Warren Buffett Rolls the Dice

Placing one’s chips on the “Don’t Pass” line when Warren Buffett holds the dice may seem ill-advised, but we’re not so sure about that $5 billion bet he just made on Bank of America.  The news media inferred with all its might that it was a vote of confidence — not only in B of A, but in the U.S. banking system. Yeah, well, maybe. But it would be just like Buffett to make the kind of deal that will return all of his capital come hell or high water while allowing him to reap a windfall if the bank should rise from the grave.  In the meantime, the six percent dividend he’ll be collecting each year is a lot better than most hedge funds have been doing lately.  Buffett could also become the bank’s biggest shareholder if he is able to exercise warrants to purchase 700 million shares of common stock for $7.14 a share over the next ten years.  Had he been able to do so yesterday, it would have been quite a score – worth about $357 million in instant profits — since mere news of the deal caused B of A to gap up to $8.80 a share on the NYSE opening.  The stock had settled the night before at $6.99 after trading as low as $6.01 earlier in the week.  The hysterical price leap was undoubtedly due to short covering, since it’s hard to imagine anyone but bears caught in a deadly squeeze paying a 47% premium for the stock just because Buffett had signed on.

For all we know, he shares our opinion that B of A, like all of the other money center banks, could conceivably fail.  All that’s needed to make it happen, as Buffett must know, is for confidence in Federal Reserve notes – i.e., the stuff we carry in our wallets – to fail. Is that day coming? No one can say for certain, but it seems no worse than an even-money bet to us right now.  More immediately, though, look for the press to shill the supposed symbolism of Buffett’s banking play.  “Warren Buffett comes to the  rescue again,” was how ABC news led the story, while MSNBC anchor Brian Williams fatuously described the Sage of Omaha as “the one man rich enough, and influential enough, to save a bank.” As indeed he may have, even if just temporarily.  It was only a couple of days ago that B of A stock nearly slipped below $6 for the first time in decades.

Now, How to Grow?

But for Buffett to realize a fat capital gain, Bank of America will need to figure out how to grow its business.  It was easy enough for the big banks to fake good health a few years ago, when the Fed allowed them to dump their toxic loans into the still-nebulous limbo of the central bank’s digital vault. But if there is a sound way to actually grow banking business in the midst of the current real estate depression, we can’t imagine what it would be.  Buffett himself was not pressed for his thoughts on this, but we’d be interested to hear them.  Surely he has some good ideas, right? In the meantime, the news media accepted at face value Buffett’s white lie that he did the deal because B of A is a “strong, well-led company.”  If that is a fact, then investors who have allowed the stock to fall from a high of $55 toward the zero axis in recent months have yet to discover it.

From a technical standpoint, we have B of A shares falling below zero.  While this is not technically possible, it is the same result we got a few years ago when we performed a similar analysis on the shares of Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros before they crashed.  Incidentally, if you want to follow our analysis of B of A and other stocks, as weupdated round-the-clock, consider taking a free trial subscription to Rick’s Picks. It will give you access not only to timely analysis and detailed trading recommendations, but to a 24/7 chat room that draws savvy traders from around the world.

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  • fallingman August 29, 2011, 4:24 am

    BofA is such an abysmally run company. If you’re not familiar with the particulars of just how stupid they are, read Crash of the Titans by Greg Farrell. He chronicles the Merrill deal in intricate detail from both the BofA and Merrill perspectives. Reads like a novel.

    How do buffoons like Stan O’Neal and Ken Lewis get to be CEOs of major corporations?

  • Terry S August 28, 2011, 7:15 am

    Right on ricecake, can you say Jubilee?

  • Terry S August 28, 2011, 7:11 am

    Headline: Russia initiates gold-backed, 90 day, loans at 7%. (The 7% solution redux or ‘How we learned to Love debt and Fear the gold standard’).

