saw lenders, who wouldn't open a checking account for most of the people in 2003, had reverse red-lined them to get them to take these monster loans that as experienced residential lenders knew from years of experience would never be paid back. In fact they insured it by taking bets out against it and making the loans impossible to pay with bullshit recasts. It was a I win, you lose proposition.
No event or series of events happens in generational isolation, good or bad. Greed has been with us since the beginning of time which should be more frightening with the baby boomer generation who were activists against the system or as they call it the "establishment". They were co-opted as they first ones entered the 80s at age 34 and it never stopped
I don't care what generation the writer is from, he or she has has happily participated in the status quo until it no longer worked. Now , who to blame, Hey how about 78 million Americans born between the the years of 1946 and 1964. Yeah, lets take it out on them.
Fuck off AssBubble
hungry for Yield. .
The only reason for the hunger for yield is that Greenspan fucked up the real market cost for money by running his own ZIRP policy.
IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE. Duhhhh... ya think Alan ?
Buffett was Schwarzeneggars economic advisor for about two weeks. He suggested Arnie raise taxes, primarily property taxes. His reasoning was that he paid more in property taxes for his home in NE, than most Californians pay (NE has a slightly less grand state budget, and need for revenue) So off quit, then Arnie took the Washington solution, and kicked the can down the road, by refinancing Californias debt. (I don't think WB was onboard with that either). Anyway it looked like a slamdunk, low interest rates, (of course those rates are now rather attractive, unless of course you are paying the interest)
Poltically WB is a fiscal conservative, and not sure he was all in on TARP and the bailouts, but he has seen what they did to BOA, and now he thinks its a good deal. He also invested in railroads, on the idea that the economic recovery would do a lot for the coal transport business.
I think he still believes in the economy, and for that lets just say, there is no fool like an old fool.
He pimped TARP like a whore "after" buying a postition in the squid!
He also invested in railroads, on the idea that the economic recovery would do a lot for the coal transport business.
You forgot container traffic for all the Chinese shit Warren needs to sell the bankrupt and jobless U.S. consumer.
Warren Rex Americanis
Well done, I really hate hypocrites... Like Warren Buckethead!
I've said it once and I'll say it again.
Never trust anyone named Warren.
Blame the boomers for totally selling out. Todays pot is much to dangerous dont you know.
huh ?
How is this for a BAD VISUAL......Warren and Becky in the tubby playing find the soap........aaaargh...
If he cared about us little guys he would have told us he was buying into BAC YESTERDAY.....lol....I am sure his preferred shares are protected in a bancrupcy....and in only 24 hrs this deal was done...to me that is panic....I wonder if the FDIC will add this bank to the troubled list now...????
If he cared, really cared...
He'd pay for her orthadontia.
"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people" -- Eleanor Roosevelt (to which I added back in my college days "no minds discuss drugs").
Quite disagree there is "no such thing as working for the collective good." Such matters reach beyond "human desires and notions" falling in the realm of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Certain "officials," "rich people" in their time, indeed, did a most commendable job of defining "the collective good" in laying out the principle underlying the Constitutional Republic of the United States with the eloquent, single sentence Preamble establishing the meaning of that revolutionary document. Thoreau's irrationalism plainly is not for me, or anyone else sensitive to the workings of tyrants who would otherwise wish to overcome these with powerful goodness.
Buffett might run a financial services company, yet his purchase of Bulington Northern certainly is about the finest hedge as anyone could dream up to insure against the eventual implosion of all things financial upcoming. I don't so much see his stepping in as "government agent," as you claim, to protect himself and his legacy. Rather, I perceive his GE, GS, and now today, BAC actions simply shrewd dealing: income generation, playing on the gullibility and vulnerability of the upper crust he aids, and this no matter the reality that, warrants he gains are likely to be worthless beyond their psychological effect on suckers who take these as indicating his faith in the status quo.
That "he did not step up for America," that "he did not step up for the people" is no credible indictment, for truth is "that he stepped up for himself and his legacy" suggests all that in principle makes the United States THE ONE PLACE ON EARTH where a man's sense of purpose can be actualized is truth about this nation still alive and well, despite all manner of compromise and filth whose effect is widening the divide between the haves and have nots. It is on this latter point I find considerable agreement with your lamentations on the move we have made toward corportivism -- fascism -- over the interim since Nixon trashed FDR's Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates, opening the door for the hyperinflationary takedown of the once greatest physical economy the world had ever seen, such as has now reached the point where the middle class is at grave risk of being destroyed, as are most among the so-called "wealthy."
Obama in citing Buffett at every turn simply is evoking slick political cover any dyed-in-the-wool fascist, like the President, would cite to distract from the true nature of his politics. And speaking of politics, I don't agree with Buffett's. He, too, evinces a tone -- a manner of perspective -- whose tone any fascist, like Obama, apparently can relate to. Not to say I believe Buffett is naively "mistaken" in his political views. Yet I will leave his wealth as an emblem of every American's birthright, if they so choose to acquire it (as well as what legitimate actions the likes might take to protect it), and carry the political fight to a realm where, first, the likes of Buffett can be defeated without impugning his status as a shrewd investor, that, more importantly, all might have legitimate promise of duplicating, if not exceeding his success. With "maniacs" running this country in truth hopelessly insolvent, how much of a "fight" are we really facing here? We should all feel badly for such opportunity to laugh in the face of jellyfish in Congress and the White House who are backed by so much monopoly money about to be proven worthless. We certainly did not need Buffett's $5 bn loan to BAC today to expose this truth.
Didn't Obama just call Buffet this week? And 3 days later he had an epiphany in his bathtub to buy a collapsing bank? I guess I need more tinfoil...
What was worth more, some Saudi prince giving B of A 5 billion or Uncle Warren? Uncle Warren's publicity is opiate to the masses. What stupid fucks. The guy's fund just gets caught doing a Steve "insdie" Job with Munger, and CNBS, et al still prostrate before him. If you folow this clown and the spin machine, then you are fucking stupid. I wonder who the financial media sucked off more, Greenspan or Warren?
Where is the American Bastille? Or the nearest Tennis Court? Revolution is in the air, baby! It'll eat its own children. Who will serve on the Committee on Public Safety? Who is the modern-day Robespierre? St. Just? Danton? Is that a new Napoleon standing in the shadows? What does all this mean to an American school child? History? . . . what's that?
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally some sanity. This article should be on the front page of every major newspaper and the top story on every single propaganda channel.
Perhaps everyone at ZH can chip in and buy an 8 minute time slot during the super bowl and play this:
http://dont-tread-on.me/can-you-feel-it-coming/
Even Buffet has his limitations. Who's the government going to turn to when Buffet says 'no mas'?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8
Stay away from the coffee Mike,it's too strong for you.
Warren Buffett...the ritchest man in the world...?????Say Huh..!!!
Ever hear of the Rothschilds.??? or are they just a myth.???
Excellent! Hear hear!
Ps...
Waren Buffett drinks rothschilds cum shooters for breakfast.
The Baby Boomer generation is getting old and their ideas about how political systems and economies operate are getting even older. My generation is coming into its own and we will determine our own destinies.
Oh yeah, here comes gen x, or gen y, or gin and tonic...whatever you're labeling yourselves,...to the rescue! Gonna save the day and steer a new and better path to enlightenment. OK. well, I'm one of those now-fashionable-to-hate boomers who, as I recall, were going to save the day and steer a new and better path to enlightenment also. Didn't quite work out. Not like the stoned tie-dyed anti-establishment freaks had it all so well planned out in 1968 anyway. But now we have this new generation of meth-heads wearing their really cool Hollister tees and Laguna Beach jeans who will show us all how it's really done. Yeah, OK chief, go for it. (BTW, Buffet is pre-boomer so go pitch your Buffet-is-a-fraud tirade to your grandfather).
"You can step aside gracefully or you can be pushed aside. Either way your days of running the lives of this planet are numbered. The Fourth Turning is here. "
Give me buffet over this halfwit anyday of the week, atleast the guy has some class. What a lot of nonsense, blame buffet for sniffing your shorts out, who gives a fuck, whats the point in making it into a "America needs saved" rant. Change the fucking record or atleast think of something original to say. The oly thing needs saving is the writer, from his own pool of slabbers.
If you reference the Fourth Turning, then you should be aware that what has come before and what will follow soon are both unavoidable and beyond judgement. The staus quo isn't 'evil' per se, it's an inevitable product of the perpetual cycle. Winter isn't evil. It simply IS. So accept it, embrace it, and maybe help shape the restructuring so that it's a better Spring when it finally shows up.
I'm glad I'm young enough (early 40's) to hope to see the next phase of this society. Between now and then, things will change significantly. But the end result will be a stronger economy and culture...for a while. Will be a bitch getting from here to there, but it will surely be a damn interesting show.
Second, the fact that TPTB are resorting to Uncle Warren for everything now may mean the Fed is out of the game
Ding, Ding, Ding. Thank you Mike Krieger. Will all those retards who mindlessly repeat "QE3, QE3, QE3" please re-read Mike's post.
Warren Buffet is a wolf in cheap clothing.
When he was a kid he picked up pop bottles for the deposit, had 4 paper routes and sold second hand golf balls on the side.
This was in Washington DC when his old man was a US senator.
By the time he was twenty he had thousands of $$$$$ in the bank and began to study investing.
His much vaunted Berkshire Hathaway has NEVER paid a dividend. Investors who entrusted him with their money in the fifties and sixties have never actually gotten their hands on any of the profits unless they sold their stock.
He announced years ago that he believed inheriting money was harmful, and that he was leaving his children nothing.
In other words he is a lifetime skinflint who has never given anyone a god damn dime, not even his own family, if he could help it.
He should be in the Guiness Book of World Records as the biggest miser in history. Scrooge McDuck isn't in it.
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER!!!
John Waite siad it best....check it out!!! "JUST CANT FIND THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS THAT KEEP GOING THROUGH MY MIND....BABY OBAMA...ISNT IT TIME???????????????????????????"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttJjGpEJGRQ&feature=autoplay&list=FLhoL46...
nobody has said avuncular yet.
Let us not overlook the fact that on 0911 little faggot Bush's plane landed at an Air Force base in Nebraska where this oligarch bitch Buffett was having a "business" meeting! Coincidence? Like the coincidence that airport security at the relevant airports was handled by the Zionist Israeli firm DCTS?Like the coincidence that Mohammed Atta's passport would end up on the sidewalk outside the WTC's?
Like the coincidence that an Israeli firm named Manga had, one week prior to the event, completed their contract at Fukushima?
What Mikey is so elequoently saying is IT'S A BIG GAME OF KING OF THE HILL (NO PUN INTENDED) AND BUFFET IS ON TOP TRYING TO LIVE OUT HIS FINAL YEARS IN POWER....you have to love the desperation when 99.9% go against the .01%
RUSSIAN HISTORY show the Bolshevik revolution was done by 1% of the population....90% were social democrats, 9% mensheviks, and only 1% were bolsheviks....YET THEY OVERTHREW THE GOVT!.......history does not lie....wierd.....1/100 people....safetly is NOT in numbers.
While you are stomping on the baby boomers' bodies who will get wiped out by the oligarchy, the oligarchy will be flying away laughing at your foolish misguided blame ... otherwise I agree completely
Could we have some more scaremongering please?
BTW: AAPL is still inside two valid daily 50% retracement long setups, above the 50dma which is above to still rising 200dma with the trend momentum technicals going back on a daily buy 2 days ago. Technically still bullish . . .
lmfao seriously? please tell me you are a buyer here, i need a good laugh today.
quality political satire... Australian Prime Minister Gillard on left... her "partner" in minority govt. Greens leader Bob Brown on right... bemoaning how the Murdoch media portray them...
transpose Buffet face on right...
voila
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/gallery-e6frg6zx-1111119669474?page=7
"Extreme wealth concentration" and "unequal income distribution" are constant through history. Sometimes new elites come up, and completely delete the status quo, but the game remains the same.
Buffet is Silent Generation, not boomer. The oldest boomers are only 65ish.
Also, Obama, like it or not is really gen X, not boomer. His mother is a boomer and he was born right on the cusp. Everything about how he acts is Gen X, not boomer.
obamas the forgotten generation.. don't try and shove that sack of shit on us...
"those born between 1961-1964 would be considered either "cusp'ers" or "betweeners"(with 1965 and later being full fledge Gen'X):
obama was born in 61.
"Ooooh that smell
Cant you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you"
The Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd
hey kreiger, this is not france in 1789 by a long shot.
the corruption is much bigger, and it is highly internationalized....that is the similar part.
the dissimilar part....government controls....weapons of destruction, weapons of communicatoin, weapons of transportation to a far greater degree than the pissed off french who were literrally all starving on the streets of paris.
i don't think i see an american physician, doing anything about anything.
ron paul is NOT jean-paul marat.
and you can bet that the cia would kill him quicker than marat got stabbed in his bathtub in that famous painting if he tried anything 'revolutionary' .
but in other respects. the problems we face are the same as those in the french revolution.
