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I've been pleased with the NY Times as a good source of interesting articles so naturally I found this recent article about Warren Buffett to be of high interest to myself. Mr Buffett is an investor that I respect and believe the principles of his investment strategy are sound; however, his recent support of the bail outs and of quantitive easing (printing of more money) is questionable in my book. I can't help but see the reason that Mr Buffett supported Obama and the financial stimulus as self-serving. Good for the few, not the many.
From the article: When so many others were running scared last autumn, Mr. Buffett invested billions in Goldman Sachs — and got a far better deal than Washington. He then staked billions more on General Electric. While taxpayers never bailed out Mr. Buffett, they did bail out some of his stock picks. Goldman, American Express, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp — all of them got public bailouts that ultimately benefited private shareholders like Mr. Buffett. Similar accussations has been thrown at Ben Bernanke, that his method of dealing with the financial crisis is self-serving at best and a blind stab in the dark at worst. That said, I'm sure Buffett, or his company, will recover the lost wealth eventually. Whenever the market is depressed and the prices sink to new lows then the stock prices of good companies can becomes bargains. In time these bargains will flourish and such investments should bring massive returns. All of which is provided that the market does recover, or at least the market you invest in. Watching companies in Australia might be a good call, it is the only (or one of the few) Western countries that did not enter a recession. Canada and Norway also seem to be better off than most places during this recession. Unlike the real failures: UK, US, Iceland. Much work is needed but in the right direction. I fear that Mr Buffett actions may not be so conducive to the 'right' direction. I want to see him do well just as also I want to see the economy recover and for the UK to prosper again. One day we might even learn from our mistakes.
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