2011-05-22

Warren Buffett — The Ultimate Bull Market Phenomenon

I just came this blog post from M3 Financial Analysis (which I had never seen before). The blog seems to be an interesting one, and the post itself is awesome as it summarizes in a very good way many of my posts on Warren Buffet: the fact that he has been more lucky than skillful, benefiting from the longest bull market and the biggest credit bubble in history, losing his integrity in supporting anti-capitalistic and socialist ideas to push up his own book, and more recently, insider trading and other actions...

Here a few quotes:
Warren Buffett is not an expert at value. Value is non-rational and relative. Nobody is an expert at value since it does not exist. (just look at the 150 pe for the SP500 as an example...is that value now? is it value at 7? Either answer is equally inaccurate since they are both totally arbitrary.)

Warren Buffett is not an expert at derivatives trading. He sold billions of dollars of puts on the SP500, FTSE, Nikkei and Stoxx indexes right near the top of the market. There is a difference between being right and lucky. And though my view is that Buffet has more skill than just luck...he has primarily been the beneficiary of luck not skill.
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Buffett continues to rationalize his holdings and trades. He continues to play out his own psychological patterns. And most important, he is now a victim of societies psychological patterns in that his decisions seemingly leave him no choice but to try to rationalize his actions and thesis rather than do something about them.
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In my book, lucky is being on the right side of the credit-inflation story and playing the fiat game well on the way up. What is not lucky is trying to play that same game when the fiat system is dissolving before your eyes. But success via fiat is a high very much like, I guess, heroin or crack...great when you have some - but terrible when you don't. Buffett is addicted to the fiat system and his high is just starting to dissipate. Soon, he will be looking for replacement therapy. Methadone anyone?
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So, what is Mr. Buffett's current investment technique?

He's become a promoter and a prop for the fiat money system. Masquerading as the last remaining real Bull-market success-story cheerleader, he's trying to convince everyone who will listen of marvelous and imaginative stories. For example, that his old ways (yes the lucky ones he used in the past) are the best choices, that the dollar is going to go in the tank, that holding cash for the last 8 years decreased your purchasing power. Much better to promote your own bubble manifestations like Well's Fargo, Bank of America, Conoco Phillips, GE and Moody's.

What I find truly sad and disingenuous is that he has resorted to promoting himself and his distortions via a structured public relations campaign. Specifically he has been used as a prop by Bernake and Paulson — obviously for his own benefit — is directly lying to people through his Op-ed and interview efforts.
What's more, he most likely is keenly aware of these facts. The only difference is that he has to lie in order to save his empire. If you were in his position you would most likely try to do something too rather than just watch the whole thing fall apart - even if it were crossing the line a bit. If Buffett tries to exit stage left he becomes a victim of his own bull-market demagogue status...everyone will try to exit with him. If he lies...he can simply say he was wrong but tried. (I think Barney Frank uses that technique a lot - but maybe its just most politicians)
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What a down it will be for Berkshire and Buffett. A high climb becomes a long fall. People remember the fall much more than the climb when judging history - especially when they have no money left.
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The thesis that the dollar will go into the tank is a credit-inflation manifestation. The dollar is already in the tank - its down over 96% since the Fed took over managing inflation (if you want to call it that)...i mean protecting the dollar. But isn't it ironic, people are sure the dollar will go in the tank when it only has a few percent to go to get to zero. I am sorry to inform Mr Buffett - the dollar is already in the tank and maybe it wants to go up now for a few years. 38% retracement anyone?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Regret that you didn't know of the M3 blog .. daily reading together with yours.

Should have illuminated you to the original post that inspired my reading

http://m3financialsense.blogspot.com/2009/09/euro-starting-trip-to-oblivion.html