It should be noted that Warren Buffet lost 800 million dollars in 2005 in his bet against the dollar, so take what he says with a grain of salt -- he has a very vested interest in talking down the dollar exchange rate.
Warren Buffet was the primary force that drove down bond yields (and mortgage rates) in the spring and summer of 2003. On June 17th, when he shifted from being a bond buyer to bond seller, he triggered a reverse stampede that saw mortgage rates go up more than a point in six weeks. This was an unprecedented rise, and more than one large mortgage company went bankrupt.
George Soros was the single biggest loser in the stock market crash of 1987 -- he lost 600 million in one week, although he still managed to make an overall profit of more than a billion that year.
Posted by ck at January 2, 2006 10:37 AMA few press conferences, a couple national speeches, Cheney making the Sunday AM news show rounds and Bush will convince the needed 50-55% of the electorate any economic collapse is the fault of nefarious, traitorous Democrats wishing to see Bin Laden take over.
Posted by steve duncan at January 2, 2006 06:25 PMpessimist: re: "use nukes". Lucky for me, Ike taught us to "duck and cover" in kindergarden. Between looking out the school windows for Russian bombers, and saying our prayers at night, ("if I should DIE before I wake") we sure were happy little tykes! Still waiting for the flash, Al.
Posted by TIKI AL at January 3, 2006 04:41 AMYeah TIKI, I remember wishing my parents would build a bomb shelter in our backyard in those days.
Posted by Judith at January 3, 2006 06:36 AMJudith: Unless all of your neighbors had a shelter too, it would not have helped. Remember that episode of "Twilight Zone", where the neighbors broke into the only shelter on the block, and after the false alarm, invited what was left of the owner to have a bbq? Isn't human nature wonderful?
Posted by TIKI AL at January 3, 2006 06:57 AM