  • Jill August 27, 2011, 9:03 pm

    Ricecake, you said:

    “Wait to hear some major policy changes/moves regarding the housing-mortgage sector.”

    Like this:

    http://www.thestreet.com/story/11224917/1/a-huge-housing-bargain–but-not-for-you.html

  • Jill August 27, 2011, 12:36 am

    Well, we read it on the Internet, written by an anonymous author to boot, so it must be true, huh?

  • C.C. August 26, 2011, 8:43 pm

    There is an interesting twist in play here – it’s actually right out in front for everyone to see, but political ideologues are blinded by highly effective class warfare tactics tossed at them like clockwork come every election cycle.

    What does it say about the sheer level of contempt that the Political Class has for the electorate, when the Robin Hood of the downtrodden places a medal around the neck of the wealthiest man in America, and that same wealthiest man holds a $40k/plate dinner ceremony in his re-electorial bid honor, as a gentleman above underscored?

    It says ‘They Can’ – precisely because the dumbed down, intransigent ‘Right vs. Left’ electorate is ignorant enough to keep voting them in, all the while they scorn men like Ron Paul.

    These people must have to stifle their laughter at how easy it is to dupe a Supremely Ignorant populace.

  • Robert August 26, 2011, 8:40 pm

    “Those in the DOD that know, have warned for a long time that we are already overextended, and as to our state of financial affairs, nothing more need be said”

    – Exactly right. The Roman Generals wore their armor and paraded their legions as they left to fight the Visigoths…

    Once outside of Rome, they all took different roads, buried their shields and helmets, and returned to their farms.

    The President has to be the President when the cameras are rolling. No General (and certainly no politician) is going to go before the world and say “You no longer have any use for me, so my work here is done…”

    My inner cynic has determined that Economics is merely the science that measures the global ability of people to perceive reality as it truly is.

    Reality and truth are what they are, and perception does not shape them, it only distorts them.

    I’m not sure why, but it seems the process of aligning reality and perception creates stress, fear, and anxiety within the human psyche….

    I’ve said it before: It’s the end of the world as we know it-and strangely enough, I DO feel fine…

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:42 pm
    • Robert August 27, 2011, 8:05 pm

      Hmmm… an interesting read, but with the author’s self proclamation that he is out to undermine the Obama Presidency at any cost, I suspect that there is some (or maybe considerable?) artistic license being taken with this. I did not see anywhere on that website where the author proclaimed an unbiased faith in journalistic integrity over emphatic Republican partyism….

      But still… interesting read.

  • Chris T. August 26, 2011, 8:02 pm

    Roger, you write:
    “LOL! That’s been the case for ~13 billion years, on planet Earth alone!
    People thought the world was gonna go dark when whale oil ran out. yada, yada
    Why is there no formal way to invest in return-on-coordination DIRECTLY? If they sold stock, I’d invest in the Marine Corp, and the US Constitution.”

    Humans have been waging wars they can’t afford to sustain for ~13 billion years?
    I must have had a different science/history curriculum from you!

    But seriously:
    The comment above is in no way Malthusian, it does not refer to natural resources or human inventiveness at all.
    But do you REALLY think, that this current warfare state of ours can continue this empire forever?
    Those in the DOD that know, have warned for a long time that we are already overextended, and as to our state of financial affairs, nothing more need be said.

  • mava August 26, 2011, 7:56 pm

    Buffet to the US Government is what Soviet Sniper was to Soviet Government! It is essential in spreading the myth by way of supposed fact tracking, but in reality there is a whole team working on that project. It is nothing but a show, 100%.

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:37 pm

      Mava adds Bath Tub Theory to the DisneyLand lexicon…

  • mava August 26, 2011, 7:50 pm

    Warren Buffet? Are you kidding me, people? He is a “preferred boy”, his supposed acumen is simply the matter of his father and all that means: connections everywhere. He plays by entirely different rules than everyone else, in his world everything is known beforehand, and there is always a guarantee that if he should ever make mistake, the government will secretly cover him.

