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Non-Tech : Berkshire Hathaway Class B -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Benkea who wrote (911)	8/7/1999 11:27:00 AM
From: Michael & B.Anne	Respond to of 1652

A high order perspective .. I remember a cartoon wherein a choir of inmates at an asylum (the schizophrenic choral group) were singing "do you hear what I hear." Let me see if I have this right. 1) the S&P is selling at super high levels (32 plus earnings) because earnings have been growing for some time and are anticipated to continue to grow. 2) that is because consumers have confidence and are spending more - despite the fact their earnings are not growing (heaven forbid that should happen). Rather they are supporting extended spending by increasing debt levels. 2a) or perhaps they feel that earnings will grow because of productivity gains caused by computerizing processes - making them less expensive than people based. Thereby pushing more people down the financial food chain into the service industries (assuring their incomes do not rise). 3) they are confident in their ability to do this based on faith in their future in turn based on current values and anticipated growth in the value of equity holdings. 4) they are so confident of this they are even using debt (margin) to buy more stocks so they can have more future wealth so they can buy more. I live in western Colorado among ranchers and farmers .. it surprises me the number of them that own AOL and the amount of discussion at the local cafe regarding their investments and encouragements they offer one another. 5) the dollar is falling in value and the next move by the Fed is up. But I feel like a member of the choir .. no one seems to hear what I hear. In a perverse way I like that. regards