Free Republic

Huck is convinced someone or some persons are causing the market to crash. He says this is economic terrorism that needs to be investigated by the CIA. This was brought to his attention by someone he trusts that is familiar with how the market operates. This person noticed a disturbing trend in the way stocks were being bought and sold. Huck firmly believes this is the case. Some of us have talked about this theory before and that it could be Soros, Buffet or other Obama supporters. I was never a Huck fan but I'd give my left nut to...

'Paulson's new 'Global Banking Corp.' IPO 2009 Forget Washington, forget Goldman: Our hero has global ambitions By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Last update: 7:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 6, 2008Comments: 108ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- What if: Hank Paulson doesn't return to Wall Street and Goldman Sachs? Builds a global banking empire? Competes head-on with Goldman, Morgan, and other domestic and foreign banks? What if the money comes from offshore, from Asia and the Gulf? He's a red-hot brand! Expect a mega-IPO in 2009.

Isn't this a little like the cat threatening that if the mouse doesn't walk into his mouth he'll be eaten?

March 28, 2005 .....investigators on three continents are examining Buffet's Berkshire insurance affiliates .......the company is in the unfamiliar position of having to defend its integrity. Berkshire insurance affiliates are involved in what investigators describe as possible financial manipulation at insurance giants like AIG and Zurich Financial Services Group. Investigators are trying to determine the extent of senior executives who oversaw insurance operations that sold products at the core of international regulatory scrutiny. The broad investigation into the insurance industry has already brought down top executives including Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief executive of AIG.........regulators are looking at a...

An unusual surge in Goldman Sachs' share price in the last 10 minutes of trading on Tuesday raised eyebrows on Wall Street, as it came two hours before news of Warren Buffett's big investment in the bank. Goldman Sachs shares rose more than $5 heading into the close of trading even as the rest of the market tumbled, leaving traders suspicious that inside information was used to make a profit. "Obviously someone knew the Buffett news that was coming out. I noticed it yesterday and I was telling my colleagues something is going on with Goldman," said Dave Rovelli, managing...

Billionaire Warren Buffett, calling turmoil in the markets an "economic Pearl Harbor," said his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group is an endorsement of the Treasury's $700 billion bank rescue plan. "I am betting on the Congress doing the right thing for the American public and passing this bill," Buffett said on cable channel CNBC Wednesday. "I certainly have a vote of confidence in Goldman and vote of confidence in Congress." Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are pushing Congress to quickly approve the proposal to remove illiquid assets from the banking system. Buffett is...

In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," billionaire Warren Buffett suggested that donors to the John Edwards for President Campaign might consider filing a class action lawsuit. "I think if I had given him money I'd probably be asking him for it back now" quipped the investor icon in a half serious, half joking manner. "I think if I were Edwards I might give up a haircut or two and return some of the money....if they (donors of the smaller amnounts) had known the facts they woudn't have sent him the money." Buffett's main problem with Edwards was the fact...

Warren Buffet, the investor known as the sage of Omaha, is this week expected to privately step into the $46bn hostile bid by Belgian brewer Inbev for Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer. Buffett, who owns 5 per cent of Anheuser through his group Berkshire Hathaway, is planning to speak to August Busch IV, the Anheuser chief executive, within the next few days to discuss the hostile bid, according to sources close to the deal. Buffett wants to remain neutral in the early days of the controversial offer, but it is understood Busch wants to know his opinion of the...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investor Warren Buffett said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday. He said the United States was "already in recession" and added: "Perhaps not in the sense that economists would define it" with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. "But the people are already feeling the effects," said Buffett, the world's richest man. "It will be deeper and last longer than many think." But he said that won't stop him from...