    To those of you who are still naive, I know, this sounds completely insane. Are you saying there are no miracles?

    No, there ain’t any. It’s a complete scam from top to bottom, his whole “story” and this deal in particular. You have to be of blue blood to have deals like this.

    He is surely promised that there is no way he is going to lose ever. And, he is definitely already been breefed as to the new scam Obama is plotting, and Buffet is invited to play the Sage of Omaha again.

    I generally know that US lives in wonderland, but sometimes even with that in mind, I find myself surprised as to just how strong you guys believe in Santa Claus.

  • redwilldanaher August 26, 2011, 6:27 pm

    Mere psyops/propaganda. I’m usually not definitive but to me this is a lock. If you followed the coverage on the Business Propaganda Network this week you can only come to that conclusion.

  • Robert August 26, 2011, 6:13 pm

    Ohhh, and regarding Obama and the abministration angle-

    Obama and the Gov agencies are the “big but dumb” money, and they are being played to perfection by the “Big and very Smart” money… aka Buffet, Dimon, et all…. So has it been throughout the ages.

    It’s little more than a spectator sport to me.

  • Robert August 26, 2011, 6:08 pm

    There are so many angles here:

    Rick- you nailed the point that without growth, BofA is a dead duck, but how is that bank going to grow? They just instated debit card fees and checking account maintenance fees that are oppressive- I will not be surpised to see their deposit business (their primary anchor/cornerstone) decline over the next year.

    and their mortgage business? Forget it- dead money. Any new revenue will be used to offset and scrub all the existent countrywide sludge on the balance sheet.

    Bear died, Lehmen died, and the next two most terminal zombies (Merrill and Countrywide) were both absorbed by BofA, and yet BofA took no action to integrate either entity with BofA’s core banking systems- BofA is treating each merely as a wholly owned , but self managed subsidiary. Bad business decision in my opinion. Contrast this with Wells Fargo, who took Wachovia’s business and assets and fully re-factored all the Wachovia data and business practices around Wells Fargo’s core systems and governance practices- in other words, one bank commited to their aquisition and is taking the “larger family” approach, while the other took the “We’ll let the cousins move in for a while and see how it goes” approach …

    Back to Merrill and Countrywide- one could also reationalize that BofA has been set up by the regulators and the Fed/Treasury as the “bad bank” that is slated to be extinguished at some point…

    This whole Buffet move could be smoke in mirrors to shield the real direction that this thing is taking. Rick’s projection below 0 for the stock could be prescient.

    Consider the facts exposed by Zerohedge that Buffet thought all this up in the bathtub on Wed morning, but the resultant documentation that has been filed represents hundreds of hours of legal and administrative work… all completed and filed in one day.

    strange things are afoot.

    • anon August 27, 2011, 9:42 pm

      Hardly the hours upon hours of legal work you say was needed.

      Buffet already had the templates for this deal in place from the similar Goldman Sachs and GE preferred shares he issued long ago.

  • ricecake August 26, 2011, 5:25 pm

    Warner Buffet gets to inspire Obama );

    Remember two years ago he bought a U.S. Railroad company and many so called experts laughed at him? Who’s having the last laugh now?

    So why he bought BOA? Based on one of Buffet’s recent interview with CNBC, in it he talks about the U.S housing and says that only when housing is fixed the U.S economy will improve. I guess his BOA move has lot to do with the coming changes in housing-mortgage business since he just meet with Obama recently and must have giving the president policy advices on how to fix the housing problem. Wait to hear some major policy changes/moves regarding the housing-mortgage sector.

