Henry Paulson wants the taxpayers to pay some $700+ billion for trash paper currently held by his old company Goldman Sachs and others. The deal will likely bring a 50% or bigger loss for the taxpayers.
At the same time Warren Buffet buys a $5 billion stake of Goldman Sachs that practically guarantees him a return of some 17-20% per year plus possible upsides in the stock price. This because Goldman will likely be the one profiting the most from the big bailout.
[Buffett] made it very clear that he would not have bought anything right now if he wasn’t confident Congress will do the "right thing" and approve the financial bailout proposal put forward by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
As he himself admits, Buffett and the other Berkshire shareholders will make $500 to $1,000 million profit per year because the taxpayer will pay for the big losses Wall Street made.
And now he is openly ‘talking his book’:
Buffett told us the financial system was on the brink of collapse last week before Paulson and Bernanke went to Congress with their plan. And he warns that last week will "look like Nirvana" if a bailout plan isn’t passed by Congress.
He calls the current crisis everyone’s problem, not just Wall Street’s, with the markets in a "very, very difficult situation."
This is high class gangster capitalism. Buffet did not make all his money by NOT being shameless.
And when such fine deals can be made, thanks to Paulson, why not take care that more of such will come along?
Buffett said Paulson is doing a great job, and he recommended that the next president keep him as Treasury Secretary for another year or so.
Utterly shameless.