Brazil has come a long way, baby! Back in the 1980s, it defaulting on its debt and the currency, the real, was a laughingstock. Even in the 1990s, Brazil was still so strapped with debt that no one really considered a bond, stock or currency investment there anything but pure speculation. Roll forward to today and Brazil looks very different. For starters, Warren Buffett owns this currency. When the conservative, long term holder from Omaha owns a currency, you know he sees a great future for a very long time. After all, as he says, he's not a trader and...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Monday the U.S. economy is in a recession that will be more severe than most people expect. Buffett made his comments on CNBC television after his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) agreed to invest $6.5 billion in the takeover of chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr Co (WWY.N) by Mars Inc in a $23 billion transaction. "This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be...

"Charlie and I believe Berkshire should be a fortress of financial strength" wrote Warren Buffett. That was five years before the subprime-credit meltdown. "We try to be alert to any sort of mega-catastrophe risk, and that posture may make us unduly appreciative about the burgeoning quantities of long-term derivatives contracts and the massive amount of uncollateralized receivables that are growing alongside. In our view, however, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." That warning was in Buffett's 2002 letter to Berkshire shareholders. He saw a future that many others chose to...

...Mr. Johnson is getting used to being an outcast among the upper class. After the 2003 release of his first film, "Born Rich," which looked at the lives of the silver-spoon set, and now his second, "The One Percent," which focuses on the American wealth gap, Mr. Johnson has become the rich man's Michael Moore -- a trust-fund populist who's not afraid to attack the wealthy and powerful. While his wealth has helped him gain access to the people he's filming, it's also carried personal costs. He has learned the hard way that the biggest betrayal for the rich is...

HOUMA, La. (AP) - A 6-foot-3, 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the buffet line, then banned him and a relative because they're hearty eaters. A spokesman for the restaurant denies the claim. Ricky Labit, a disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week. On his most recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife's cousin, 44-year-old Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults. "She says,...

WHAT SHE’S GOT Cash and Bonds: $30.1 million Life Insurance: $140,000 Retirement Funds: $33,000 Alternative Investments: $248,000 Houses: $5.9 million Mortgages: $1.5 million WORTH: $39.9 MILLION 2006 Income: $12.1 million WHERE SHE GOT IT When Bill Clinton first ran for President in 1992, Hillary provided most of the couple’s income working for the Rose law firm in Little Rock; he earned only $35,000 a year as governor of Arkansas. Although she takes in $165,200 a year as a senator, these days Bill is breadwinner-in-chief. His presidential pension is $201,000 a year, and he grabbed a $12 million advance for his...

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are vying for the affections of legendary investor Warren Buffett, as the economy eclipses Iraq as a key election issue. Mr. Buffett has said he won't endorse a candidate but that he is willing to throw his substantial fund-raising capabilities behind both Sens. Clinton and Obama. "I told both of them that if they ran for president I'd support them, and here we are," Mr. Buffett said after an event for Mrs. Clinton here yesterday. The fund-raising "Conversation with Warren Buffett" drew over 1,500 people, including a mix of Silicon Valley executives...

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday made a strong case for keeping the inheritance tax in place, saying it is a key to ensuring the United States remains a meritocracy. At a joint appearance with billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Clinton said the inheritance tax, due to be temporarily repealed in 2010, was a symbol of "what kind of society we are." "The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system _ where we expect people to make it on their own _ to be, over...

PALO ALTO, Calif.—The billionaire investor known as the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, is staging a second big fund-raiser to boost Senator Clinton's presidential campaign. The event, billed as a lunch and conversation with Mr. Buffett and Mrs. Clinton, is set to take place at a San Francisco hotel on December 11. Tickets will start at $100 for students and those under 30, and $250 for others. In June, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman took part in a similar fund-raiser with Mrs. Clinton in Manhattan. That event reportedly raised about $1 million for her presidential bid.

Is it possible that I’m smarter than Warren Buffett? Well, not likely. There’s so much evidence to the contrary, at least of the "if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?" kind. But, on my side, I didn’t let myself be interviewed by Tom Brokaw and say that I should be taxed at a higher rate. Buffett compared the federal taxes he pays to the taxes his office workers pay. Relating these tax amounts to the respective incomes, he then figured rates: Mine came to — 17.7 percent. The average for the office was 32.9 percent. There wasn’t anybody in...

