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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (2783)	7/21/2002 12:32:14 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Markets may be out of sync for a long time-Buffett 7/19/2002 8:24:40 PM WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Friday said he believed the stock market could remain "out of sync" with the rest of the U.S. economy for a long time. "It would not surprise me if there was a long period of stagnation or whatever maybe in the market, even though business may be making some progress," he said on NBC's evening news show. Stocks plunged on Friday with the Dow Jones industrial average hitting lows last seen in 1998, as a slew of corporate scandals and dim prospects for earnings continued to take their toll on investor confidence. Despite recent economic data that indicates the world's richest economy is still expanding, albeit at a modest pace, since the July 4 holiday some $1.5 trillion in investor wealth has evaporated from the stock market, based on the Wilshire 500 Total Market Index <.TMW>. "We've had this history where the market gets out of sync with the business world for long periods of time; usually it's because it overshoots in one direction and then over-corrects in the other," he said. Buffett said that while we "certainly" had an overshooting, eventually "stocks will behave in sync with business." On Friday the blue-chip average Dow posted the seventh-largest points decline in its history, sinking 390.23 points, or 4.64 percent, to 8.019.26. For the week, the Dow gave up 7.7 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 8 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq shed 4 percent of its value. Economists, many of whom are downgrading their U.S. economic growth forecasts, are growing concerned that the tumbling U.S. stock market could toll on consumer psychology. The White House on Friday said said it still believed the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remained strong. Buffett advised small investors to sit out the market for a while or invest in a low-cost index fund, according to NBC. Shares in Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) , closed up $500 or 0.75 percent at $67,000 each on Friday.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (2783)	7/21/2002 11:57:22 AM
From: SOROS	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Jim, How about this? 90% of the corporate profits of the 1990's were complete fraud. America had all but dismantled its entire manufacturing base. The people at the top devised a plan to keep the "economy" "strong." They were so myopic that they had total disregard for anything beyond 10 years -- "we'll worry about that when we get there." So they came up with a plan to ease or ignore accounting standards so corporations could pay with options. They allowed "pro forma" statements so the illusion would be convincing. They overstated problems (Y2K, etc.) so easy money could flow. They led a moral decline very subtly to make their plot easier. Now they expand the stock choices with very appealing huge numbers of mutual funds. The money is there courtesy of Greenspasm and company. The enticement is there courtesy of the controlled media. The illusion of profit is there courtesy of the government and accounting inmates. The "great" jobs are there courtesy of David Copperfield's options. It was a win-win situation for everyone. The US could be the most prosperous nation on the planet peddling nothing but "dis"-information. The only problem was time marches on, and ten years passes in a blink. Now they are scrambling to try and figure out a new scam to keep the bankers (sheep, "investors", etc.) funding this entire plot ("economy"). Will the people see that the emperor not only had no clothes, but he stole their clothes? Will they be embarrassed when they look down and see that their "profits" have shrunk and are now exposed? Or, worse yet, that their "profits" were an illusion and their "big daddy" extension has simply fallen off and they know they were never "da man" their portfolios told them but a cheap imitation placed on with 10-year holding "crazy" glue? If the "bank-rollers" of this entire scheme see the truth for what it is, this perceived "wealth" orgy is over. Time will tell. It always does. I remain, SOROS