Berkshire Hathaway Profit Falls 77 Percent, Fourth Straight Profit Drop

Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted a fourth straight profit drop, the longest streak of quarterly declines in more than a decade, as hurricanes hurt returns at insurance operations and investments lost value.

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Comments

[GreenEyedGuru]

OH NO!, BH only made a BILLION DOLLARS last quarter! The gov't needs to bail them out!

[Bushwillresign]

I thought he was belly up from the title? He's still spending billion dollar bills like the rest of us are spending hundred dollar bills.

[sclucie]

And most of it is going to the Gates Foundation - to fight malaria and AIDs - can you say the same?

[leftLibertarian]

My tiny violin is playing

[FreedomCorpse]

My guess, as lowly commoner, is that Warren regrets getting rid of the 130 million oz of silver he bought in the late 90's. Perhaps the economic illuminati made him a deal to get it from him so they could start the ETF's.

[rollingdivision]

Having just an income tax isn't fair, we need a tax on wealth so the rich like Buffet who have their billions socked away have to pay taxes on their fortunes. How is it fair that these people can have billions in the bank and pay no taxes on the fortunes because they choose not to earn "income".

[GrainOSand]

I was watching Grover Norquist on CSPAN. He was laying his spiel on thick about how Obama is a Chicago style, Tax and Spend, Cronyism Embracing, Big Government Oriented, president elect. He went on to say, the average person does not want anything done for them, and Bill Gates earned his money, and therefore Norquist concludes there is no problem concerning disparity in wealth that should be broached through progressive taxes. Mr. Norquist"s is a judgment call. He is simply saying that a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, or a teacher, baker, cab driver, hotel worker...what they do is worth magnitudes less than what Gates does and Bill Gate"s deserves the right to create jobs and money on the strained backs of a public manipulated to consume. We will not even get into how the Gates product came to be, the quality of the product, and potential unfair practices that killed competition and that began a wave of outsourcing jobs through importation of labor. Yes, Bill is rich and Joe the plumber says he intends to be rich, though for right now he is busy, creating his money drawing oil. He is writing a book called "How to Make a Million Dollars" containing a single sentence, "Give me a million dollars." He is selling rich from the "po" house. Only in America, could a plumber come up out of the toilet, present the vilest of crap to a consuming public (minority that it is), and make actual sales.

[FreedomCorpse]

Norquists' bathtub is filled up with debt and the government is drowning in it....mission accomplished. Good bye cruel fiat dollar.

[GrainOSand]

It would seem that some in the GOP want to repackage drowning and call it Life 2.0. I am loving the huge questions the current reality is forcing upon the nation. It is only when the food is threatened that the natives get restless for change.

[GrainOSand]

(...Continued)
A consuming public that is constantly shrinking, constantly under pressure, and constantly hypnotized to think it needs ("Got to have it!") the next big thing. The premise is as Donna Summer, "Gates works hard for his money, so hard for it honey; he wants his taxes to be slight -- nonexistent. Yet he also wants a safe environment, public services, the safety of a standing military, and a constantly consuming public willing to spend because it can save and therefore it has a cushion. He wants a stable society not generationally caught in the paltry cycle of survival.

Mr. Norquist fails to recognize the hole in our national foot. Regan made that hole with union busting, deregulation, and the decline of the manufacturing base. Gingrich, Bush and Bush again continued the pummeling of America. Seems Norquist wants more. He is already saying we need to do the same things better next time. That is as if saying next time lets shoot off the foot at the hip. Mr. Norquist -- Iran Contra, Watergate, contract on America, DeLay, Cheney, Rove, these did damage to the nation. Now you want another hit. Put down that heroin and break free of you addiction, your sweet tooth for foolishness. We have lower taxes now. Obama is going to let the Bush tax cuts roll back. He has said that and yet Norquist phrases it as if Obama is just now introducing the concept -- Oh the rabid, oh the stuck on stupid!

[ExRepublican]

I'd keep a very close eye on ol Buffy.

Something is up. He is/has been very twisted in his thoughts and comments. Almost as if he's being paid to spout absolute BUHLSHIFT.

Again, watch him closely over the next couple of years. 1+1 = 5 in his present state of mind. Why? (somewhat of a rhetorical question)

[hrhkat]

"When dealing with the stock market, you invest when people are running scared, and you stay put when people are investing."

[alienufo]

hey at least they are still making a profit.

[KarateKid]

Does this mean that Bill Gates has passed him up?

[Danny]

When a bubble deflates, it deflates all around. Those of us who never trusted the "stock market" aren't as bankrupt as those who did, but they sure ensnared mains street with them. A crying, effing shame. America needs a new economic paradigm based on transparency, trust and honesty, the way it used to be pre-Reagan.

[Americatortures]

I think Buffet did better than the auto industry....ya think??

[sonofsamphm1c]

It's a snapshot in time. Buffett has 50 billion in cash. He's going to buy great companies cheap and his net worth will soon take off like a rocket. He's been through this before. A couple of years ago he was complaining he couldn't find any good deals. The pile of cash shows he knew this was about to happen. The old fox has just been waiting for the chickens to come out of the coop.

[Americatortures]

Hey..they MADE -NET-.....$1.06 BILLION dollars last quarter!!! That's a hell of a job in these economic times!!!

[msjimmied]

"The first rule of investing is don't lose money; the second rule is don't forget Rule No. 1."

Tough times indeed.