Warren Buffett has been getting a load of publicity lately by declaring that the members of The Forbes 400 have lower tax rates than corporate receptionists and other middle-class Americans. In an interview with Tom Brokaw, Buffett said: "The Forbes 400, a bunch of my fellow rich guys, their tax rate overall to the federal government [is] less than that of their receptionist." Nice sound bite, but he's deliberately mixing up the income tax with the Social Security portion of the payroll tax. Every worker pays this tax on earnings up to $97,500. Employees pay 6.2%, and employers match that,...

I just saw where if any service member goes to a Golden Corral SteakHouse tomorrow, It's on the house. It applies to all whom are classified as a Vet. It's not a classy steak-house by any sense but the generosity is sincere.

Would anyone like a free dinner at Golden Corral? Well, there is an easy way if you are an American military veteran. Golden Corral just announced this year’s Military Appreciation Monday will be November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm. For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day), to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military. In the past the only requirement to receive the free meal...

"The rich are different from you and me," wrote Fitzgerald and I suppose they are, but the differences – they wax and wane with the economic tides. Gilded ages come, go, and are reborn on the monsoon cloudbursts of seemingly intangible forces such as globalization, innovation, and favorable tax policy. For the rich to be truly rich and multiply their numbers, they need help. Adept surfers they may be, but like all riders, the wealthy need a seventh wave that allows them to preen their skills and declare themselves masters of their own universe, if only for a moment in...

NEW YORK, June 26 -- Warren E. Buffett was his usual folksy self Tuesday night at a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as he slammed a system that allows the very rich to pay taxes at a lower rate than the middle class. Buffett cited himself, the third-richest person in the world, as an example. Last year, Buffett said, he was taxed at 17.7 percent on his taxable income of more than $46 million. His receptionist was taxed at about 30 percent.

On FoxNews a little while ago, they showed a video clip of Warren Buffet speaking at what looked like a Hillary campaign fundraiser. I can't find the video on Fox's site, YouTube, or Google video, so it seems like it isn't up yet. From memory it went like this: Buffet: My idea is that you make a company so good that even an idiot can run it, because you know that one day an idiot will end up running it! (Audience laughter) Buffet: Kind of like this country, where even an idiot can run it, and is... (LOUD cackling from...

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks as she sits with billionaire financier Warren Buffett (not pictured) at a fundraising event in New York City, June 26, 2007. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

FORGET Margaritaville - French authorities reportedly seized more than 100 tabs of club drug "ecstasy" from Jimmy Buffett's luggage this week. The Grammy-winning singer got into trouble when he flew into Toulon-Hyères International Airport in the South of France on a rented private jet and customs officials started poking around in his suitcases. According to local press reports, they uncovered more than 100 tablets of the mind-bending substance. Buffett, who was on his way to chill out in the ritzy resort town of St. Tropez, was detained, but not arrested, and allowed to go free after paying a fine of...

September 7, 2006 -- AN infuriated Warren Buffett has renounced one of his granddaughters - telling her she is no longer his relative "legally or emotionally" because she took part in a documentary about the lives of the very rich. Nicole Buffett, the adopted daughter of Buffett's son Peter and biological daughter of Peter's ex-wife Mary, was featured in Jamie Johnson and Nick Kurzon's documentary, "The One Percent," which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and is a follow-up to Johnson's "Born Rich." Enraged that Nicole not only participated in the documentary, but also plugged it on National...

Something horrifying is happening in the waters off Brazil. Sharks are attacking surfers near the city of Recife at an unprecedented rate, scaring the locals and forcing the government to ban the sport at one of it’s most popular beaches. Over the past decade, 45 people have been attacked by bull sharks in the region, 16 were deadly. And while these attacks are not unheard of, the fact the port city had recorded only one in the 75 years prior, is perplexing. Are the sharks rebelling? Have they had enough of people overcrowding their home? Or is there something less...

