Buffett, Ballmer predict bright economic future

[NJmaverick]

Source: Associated Press

BUTTE, Mont. – Two of the biggest names in business say they see a bright future for the economy.
Famed investor Warren Buffett says there will be no double-dip recession as some fear. He says banks are lending money again, businesses are hiring employees and he expects the country to come back stronger than ever.
The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was speaking Monday via video to the Montana Economic Development summit in Butte.
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer says there soon will be more technological advancement and invention than seen during the Internet era. He says that will help drive business growth.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy_leaders/print

[Warpy]

1. Both men would appear to be blind to the 70% of the economy

that is driven by consumer spending as well as the 95% of people who depend on that economy to survive.

The rich will be able to continue their bubble and bust bleed off schemes for some time, thanks to the spineless Congress being loath to do anything but window dressing reform over the last two years. Eventually there will be nothing left to bleed off. The bubbles are already getting smaller.

The largest part of the economy still has not been addressed and it will suffer until it is.

The immediate future for Buffett is rosy, though, they got that much right. The future for Ballmer is less so, unless Microschlock devotes itself entirely to the production of new programming for HFT schemes.

[amandabeech]

31. They're looking to sell.

Lots of people listen to the Oracle of Omaha, and many more would listen to a top guy at Micro$oft.

Pump up Berkshire Hathaway and M$ by rosy predictions. They'll be on CNBC with Erin Burnette very soon and maybe on Morning Joe plugging the market.

Then they'll sell.

Of course, at the moment that they're plugging they will have eminently defensible reasons for their good cheer that will hold up in the event that they are sued under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which was one of the enduring parts of the New Deal.

Next year or the year thereafter, they'll be saying, "Hey, we didn't know it would go south."

[Psephos]

34. Buffett has already pledged 90% of his fortune to charity.

I think he's saying what he means here.

[Donnachaidh]

2. they can afford the GOOD shit to smoke

:rofl: :rofl:

[NJmaverick]

5. why do you say that?

:shrug:

[4_TN_TITANS]

36. I was thinking the same...

What the hell are they smoking? This is a lame attempt to buoy the market for some selfish reason. What factual basis are these predictions based on?

[earcandle]

3. The economy seems to be hitched to the whims and virtues (or perversions) of the rich... True banks

are lending again! 

I just bought a used (2008) Honda Civic Hybrid with 17K miles
on it and guess who funded my loan?

Not my San Francisco Federal Credit Union, but JP
Morgan/Chase!  At 2% lower rate than the credit union (who
apparently forgot to tell me that my loan was approved weeks
earlier AFTER I purchased the car this past weekend.... the
offer was not only late, but a 2% higher rate).

I am impressed.  Maybe Buffett and buddies have had a change
of heart and some are actually going to flip over to the other
side? 

Here is hoping. 

[comtec]

4. Someone should tell balmer when m$ stops sending jobs to india THEN ...

things'll start getting better.

Things can only improve here when there are jobs!

New tech is worthless if no one can afford, or use it.

That's a lesson MS taught us actually, by their brutal and predatory practices to kill ANY competing OS in stores (this is a well documented fact so sit down and shut up m$ fanboys, I was there)

It doesn't matter how good the tech is, if it doesn't generate jobs HERE!

We have literally everything needed HERE (the US that is) and NOT, THERE! (india, etc)

so unless buffet and baldy are planning on hiring Americans again, i really could not care less what they have to say.

[onehandle]

6. Uh... Reality aside, Buffett is a very smart man. Balmer was Bill Gates' college roommate.

One of these things does not belong.

[scheming daemons]

7. The only problem is... most of the improvement will come after November...

..and the GOP will claim "credit".

[Hawkowl]

8. Billionaires are bad

If the economy looks good to a billionaire, that can only mean you and I are going to take it in the shorts. I'd be much happier if these assholes were whining about how their tax bracket just increased to 80% and that capital gains tax is taxed more than regular income and that they there was no cap on the FICA tax.

Fucking billionaires are destroying the world to stick a few extra nickels in their mattresses.

[NJmaverick]

20. That assertion doesn't make sense.

[Hawkowl]

27. It does if you are a Navajo nt

[gratuitous]

9. And after the Crash of 1929, Rockefeller said stocks were a good investment

Some anti-capitalist wag had the temerity to say that Rockefeller would say that, as he was the only one with any money left to invest. I notice that Buffett and Ballmer both have good-paying jobs and a substantial financial cushion, so their economic future is no doubt very bright, as the proles scuffle with each other over scraps from their table. So amusing and diverting, no?

[NJmaverick]

19. of course after the crash stocks did end up going back up

[gratuitous]

23. Yeah, and except for the near-universal financial ruin

If only stockbrokers could have accepted, I dunno, blood donations or handfuls of dirt as payment for stocks, we could have all been rich. Rich, I tells ya! Rich!

[happyslug]

38. Only till March 1930, then a down hill trend til March 1933

By March 1930 the Stock Market was almost where it was at the start of the October Crash, but from March 1930 the Stock Market went into a slow but steady decline. This later decline was the real killer. The March 1930-March 1933 Decline was and is called the "Sucker's Rally". The Sucker's rally pulled in a lot of money that had pulled out of the market prior to the October Crash. That money invested into the Stock Market AFTER October 1929 was then lost. As far a the Stock Market is concerned it did NOT return to 1929/March 1930 levels till about 1954 (Some times an earlier date is used by that date is valid if you ignore the fact that FDR in 1933 devalued the US Dollar from $20 an ounce of Gold to $35 an ounce of Gold).

