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Warren Buffett: gold has no value
The Telegraph ^ | 2/10/2012 | Emma Wall

Posted on 02/10/2012 6:22:11 PM PST by bruinbirdman

Berkshire Hathaway chairman and famous investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a "valueless asset".

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a valueless asset saying that it has no inherent value. In an article for Fortune magazine, Buffett said that gold investors were pinning their hopes on future demand.

He warned that gold was a self-inflating bubble, created by investors desperate for a viable alternative to property and shares.

The infamous investor warned that investors in gold would be left with egg on their face when the price eventually crashed.

"Bubbles blown large enough inevitably pop," he said. "And then the old proverb is confirmed once again: "What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end."

Buffett's attack comes as private bank Coutts predicts that the gold price will hit "new highs" by the end of 2012.

In a report from the bank, that counts the Queen among its clients, gold is confirmed as a "key asset in investment portfolios".

Coutts said: "The easing of global monetary conditions in response to the liquidity squeeze in the latter part of 2011 has boosted gold.

"Some further stimulus measures could now be postponed by an improving economic outlook, at least in the US. Nonetheless, negative real returns, adjusted for risk, are undermining confidence in major currencies as a store of value. We expect gold prices to hit new highs by year end."

Meanwhile, gold fell more than 1 pc on Friday, hurt by a slide in the euro after a Greek party leader said he couldn't back the 130-billion euro bailout deal the country needs to avoid going bankrupt, which comes at the cost of painful austerity measures.

Spot gold fell as low as $1,703.69 an ounce and was down 0.9 percent

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: buffett; gold; goldstandard; warrenbuffett
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To: Greysard

Excellent, well thought out and well written post.

We’ve come to similar conclusions.


81 posted on 02/10/2012 9:09:30 PM PST by reformedliberal
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To: gorush

Thats too bad. I find people like that inflexible and unable to see alternatives that are not traditional.

These are the same people who are unable to see humor in clever turns of a phrase.

Hate is probably too strong a word. Tedious and implacable are probably more accurate.


82 posted on 02/10/2012 9:10:11 PM PST by Vermont Lt (I just don't like anything about the President. And I don't think he's a nice guy.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Gold may be worthless, but it’s worth more on a unit-per-unit basis than any of the fiat currencies people buy it with. What’s more, it ALWAYS will be.


83 posted on 02/10/2012 9:15:52 PM PST by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Yashcheritsiy

Gold would probably make a very nice bullet body.


84 posted on 02/10/2012 9:19:06 PM PST by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: bruinbirdman

He’s just trying to wean people away from it because he and his friends can’t control a gold economy.


85 posted on 02/10/2012 9:21:56 PM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: immadashell

He probably sees no problem with the fed printing money like crazy either


86 posted on 02/10/2012 9:30:32 PM PST by mriguy67
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To: bruinbirdman
He supports King Obama. He is dead to me.

He was being interviewed on CBS, by Charlie Rose and some Blond, and he went on and on about the made up crap about his Secretary and the proposed Buffet Tax.

The old man is a tool.

87 posted on 02/10/2012 9:34:47 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (Liberals, Useful Idiots Voting for Useless Idiots...)
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To: bruinbirdman

Compared to having the government peform a lewd act upon one’s person because of one’s wealth, it’s true, gold has less than satisfactory value. It’s also true that gold has paltry value compared to being to participate in insider dealings. Dealings which arose out of Mr. Buffett’s cash position at the time.

But we do not have your wealth Warren. And I canceled my GEICO policy because of your cronyism. Enjoy your ice cream.

By the way, Warren Buffett was deep, deep into silver when it was sub-$5 and sold it when it was $7 because “he didn’t understand it”. He sold massive calls against his silver holdings because he was irritated at the idea that the holding generated no income. And was called out of all of it.

I don’t understand brain surgery. Does that mean brain surgery has no value? Barack 0bama doesn’t understand freedom. Does that mean freedom has no value?

It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how smart you think you are. It is an undeniable possibility that a hunk of dumb metal is smarter than you are.


