Warren Buffett: "Buy American. I am."

[muntrv]

Op-Ed Contributor
Buy American. I Am.
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By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: October 16, 2008
Omaha
THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.

Why?

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

SEE MORE AT LINK BELOW

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17buffett.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[jwirr]

1. Warren, I love you but I don't have a pot to p--- in so I am not buying

anything.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. americans don't have the $$ to buy.

[Common Sense Party]

2. AMEN, Warren! A-FREAKIN'-MEN!!! You didn't get where you are by being

stupid. I wish I had a huge pot of cash to buy shares of great American companies, but since I don't, I'll keep proudly and optimistically buying shares through my 401(k) every two weeks. Every little bit helps.

Finally, someone speaking some sense.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

4. American Melamine Futures... that's the ticket...

we could expand the market and sell it to China... they use a LOT of that stuff:rofl:


Wholesale Melamine - American Discount Melamine
American Discount Melamine, a leading distributor of quality wholesale melamine for commercial and residential use, brings you a wide selection of quality ...
www.americandiscountmelamine.com/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

[whistler162]

5. Yup... bought on Tuesday.

[morillon]

6. I'm waiting to buy until November 5th.

When Obama wins, I am buying some shares in a deep blue, environmentally friendly company. I'm researching now to pick several likely candidates. I'd like to see the stock market go up when Obama wins.

[K Gardner]

25. Everyone will do that. I'm buying undervalued Green/Eco stocks now, before the deluge :-)

[morillon]

26. Do you have any suggestions?

I'll do all my own research, of course, so I won't hold you responsible for anything you recommend. :-) I've already been reading up on some companies these last few weeks, but I'm not close to making any decisions yet.

The sectors I'm thinking of are organic food, alternative energy, and possibly retail. I'm a little iffy on tech stocks now, but I could be persuaded, if I find something that looks promising.

[Hannah Bell]

7. warren is full of s--t.

http://www.usatoday.com/educate/election04/globallesson3.pdf.

Betting on China
USA TODAY

Bill Gates is betting on America's decline and putting hismoney on China's rise. Or so the Microsoft founder seemed tosay last month at the World Economic Forum held in Davos,Switzerland. "I'm short the dollar," he said. "The ol' dollar isgoing down."At the same meeting, Gates linked his pessimism about theUnited States to optimism about China. He commended Chinaas the great "change agent" in the world over the next 20 yearsand praised its "brand-new form of capitalism.

"Gates isn't the only titan talking down the dollar and linking itto America's decline. Warren Buffett, Gates' friend and theworld's second-richest man, has been bad-mouthing America'sfinancial house and currency for two years. A panic in thegreenback could conceivably net both men more...


http://www.infowars.com/articles/economy/gates_buffett_china_run_from_dollar.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2008/gb20080929_875227.htm?chan=rss_topEmailedStories_ssi_5

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BJT/is_8_11/ai_110311440

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/warren-buffetts-china-divestment-greed/story.aspx?guid=%7BFD38C8A3-A499-4CD1-9FC0-DB503EB4A639%7

These people are all crooked. The smily-face stuff = strictly pr.

[Common Sense Party]

12. That was from nearly 4 years ago.

I guarantee you Warren Buffett knows a hell of a lot more about the economy than anyone on DU.

[Hannah Bell]

13. yes, big money always does, so what? still crooked.

[Boojatta]

16. What crooked methods do you allege were used by Warren Buffett?

For example, do you allege that he worked as a stock broker and stole shares from his clients?

[Common Sense Party]

19. "Facts? We don't need no steenkin' FACTS!"

This is DU.

Buffett is a capitalist.

Ergo, guilty.

:eyes:

[Common Sense Party]

18. Crooked. Right. You know nothing, but don't let that stop you.

Continue to hurl baseless insults at one of Obama's biggest supporters. :eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

23. the buffett/gates defense force rides to the rescue once again. ever on

guard, they are.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. I'll trade my supper...

How many shares can I get with a roadkilled Possum?

[Swamp Rat]

9. Trade you a Louisiana Nutria for a Virginia Opossum

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Put some lipstick on that rodent and you've got a deal...

BTW, that's "West Bye Gawd Virginia" Possum...they are almost extinct thanks to the GOP(no Possum left behind)and now the teachers will be starting to teach the 33 non poison weeds in school, so that if McCrash steals the election folks will have food. They already teach reading and writing and route 64 south, so the kids can go to North Carolina where there are still a few plumpish possums and ground squirrels left in the wild.

