Posted on 11/03/2009 5:29:30 AM PST by Willie Green
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway said Tuesday it will buy railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $44 billion.
Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500), which already has major stake in the company, said it would acquire the remaining 77.4% of the company in a cash-and-stock offer worth $100 per share.
Widely regarded as both one of the world's richest men and the investment community's more brilliant minds, Buffett called his firm's investment an "all-in wager on the economic future of the United States."
"Our country's future prosperity depends on its having an efficient and well-maintained rail system," Buffett said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
“Widely regarded as both one of the world’s richest men and the investment community’s more brilliant minds, Buffett called his firm’s investment an “all-in wager on the economic future of the United States.”
“Our country’s future prosperity depends on its having an efficient and well-maintained rail system,” Buffett said in a statement.”
Maybe the social misfit and Obamalini will make the trains run on time.
History repeats itself - the emergence of the railroad barons - again.
Trains have a place in the scheme of things-—hauling freight-—not people.
Ummmm I thought BNSF stood for Burlington Northern San Francisco from when BN bought up Frisco...???
this is interesting....Buffet’s a big-time lib. I don’t know what his position is on cap-and-trade-and-tax, but such legislation would cripple BNSF. A pretty good chunk of their revenue comes from moving coal out of the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming. If the Obama-crime-family has its way, all that coal stays in the ground.
Expect Obamalini to take good care of that maggot, Buffett.
I think that's partly right. However, on the other hand, rail freight has a much smaller carbon footprint than truck traffic. Any tax regime that attempts to reduce carbon output will favor rail at the expense of trucks, offsetting the loss.
It's a hedge.
Railroads own right of ways and land as well as "trains and tracks". So if inflation is coming hard assets are the way to go. Secondly all the new money for the "environment" will have high speed rail ..... well you know that Buffet will come out for that, cause the government will subsidize that to the hilt. Since Buffet has been on his knees in front of Obama like a $5 hooker, most if not all the federal dollars for long distance high speed rail or even short hall tracks owned by BNSF will be favored.
I think this has very little to do with the train or "going all in on the recovery".
Nope. It's from the merger with the Santa Fe Line, aka, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR
Which is why some motive power has the traditional Santa Fe War Bonnet livery which AT&SF adopted in 1937 on their first diesel motive power from EMC for their premier passenger train "The Super Chief" between Chicago and Los Angeles.
NOTE: The above picture is NOT the Super Chief. It is only for illustration of the "War Bonnet" livery scheme.
I suspect that you have hit on it.
We know that Obummer, the Marxist now posing as a Fascist, is high on mass transit for travel of any distance.
I suspect that there is a secret deal with Buffett and others to exempt rail from the more onerous carbon footprint regs.
With the idea of pushing more freight as well as passenger traffic to rails.
There was a new item the other day reference AMTRAK taking over management of some rail company in CA.
Wonder if these events are linked in some as yet unrecognized way?
Remember, Buffett had some inside info on what would happen with Goldman Sachs and bought $5 billion of its stock at a time when we all thought they would go bust.
So something is afoot.
“Trains have a place in the scheme of things-—hauling freight-—not people.”
...you got that right!....nothing else can move an Army division and all it’s equipment at 60 mph...it is in the long term strategic interests of the United States that we have good railroads.
I think you’re correct. Nothing to do with the economy at all and everything to do with some incredibly valuable hard assets. RR ROWs have been used for decades for all transcontinental fiber optic routes. RR ROWs supersede absolutely everything else that crosses them, and represent the only remaining unfettered transcontinental transportation corridors in private hands.
I also assume their price is beat all to hell because of the economy, so this is a great time to be buying these assets.
Hey, WB needs to do something to make up for all those billions he pissed away on worthless derivatives. Looks like that was a wakeup call for him. He must have lifted his head up a tiny bit from his latest bridge hand to have a look around for a few seconds.
By the time the train gets loaded American truckers would have all of the division setting at the sea port. WWII is long ago now..
You see army divisions moved all the time in Europe and Korea. When divisions move out of Fort Drum or Fort Hood, they move by rail.
...The Army takes a different view.
“Rail transport is essential for the shipment and deployment of oversize and overweight equipment. It is also essential for the land deployment of all equipment transported farther than 400 miles. When many items are to be shipped, rail transport is often cheaper than highway transport.
Rail transport of tactical vehicles reduces the time the vehicles must operate during deployment and places them in the front lines in top operational condition. Rail transport reduces wear and tear on vehicles, minimizes en-route support, and reduces maintenance.
US ARMY TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.