"When society has to save institutions, the CEO should go away broke." - Warren Buffett

[HughBeaumont]

On CNBC, testifying in front of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

I like that.

[Statistical]

1. Mr. Buffet is a smart man. Doesn't try to hide behind a lot of jargon.

Straight shooter which is why I like him.

[havocmom]

2. Not just CEOs. All top corporate officers AND THE BOARDS need to be looked at for responsibility

I know, I know, it won't happen, but if Buffett can advise righteous wishful thinking, I'll join the game.

[HughBeaumont]

3. The boards are loaded with CEOs themselves.

Forget where I saw on the net once . .. it's no longer there . . . but they had a Flash App that joined board members and major shareholders of different companies and placed them in one giant org chart. Talk about a labyrinthine intertwining of conglomerates; it'd make a spider jealous.

One look at this will explain 10-fold why progressive issues get not one single BIT of attention paid to them in this country.

[nykym]

6. I thought it would be neat to see also

is this it ?

http://news.muckety.com/

[HughBeaumont]

9. It's along those same lines, same charting . . . but no.

This one I saw was slicker and had no news items.

For some reason, the search function isn't working on this one. I'll have to explore this at home. Thanks!

[havocmom]

10. Usual suspects found on boards and in executive suites is why $ getting to fewer hands

A small little club rules the machine of the economy and they make damned sure more and more of the wealth filters up into fewer and fewer hands. And they don't want any estate taxes to take some of it for the little people when they die. They want to control the economy after they are dead and buried too. Gotta make sure it all goes to the scions of the ruling jerks.

People who scoff at 'conspiracy theories' about who controls the globe are just not paying attention. Those who scoff insist grand conspiracies just can't happen due to the numbers of people involved just aren't paying attention to how small the club really is. All the few have to do is bribe enough henchmen to do their dirty work TODAY. Tomorrow there will be new henchmen desperate to please for a few crumbs off the big people's table.

And wars will be about corporate interests. Hell, they already are. Industries will fight industries when their interests are at cross purpose. It will always be the little people and the environment that pays the price of wars.

[nichomachus]

21. Exactly

You don't need a lot of people for a real conspiracy. You can do it with just a few. It's like when someone talks about stolen elections and the counter argument is that it would take too many people to do that. That's not true. You only need a few small vote changes in some key precincts to swing an election. And vote counters know exactly where those precincts are. Just insert a small subroutine on a handful of machines and you can make astounding changes to the overall results.

[nichomachus]

19. I believe you're referring to theyrule.net

http://theyrule.net/

It's a little hard to negotiate until you're familiar with it, but it is awesome -- and scary as hell.

The upper levels of the American Corporatocracy are more incestuous than you can believe.

[HughBeaumont]

20. YES! That's the one! Thanks!

:woohoo: :yourock:

Evil, evil, EVIL.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. Absolutely

They put each other on their boards, where they vote about compensation. One hand neatly washes the other.

And yes, the board also ought to be held responsible.

[HughBeaumont]

23. It's the likely reason we have no Universal Health Care . . .

. . . yet automotive companies and others constantly bitch about health care being their greatest worker costs and refuse to admit the disconnect.

There's a likely "pact" among the spider legs displayed in theyrule - no eating each other if you can help it.

[mmonk]

4. Amen brother Buffett.

[closeupready]

5. Too late, Warren.

:eyes:

[mmonk]

8. Never too late when the possibility exists for a next time.

[Mari333]

7. damn. hoooah for warren.

[gratuitous]

11. Why does Warren Buffett hate free market capitalism?

Ben Stein said BP stockholders shouldn't suffer, and who owns more BP stock than its executives? Won't someone please think of the multimillionaires and their plight? What if they all go Galt on us, and refuse to grace our mean society with the bountiful blessings of their expertise and ingenuity at making gobs of money for themselves? Could our country go on? Should it? Who would want to live in such an impoverished nation, bereft of corporate executives and their mad market skillz?

[Mimosa]

12. Ben Stein is a nasty weasel. Made me gag when I heard that.

Gratuitous said

"Ben Stein said BP stockholders shouldn't suffer, and who owns more BP stock than its executives?"

I saw that on TV. he said he owned BP stock too.

Ben Stein is nasty. I met him once. YUCK.

[chill_wind]

13. But not before they use up their stockpiles of Nalco chemicals perhaps, of which

he is their largest shareholder.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_21/b4179019975403.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

Just can't help but notice how while I appreciate the sentiment, he doesn't exactly come out all bad in things.

He's there under subpoena, so I guess he might as well make the best of it and give us some memorable quotes.

FCIC Has to Force Buffett to Testify on Ratings Agencies
By Annie Lowrey 5/27/10 6:51 PM

Fortune has a great story up: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission requested that Warren Buffett, the head of investment giant Berkshire Hathaway, come testify. He declined.

The panel — charged with investigating the causes of the financial crisis and known for its aggressive and public grilling of Wall Street executives — asked again, this time using somewhat stronger language. Buffett again said no. So the FCIC subpoenaed the Oracle of Omaha, in all caps no less. “YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to appear and give testimony,” their letter read.

And, lo and behold, Buffett will testify on Wednesday on the subject of ratings agencies. Berkshire Hathaway controls a major stake in Moody’s, one of the three big credit raters.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8434808

[Statistical]

15. Not unusual.

He has a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders not to govt agencies.

He can be sued (personally) for breaching that duty. Counsel likely advised him to decline without a supeona.

A company I worked for was asked by EPA to testify about modeling of contaminants in water. Our company had no problem however we asked EPA to subpoena us. It wasn't antagonistic but for various business reasons it would look a lot better if we were "forced" to testify.

[chill_wind]

16. Ok, I'll take your word. Not being any part of the investor class,

I don't always pick up on the finer points of these things.

But are you sorry yet that you just bought shares of BP instead of Nalco, like Buffett did, lol?

[Statistical]

18. Warren Buffet works for me silly.

My biggest holding (11% of portfolio) is BRK.B and has been for over a decade.
Whatever Buffet buys he buys for me. :)

I've owned Berkshire Hathaway ever since Buffet opened it up to the little guys when he offered "baby shares" in 1996 for "only" $1100 per share (big shares - BRK.A were going for $32,000 per share back then).

[metapunditedgy]

14. Broke and *IMPRISONED!*. n/t

[Rex]

17. Hear that Donald Trump!?

Fucking loser, sould have been left to die on the vine.

[HughBeaumont]

24. Kick

:kick: