WARREN BUFFETTED FOR $1.8B IN '05 (bad bets lost shareholders billions)

NY POST ^ | March 4, 2006 | PAUL THARP

[Liz]

Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in America, is $1.8 billion poorer this year due to bad bets - also losing billions for his loyal following......considered by some as the world's greatest investor, has suffered an embarrassing 2.36 percent loss in returns on his huge Berkshire Hathaway empire in the past year.

The pricey shares skidded from their peak last December of $91,200 apiece to $87,490 yesterday.....a drop of nearly $4.7 billion in just three months for his shareholders.

Berkshire Hathaway - built largely on insurance businesses and blue chip stocks - got hurt from insurance losses and bad bets on the dollar......also lost about $926 million in the first half of last year betting the dollar would drop, but it rose 10 percent against other currencies.

[groanup]

"Money always returns to its rightful owners."

Great quote. And:

"A fool and his money were lucky to get together." A friend of mine.

[Liz]

There is an incredible amount of confusing data about BH coming out. The report (above) shows a massive increase in profit for BH. Of course this is Market Watch which was owned by CBS and still has a ton of liberal maggots getting a paycheck. Also of interest is BH owns 18% of the Washington Post. I wonder how many other left wing fishwraps BH owns. The left wing newspaper where Toles works is one.

Thanks for those salient facts.

Two points----BH's gotta dish out the "gold at the end of the rainbow PR" to look good for the Wall Street analysts---b/c in the last analysis---like the losing NYT giving know-nothing Pinch a raise and a bonus---this looks good to stockholders.

If s/h lose confidence and bail out-----disaster looms.

[em2vn]

Do you feel the same way about Wal-Mart?

[Mamzelle]

bump for later...didn't Buffet essentially bet on the downfall of the US?

[groanup]

The dx basket trades a little smoother than the individual currencies. Less wear and tear on these old dinosaur bones. I don't really trust the electonic dx. It trades on the Irish exchange so I usually don't put in overnight stops. I don't like that either. I trade the interest rates much more often.

[Liz]

.....and my personal fave....

"Be careful who you step on on the way up, b/c you're gonna meet them on the way down."

[Liz]

You got that right.

[groanup]

I used to work with a trader who, when he got bearish, would stomp around the trading floor yelling, "sell until you puke or puke until you sell!" LOL.

[Osage Orange]

If you'd have bot in APR of 03...BRKA shares were selling in the 60k range....Seems if memory serves me...BRKA shares sold for under 20k..a year or three before that.

Correct me if I'm wrong....

FRegards,

[Liz]

Isn't he the one who wore the tee shirt printed with the legend: "There's a sucker born every minute"?

[groanup]

Worse than that! LOL.

[Republican Party Reptile]

rampant economic idiocy on this thread. How is betting the dollar will fall = betting against the U.S.? The direction of the dollar does not equate to good or bad for the U.S. in a black and white way.

the dollar goes up, goes down, it's what a floating currency do. There are economic and political benefits to be argued for both a strong dollar as well as a weak dollar, there is no perfect monetary policy, otehrwise we can just clode down the Fed anf all go home. In fact, the U.S. economic growth of the past few years have in part benefited from a realtively weaker dollar over the last few years.

sometimes the bet on the direction goes wrong, heck, in a competitive forex market, at least half of the traders have to be wrong in their bets at any given time for the forex future market to function.

and WB made a bad bet in this case, so it goes. No trader / investor is ever 100% right, they just hope to be more than 50% right. People who consider this some sort of political vindication are not very clear on their economics.

[Mamzelle]

I was listening to his rhetoric, which sounded plenty anti-American, to me. I don't follow his actual investing. I know what he has to say influences a lot of people.

[Chode]

HA ha...
and the RATS take another one in the...

[truemiester]

Just finished "Do as I say not as I do".

i hope Soros is working as w Wal-Mart greeter.

I know it wont as there are DUmmies and fools every where. Besides the man makes money. I just dont like him.

At $87,000+ a share, It is not in my investment portfolio. I emptied it to buy my new grandson a lot of stuff! Best money I ever spent! One heck of an investment!

[Sonny M]

Did Warren never hear of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (/sarc)?

He did support it, and then made a few crude jokes about how it can help him.

Thats the Buffett way, exploit companies that are being held back by government, and use his money to overcome those obstacles.

[Sonny M]

What happened, insider info ran out?

He doesn't need insider info, he just needs government to get involved and hold small business down, so he can swoop in like a vulture.

[kittymyrib]

But on the bright side, I'm sure Anna Nicole Smith wouldn't turn you down, Warren.

[nygoose]

I never cease to be amazed at how alike Freepers think.