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  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    bottoms-up,

    I'm not certain I agree that this was an exercise in "market pumping" for a couple of reasons.

    First, Buffet has held a substantial position in BNI for a while, and it "fits" his style and "comfort zone". We're talking about the guy who sat out the whole internet bubble because he didn't understand computers and the internet. It doesn't get much simpler than railroads.

    Secondly, given the size of BRK, it takes a BIG deal to move the needle...lets say he threw a couple of hundred million into buying a biotech, or "social networking" site, and it turns out to be a 5 bagger...so now he's got one more billion...BFD!


    On Nov 03 10:43 AM bottoms-up wrote:

    > I want to make one comment about "Buffett buys Burlington for a cool
    > $44B." And I say this with all due respect to all of you who follow
    > Mr. Buffett...
    >
    > To me he has become nothing but a dog and pony that is rolled out
    > whenever they need something pumped... Yesterday the pumping sector
    > was financials, now it is transportation, tomorrow??? My other concern
    > is when I see Mr. Buffett sitting at the same table as Bush or Obama,
    > helping to develop government policy during this crisis.
    >
    > If you go to this link on the US Security and Exchange Commission
    > website, I think a lot of this fits insider trading (and not just
    > with Mr. Buffett, there are a lot of them in this boat and no level
    > playing field=no confidence).
    >
    > www.sec.gov/answers/in...
    >
    > Examples of insider trading cases that have been brought by the SEC
    > are cases against:
    >
    > * Corporate officers, directors, and employees who traded the corporation's
    > securities after learning of significant, confidential corporate
    > developments;
    >
    > * Friends, business associates, family members, and other "tippees"
    > of such officers, directors, and employees, who traded the securities
    > after receiving such information;
    >
    > * Employees of law, banking, brokerage and printing firms who were
    > given such information to provide services to the corporation whose
    > securities they traded;
    >
    > * Government employees who learned of such information because of
    > their employment by the government; and
    >
    > * Other persons who misappropriated, and took advantage of, confidential
    > information from their employers.
    Nov 03 21:11 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    "We are well positioned for economic recovery, but the shape and speed of the recovery remains unknown and we expect weakness to continue in the near-term."

    Investors are starting to echo Tom Cruise's line..."Show me the money!!!"
    Nov 03 10:22 am |Rating: +5 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Emerging Economies: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly [View article]
    Joe,

    All of the (good) points that you mention in regard to investing in places like China, Russia, the Middle East, etc., fall under the general heading of "political risk", and has been a part of investing in EMs for as long as the term has existed, if not longer.

    I think the bottom line is, if one agrees that diversification is important in constructing a portfolio, its doubly important, when investing in any of the EMs. Not just within a given market, but across the spectrum of EMs.
    Aug 25 11:54 am |Rating: +5 -2 |Link to Comment
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