Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (236428)	1/21/2010 2:26:18 PM
From: Peter V	Respond to of 306849

"Dodd: Bernanke Can't Lead Fed if Confirmation Delayed" OK, maybe filibuster is not such a bad thing after all. -g-

To: Les H who wrote (236428)	1/21/2010 5:57:20 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 306849

Buffett seems less cozy with Obama Warren Buffett stood next to Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election, but he was a long distance away from Obama during an interview on CNBC today. Buffett said in the interview that the public is “very disillusioned” with government – especially Congress – because Washington has been conducting business as usual. “The stimulus bill was old style Washington – Washington squared,” he said, with Congressmen handing out about 8,000 favors to their constituents through a bill that was supposed to be building jobs and the economy. “People expected better things by this time,” he said. "People don't like the Christmas tree approach" of hanging favors on bills rather than focusing on the intent. Rather than praising the one-year old Obama administration, Buffett said government’s best work occurred in September and October of 2008, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced an “economic Pearl Harbor” and “stretched his authority” to allay a panic in the financial crisis. “Bernanke did a magnificent job,” Buffett said. “He took extraordinary actions.” By doing that, he assured the world that he wouldn’t make the “Herbert Hoover” mistake of letting financial weakness build as it did in the Depression, said Buffett. For those who would limit the Federal Reserve’s “independence,” Buffett said, if Congress were “to say, ‘We can do this better than Ben Bernanke,' I’d be very worried. I’d sell some stocks.” And he thought he’d be among many doing the same. Buffett did not criticize Obama directly and said some of the nation’s economic ills must be resolved by the long process of consumers, banks and businesses working their way through years of excessive debt, or leverage. But he talked about the proposed tax on banks as a political stunt and said “maybe if I were running for office, I’d be going after the banks too.” Buffett is a large shareholder in Wells Fargo and called the proposed tax on banks “some kind of guilt tax,” that is focused on banks that have already repaid debts to the government with interest. "I don't understand the tax." When the government provided aid to banks during the financial crisis, "all of us were taken care of;" not just the banks, said Buffett. "If you are looking for people who benefited, the government could tax auto workers." newsblogs.chicagotribune.com