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:33 pm

      Bongo RC.
      0 found home job religion on MV with WEB?…

  • roger erickson August 26, 2011, 4:07 pm

    ULC lobby runs the country; so true:

    “The Obama administration, following Bush’s, has effectively decriminalized securities fraud.”

    http://www.thestreet.com/story/11228593/1/goldmans-blankfein-has-nothing-to-fear.html

    at least Obama is trying his level best to decriminalize anything the Upper Looting Class wants to do

    note: this amnesty does NOT extend to the lower looting classes, the minor leagues; the border? wherever they want it to be on a given day; the rest are advised to fall in line (or “take arms against a sea of troubles”)

    goal of every crook is to get called up the the major leagues some day, right? until then, take your lumps and honor “the game”
    [and don’t ask questions about who sits on the Rules Committee; if you know what’s good for you; you can be blacklisted FOR participating, or for NOT participating;
    like the “religious” say, you have original sin, and must fall on your knees & beg for redemption 🙂 ]

    Does the Vatican have a bank too? Really? Damn! Others are at least smart enough to have plausible deniability, and keep minister/rabbi/mullah/swami & bank separate enough to have plausible deniability.

    The central fraud is called Divine Right, and can be ordered in more flavors every year.

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:32 pm

      August 20, 2011

      The latest liberal attack on Perry is that poor little BoA offers to contribute to his campaign. Well, check out the list below and deny Obama is not in bed with big business and the bankers. Hmm – I notice GE is there. Sidley Austin, Skadden, Arps, Jenner & Block, Kirkland & Ellis, and Wilmerhale are all registered lobbyists.

      Google this: Sidley Austin Obama Bill Ayers

      Obama’s 2008 Political Donors:

      University of California $1,648,685
      Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
      Harvard University $864,654
      Microsoft Corp $852,167
      Google Inc $814,540
      JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799
      Citigroup Inc $736,771
      Time Warner $624,618
      Sidley Austin LLP $600,298
      Stanford University $595,716
      National Amusements Inc $563,798
      Wilmerhale Llp $550,168
      Skadden, Arps et al $543,539
      Columbia University $541,002
      UBS AG $532,674
      IBM Corp $532,372
      General Electric $529,855
      US Government $517,908
      Morgan Stanley $512,232
      Latham & Watkins $503,295

      Obama quote from 2007…..”One of the prettiest sounds on earth” is the Muslim call to prayer at sunset

      Nick Kristof heard Obama recite the Muslim call to prayer in Arabic and with a “first-rate muslim accent” back in 2007. The opening lines of the Adhan (Azaan) is the Shahada:

      “Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
      Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
      I witness that there is no god but Allah
      I witness that there is no god but Allah
      I witness that Muhammad is his prophet… ”

      http://mrking2008.weebly.com/

    • roger erickson August 27, 2011, 10:33 pm

      > Well, check out the list below and deny Obama is not
      > in bed with big business

      Does anyone still doubt that Obama is just the latest hussy called up to big lobby’s room late at night? Just keep in mind who owns the bed.

      He sold out before he even launched his first political campaign.

    • roger erickson August 27, 2011, 10:35 pm

      ps: in financial jargon, “Allah” has become this year’s code for “Harvard Economics Dept. country club”

  • fallingman August 26, 2011, 3:58 pm

    6% and warrants that are in the money in the low 7’s and an implicit promise from the Feds to bailout your TBTF banks…why not?

    Yeah, he’s a PR stooge for the combine. Oh look, look, Uncle Warren says all is well. What a bum. I hate the guy.

    By the way, his last foray into BofA ended very badly…closed it out in late 2010, according to SEC filings, with a susbtantial loss.

    I hope he drowns in the lawsuits from Countrywide fraud and Osman Sermerci’s deadly subprime book at Merrill.

    The Powerz will undoubtedly protect BofA from the full brunt of those losses, but losses there will be, nevertheless.

  • DG August 26, 2011, 3:56 pm

    Buffett is a joke.

    Compare Berkshire’s performance against the S and P for the last decade. yawn.

    On the day he announces that he is doing this deal he announces that he is sponsoring a nearly $40k a plate Obama re-election dinner for his banker buddies.

