Warren Buffett Shields Goldman Sachs, Ben Bernanke
During the past weekend, investor extraordinaire Warren Buffett set off in defense of embattled investment house Goldman Sachs. Simply because of the role it played in the Wall Street meltdown and the recession, Goldman Sachs has been under fire for some time. Buffet believes the fraud allegations and investigations are unwarranted. In his defense he also included Ben Bernanke, and that the Fed Chairman was right in the course the Federal Reserve took its actions in creating short term loans to ailing Wall Street firms and banks.
Warren Buffett extends a supporting hand for Goldman Sachs
Against the charges of fraud leveled in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, Warren Buffett came to the defense of Goldman Sachs. The purchases in question were a bundle of mortgages in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) packages, sold as the product Abacus. Betting on the securities and losing money was Hedge fund Paulson and Co. Purchasing the securities without notifying stockholders of the bet against Abacus is the charge standing against Goldman Sachs. Warren Buffett said in Reuters: “I don’t have a problem with the Abacus transaction at all,” and that “I think I understand it better than most.”
Warren Buffett defending Bernanke
Ben Bernanke was also brought to the table of defense by Warren Buffett. Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has taken a bit of a beating in the press for seeming to be too willing to pump cash into Wall Street. Buffett said that “there’s no one in the United States that I know of whom I would rather have running the Fed than Ben Bernanke.” Bernanke, sometimes called “Helicopter Ben” orchestrated the emergency infusion of cash into troubled Wall Street firms.
Berkshire-Hathaway owns a hefty stake in Goldman
Through his company Berkshire-Hathaway, Warren Buffett has a good number of concerns and investment, and a meaty one is a stake in Goldman Sachs. In his Goldman share, Buffett owns more than $ 5 billion. He would be in a unique position to see whether a transaction could be fraudulent or imprudent. He seems to be satisfied with the actions of Goldman Sachs and executive Lloyd Blankfein. After all, Buffett is an Investment Wizard who would not back a company if he felt no legitimate reason to.
