Warren Buffet deserves kudos and credit for his forsight as viewed from the past. He freely tips his hat to Benjamin Graham. For this he also deserves credit.

However, as Bershire has grown as a percentage of the U.S. economy, it has and will continue to have difficulty outperforming the crowd.  If the economy has real growth of 3%, everyone cannot continuously exceed this growth on an individual basis. This speed limit includes Warren.

The main concern in investing in stocks today will be the power or poverty of the American consumer.  Many good jobs have been shipped overseas, there has been no savings- even negative savings in the U.S., most consumer spending growth has been financed by foreign countries- especially China, as China continues to play beggar-thy-neighbor with its trade policies.  So, any expectation that the U.S. consumer will lead the economy out of this recession/depression is at least uncertain.

The Federal Reserve has bought $2 trillion of paper of unknown real value, and the federal government has already let Paulson burn $350 billion in the last 3 months.  Is this sustainable ?  Has anyone considered what we have for Plan B, if the current cobbled-together policy of credit creation and printing money, doesn't work ?

Without cleaning out the gangrene in the current economy, without letting the light of day onto the financial shenanigans, and without building a new energy base for America, Warren Buffet and nobody else will succeed in the future.

K

oh to be in mr.Buffetts place

Let’s face it, you have been scammed. We are a debtor nation, living off borrowing from Asia. I am no genius but I saw it coming years ago, you can’t offshore everything and borrow and spend like no tomorrow. The payback is going to last a long time, I suspect the stock market will take years to recover. For all you market Rah, Rah, Rahers, think about it. When you buy a share of a company, what are you getting? It’s the greater fool theory, you hope some other sucker will pay more for your pie in the sky. Works for awhile then crashes, read some history. Before you blast me, I have been there done that, made thousands and lost them in the market. You can make a lot of money, but you have to get in and out and have the stomach for it. Feel sorry for all who listened to the buy and hold scam, if this was a good strategy, why does the market trade millions of shares a day? I put my money where my mouth is, made ~ %4.5 in my investments, all in government backed CD’s. I will take this any day over the losses most have. Cash is king!

I think that a nice pill box hat with a pair of tatrtan pants makes a lovely smart, jaunty outfit

If Warren Buffett is such a wonderful person, why has Berkshire Hathaway never paid a single cent in dividends to his shareholders?

Joan Schall

Has anyone seen my car keys? I think I left them on the kitchen table

Yeah, Mr. Buffett hasn't got a clue!  That's why he is in the top ten of the wealthest people on the planet!  Poor guy, we should all be so unlucky to have a few stocks that are down 32% this year.  Least we forget, Mr. Buffet got it right many, many years ago!  He's not loosing principal, his original principal was probably only 5% of his wealth, let's compare it to 10 by 10 by 10 sand box full of sand, would you consider loosing one third of that sand after having only started his sand box with a 1 gallon of sand a loss? He's the greatest American investor this country has ever known, his name is synonymous with successful investing in stocks and bonds.  What greater tribute to one's life long work could there be than being an Icon to one's profession?

Mr. Buffett,

I am 63, a widow, I invested in 2008 in Brk believing that if anyone knew where we were going it would be you.  Today, I looked at my investments and they have decreased 45%. A decrease of 9% in one week.  I am Omaha born, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Please help me (us as investors) be able to at least get our investments back.

JHS