This week Buffet who is 80 spoke once more.  This time he is talking to Congress and hoping the American public will follow his lead.  He is asking the newly formed committee of congress that is charged with cutting 1.5 Trillion from the Federal budget – to do so and do it fairly.  In essence he is asking congress to act as statesmen rather than political jackels.

His  Full comments from the opinion page of the NYT.

“Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

By WARREN E. BUFFETT

Omaha

OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.”

…..

“Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country’s finances. They’ve been instructed to devise a plan that reduces the 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. It’s vital, however, that they achieve far more than that. Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country’s fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness. That feeling can create its own reality.

Job one for the 12 is to pare down some future promises that even a rich America can’t fulfill. Big money must be saved here. The 12 should then turn to the issue of revenues. I would leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get.

But for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Just about anyone who felt the initial  Playbook didn’t offer everything they needed e.g. working with email sans BB phone, has waited for version 2.

I know I put off the purchase.  I’ve been Waiting for the next G4 version and I will be in line in Sept.

CNET  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20091812-64/sprint-nixes-4g-blackberry-playbook-tablet/

This article from June 2011 Gold Mining Stocks Are CHEAP Compared to Price of Gold discusses historical ratios.

Historically, one could purchase about 4.4. units of the XAU for the price of an ounce of gold. That ratio fell to less than 3 units per ounce in the mid-1990s when gold prices bottomed but has averaged 5.2 units during the current bull market.

…

via chartsbin.com

via chartsbin.com

March 22 2011

US government says it has recovered 3/4 of Tarp fundes; 290 of 410 billion.

This does not include the money 154 billion loaned to Fannie and Fredie for mortgage backed bonds..

Treasury Department’s announcement  March 21st that it would start selling F & F mortgage-backed bonds at a pace of  $10billion a month.Monday is a sign that some degree of normalcy is returning to the market for mortgage-backed bonds. It plans to sell its securities over the next year or so, at a pace of about $10-billion a month.

The U.S. dollar recently traded at Y79.18 as it is costing more US dollars to buy a Yen.

ETF  Japan  Larry MacDonald http://blog.canadianbusiness.com/japan-a-time-for-brave-investors/

The Bank of Japan has announced a massive increase in monetary stimulus. The Japanese government will be announcing a massive fiscal response to rebuild and keep the economy going. Along with the sharp drop in Japanese stocks, investors could be on the cusp of a rare opportunity to buy low. I plan a two-phase entry: half of the position today, with the other half committed if and when the worse case scenario (complete meltdown) arises.

Some may object to speaking about the potential for investment gains at a time like this. I could understand that logic if was leveled against the short sellers who are profiting from the human misery. But going long on Japanese securities should be viewed as being supportive of the Japanese people, in my opinion.

Just love Igor and the Mad Scientist.  One needs to remember that in the original movie Frankenstein does come to life.

The newest offerings bring to four the number of Horizons BetaPro ETFs that are designed to provide one times the inverse daily performance of their market benchmarks, after fees and expenses. The other two, Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 Inverse ETF HIX and Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Financials Inverse ETF HIF, began trading on March 5.

Rig counts continue to fall, while oil rises on US dollar weakness.

Canada looks like it is getting out of the oil industry entirely. Here are this week’s new rig counts showing how far these keep getting idled:

U.S. Rig Count down 41 from last week at 1,085; down 699 year over year.

Canadian Rig Count down 61 from last week at 159; down 169 year over year.

The US Offshore rig count is 43, down 4 from last week; down 14 year over yea