Kids here can only dream of a possumburger with Reagan cheese and a bowl of turnip soup at school lunch.

[Leopolds Ghost]

11. "Most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 years from now"

Is this always going to be true, according to Buffett? What pseudo-religion is this? Or does he believe corporate capitalism is a virus? OR, as someone else suggested, is he betting against the dollar which has inflated to nothing already and will continue to inflate -- PROPERLY inflation-adjusted shares pegged to gold or some other fixed resource having remained stagnant for decades?

[Common Sense Party]

21. There's 80 years of stock market track record to look at that shows

this is most often the case. Most major companies WILL be setting profit records several years down the road. The market moves in cycles. Buffett is no fool. He knows good companies when he sees them, and he knows a good value when he sees it.

[Leopolds Ghost]

28. Not if you adjust for actual cost of living inflation adjusted dollars.

Even CNBC analysts say if you did that, the Dow has gone down 75% since 2000.

What you see over the past 100 years is inflation in the dollar caused by population growth coupled with wealth at the top from Wall Street tycoons selling Chinese-made goods to Europe. Actual cost of living has gone up, way up, but folks living today don't know what it was like 80 years ago. People were poorer, but they also cost less to live. What you see is two enormous speculative bubbles in 1920s and late 80s-90s coupled with hidden inflation. There is no natural tendency for "The Dow" to be 30,000 where it was 1,000. Nor will megacorps expand relentlessly -- unless you want them to drive everything else out of business.

[Boojatta]

22. "inflation-adjusted shares pegged to gold or some other fixed resource...

having remained stagnant for decades?"

January 1980: gold at $850 per ounce
August 1999: gold at $251.70 per ounce

Are you suggesting that one US dollar more than doubled in real value from January 1980 to August 1999? If so, then cash in a safety deposit box must have been a pretty good investment for that period. Why worry about inflationary loss of value?

Which "fixed resources" do you think have been trading at prices that fluctuate in lock-step with the price of gold?

[Leopolds Ghost]

29. They emptied out the national gold reserves to float the currency.

What's interesting is, by your logic, gold became dramatically more abundant in the 1990s (unless you are suggesting demand for gold dropped dramatically or the currency supply dropped dramatically) and the dollar fell EVEN FARTHER. It had more ground to make up. So gold at $250 1999 dollars an ounce is now $1000 2008 dollars. And oil at $10 / bbl is now $70-100 a bbl. That's what happens when you float a currency. The value of the currency is only measurable in what it can buy. Dollar value of commodities is not real value, it is a measure of how worthless the dollar is at any point in time.

[Boojatta]

30. "The value of the currency is only measurable in what it can buy."

I agree with these words: "The value of the currency is only measurable in what it can buy."

For example, you might buy a number of lines of space for an advertisement in a newspaper's classified section. Your advertisement might offer a part-time or temporary job to someone, in which case you are buying someone's services. Two more examples: you might buy ten loaves of bread and freeze them to eat later, or you might buy a ten Euro banknote.

Why do you think that you can take the general idea "what it can buy" and replace it with the very constrained idea "how much oil or gold it can buy"? For example, did it occur to you that someone might buy gasoline in order to drive somewhere? Does the value of a dollar depend partly upon the fuel efficiency of the average American car? Does the value of a dollar for some unknown reason depend entirely upon the average price of a gallon of gasoline? If a person walks and rides a bicycle, but doesn't drive a car, then are you sure that the amount of gasoline one dollar will buy is an accurate measure of the value to that person of one dollar?

[maddowfan]

15. But Walmart Is American!

The Right says so. Buy fine China USA!

[fascisthunter]

17. Sure, Once These SO-Called American Companies Start Treating American Workers Better

that goes for your greedy executives and their CEO's...

I'm sickened by wealthy people who preach about American loyalty. Save it for your friends on Wall Street who have proven they care more about money than their country..

[itsrobert]

20. Evergreen Solar seems like a prosmising American Company

ESLR in the NASDAQ.

[K Gardner]

24. I've been looking at ESLR, but held off b/o the millions underwritten by Lehman, due in

2012. If the capped call isn't honored, ESLR will have to write off nearly 40 million. Still, its a good firm, probably about a year away from being truly profitable, and just landed a billion dollar contract. Good time to buy if you're going to, but be prepared to hold for awhile ! Anything to do with solar has nowhere to go but up. Earnings were out on 23rd last month, I think.

Good luck !

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Get yer deck chairs on the Titanic while they're cheap.

Don't you worry. They'll float to the surface again...maybe..someday..then again..how about a nice life-belt?