Green Options » Warren Buffet

The Golden State Goes Bust

Fred Etcheverry — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:01:30 +0000

Californian just voted down a set of “revenue enhancements.” Now Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to layoff fire, police, and teachers. This will certainly increase the already soaring unemployment and foreclosure rates. Schwarzenegger is now considering releasing nonviolent prisoners, shortening the school year, legalizing and taxing marijuana.

Most of the “measures” or propositions on this special election (May 19) were desperate attempts to bailout California from an extreme budget deficit. Only one of the measures passed. It would prohibit pay raises for legislators unless the budget is balanced.

Buffet: ‘No Magic Bullet’ on Credit System

Rob Yunich — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:24:29 +0000

In a wide-ranging interview with “Nightly Business Report” on Jan. 22, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett addressed the economy, credit crisis, government stimulus bills, the Madoff scandal and his own investing strategy.

“Well we’ve had to get the credit system partially fixed in order for the economy to have a chance of starting to turn around. But there’s no magic bullet on this,” he said. “They’re going to throw everything from the government they can in. As I said, the Treasury is going all in, the Fed and they have to and that isn’t necessarily going to produce anything dramatic in the short term at all. Over time the American economy is going to work fine.”

Several times during the interview, Buffet spoke about devoting every resource to fixing the economy.

“All you know is you throw everything at it and whether it’s more effective if you’re fighting a fire to be concentrating the water flow on this part or that part. You’re going to use every weapon you have in fighting it. And people, they do not know exactly what the effects are,” he said. “Economists like to talk about it, but in the end they’ve been very, very wrong and most of them in recent years on this. We don’t know the perfect answers on it.”
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Upstart Chinese Car Company BYD Releases Plug-In Hybrid. See What You Can Do With No Regulations?

Marc Rose — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:55:53 +0000

China-based BYD has introduced a plug-in hybrid that can be plugged into a regular electrical outlet, and achieve sixty miles on one charge.

The BYD F3DM is the first mass-produced plug-in vehicle in the world. While the car will not be available in the United States until approximately 2011, according to an article on Bloomberg.com, the release of the vehicle provides a boost for the sagging vehicle market, and for the Chinese market in particular.

Now That the Shock of the Financial Meltdown has Passed, What’s Next?

Reenita Malhotra — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:30:40 +0000

The “shock” of the financial meltdown has passed, now comes, the “awe,” and with it plenty of questions. Primarily, “What’s next?” Is there another bubble brewing? What happens if millions of Americans begin to default on their credit card debt?

Overstock.com chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne, says we are less than 50% of the way through the mess, he predicted the coming of this current crisis many times before, starting 3 years ago, Watch this montage to see Byrne’s predictions beginning in 2005:

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Dr. Patrick Byrne has learned at the knee of Warren Buffett, the greatest investor of all time. As a child Byrne’s parents would allow him skip school so he could spend time and get an education from the “Oracle of Omaha.” Byrne founded Overstock in 1999, and in 2007 the company generated nearly a billion dollars in revenue.

Today Byrne is suggesting one of the following scenarios could occur in the coming years:

Reagan Recession: A deep retraction reminiscent of the recession under Reagan in the early 80’s.
The Lost Decade: A protracted recession similar to the one suffered by Japan in the 90’s.
Great Depression: A severe economic dip on par with the Great American Depression in the early 30’s.
Mad Max: Not likely, but still possible, a catastrophic breakdown of society with mass shortages of energy, food, and water.

Which way do you think the economy is going? What does this mean for sustainable economics?

America Has a Spending Problem: A Review of “I.O.U.S.A.”

Jillian Polaski — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:40:36 +0000

America has money scorching a hole in her pocket. Like many a college student with a credit card, Lady Liberty is racking up charges she knows she can’t pay when the bill comes in at the end of the month. Her spending far exceeds her income and, by the end of 2009, the amount of money she owes will be well over 9 trillion dollars. Were she a person, she would have no hope for early retirement, or maybe even any retirement at all.

How did America, one of the richest countries on the planet, end up in this situation? The new documentary I.O.U.S.A. helps to answer that question. Directed by Patrick Creadon of Wordplay fame, the film follows former US Comptroller General and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation David Walker and the Concord Coalition’s Robert L. Bixby around the country on their “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour.” Bixby adds comic relief as they trace the history of the national debt, revealing startling facts like, the only year in US history that the federal government was ever one hundred percent debt free was 1835.