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Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
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Spirit Fingers
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Yeah, we probably greatly undervalue the efficiency of trains, when we're not riding one in the subway, going from New York to DC, or crossing the sulfuric haze as you pull into Newark. So it makes sense that someone would have the foresight to think that maybe in the next few years there'll be rekindled use for them, since planes are easily taken out by a gaggle of geese, and often enough fuel costs the same as a small child from New Guinea. So it's nice Warren is thinking ahead. We may need to pay him two canteens of water per ride after the 2012 apocalypse, but until then, let him put on his conductors hat and kick hobos and their beans into the dirt every hundred miles. #moneymatters
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Botswana Meat Commission FC
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Trains are fucking awesome. I used to love running over Lego Pirates with my model train. Put some liquid smoke in that bitch and watch her run some Lego pirates over! #moneymatters
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flavorflav
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Is this the Gawker equivalent of filler copy? #moneymatters
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flavorflav
11/03/09

@flavorflav: Also, there are two Ts in Buffett. Is Tuesday the new Saturday on Gawker? #moneymatters
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Deric
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
He's just planning to run off with everyone's money while we enjoy a faulty monorail! #moneymatters
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britneyspearstears
11/03/09

@Deric: The Simpsons as real life? We should be so lucky... #moneymatters
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lobstr
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Two weeks ago Bill Gates and Warren Buffet reserved this entire 6-story bed & breakfast in downtown Fort Worth ( [www.downtownfortworth.com] ), which was under strict confidentiality (the local paper was alerted after they were gone) and were spotted dining at some of the fancypants places that week. Turns out Buffet was just here to check out some trains and kick the tires a bit... (BNSF is based here) .. BNI stock rose $25/share today (29% gain) and Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A went up $1450 today to about $100,150/share.

The one cool thing that can really come of this is the fact that Buffet is a huge believer and fan of high-speed rail, and since BNSF owns shitloads of rail lines across the country, there's certainly some potential to be had... Of course, he'd be about 144 years old by the time any infrastructure like that could be completed, but still, good times. #trendwatch
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badasscat
11/03/09

@lobstr: He may be a fan of high speed rail and he may now own some significant trackage, but not a lot of it is in the kinds of corridors where HSR would be useful. Maybe something like Chicago-Minneapolis, I think that's BNSF territory. Otherwise, most of BNSF's rights of way are in the middle of nowhere.

Both of the original pre-merger railroads - Burlington Northern and Santa Fe - had extensive long-distance passenger operations. Some of those tracks still exist, but a lot don't, and even those that do wouldn't really be a useful upgrade to HSR right now. It's a great pie-in-the-sky ideal to think about a high speed line running from Chicago-Los Angeles, but you gotta run before you can walk, and the corridors that everybody's talking about for HSR - California, Florida, the NEC, and somewhere around Chicago aren't BNSF territory. #moneymatters
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Unsolicited Advice
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Hey, I like it. Buffett is saying that there will be a growing amount of shit to haul from A to B in a couple of years. This means we will not all be dead from pig flu and will have clattering places to sleep next to red polka-dotted hobo-stick-packs. #trendwatch
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daveyjonesisdead
11/03/09

@Unsolicited Advice: Buffett also said, about 5 years ago, that he thought that terrorists would detonate an atomic bomb in a major US city within ten years. So his freight cars may be the only place we have to sleep. #moneymatters
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Parah_Salin
11/03/09

@Unsolicited Advice: I've always wanted a red polka-dotted hobo stick pack (the precursor to the fanny pack) so I could carry my soothin' syrup around with me discreetly. Back in the day when I could afford factory liquor I didn't give a damn who saw me sippin' . How I live now: moonshinin' y'all!!! #moneymatters
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Claire Buoyant
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
So he's just gonna haul freight around? C'mon Warren, build some bullet trains for us people. #trendwatch
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AndPreciousLittleofThat
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
It's clear you guys have never worked for a commodities-based company. I worked for a paper company for a few years in the transportation department, and rail is RIDICULOUSLY cheaper than getting trucks to ship over the road. Not to mention more environmentally friendly, much safer, and from what I remember the average fully laden train can accomodate something like forty or fifty trucks worth of stuff.

In short, Buffet is a fucking genius. Fuel costs aren't going down, yet freight still needs to move. BNSF is a great company and if they can straighten out the kinds of problems ALL railroad companies have (customer service, on-time delivery, etc.) they'll be a profit-making business for many many years to come. #trendwatch
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son of spam
11/03/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat: With Buffett, there's always another angle. I wonder if this is a massive real estate play. Maybe in his eyes it's a government-guaranteed sure thing. #moneymatters
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Smitros
11/03/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat: If I can add to your point, a lot of the temporary disadvantages of rail involved the legacy of high pension burdens and the implicit subsidy to trucking embodied in the creation of the Interstate Highway System, which was premised on cheap oil. #moneymatters
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Parah_Salin
11/03/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat: Buffett's also the genius who was decrying Dubya's trillions in tax cuts to the banksters. He said rich people didn't need tax cuts, nor did they deserve a break because they were good at pushing paper around. He's my idol, because he's smart enough to realize this country is going to be a very unpleasant place to live when hobos, with pitchforks and torches, start chasing any limousine they see trying to rob for food and doctor money. #moneymatters
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Edited by Parah_Salin at 11/03/09 11:36 PM Parah_Salin was starred Parah_Salin was unstarred

groverexploder
11/05/09

@son of spam: Or there is the angle that he already owned nearly a quarter of the company, and has been in the media for months saying he's looking for new investments.

But you go ahead, enjoy your conspiracy theory. #moneymatters
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son of spam
11/05/09

@groverexploder: Because there was nothing else to buy in this market. Thanks for the insight, dick. #moneymatters
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daveyjonesisdead
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
Railroad = industrial transportation mode of the past and future. #trendwatch
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UGAdawg
11/03/09

In reply to Warren Buffett Has So Many God Damn Trains There's No Way America Can Fail
The deal cost him $26bn not $44bn. Other than that I'm jealous that he could take advantage of a down market like that and make a killing. I wish I had the resources to buy up some stuff like that.

[news.yahoo.com] #trendwatch
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Hamilton Nolan
11/03/09

@UGAdawg: "The purchase, the largest ever for Berkshire, will cost the company $26 billion, or $100 a share in cash and stock, for the 77.4 percent of the railroad it doesn’t already own. Including his previous investment and debt assumption, the deal is valued at $44 billion, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said today in a statement. #trendwatch
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