Gold sidewayzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........
Buffet is part of the problem.
By the way, didn't he sell a huge position in silver right before it exploded to $40+ ?
Another "everyman" trillionaire to guide the masses to slaughter.
USO, I agree that is WB's position. Or I could simplify my opinion and say that he is attempting to have his organization survive a Fascist and out of control government. Flailing empires are like old tigers.
Now as for WB, I will give him credit. He is religious about making his SHAREHOLDERS money! Good capitalist. But at the scale of his organization it appears he made a couple of Faustian deals with the devil so now must kiss the ring. I have no investment with WB but I must say if I was him I would be doing the same thing. I don't do the kiss the ring thing very well at all, but then again I do not have the scale of WB's organizations. He looked a bit rebellious for awhile, remember not showing up at that SEC hearing?
As for the statement of the last paragraph of the article, "step out or get steamrolled" it really is just going to be a bunch of young people robbing the innocent (sadly as per usual in these times) and interrupting the supply chains as regional war breaks out followed by world war. America may fragment into civil war first but such would be waged by the military. Or alternatively the ending of the U.S. may come in war with our own American financeers abbetting the enemy. Either way, life will go on afterward but with likely a 1/3 less people. As mankind's progress doesn't go in a straight line I am sure afterward we'll do fine rebuilding and preventing against collossal power "bigness" for a few decades but be in the same place in several more decades (after WWW3 survivors die off).
Warren Buffet, no other American has profited more from the gutting of the middle class.
Buffet the risk taker my ass. All I know is that I would trade any deal on my books right now for this one that Buffett and Berkshire just got from BAC. Anyone can make a billion dollars if they’re handed a dozen or so sweet deals like these by desperate managers and CEOs selling out their stock holders for another few months to fatten up their exit package. If only Leona Helmsley were still alive. She would at least tell us the truth with all the vulgarity it deserves; “Risk is for the little investor”.
He's on the other side of the trade. Trust me he's already made a fortune shorting BofA.
"You can step aside gracefully or you can be pushed aside. Either way your days of running the lives of this planet are numbered. The Fourth Turning is here. "
Don't let your alligator mouth overmatch your jaybird ass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPGhZkfeADY
The Oracle of Obama.
Maybe Warren pre ludeing to the idea of a bailout for BofA.
Same trade as with Goldman in 2008.
Here comes the next round ....... and the dumpster, with all the evidence belongs to Bof A
and they are being liquidated as we speak in Jackson ....
0 to the stock holders and 0 to the bond holders and the winner is....... Goldman Sachs holding a straight flush CDOS they were holding in 08.
Damn that was the play of the centuary..
One more round to go..
Andof course the true winn er is John Thain of former Merill Lynch who cashed out his chips at 2 for 1 prices and moved all the toxic boxes of evidence into the basement of Bof A... Nice work
Funny that the rise in BAC this morning was erased by the close... now it's going negative in after hours.
Buy phyzz gold bitchezzz!
I was following your arguments just fine until you decided that a persons age was a determining factor in their thought processes and mode of preferred government.
You won't find many supporters (of good will) complaining about demographics. We boomers have now supported our parents (your grandparents) for our entire lives. Not one of us (except the disabled) has collected a cent of benefits. I do apologize for Bush and Clinton. I'm not sure it was the boomers who gave them to America however.
First we had the "Greenspan Put"
Now we have the "Buffet Put"
What total and complete bullshit. Is Buffet like Midas, or do you think he just gets to front run everything becuase he's an insider??? Hmm.....
OT: Google has got to be kidding about the "Re-elect Obama Ads"...Really? Like that is gonna happen from this demographic.
DUH!!!
Let's all commit suicide NOW! WOOT! Just for fun!!!
Earthquakes; Hurricanes; Obama; had enough yet shepple...?
"Either way your days of running the lives of this planet are numbered. The Fourth Turning is here. "
push the greedy fucks out of the way.....the generation which spawned the antiestablishment is in the end driving its father's oldsmobile by the fleet...
however, i am not optimistic that any of the generations has enough moxie to set aside the despotic state....maybe one has enough nerve to burn the fire economy at the stake and jail the bankster creeps in vats of shit....