    Charlie Munger says that we all should quit bitching about the unfairness of the banker bailout. They get bonuses you get home debt imprisonment.
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-20/berkshire-s-munger-says-cash-strapped-should-suck-it-in-not-get-bailout.html

    If you aren’t completely disgusted Warren you simply don’t know enough about him and his delusional buddy Munger.

    My worthless two cents on this development is: B of A immediately spiked then spent all day slipping because it doesn’t matter how many blood transfusions the terminally, incurable patient receives. It is dying. You can either waste your entire families wealth on a futile attempt to save it, or save your capital and start mourning immediately…..
    What was even more interesting is BRK.A spiked up, closed down….it is a bad deal for everyone. The banks can’t be saved, only sucks us all down in their death.
    The take away is that Warren, as despicable as he is, knows what Ben knows. The Fed, BO, Wall Street will suck the life 0ut of all of us to save their incurable system. QE by any name is here until either the currency is destroyed or the banks recover. And the banks cannot recover.

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:29 pm

      Compare BRK vs Silver WEB sold vs AAPL he would not buy “because it was a tech” for the last decade:

      http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.html?BRK/A,$SILVER,AAPL

      (Slide bottom arrow to left to see 3173 day track records)

    • Robert August 27, 2011, 1:12 am

      How dare you blaspheme the gifted Oracle of Omaha like that…

      Ok, in reality the charts are hilarious… Apparently the dart throwing monkey would kick Warren’s butt as a stock picker, too…

  • PhotoRadarScam August 26, 2011, 3:02 pm

    The problem is that BAC is facing a lot of litigation for multi-billions of dollars. It is this liability that threatens the future of the bank rather than anything else.

    I was kicking around the idea of shorting BAC a few days ago. Glad I didn’t.

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:23 pm

      Who owns the courts and politicians?

  • Dan August 26, 2011, 2:17 pm

    Bank of America below $6 for the first time in decades? Really?
    I wonder what company I bought with the symbol BAC
    back in Feb. of ’09 and paid less the $5. I guess that was in fact last decade.

    • anon August 27, 2011, 9:33 pm

      I think the author’s point was that the time of your purchase was in the previous decade (i.e 2000-2009 or 01-10 ).
      As far as being the lowest price within this “decade” the author makes Buffett’s purchase seem more dramatic than it really is.

  • bill August 26, 2011, 1:09 pm

    Buffet meets Obama at Martha’s Vineyard over the weekend and probably tells him the only way to turn the economy around quickly enough to save his presidency is to stop the fall in housing prices. Probably advised him to use FNMA and FHMLC to refinance everyone regardless of LTV or credit score.
    Bank of America owns Countrywide and will reap benefits 2 ways – it will generate massive fee income from refinancing home loans and it will shift large amounts of defaulted home loans to government by refinancing the deadbeats as well. Thus BOA will be saved. I am sure it was mere coincidence that Warren makes large investment in BOA before all this is announced to the public.

    • John Jay August 26, 2011, 2:29 pm

      bill,
      It is even worse than that, if you can believe that’s possible. The next stage of the housing scam is for Uncle Sam to bundle all the bad REO they have on hand and give it away to REIT type consortiums owned by the usual suspects. You and I are not welcome at this sale. Amazing, Uncle Sam buys their bad mortgage paper at par, and then hands over the houses to the same crooks at fire sale prices for them to resell or rent out for more profit. They make money every step of the way, from start to finish. Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/3lrbbaa

    • Rich August 26, 2011, 11:22 pm

      Bingo
      Bango
      Bill
      JJ

    • Mario cavolo August 27, 2011, 2:06 am

      A 2nd bingo bangonbilljj thingy…:)

      It is foolishness to think WB did this with anymore than a tiny possibility BofA will end up failing or that he has some kind of assurances not afforded elsewhere.

