He caused, almost by himself, the 2008 mortgage meltdown. He is the reason the XL Pipeline isn’t being built. Not sure about Ethanol, but I believe I recall he once owned quite a bit of ADM. I’m sure of his very substantial, read CONTROLLING, interests in Moody’s (2000 to 2007) and BNSF (ongoing).
He owned 20 percent of Moody’s during the mortgage mess. Under his control, AAA ratings went to ZZZ worthy dog$hit mortgages so that more MBS products could be manufactured and sold. Rather than invest in the banks, especially the investment banks, which he didn’t ‘understand’, he chose to supply the guns. Keep the mortgages coming so that the investment banks could sell the paper, over and over again.
Fitch and S&P followed Moody’s lead to stay in business, which they did, very handily.
BNSF makes mints hauling crude from shale states to refineries in WA state. Boatloads of cash. If XL is approved, and since coal is under attack, the railroads will take a pretty massive hit. XL is not getting done as long as Buffett is alive and owning BNSF.
He lost a billion dollars running up the price of oil in 2008 “Bush’s fault!!!”
Thanks for educating me about Buffet’s nefarious dealings in the past. I hadn’t heard about his interests in the morgage collapse but I would like to know a lot more if you have have some references for me.