Generational warfare notwithstanding, the boomer generation will have the last word on it all. It was their peak earning years, milked to the nth by Wall Street, that fuled the fires that have left us with this scorched earth. Fact is, they are DONE spending which is a sociological phenomenon well known to advertisers who never waste money marketing to "over 55s" at all except for Viagra and Gerital (do they still sell that?) The air exiting this balloon is being felt worldwide and NOTHING can bring it back. Those "fabulous" years are over, fini. There is no boomer generation behind them. It was a golden era always meant to end this way and now it's history.
Whether democracy can survive this chapter in history will be interesting to see especially in regard to all the debts left in the wake of this 50 year wild party. Who will be elected on a platform to cut benefits and tax his constituants MORE? Forget reelection. And what do-gooder will run for one term only to arrive home and face all the enemies he's made? Our democracy has for too long been about going to Washington to line your pockets and the pockets of those who sent you, which has worked (except for an interlude in the 30s) until now. And now we have 12 people who will accomplish a miracle. Well Good Luck. Jesus had 12 guys working for him too and that didn't turn out so well, at least at the time. Lord knows Obama's no Jesus. Certainly, as this author maintains, if we don't return full control of our democracy back to the people now for one last shot at getting it right, it's finished.
It does seem as though TPTB are underestimating the intelligence of the masses and aren't even trying very hard any more to disguise their moves on the chess board during the endgame. It's like they think we can only play checkers and we won't "get" that today's move with Buffett and the Bank of America spells nothing coming from the Fed, any more.
Disobey.
I grow weary of the bombastic and oracular utterances from this pretentious poseur who pompously struts about pontificating on the ills of an endemically corrupt shytstem of greed that he himself is hopelessly entrenched in and from which he has profited from all these decades without a whimper of complaint. You are a sanctimonious plaster saint of hypocrisy, Krieger and I hope you have a smile on your face as your stand on Buffet's shoulders in hell burbling in a flaming sea of excrement which you both so richly deserve. Fuck you, your ridiculously presumptive "fourth turning" and your superbly self infatuated and narcissistic generation. You will determine nothing more than the exquisite self congratulatory nonsense which spews continually from the fount of your ridiculous and contrived egotism.
<-- Ron Paul
<--Rick Perry
who should be the GOP candidate in 2012?
<-- Ron Paul
<--Mitt Romney
who should be the GOP candidate in 2012?
<-- Ron Paul
<--Michele Bachmann
who should be the GOP candidate in 2012?
I must say i'm happy to follow the above. Now here's the real deal: all eyes on Germany as the Buffet ass phucking is completed. The Jews are freaking out because Germany is Goldman's golden goose and it's abou to get shot and eaten. All "defensive plays" are now seen as anything but as deflation rears its ugly head and the g-men take all thre boomer bucks and transfer to Obama's Wars. Obama himself is done as America wakes up sand realizes this guy really is an idiot who's allowing the entire country to be taken to the cleaners because he's utterly transfixed with some mystical "black power" rage which simply blinds him to the machinations to those he claims are aiding him and by extension us. Coast is clear for a raucuos Right to take America back "in the name of Texas" as a helpless Ben Bernanke engages full on plunge protection to keep Obama from becoming the Black Hoover. Stay long HSBC and alternative energy as the market stays flat to down but the companies that have the Alpha simply obliterate all the DC toady types who "neber wanted to make money anyways."
When people talk about Green Jobs, I always get the mental image of the green sheen that grows on bad pork.
Get to shoving, Sonny! We ain't going down quietly. Our generation has plenty of us who killed real men on the battlefield, not the X-Box. we await your next move.
hey, I've got 10,000 kills on COD MW2 multiplayer, that's gotta count for something right?
F*ck Buffet.
I believe buffet sells calls on coke and that is how he makes allot of his dough. Could he have plans to do the same with BAC. You sell calls when you think the price is going to drop. What do you think?
This calls for Schneiderman!
Vote for Schneiderman for President:
http://www.schneidermanforpresident.com/
C
Grandpa Buffet just tucked me into bed and told me another bedtime story. He said while he was taking a bath that night, he saw bubbles surfacing to the top of the water. Grandpa said he is so nervous, he accidently farted, then shit in the bathtub because the IRS is after him for loads in back taxes. Grandpa said instead of all the media drama, he would just settle on 5 billion shares of B of A and call it even steven with the IRS people.
I love grandpa so much. He tells such good tales.
LOL
ALSO: Beware of those baring "collective good" when it comes to NATO/U.S. "interventions" into other countries, such as Libya.Today, Sarkozy, Cameron, the Italian dude, and many, many more are licking their greasy oil chops.