No sympathy for US Dollar. Gates at the exclusive Switzerland Davos retreat says he has “shorted” the currency of his country.
Bill Gates bets against dollar — What is the point of making these proclamations? I wouldn’t really care about this except that Microsoft is one of the top offshoring companies in the country and contributing to the dollar’s demise. It’s incredible to me that he’d stick a knife into the heart of America with these public comments. Does he thinks this helps things here in the USA? Apparently he doesn’t give a crap. After all, we know little about the rest of his portfolio. Why is he making this “investment” to help sink the dollar and perhaps the US economy public knowledge?
Bill Gates, whose net worth of $46.6 billion makes him the world’s richest person, is betting against the US dollar.
“I’m short the dollar,” Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The ol’ dollar, it’s gonna go down.”
The “ol’ dollar?” Except for Bloomberg nobody is touching this story in the US market. Advertising doillars are at risk, aren’t they?
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the world’s two richest men, are partners in business, bridge and travel. Now they’ve joined in a bet against the U.S. dollar.
Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., said he expects the dollar to extend its three-year drop because of widening U.S. trade and budget deficits.
“I’m short the dollar,” Gates told television interviewer Charlie Rose this weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The ol’ dollar, it’s gonna go down.”
Buffett, whose personal fortune of more than $42.9 billion is topped only by Gates’s $46.6 billion, has been buying foreign currencies since 2002, citing the impact of the U.S. deficits. Their concerns were echoed in Davos by policymakers including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and investors such as George Soros.
Mr Gates reflected the views of his friend Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has bet against the dollar since 2002. Mr Buffett said last week that the US trade gap would probably further weaken the currency.
Mr Gates in December joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company that Mr Buffett runs. Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires ranks Mr Gates, 49, No. 1. Mr Buffett, 74, is second, with more than $US30 billion. Almost all of it is in Berkshire stock.
Mr Gates described China as a potential “change agent” for the next two decades. “It’s phenomenal,” he said. “It’s a brand new form of capitalism.”
Who says a falling dollar is a bad thing?
It doesn’t mean our economy is in danger. There are good effects from having a cheaper dollar, too.
It’s just that it’s not politically correct to say you favor a cheaper dollar.
– Glenn G.
The U.S. dollar is in Danger of falling further not because of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet but because at the end of this year we will have a 800 billion dollar Current Account Gap with outside countries, China, Europe and Japan.
We have a 650 billion dollar Governmental debt If you count the raids on the Trust funds.
Half the Governmental debt is owned my foreigners so say 300 billion+800 billion= 1.1 trillion Dollars owed to foreigners this year and the numbers could get worse.
We export 9 percent of the world’s goods, we import 18 percent.
On a PPP GDP basis we make up 18 percent of the world’s economy, the U.S. has total private and public debts of over 40 trillion dollars not including any liabilities in the S.S., medicare, or other trust funds which also will add many trillions more, especially Medicare.
Why do we have this overinflated view of ourselves?
When It comes to new jobs 8 out of 10 are low wage service jobs.
We have the most expensive higer educational system in the world, we do not have a national trade education system such as Germany or Canada. 70 percent of the population cannot compete on a Global scale.
We have the most expensive health system in the world with 45 million with no coverage and over 100 million with inadequate coverage.
Most expensive prescription drugs in the world.
What costs a customer $100 dollars in the U.S. maybe $12.00 in Germany when buying drugs.
Milk $2.20 in Germany, $3.50 in the U.S.
Groceries overall in Germany are about a third less then the U.S.
My friend in Germany pays about $26.00 Euros a month for electricity for a thousand square foot flat.
Land taxes are $200.00 per year
Heating in the winter time she spends $30.00 per month on Gas
She bought her flat in downstown Essen for $97,000 Euros, house appreciation in Germany is around 4 percent per year. In the U.S. now It is 20 percent per year.
I guess If you want to make the arguement that the U.S. housing is a better investment, sell your house when you think It is time and take the money outside of the country because when you go to buy another house or property the money you made would go back into buying new digs.
Stick it in the bank and it will depreciate because of the high inflation and low interest that the bank would give you.
The only thing I see more expensive in Germany was the Gasoline
The Inflation rate is out of control.
Most European, Australians and a few others recieve 6 to 8 weeks vacation per year.
