bindlepete

Buffett's Big Buyout Bets on Buoyancy

Buoyancy ? I would say stagflation and a return to commodity exports ( coal and topsoil), a collapse in high value manufactured items, and dependence on the politically pwerful utility industry and their paper /bong holders the insurance industry.

Sorry to have lost BNI from my portfolio but I retain the best route structure of CNI . Lets wait until Canadian commodity exports swell to contain wheat, petroleum and their abundant coal resources.

It will take time but Kitimat, North America's closest port to Asia, belongs to CNI.

Buffett Takes a Page from the Monopoly Playbook

I agree with the emphasis as I see this as a bet on the fuel shortage due to efficiency of the rail roads and the commodity play rings true. We are losing our manufacturing and have little to sell the world but our topsoil and raw materials. Weapons of course but these are taxpayer subsidized in their entirety.

Further, it is a bet on coal and electricity. Hauling coal from the Powder River Basin is BNI's lifeblood. and the utilities will survive as they are monopolies and regulation will not put them down.

Utility paper/ bonds are what keep the ever powerful insurance industry alive. So Insurance and electricity are combined,an over powering force in Washington.

I have fought them both and know. Hate to sell BNI but I still keep an ever better route structure in CNI. Wait until Canada's coal starts to boom as an export. Right after wheat and petroleum.

Warren Buffett's Bet on Rail and America

I disagree with the emphasis as I see this as a bet on the fuel shortage due to efficiency of the rail roads.

Further, it is a bet on coal and electricity. Hauling coal from the Powder River Basin is BNI's lifeblood. and the utilities will survive as they are monopolies and regulation will not put them down.

Their paper/ bonds are what keep the ever powerful insurance industry alive. So Insurance and electricity are combined,an over powering force in Washington.

I have fought them both and know.

Time to Move Back into Defensive Stocks Like Utilities?

I see utilities as a good defensive play but their dividends will surely lag the inflation figures. Truth is that the large central generating utilities should go out of business with their megga coal plants of moderate efficiency. The size= efficiency equation is history and a larger number of smaller local plants would encourage co-generation as well as get rid of the expensive, inefficient and fault prone transmission lines.

It would do great damage to the insurance co's , of course, who hold the paper on these antique generators but Hey, what's another bail out. The printing presses are now warmed up.

Non the less the utilities are a reasonable defense for the investor in US securities.

10 Dangerous Stocks to Avoid

This is a pretty silly analysis in one regard. True, leverage can work against you in hard times but when interest rates are well below the inflation rates it could well be a time to borrow as it is essentially "free" money. Pay it back with peanuts.

Now if you are in a regulated or solid business situation such as a utility or Rail Road (these rail roads folks are on the uptick due to the spiking energy costs of trucking and need for commodity exports coal grain etc) leverage at a less than zero cost makes a lot of sense. The utilities are guaranteed a profit if they are a regulated outfit so they will get their interest back no matter. ( This is not true for 3rd party producers.)

The rail roads do have pricing control outside their contractual agreements and here, unless they are fools, they should have themselves covered for inflation.

If you do not think we are in an inflationary environment google Shadowstats . what is going down other than housing ?

Food no, Medical no, education no, labor no, energy no, enertainment no, clothing perhaps a trifle, rent no, taxes, no . The BLS is cooking the figures. Since Clinton they have been lying to us.