[Hawkowl]

40. Hey that sounds familiar!

Seriously, I think we are in a huge suckers rally right now. We are in Great Depression II. It is playing out almost exactly the same as it did in the 1930's. It terrifying, like watching the mother of all train wrecks in slow motion.

[raouldukelives]

10. Good news!

I was worried unemployment above 5% might last a few more years. Nice to know an influx of jobs bigger than the dotcom boom is coming.

[Jim Sagle]

11. Bright for them; for us, not so much. Race to the bottom bitchez!!

[L0oniX]

12. La la la la la ...don't worry be happy ...pony for xmas

[NJmaverick]

18. why would you be opposed to the economy getting better?

[Lost4words]

37. what a load

:puke:

[bemildred]

13. Happy talk from the obscenely wealthy. nt

[NJmaverick]

21. Of course they get wealthy by knowing how the economy will behave

[bemildred]

30. They got lucky, that's all it was, they don't know shit. nt

[flyarm]

14. they must want to cash out on some of their stock to try to fool any fool into believing that pile

of dog doo!

[flyarm]

15. A little reality check here..

reports out today Poverty has increased..just reported on MSNBC........


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9126567


thanks to Better Believe It for posting:

The Hyper-Inflation Mirage: "deficit scaremongering is politics not economics"

September 13, 2010

Bernanke's Choice
The Hyper-Inflation Mirage
By MIKE WHITNEY

The Fed can create as much money as it likes without any risk of inflation provided the money is tucked away where no one can spend it. And this, in fact, is what the Fed has done. They have exchanged $1.7 trillion in reserves for non performing loans and mortgage-backed securities with the banks. But the banks loan book continues to shrink. In other words, the Fed has increased the money supply, but in real terms, the money supply has shrunk. Thus, the Fed's so called quantitative easing (QE) program has failed to stimulate spending or lead to a credit expansion. Had the Fed chosen to take the $1.7 trillion and bury it in a hole on the White House lawn, the effect would have been exactly the same.

The reason the government increases the money supply during a recession is to reduce unemployment, stabilize prices and increase economic activity by stimulating demand. And, increasing demand should be fairly easy. It merely requires that consumers have enough liquid reserves (cash) that they feel comfortable spending at levels that will grow the economy. Naturally, full employment helps to increase spending and, thus, strengthens demand. The government can help to speed the process along through targeted fiscal interventions. (aka--stimulus)

At present, demand is weak because working people lost $8 trillion in equity when the housing bubble burst. They also lost another $2 trillion in retirement funds from the correction in equities. That means, it will take a long time before they recover and are able to spend as they did before the crisis. Fortunately, the government is not limited in the same way as everyone else. Consumers cannot print their own money, but a sovereign government (that pays its debts in its own currency) can. The government can print as much money as it likes; it is not capital constrained. And, the government should exercise that privilege when there is a compelling reason to do so, such as, when when the output gap is wide, unemployment is soaring, the economy is sputtering, and the risks of deflation are high.

But increasing government spending also increases the deficits, which creates an opportunity to scare people about future obligations. But deficit scaremongering is politics not economics. What really adds to the deficits are the governments fixed costs (that go up during a recession) and the shortfall in revenues which dwindle because people pay less in taxes. Stimulus is just a small part of the deficits. So, the best way to reduce the deficits is to increase employment, restore consumer spending to prior levels, and grow the economy.

Read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09132010.html

[NJmaverick]

22. How does that indicate the economy will not improve?

[totodeinhere]

16. It's a bright economic future for rich people like them.

But it will continue to be high unemployment and other economic woes for average people.

[NJmaverick]

17. Not just the rich, everyone

[totodeinhere]

26. Oh really. Goolsbee: High unemployment likely to continue.

I wish I had your rose colored glasses.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/09/goolsbee-tempers-bidens-summer.html

[NJmaverick]

29. Not according to these very knowledgeable men

[NickB79]

39. Other than these two men, who else is saying unemployment will drop soon?

These two men are the outliers; virtually every other economist who has looked at the issue has reported that unemployment will remain high for years to come, because we have a systemic flaw with the way our economy is run.

[indepat]

24. That does it, you can count on roses coming up for you and me and all Americans: you can smoke it

for it's now as good as money in the bank that Steve and the oracle have spoken, never mind that we are in a whole new paradigm of mass unemployment. ;)

[Odin2005]

25. Oops, there goes the BS "Buffet the Benevolent Billionaire" narrative?

[NJmaverick]

28. No, but I have seen plenty of Buffet must be evil BS

[Odin2005]

33. Behind every great fortune is a great crime.

[PSPS]

32. Headline should be: Buffett, Ballmer predict bright economic future for billionaires like themselves

[unkachuck]

35. "...banks are lending money again, businesses are hiring employees ..."

....maybe in worn buffers' neighborhood, not in mine....things are still depressed around here....

....if I could get worn buffer away from playing with his trains long enough to visit my area, he might see things differently....but then again, maybe not....

....he is filthy rich, and the filthy rich are notorious for being deceptive bags of shit....

[MissMillie]

41. link won't load (n/t)

.