Bitcoin Bull Max Keiser Blasts Billionaire Skeptic Warren Buffet as an ‘Unmitigated Fraud’
Will the billionaire Bitcoin cynic ever realize the value of programmable money? Source: AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File
Bitcoin enthusiast Max Keiser took a gander at a recent letter Warren Buffett sent to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders and he wasn’t pleased at all. He saw the actions Buffett revealed in the letter as prime reasons people should buy Bitcoin instead of investing in the stock market.
Keiser’s response included tweets and interviews over the weekend. He tweeted that the letter indicated that Buffett is not satisfied with the stock market. The points made in Buffett’s letter may have even helped push Bitcoin’s price above $4,100.
While many took the segue from Buffett to Bitcoin’s price as a joke, what Keiser said in an interview with RT carried far more weight in making a case for Bitcoin investing instead of stock investing.
https://youtu.be/UVRt3xrN4Rw?t=790
It Takes Gumption To Rip On The Oracle
Keiser has been very vocal about his displeasure with anything to do with traditional investing. He upped the ante Saturday by specifically going after Buffett, and what was revealed in that letter.
Take a look at this tweet:
In an interview with RT published Sunday, Keiser took Buffett to task, saying things few would dare mutter about The Oracle of Omaha. He minced no words as he scolded Buffett of being partly to blame for corporate malpractice, including some in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.
According to RT, Keiser specifically mentioned Wells Fargo as one of those companies.
Buffett’s frauds are innumerable and date back decades.
Stock Buybacks Raise Keiser’s Ire
In the letter, Buffett explained that companies that repurchased shares were more attractive.
He wrote:
Berkshire’s holdings of American Express have remained unchanged over the past eight years. Meanwhile, our ownership increased from 12.6% to 17.9% because of repurchases made by the company. Last year, Berkshire’s portion of the $6.9 billion earned by American Express was $1.2 billion, about 96% of the $1.3 billion we paid for our stake in the company. When earnings increase and shares outstanding decrease, owners – over time – usually do well.
To Keiser, that seemed to be the equivalent of Buffett saying “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”
About stock buybacks, or repurchases of a company’s stock, he told RT:
It’s pure fraud. Its sole purpose is to commit accounting fraud for the benefit of insiders.
Fool’s Gold
In another example of Buffett doing no right in Keiser’s opinion, he took issue with Buffett’s stance on gold.
Buffett wrote:
Those who regularly preach doom because of government budget deficits (as I regularly did myself for many years) might note that our country’s national debt has increased roughly 400-fold during the last of my 77-year periods. That’s 40,000%! Suppose you had foreseen this increase and panicked at the prospect of runaway deficits and a worthless currency. To “protect” yourself, you might have eschewed stocks and opted instead to buy 31⁄4 ounces of gold with your $114.75.
And Keiser responded:
The real story is to put gold in context and understand that Buffett’s so-called success is entirely driven by a cozy relationship with Wall Street and the Fed that gives him virtually unlimited access to credit carrying zero percent interest.
Buffett’s Been A Bitcoin Skeptic For A Long Time
Buffett didn’t mention Bitcoin in the shareholder letter, but that didn’t stop Keiser from raising comments The Oracle has said in the past. For example, he’s called it “rat poison” and “an asset that creates nothing.”
He is right. And there is no bigger rat than Warren Buffett. The world is waking up. The Ponzi schemes of Buffett are being revealed and the masses are moving to hard money like bitcoin and gold.
He was asked last year if he would re-think his remarks on Bitcoin, such as calling it a “real bubble.”
He said:
In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can almost say with certainty that they will come to a bad ending.
CCN.com reported Saturday that in the span of two hours, Bitcoin’s price surged from $3,920 to $4,137 by more than 5 percent against the US dollar. That began to change Sunday morning, New York City time. Bitcoin’s price had fallen below $3,800.
READ ALSO: ‘The Oracle’ Warren Buffett: ‘Stay Away From Bitcoin’
