Warren Buffet a Latocer?

[Katz]

Picasson Moon thinks everyone with over a dollar in assets is a member of TPTB.

[picasso moon]

And Katz thinks that one of the five wealthiest men in America, a man with incredible connections,  is not a member of TPTB.
PS: Warren hosted a "lunch" at 8AM on 9/11, at Offut AFB near Omaha, most of the top execs who normally would have been at the WTC were at that "lunch". Dubya later on in the day was flown from Florida to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, and then to ... Offut. Interesting "coincidences."

[Six Gun Jim]

Buffet thinks a more energy-efficient transportation system will become essential. We think he's right, don't we?

Yes, it will be essential, but it's also a pipe dream. The Commuter line that I ride into work can't even get the money to maintain the cars sufficiently.

Have you done the math on it?

You always say that and completely discount that the effort and will have to be put into commuter rail and alternative transports and their infrastructure in a TIMELY manner. Timely as in before a place runs out of money for everything and doesn't give a shit. People have to WANT to move on to trains and different transport methods and give up their SUV's before it causes a major problem. That isn't happening many places is it? Nope, people think it's a joke and they get pissed off every time it comes up. Instead we slog on and build more highways. I went down and sat in on the KCMO light rail council meeting just to see how stupid people were and I wasn't disappointed. For as much as you see this happening it isn't happening in anything approaching large scale, the people don't want or believe in it and we have no money. I think the idea is great, and now is about half past way too late to make it happen. Add to that the forces that don't want it to happen and you have GM dismantling the streetcars before they ever show up on the rail line.  

[Grower]

I know, Moonie, but it's still sad to think we could create it, lose it, and with all of today's technology, seem utterly incapable of rebuilding it, let alone improving it.

[gladius_veritatis]

You are harshing the overall mellow of the forum...you are admonished...pointing out the obvious doesn't make you a "Truth Warrior"...go forth and seek some less obvious truths. Then engage your tact switch as you present them to the world..."one must die", what melodrama...jeez...

Why should I care if you "admonish" me for affecting the "overall mellow"?  Who are you?  It seems you are the one dabbling in melodrama.

Bottom line: Until the intrinsically evil monetary system is done away with, all other "financial" talk (other than 'Buy gold and silver'), at this very late hour, is distraction.

This society is toast, and a nice rail system isn't going to mean a damn thing unless the parasitic banksters are dealt with, once and for all.  Moving more swiftly from one section of the prison-state to another is not what I deem "important."

Having a stable, sane monetary system is vital to real freedom and prosperity.  Without it, all that seems to be prosperity is but an illusion.

That is not melodrama, it is reality.  "Deal with reality, or reality will deal with you."  I remember having read that somewhere recently. 

Btw, saying "We love the democratic nature of our cars" is so much nonsense.  Yes, I know what you mean, but your powers of expression are sorely lacking.

FWIW, if ever I decide that I need lessons in tact, I shall not be seeking such from you.

[Grower]

Gee, welcome to the forum. Nice to know you bring such authority to our discussions.

 

[gladius_veritatis]

Gee, welcome to the forum.

Your sincerity can be felt in China.

Nice to know you bring such authority to our discussions.

If you think such, it is your own doing.  I have made no such claim.

Do you or do you not understand the role played by an exchange medium within an economy?

Do you or do you not understand that our present exchange medium is intrinsically evil?  The same is true of the exchange media in use around most of the world.

[Grower]

Sorry. You've got the wrong target. I'm not in on that argument.

[Tabo]

Gladius, welcome and dont worry about them. Youre entitled to your opinion.

But on this forum youre also entitled to get smacked down for it.

I think Buffet is about Buffet period. Not that that is wrong, but reading into what he does is murky at best.

Besides, you damn well better bet he ahs everything he touches CDS'ed and swap covered to the Nth degree. Guys like him dont get beat by the system-because they are the system.

[Katie]

Is it just me, or is it somehow mildly humbling that we could have extensive freight and passenger rail in the 1800s, but we can't manage it today? I mean, scale has changed and all, but still.

Back then, a lot of people died to bring the railroad into being.  It was the focus of the transportation system, the best thing going.  People made money from it and used labor that seemed to them expendable.  

Now, it's not clear what the focus of the transportation system should be (at least to most folks), and they think it's cars and trucks.  

I was glad to hear that Buffet was investing in it, when I heard it on the radio.  I don't doubt that he's at the top echelon of TPTB.  Nor do I think he has good intentions somehow.  However, I'd rather see investment there than in some other sectors.  At least there might be something to show for it that could be of benefit.  I say "could" not "will" be of benefit because there's potential.  New or upgraded superhighways "will not" be of benefit.  For practical reasons, I'd rather see a railroad built than any other number of things, except perhaps bike trails for non-motorized bikes.

[Six Gun Jim]

Our cities and towns are not arranged for it. Not unless you commit to it fully and are willing to make roadways a secondary concern. Then it only costs trillions of dollars to make convenient and useful in spread out communities designed for personal transport. The whole way our nation is laid out needs to be changed, even rail doesn't answer that. So we have to restructure a great deal of our community lay out, abandon a pretty large amount of the unusable or energy intensive, rebuild rail into that and do it in a condensed time frame with.........oh yeah, money we don't have. The time WAS given to us, we HAD the resources but there ARE consequences to fucking that up. I can't see all this happening when the recent gubmint "stimulus" included about half a pittance towards doing it and focused on highways and bridges instead. Kind of lets you know where our interests are doesn't it?

[mtlouie]

Quite dismaying to see people who should no better still fall for the Oracle from Omaha, hardcore member of TPTB. But given who they are, the usual suspects, i'm not surprised.

For a right man, you sometimes say the stupidest things. He's completely self-made, extremely shrewd and has said for many many years that it is ridiculous that taxes on the rich should be so low. He knows that wiping out the middle class is an extremely dumb move for TPTB to make and that we are all in deep doodoo vis a vis PO.

Or at least that's the script he reads from. 

[IndianGirl]

Buffet has been building up his stakes in the railroad industry for some years now.  His explanation has been that rail (cargo, not passenger) becomes increasingly more and more valuable as the price of diesel (what the competition, trucking requires at reasonable prices to be economically viable) increases.  Being as he is usually a pretty long term investor of the value variety, it is reasonable to assume that he believes that the price of diesel will continue to escalate, making his investment worth more.  It would seem to follow that he believes at very least in political peak oil at very minimum, and more likely in geological peak oil.

Bang on! He must believe that in the near future railroads will be only way to transport foood/cargo economically...thats why the all in wager!

[Six Gun Jim]

If, as is postulated above, diesel continues to rise in cost the RR isn't going to do jack without the trucking industry. Choo choo all you want, the trucks still have to roll to and from inter modal hubs, to remote towns, to factories with no spur, mines with no spur.....the whole RR Baron part II is a fantasy. You'll need a lot of new track if you want to try and actually eliminate enough trucks to make a difference. The choo choo isn't practical for replacing trucking much more than it already has even with more track. Low tonnage pick ups and drop offs are truck freight to be long hauled by train. Not all truck freight is long haul, not all piggy back long hauls are practical by train and most practical use of piggy back has already been worked out to the benefit of everyone. 

[picasso moon]

And if you think all that rail can be electrified with no problem, you don't realize how big a job that would be, or how much extra stress that would place upon a grid that's already in piss-poor shape. Funny to read people like Indian Girl who simply cannot think of the future as being really different from the present aside from the technology, as if the economic structure will just keep on keeping on, ... Jim explains it well.