Warren Buffett‘s company now owns more than 14 percent of the stock in kidney dialysis firm DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) said Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it owns 13.6 million shares of Denver-based DaVita. When Berkshire first disclosed the DaVita investment at the end of last year, it held just 2.7 million shares. At the beginning of October, Berkshire held just 10 million shares.
Warren Buffett’s painful lesson (PostAndCourier)
Warren Buffett, the multi-billionaire who was the darling of Democrats because of his support for higher taxes on the rich, has learned a painful lesson: Good opinion from that quarter lasts only as long as you sing their song. Turns out that, unlike President Barack Obama, the savvy, high-stakes investor known as “The Sage of Omaha” favors a small-to-moderate-sized government. The president’s supporters are not pleased.
If Warren Buffett doesn’t diversify, why should you? (CityWire)
Followers of the most successful investor of all-time, Warren Buffett, may already know his thoughts on diversification. For those of you who do not, his views are quite simple: he doesn’t believe in it. Of course, all of the textbooks and all of the advisers will tell you that he is wrong. Indeed, his mentor, Benjamin Graham, will tell you the same thing. However, maybe Buffett has a point; maybe diversification is at least overrated?
Taxing the rich is not solution to U.S. plight (LehighValleyLive)
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the two richest men in America, say the rich are not paying enough in taxes on their income. OK. So let’s have them help the economy and do something about the $1.2 trillion deficit we will have this year. How can we achieve this? Have the government confiscate their combined wealth. There are just two little problems with this solution. First, by taking everything they own they will no longer have any means of making any more money and therefore will never be able to pay taxes again. Secondly, their combined wealth is $112 billion, less than one-tenth of the money needed to close the deficit.
Cal Thomas: Members of Congress have ‘no skin the the game’ (SunJournal)
An Internet search is inconclusive as to where the phrase “no skin in the game” originated. Some ascribe it to the late columnist William Safire; others to investor Warren Buffett. Politicians often use the phrase to justify policies to their liking. It can also be applied to the latest in a long list of their outrageous behaviors, as well as to those of President Obama. Like an increasing number of politicians, the president has never served in the military, nor has he ever run a business. He has never headed a company that needed to make a profit (and thus employ people who create things people wish to purchase). He has likely never had to produce a balance sheet. His entire career — and that of too many other politicians — appears to have been about redistributing other people’s money and organizing “communities” to receive government benefits.
Buffett’s MidAmerican Completes 81-Megawatt Wind Project (BusinessWeek)
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the power provider owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., completed an 81-megawatt wind farm in Illinois. MidAmerican Wind’s Bishop Hill II project is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Peoria and uses 50 General Electric Co. 1.62-megawatt turbines, according to a statement on the company’s website today. Power from the project is being sold under a 20-year contract with Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE).
