Friday, August 22, 2008
Buffett: Fannie, Freddie over the hill, Edwards a big city hustler
In an otherwise predictable interview on Fannie and Freddie, Warren Buffett offers his homespun wisdom to John Edwards Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
I don't always agree with Buffett, and this is one of those times, but I have no sympathy for the target.
Also, it's good to see this reminder stuck in the middle of the article:
They should add, opposed by the alleged demons of the right all along. I'm amazed at how many of my bien pensant acquaintances think the agency crisis is somehow one of free markets, deregulation and Ronald Reagan. They are as knowledgeable about the subject as certain Brits on the U.S.
If the government decides to fund or guarantee you (which it should do only in the narrowest circumstances), it seems to me it has the right to tell you a) don't smear chocolate on your naked body in public and b) don't leverage our guaranty 50-1 for private stockholders. OFHEO and NEA, perfect together!
In other comments, Buffett said former presidential candidate John Edwards should consider returning small donations because he ``misled'' people. Edwards has admitted having an extramarital affair that he had earlier denied.
I don't always agree with Buffett, and this is one of those times, but I have no sympathy for the target.
Also, it's good to see this reminder stuck in the middle of the article:
Fannie Mae was created as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s, a time when the U.S. economy was struggling to emerge from the stock market crash, industrial production had tumbled 50 percent and the unemployment rate rose as high as 30 percent. Freddie started in 1970, when the economy was strained by the Vietnam War.
They should add, opposed by the alleged demons of the right all along. I'm amazed at how many of my bien pensant acquaintances think the agency crisis is somehow one of free markets, deregulation and Ronald Reagan. They are as knowledgeable about the subject as certain Brits on the U.S.
If the government decides to fund or guarantee you (which it should do only in the narrowest circumstances), it seems to me it has the right to tell you a) don't smear chocolate on your naked body in public and b) don't leverage our guaranty 50-1 for private stockholders. OFHEO and NEA, perfect together!
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Aug 22, 04:48:00 PM:
Buffet has gone soft in the head if he thinks Edwards is going to give even a dime back.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 03:53:00 AM:
I don't understand why people persist in calling Buffet a capitalist. His politics are manifestly socialist.
