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Buffett laments that US economy has 'no bounce'
- ckinnan 17y agoFrom GM to Citibank to AIG to Fannie Mae, the failures and the fools are still in control, propped up by tax dollars from their clients in government, and they continue to consume and waste scarce capital and labor. Meanwhile, looming government intervention in health care, the corporate tax code, the energy sector, labor law, and financial regulation creates uncertainty and undermines investor and business confidence. Bounce? We haven't even hit bottom yet.
- lordsofkarma 17y agoApr and May Data emphatically suggested economy is no longer going down.. question remains.. when will we see bounce. traditionally it has taken 1-2 yrs before real bounce happens.
- roc 17y agoExcept that our particular problem and our solutions to it most closely resemble Japan immediately preceding the Lost Decade. As of today, there is very little reason to hope for any sort of recovery in the short term. It's particularly frustrating, in that Obama even publicly recognized the danger of falling into this trap back in February. But here we are, in June, continuing to prop up zombie firms; pretending that we can grow new saplings without letting the clearly-dying giants fall and the detritus be reclaimed.
- moe 17y agowithout letting the clearly-dying giants fall and the detritus be reclaimed. Same thoughts here. I wouldn't be surprised if "Too big to fail" makes it into history books as the biggest catalysator for the economic failure that we're witnessing. It's plain old protectionism at work. The wealthy fear for their pole position, change is not welcome when you're at the top.
- mblakele 17y ago"They're doing things, but they take a while to have an effect," Buffett said. "You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant." Blunter than usual.
- stcredzero 17y agoI see that "baby in one month" bit so often now. Has it become a cliche now?
- jakarta 17y agohe's been using it since 1985: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1985.html http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1985.html
- mblakele 17y agoI should have been clearer: I thought it was both funny and insightful that he didn't pretend that babies arrive out of thin air. The usual way I've seen that cliche is more sanitized, ala "Mythical Man-Month": If one woman can have a baby in nine months, nine women could have a baby in one month. Buffett didn't neglect the demiurge.
- jhancock 17y ago"Last September, Goldman agreed to sell Berkshire $5 billion of preferred stock carrying a 10 percent annual dividend, and warrants to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 per share." Would it been so hard for the gov to allow the little guy to have bought into this deal?