To pull a tooth in the U.S. Cost-$150.00
Germany-$0
Healthcare costs per GDP
Germany-9.8 %
U.S.- 15%
University costs
Germany-free
U.S.- over $20,000 per year
Heating costs
Germany- $30.00 per month
U.S.- 250.00 per month
Electricity
Germany -26.00 per month
U.S. average-120 per month
Gini -index
Rich-poor gap
Germany-about 30
U.S.-46 and rising
Average ceo pay
Germany- 42 times worker salary
U.S.-approaching 1,000 times average worker salary
Export trade:
Germany- 1 trillion dollars in exports
U.S. – 750 billion
Current account:
Germany- big surplus
U.S.- 800 billion deficit
Wealth creation:
U.S. one dollar in profit but 5 new dollars in debt, the ratio should be 2 to 1 not 5 to 1
The rich are leaving the country because It is overinflated and we nolonger are a manufacturing country which is where much of the real wealth has always been made along with mining and farming.
I would think that people should know these things but sometime they do not unfortunately.
One could say that Germany has high unemployment and yes because of the eastern side that is true but so does the U.S.
18 to 65 year old work ratio the U.S. has about 62 percent of the folks in the workforce, Germany is around 56 percent but the European Union as a whole has 64 percent of their 18 to 65 years old people in the workforce officially.
You cannot inflate yourself to prosperity, excess credit and money creation only inflates asset class prices/inflation.
You must either, design, engineer, manufacture, grow crops/cattle or mine minerals to have a high value added economy.
Walmart jobs do not do that, they pay $7.00 an hour and that is the biggest employer in the u.s. at present.
Stores and restuarants are not high value added jobs nor very productive.
I think that it’s actually more expensive to buy a house in Germany than it is here due to their lack of land. The main difference between Germany and here, however, is that their quality of life is on a whole different level than Americans. I’ll say that with all the stress we as Americans take on living everyday life, the average middle class American enjoys life less than a German waitress. They don’t work crazy hours. They have the things that they need to survive, like healthcare, taken care of.when they go on vacation they actually take real vacations instead of staying at home watching tv a week, crime isn’t all over the place, they don’t have a drug problem, they don’t have a teenage pregnacy problem, etc, etc. This is due to a culture that cares about how the country as a whole is doing as opposed to America where all anyone cares about is themselves. Everything we do is individualistic and then we talk about “country”.
um guys. buffett and gates voted for kerry, not bush. please do a tiny bit of research.
Does it realy matter who they voted for if the have been avoiding taxes by puting their bussness in forein countries.
If they were TRUE Americans they would have kept there buisness here, with american workers. Buffet and Gates talk about how the US dollar is “goin down” because of “the government” and jobs being placed outside this country! HELLOOO!!:o A large majority of Gates buisness are outside the borders of the US?! ring any bells?!
The point is that for the dollar not to fail its going to take more that one bandaid or chunk of ductape.
#1. We need to get the UN and other european countries to take on some of the cost of the Iraq war. As much as Bush, not the pepole, was wrong in Iraq, the US has been their to carry the world on its back time and time again. plus I beleive that this was a UN problem in the first place.
#2. We need to get a handle on the “WAR PROFITING” oil industry in this country. Hell the government sued Howard Hues for spending too much on an airplane, That he himself sunk millions of his own money into in the mid 1940′s and did build and deliver, calling him a war profiteer. So what about ExxonMoble 20 BILLION usd in 6 MIONTHS!
Geezz, This is the same corporation who spilled a few million gallons of raw crude oil all over 700 miles Alskan Coast line and then said “well we shouldnt have to pay to clean it all up” and they never did. Go to Alaska and you will still find remnence of the Valldez on the coast line in sertain areas.
I have the solution to the price gouging by opec, Iran, or any other country with high oil prices. We , the US, use over 52% of the worlds oil. So if we stoped buying mid-east oil for 1-2 or 3 weeks , using only our reserve, these countrys would see substantial profit losses and would HAVE to talk price cuts.
My point is that Gates and Buffet are helping the dollar to de-valuate
by puting their bussness in other countrys to avoid taxes same as the oil industry!
When the EU countries started to use the Euro, the one dollar was 1.06 euros. Now one dollar gives you 0.72 euros. What has happened?