Friday, March 23, 2012

WARREN BUFFET - A MARKETING GENIUS...

Overlay a chart of the S & P 500 and Berkshire Hathaway since May of 2002.  It looks to me as if they both follow a very similar path throughout that entire period.  Why in the world Berkshire gets so much publicity seems to be a delusion of the press.

I knew a man who was once called a  Wall Street "Investing Legend" by the media and a major university.  Each time I examine his public investing record all I seem to find is under performance to the major averages.

Many of Berkshire's major division heads seem to be being paid millions of dollars a year to run Berkshire's various parts while Buffet publicizes that he doesn't hardly take a salary.  He doesn't take a salary so I guess he doesn't pay much taxes.  He doesn't pay a dividend on his shares and generally he doesn't buy back shares of his own company.  Since as you've seen the performance of Berkshire mirrors the S & P, shareholders seem to get a very mediocre return.  The emphasis seems to be on the maintenance of an illusion as to how rich Mr. Buffet is and how little taxes everybody else pays.

From what I can tell in the press when he dies his shares will go to a Foundation, hence there will be little taxes on his estate.  From what I can tell the Foundation receiving the shares of his estate spend a substantial amount of its money on projects outside the United States.

In summary, his stock doesn't perform relatively and there seems to be lots of missing important information in the company's annual report.  Additionally, Mr Buffet has figured out a method for avoiding substantial tax payments for himself while his poor little secretary goes to Congress and complains about other people's taxes.

Remember Berkshire Hathaway hasn't diverged much from the S & P performance for over a decade. Warren Buffet is a marketing genius.  

Thursday, March 22, 2012

THE GADGET THAT BROUGHT DOWN AN INDUSTRY (FIRST PUBLISHED 4/14/11)

Many months ago when I bought my first IPAD I said to my business partner, "Holy Moly-this product is going to have some huge impact on PC sales". Months have passed and I have begun to think of how many people are employed in making PCS and their ancillary equipment.

The gadget that brought down an industry and we didn't see it coming. Holy Moly???

P.S. I must be crazy. "Laugh of the Day"

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

BLOG OF THE DAY...

This morning I looked at a stock market screen with almost 300 symbols on it. They were all red.  You mean to tell me everybody decided to sell all of these 300 stocks and all of the buyers decided to go away.  I don't think so.  I think massive computer programs kicked in for whatever reason.  Today, computer trading accounts for most of the transactions on the stock exchange.  The self centered argument for maintaining this gambling casino environment is as wrong as the housing market speculation was. We all have access to company information and the economy.  Only a limited few have access to huge computers where a push of a button executes the buying and selling of millions of shares.   This has to end before a machine controlling a machine controlling a machine pushes the wrong button.
 

Shepard Osherow. All Rights Reserved