88 posted on 02/10/2012 9:41:45 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (The only economic certainty: When it all blows up, Krugman will say we didn't spend enough.)
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To: 3boysdad

How many other scenarios in America, have a higher probability than the “starvation” scenario?

High Inflation?
Unstable economy?
Volatile dollar?
Energy shortage?
Stock Market collapse?

THAT is what gold is good for.


89 posted on 02/10/2012 10:27:44 PM PST by G Larry (We are NOT obliged to carry the snake in our pocket and then dismiss the bites as natural behavior.)
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To: bruinbirdman

You just have to ask yourself why would Warren Buffet say don’t buy Gold if he really though it was worthless???


90 posted on 02/10/2012 10:41:01 PM PST by Sprite518
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To: Yashcheritsiy
Much better to invest in food, water, and ammo, as well as booze and other “trade items.”

Other trade items:
TP, cigarettes, lighters, soap, medical items such as alcohol, gauze and ointments, face breathing masks, water filtration devices, and?

91 posted on 02/10/2012 11:08:22 PM PST by roadcat
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To: G Larry
All of my tangible assets of high utility not only increase in value with each of these scenarios, but they also trump them in the end. If you think about it gold has no more value than fiat currency. It has value because someone says it does. There is very little commercial use for gold compared to many other metals. It is truly the “emperor’s new clothes” of investments in the current state and direction of global mayhem. I invest in energy which gives me immediate dividends in fiat currency, which I promptly reinvest and/or convert into something tangible of high utility. The world needs energy. It doesn't need gold. I can't draw a more simple picture. But I do think you're safe riding the gold snafu at least until November.
92 posted on 02/10/2012 11:17:35 PM PST by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Let’s make dirt the currency of the future - not as valuable as gold currently goes for per ounce, but ther’s so much more of it. Plus, you can grow things in it and best of all the government can’t print it...


93 posted on 02/11/2012 3:21:37 AM PST by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: GeronL

Warren’s money is in paper, promises and electron pulses stored in computers - what I’d call worth less than gold if a real crisis of epic proportions comes as seems like Obama is pushing this country.

His suits, lifestyles, private jets, luxury homes, and yes, even his little ice cream sundae can be wiped out a heck of a lot faster than an ingot of gold.


94 posted on 02/11/2012 3:26:13 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: 3boysdad

No, a “fiat” currency has value because a government says it does. Otherwise, nobody would accept it. Gold is unique because it is a generally recognized form of wealth that cuts across time and cultures and doesn’t need compulsion for acceptance. Nobody ever put together an expedition to recover some long lost Monarch’s check book, after all. Fiat currencies can be made worthless by diktat, overnight. This has happened many times.


95 posted on 02/11/2012 4:28:57 AM PST by Freedom4US
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To: Rebelbase

I’m RICH, I’m RICH!

(In the spirit of magnanimity & fair play, I will share with you 10% of all the gold that Warren Buffet sends my way)


96 posted on 02/11/2012 4:34:45 AM PST by BwanaNdege (Man has often lost his way, but modern man has lost his address - Gilbert K. Chesterton)
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To: ScottfromNJ

“I think the financial disaster that was expected around 1979 is finally happening today.”

Does anyone here remember Bob White and The Duck Book?


97 posted on 02/11/2012 5:35:23 AM PST by beef (Who Killed Kennewick Man?)
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To: SnuffaBolshevik
So astoundingly wrong.

Nope. Gold is a luxury item for when civilization is on kilter. When civilization gets knocked off kilter, as happens every few centuries it seems, then gold is nothing but a lump of yellow metal that is a pain to haul around everywhere. It only becomes valuable again when people start thinking it's valuable again.

98 posted on 02/11/2012 6:13:27 AM PST by Yashcheritsiy
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To: Yashcheritsiy

So much better to “haul around” a few bales of worthless fiat currency when civilization gets knocked off kilter, right?


99 posted on 02/11/2012 7:13:13 AM PST by SnuffaBolshevik (In a tornado, even turkeys can fly.)
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To: BwanaNdege

Excellent. Making a shopping list on how to spend my millions...


100 posted on 02/11/2012 7:16:02 AM PST by Rebelbase
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