Do billionaires like Warren Buffett have an 'obligation' to disperse their money to charities rather than leaving it to family members? Yes No Not sure

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is to donate about $37bn (£20bn) - most of his vast personal fortune - to Bill Gates' charitable foundation. Mr Buffett will hand 10 million shares in his Berkshire Hathaway firm to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In a statement, Mr and Mrs Gates said they were "awed" by the donation, thought to be the largest charitable gift ever made in the United States.

Editor's Note: This article was widely circulated on China's internet websites. We believe it will provide our readers an insight into the mindset in China. I remember the host on a program about animal rights saying, "Please take care of our animals. It will be good for everyone." However, some Chinese don't think about the animals when eating meat. They dare to eat anything but aren't aware that what they are eating may actually be harmful to them. Ah Chang, who has worked in the restaurant industry for many years in China, has witnessed the use of all kinds of...

Buffet: We're here for the long haul "If it gives Israel a shot in the arm, that's great," he tells Post. While strategists continued to project good things for Israel Tuesday in the wake of Warren Buffett's $4 billion investment in Iscar Ltd., the man at the center of the euphoria was thrilled to have found a place in the country. "We're going to be in Israel way beyond my lifetime," the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview late Monday night from the company's Omaha, Nebraska headquarters. "There was enormous enthusiasm...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Wendy Dershem may think twice before leaving that egg roll on her plate at her next Chinese buffet. The Des Moines woman, her boyfriend and her two children were kicked out of a restaurant last week after management accused her of leaving too much food on her plate. "They told us we are not welcome there anymore," said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. "We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won't always eat everything and they want something else." Dershem said...

"Too often executive compensation in the U.S. is ridiculously out of line with performance," said Buffett in his 2005 letter. "Huge severance payments, lavish perks and outsized payments for ho-hum performance often occur because comp committees have become slaves to comparative data." Buffett said compensation committee members are bombarded with pay statistics and told about new perks that other managers are receiving. "In this manner, outlandish 'goodies' are showered upon CEOs simply because of a corporate version of the argument we all use as children: 'But, Mon, all the other kids have one.'" The billionaire investor, known as the Oracle...

RENO, Nev. - The U.S. trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to "political turmoil," billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned. ADVERTISEMENT "Right now, the rest of the world owns $3 trillion more of us than we own of them," Buffett told business students and faculty Tuesday at the University of Nevada, Reno. "In my view, it will create political turmoil at some point. ... Pretty soon, I think there will be a big adjustment," he said without elaborating. Buffett, head of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway...

The appearance of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at the Lied Center last week was a reminder of the fluidity in American society that allows talent and drive — not birthright and connection — to earn power and wealth. Although both men came from comfortable backgrounds, neither was born to that old wealth stratum of American society that sometimes seems to be tantamount to an aristocracy. Dressed casually, they sat on a couple of stools, cracking jokes, speaking plainly, fielding unscripted questions. “They seemed like ordinary people, very normal, very knowledgeable and funny,” observed Yong Zhao, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln...

WARREN BUFFET IS BEARISH on the United States, and he's bullish on Europe. For the first time in his life, starting in 2002, Mr. Buffett entered the foreign exchange markets and shorted the dollar. This rare macro-economic bet was based on a belief that U.S. consumers and the U.S. government were spending beyond their means, and that the trade deficit was a sign of economic weakness. While his short position was profitable in 2004, he has lost more than half a billion dollars so far in 2005. Some Wall Street sources suggest that his breakeven exchange rate is $1.22/euro, so...

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?siteid=mktw&guid={064C1C55-5EA9-4481-9D20-8E9F19AB420B}&dist=bnb 11:46am 06/06/05 General Re exec pleads guilty in AIG -transaction - WSJ (BRK.B, BRK.A) By Carolyn Pritchard SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- An executive at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRK.B) (BRK.A) General Re unit has pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal conspiracy in relation to the company's transaction with American International Group Inc. (AIG) , the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Monday, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter. John Houldsworth, who headed up General Re's reinsurance unit in Dublin, reportedly faces up to five years in prison for his role in a 2001 transaction between...