      Dealmaking amounts to insider trading couched as a big separate deal. I can easily imagine the conversation outlining plans and strategies step by step which only those in the room are privy too. On the other hand, it is their damn job to do whatever is necessary to mak the company successful and solvent once again so good for them. The problem arises in who else they may screw along the way while protecting themselves.

  • Chris T. August 26, 2011, 8:32 am

    “And Obama is starting to remind me of an anorexic Hermann Goering”

    would that the former acquired the latter’s vice, then at least we wouldn’t have to listen to that annoying lisp so often.

    And even among his unspeakable deeds, the latter had by far better (due to the patrician background) taste in art (his own and what he stole) and the finery of life than the former

    but true enough, one can see the path of decadence and obliviousness the actual state of affairs

    • John Jay August 26, 2011, 2:34 pm

      Chris T,
      The Hermann Goering analogy is not a perfect fit for Obama, but they both have the same party on attitude while letting their toadies run the show once the going gets rough, with predictable results.

  • John Jay August 26, 2011, 6:49 am

    If I let my inner cynic run free, I would guess that Mr. Buffet is doing the US government a favor by allowing his reputation as a savvy investor to bolster confidence in a bank that is very likely insolvent. Warren gets his 6%, and a promise to be made whole if the bank tanks anyway. Cheaper than the FDIC coughing up God knows how much cash if they go under. They are running out of big banks to buy each other since they are all spiraling into the black hole of leverage and bad loans. Nothing is what it appears to be anymore, everything is crookedness and deals. And Obama is starting to remind me of an anorexic Hermann Goering, living the high life and ignoring an increasingly bad situation, with bluster taking the place of a well thought out plan.

    • roger erickson August 26, 2011, 3:54 pm

      > Cheaper than the FDIC coughing up God knows how
      > much cash if they go under.

      It’s never cheaper in the long run to bail out the crooks who caused the mess. Surely you’re joking?
      Some perspective is required, to avoid the perception of momentary gains at the expense of permanent losses. Lines have to be drawn.

  • Rich August 26, 2011, 6:21 am

    BAC traded for 2.51 in Feb 2009 and appears to be in an uptrend…

    http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/gallery.html?bac

  • Benjamin August 26, 2011, 5:57 am

    Even though the soooo-dishonest-that-it-thinks-it’s-honest world works the way it does, this story* nearly made me faint dead away for the audacious dishonesty it contains.

    *the story itself, not Rick’s commentary on it.

    Clearly, Buffet is taking a “gamble” with the money of suckers it hopes to attract. And though this will probably work well for him and BoA execs, I sincerely hope it backfires to the extent of making the impossible, possible (i.e. As Rick pointed out, LESS than zero).

    • roger erickson August 26, 2011, 3:52 pm

      > this story* nearly made me faint dead away for the
      > audacious dishonesty it contains.

      Agreed 100%. My first thought was that Buffet got handshake assurances from Geithner/Obama. Illegal from every angle? You bet. Rather similar to invading Iraq.
      Does that stop these people?

      Not until “common shareholders” march in the streets.

  • Chris T. August 26, 2011, 5:32 am

    at some point, our overextension, in materiel, manpower, and of course, financial, terms, will make a continuation of the extant state of affairs impossible.

    When that happens, the PETRO-dollar is toast, and with it, the dollar and the US.

    Not an easy resolution, a cornered tiger is at its fiercest. But the empire will fail.
    Sure, Libya was cheap at a couple billion, but it was just a stepping stone. We won’t stop till there is fire everywhere, but it will scorch us as much as anyone, really more, because we have farther to go down, than say the average person in most of those places.

    Point is: the dollar is only worth anything, because our satraps still take it for our protection, and so far, we have been able to dethrone those, that were about to refuse.
    When that protection fails though…

    [I wonder if there are any bets in Vegas about the ships repatriating Venezuela’s gold “sinking” on the way?]

    • roger erickson August 26, 2011, 3:50 pm

      > at some point, our overextension, in materiel,
      > manpower, and of course, financial, terms, will make a
      > continuation of the extant state of affairs impossible.

