Warren or Jimmy?

Buffett On U.S. Economy: 'Significant Improvement'

When I first read this headline, I thought it might have been ganja lover Jimmy Buffett to whom the economy was looking so rosy. Then I read the story.

Yep. Things are looking up for Warren Buffett, even as for the rest of the world, things continue to look pretty grim. This is because last week, Mr. Buffett got a legislative break, an ingredient thrown in by that great sausage maker Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. From the WSJ:

“The provision, sought by Berkshire and pushed by Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson in the Senate Agriculture Committee, would largely exempt existing derivatives contracts from the proposed rules. Previously, the legislation could have allowed regulators to require that companies such as Nebraska-based Berkshire put aside large sums to cover potential losses. The change thus would aid Berkshire, which has a $63 billion derivatives portfolio, according to Barclays Capital."

Buffett is only seeking to have the derivative exemption apply to existing contracts. While it might be true that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has been more responsible in the creation of its derivatives, the exemption he seems to have won will apply to everyone who trade in these complex financial instruments, about which Buffett wrote Berkshire investors saying that derivatives "can be dynamite."

From the same rosy article quoting Buffett noted above:

“And the evidence is now clear that new jobs will follow. And at a faster rate than in any recovery in recent memory.

“The shift in employment activity is most apparent in job postings, which have begun to surge. Indeed.com, which collects job listings from thousands of sources, reported a 19 percent increase in postings in March, versus the same month last year.”

I do not know how anyone else out there feels, but Indeed.com, for me, has been the biggest waste of application time in my job search. It is so full of jobs that are not real jobs, I stopped using it near the beginning of my search.

And what does “recent memory” mean? If it refers to the memory of most Americans, that memory is short, indeed.

Some people claim the economy's to blame, but as the unemployed are often told, it's your own damn fault.