Recap re: W BUFFET, GOLD MANIPULATION, SILVER "MANIPULATION," LTCM...
1. Buffet has always understood gold and silver and his father was a well-known goldbug. Here's a quote from "Buffetology," Mary Buffet, (1997), p. 164:
"...years from now, the federal government may tell us to trade in our gold again in exchange for...paper dollars. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
2. In 1997, Salomon Brothers, which Buffet owned a stake in, joined with Travelers resulting in Salamon Smith Barney. See....
cnnfn.com
He still owns a substantial stake in Salomon Smith Barney today.
3. As you also know, in late 1997 early 1998, Buffet used the commodities arm of Salomon Smith Barney, Phibro Inc., to take delivery of substantial quantities of silver. Unlike GATA, the CFTC took that situation very seriously, and Phibro was also sued in New York District Court. Recall Martin Armstrong also jumped on the manipulation bandwagon, and has ever since been predicting $2 silver, even in the face of persistently abnormal lease rates. Here's a refresher:
europe.cnnfn.com
4. As you also know, in the fall of 1998 the Fed organized a bailout of LTCM by a consortium of investment banks. Buffet also made an offer to buy LTCM, but his offer was rejected. Under his proposal, LTCM's principal, John Merriweather, would have stepped down. (The press at the time reported that Buffet knew Merriweather from his early days at Salomon, when Buffett was named chairman after after which Meriweather resigned). Under the Fed sponsored bailout, Meriweather remained at LCTM. In case you've forgotten, here's a recap of all this:
europe.cnnfn.com
5. As you may also know, Salomon Smith Barney is the only investment bank whose analyst consistently expresses an extremely bullish tone on the gold market, even going so far as to suggest a greater than 10,000 tonne short position. Here's a recent report from Salomon:
gold.org
(Scroll Down and Click "Perception is Worse Than Reality")
Richard, I thought a recap of this was useful because it suggests a number of relatively interesting things:
--I doubt buffet would have offered to buy LTCM if he thought they were massively short gold;
--funny how the same political lines tend to recur again and again; and
--guess whose buying physical gold as we speak.
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