On Saturday, twenty thousand investors filed into a large arena in Omaha to hear Warren Buffett, perhaps America’s most successful investor, speak on the economy, the financial markets and the performance of the company in which they are all shareholders: Berkshire Hathaway. The shareholders did hear from Buffett on investments and economics. But they also heard something that you may not expect to hear at a shareholder meeting: a warning about terrorism using weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett said he maintained a more than $21 billion bet against the U.S. dollar even after it cost the insurance and investment company about $310 million the first quarter. Berkshire also plans to announce an insurance acquisition of ``a little less than $1 billion'' in the next few weeks and increased first-quarter profit from operations by about $400 million before taxes, Buffett said today at the company's annual meeting of shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska. The increase suggests profit rose 24 percent from a year earlier. Buffett, who's been betting against the dollar since 2002, said...

10:45AM Dollar seen aided by Buffett short-covering rumor by Leslie Wines NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - A rumor in currency markets that financier Warren Buffett may be covering his short positions on currency forward contracts could be lending support to the dollar, according to IDEAGlobal currency strategist Sean Callow. There is no way to know for sure whether Buffett really is covering his shorts, Callow stressed. As of Dec. 31, 2004, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had $21.4 billion worth of forward contracts in 12 currencies and was warning investors about 'exceptional volatility,' the analyst noted. In recent trades the euro was down...

Warren Buffett has warned that the US trade deficit risks creating a “sharecropper’s society” as his letter to shareholders sounded an increasingly bearish tone about the value of the dollar. The billionaire fund manager said his own performance as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway was “lacklustre” because he struck out in his quest for new investments. Annual results showed the book value of Berkshire shares underperformed the stock market for the second year in a row while full-year profits fell 10 per cent. But his sceptical view of current market valuations continued as Berkshire’s holdings of cash rose from $36bn in...

XXX LIVE SUNDAY NIGHTS XXX9:30 PM TO 1:00 AM EASTERN WABC 9:30 PM Simulcast: Quick ClickLISTEN ONLINEWINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER/MISC PROPRIETARY: WABC...New York, NY (Liquid Compass)WFLA...Tampa, FL (Liquid Compass)KPRC...Houston, TX (Liquid Compass)WJNO...West Palm Beach, FL KFI...Los Angeles, CA (Liquid Compass)WIOD...Miami, FL WGST...Atlanta, GA (Liquid Compass)KOGO...San Diego, CA (Liquid Compass) REAL PLAYER: WNTK...New London, NH Drudge on the DialCALL IN 1-866-4-DRUDGE...XM: channel 166AIM: mdrudgePlease notify lainie of ping list preferencesComment on what you hear here!

The dollar cannot avoid further declines against other major currencies unless the US trade and current account deficits improve, legendary investor and businessman Warren Buffett said. "I think, over time, unless we have a major change in trade policies, I don't see how the dollar avoids going down," the world's second-richest individual told CNBC television. "I don't know when it happens. I don't have any idea whether it will be this month or this year or next year, but we are force-feeding dollars on to the rest of the world at the rate of close to a couple billion dollars...

MICHAEL EISNER OF WALT DISNEY may be the most reviled and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway the most admired CEOs in American business this year. But whose company produces better returns on shareholder equity? Last spring, Eisner was removed as Disney's chairman of the board when more than 40% of shareholders voted against his re-election to the board. Meanwhile, shareholders re-elected Buffett to Berkshire Hathaway's board of directors as the financial press reported details of his comments to an audience convinced of his financial wizardry and panoramic vision for the future. But whose company has been producing better returns on...

When state officials held a press conference Monday to announced that GEICO was returning to New Jersey's auto insurance market, McGreevey was noticeably absent. Which was odd, since it was an opportunity to crow about reforms he signed last year. Where was he? Administration sources say billionaire investor Warren Buffett , who owns GEICO, refused to attend if McGreevey was present. Micah Rasmussen, the governor's spokesman, said only that his boss was with his family at the time.