      LOL! That’s been the case for ~13 billion years, on planet Earth alone!
      People thought the world was gonna go dark when whale oil ran out. yada, yada
      Why is there no formal way to invest in return-on-coordination DIRECTLY? If they sold stock, I’d invest in the Marine Corp, and the US Constitution.

  • Jill August 26, 2011, 5:31 am

    … unless Warren starts propping up European banks too. If so, all bets are off.

    • Robert August 26, 2011, 6:27 pm

      -Great point. The Europeans still hold the wild cards at this poker table

  • Jill August 26, 2011, 5:03 am

    I never feel like I know what these big players are doing. Buffett could own a lot of puts on BAC, for all I know, or puts on some bank just as insolvent, as a hedge.

    He also is heavily invested in FIRE– financial, insurance, and real estate sector– and it may be worth it to him to try to prop it up for a few years before he dumps it all. I agree with Rick that this is just a correction we are in. This is 1998. After the sharp correction, Ben and company will find some way to keep the plates spinning for several years before Warren will need to dump anything.

    And he may never need to dump it. When a company goes bankrupt, I think the bond holders and preferred stock holders are first and second in line to get their money back– even when the common stock holders get nothing. The government may have guaranteed him in secret that he gets his money back– just like they got GS’s money back from AIG– 100 cents on the dollar, while common stock holders took a bath.

    As for the dollar, sure looks like a consolidation to me. And the dollar has a huge advantage– in not being as bad off as the Euro…yet.

  • gary leibowitz August 26, 2011, 4:42 am

    Not sure if this is just a bet on the high dividend while expecting the stock to hold its own for the next few years. A long term value guy. He claims not to time the market yet he made his initial money in the violent 70’s.

    He is an old fashion numbers cruncher. Anything he can’t value with straight business acumen he stays away from. The virtual net eludes him.

    Considering how the bank contagion has hit overseas there might be a silver lining in US companies taking advantage. He might see what others, including myself, can not.

    Has anyone noticed how strong the dollar has held above key support for months? I would bet this is a consolidation phase and we could see the dollar hit 84 within one year. Looking at the economic mess we are in I can’t see beyond the next explosive news, but as long as the dollar holds here its looking like it could take off. Trying to seperate emotions from technical indicators.

    • C.C. August 26, 2011, 8:20 pm

      Gary –

      What I’ve noticed is that the $DXY is range bound in a .73 – .76 funk since March. I’ve also noticed that some of the exact same quotes and sentiments regarding the impending rocket launch of the $USD are identical to this time frame last year.

      But one never knows what might happen next –

  • Chris T. August 26, 2011, 4:36 am

    To get a good measure of this man, one just had to see his “performance” in the panel discussion following I.O.U.S.A.’s screening (it was laughable).
    Not a shred of the father went to the son.

    As to the chart above, surely that remaining 0.65 gap won’t stay unclosed for very long?

  • Craig August 26, 2011, 4:00 am

    Well Warren is one of the Elites terror cells…he is just the good guy “appearing” in the great WWE play of financial theatre opposite bad boy terror cell Soros all pawns for the Central Bank owners to use against us as they rape humanity with fake wars and planned out economic terror to make us submit to a police state..in fact we will ask for it…as Time used the London terror boy that Rick used to say the end of Europe and the West…Army Times, 400k plus battle hardened troops in USA is planned. Dont think Buffet is in insider…just spell out GEICO…Government Employees Insurance Co…you think they just let the lowest bidder get that?

    • Robert August 26, 2011, 6:19 pm

      I agree-

      Buffet is the one smiling face that greets you at the used car lot- the guy that lives his life thinking that all used car salesmen are as happy as him…

      He, and a few others like Bill Gates and the Google Duo, are completely oblivious to the true nature of the coke-snorting sociopaths that co-habitate their socio-economic tier.