Posted on 03/03/2014 7:54:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Two days after publishing his annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett is on speaking on CNBC with Becky Quick. Equity fund managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler will also be on later in an extremely rare appearance.
On Ukraine
Off the bat, Quick asked for his take on the tension in Ukraine.
Rather than addressing the turmoil directly, Buffett said that he does not consider these types of skirmishes when he invests in companies.
"I never really buy businesses based on macro factors," he said.
He noted that he invested in his first business in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On The Stock Market
Regarding the market itself, Quick asked if the mom-and-pop investor really could get a fair shot as some argue that the market is actually rigged.
Buffett was skeptical that the $20 trillion + stock market could actually be rigged.
"People should stop calling it the stock market," he said. "It's American business."
On The US Economy
"Exactly what's been going on since the fall of 2009 continues," he said reminding us that he gets live updates from the 80+ companies he invests in. "Moderate but consistent growth for four and a half years. Every now and then we get excited about a speeding up and every now and again we worry about a double dip."
"In terms of what we see, it's been almost a straight line, but not at the kind of slope that people would like. But not flat either."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
And for those of you who say he’s making money off his pal, Obama’s decision NOT to approve the Keystone Pipeline, here’s a surprise ( if you can believe him )...
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On Railroads
Buffett’s still bullish on the industry
“The future of railroads is very good,” he said.
On The Keystone Pipeline
It’s a “very good idea for the country.”
“I’d vote yes,” he said later.
That’s okay. I bought my Bitcoins with my Ally bank account. That’s not real,either!
Bitcoin. lol Who on Earth couldn’t see that coming? I guess the ninnies that bought them.
If you are a true investor, you don’t count on any particular thing happening in the future. Sure, you hedge your bets based on likely events, but you are aware that no one knows what will happen and you could very well be wrong.
He can make money off railroads, but if the Keystone pipeline is built, he’ll make money off of that too.
Talk is cheap.
Yuck! He proposes expansion of the Earned Income Credit instead of minimum wage increases. Of course he does because it means the taxpayer subsidizes income, rather than the companies. Why can’t we do neither?
When I read this I immedately thought about Atlas Shrugged...
New and better ideas were attacked by big shot investors and gov’t cronies, new ideas always go through growing pains like Bitcoin.
Bitcoins, right. That and carbon credits!
“Bitcoins, right. That and carbon credits!”
Yeah, I invested all my bitcoins in carbon credits. Or did I invest my carbon credits in bitcoins? I can’t really remember exactly. At any rate, either way, I expect to be really rich in a couple of weeks.
“Those ninnies can still sell them for over $600 each.”
Which would be a net loss of $400.00 each if they recently bought ‘em for a $1000.00 each. Or in the case of the 450,000 bitcoins that just evaporated at Mt. Gox, they gonna be selling ‘em for nuttin, which would be a net loss of, hmmmmm, let’s see, oh yeah, 100%.
“New and better ideas were attacked by big shot investors and gov’t cronies, new ideas always go through growing pains like Bitcoin.”
The problem is that not all new ideas are good simply because they are new ideas, e.g., Metro UI & Windows 8.x, Segway, New Coke, the Edsel, the Newton, Windows Bob, etc.
Buffet only tells you what he want’s you to know. i.e. he’s a liar.
It’s easy to be reassuring when you’re the ultimate crony capitalist.
“Bitcoin. lol Who on Earth couldn’t see that coming? I guess the ninnies that bought them.”
Yep, they went from $34 in March of ‘13 to $628 at the moment. What a bunch of stupid fools those “ninnies” are! LOL
BTW, they’ve gone from $528 to $628 since the Mt. Gox bankruptcy announcement.
“The problem is that not all new ideas are good simply because they are new ideas, e.g., Metro UI & Windows 8.x, Segway, New Coke, the Edsel, the Newton, Windows Bob, etc.”
Right, but the idea of a robust digital commodity is squarely in the pantheon of “good ideas”.
Personally, I like the idea of being able to transmit any amount of money anywhere for a few cents. That is the main value proposition of Bitcoin.
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