Friday, October 10, 2014

More on Bill and Warren, the Gamblers

You can See Gates and Buffett's Values

by where they invest their money

They like doing it together

Really, Bill and Warren are very open about sharing their values. They invest money and want the largest possible return on investment possible. To ensure this happens they naturally follow the carefully honed protocols pioneered by Big Oil Guys like Charles and David Koch.

The First Commandment is: Evade the consequences of your actions which would cost you money. Number One probably has a special section in The Koch Method, which is used to train their employees.

Bill and Warren love investing together, in this case Gates owning the Northern End of the transport system used for moving around highly volatile raw materials, for instance Tar Sands and Bakken. Warren owns the largest share of the Southern End.

How nice they can share. Nicer if they invested in something less likely to incinerate large numbers of people and destroy the usefulness of their property. And if you think giving attorney's lots of work improves the matter, think again.

From: Bloomberg
Gates-Backed CN Wins in 2014 While Buffett’s BNSF Falters

By Frederic Tomesco and Thomas Black
September 02, 2014 4:21 PM EDT

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Bill Gates, co-chair and trustee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pauses during a session on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the two richest Americans, share a friendship, a commitment to philanthropy and an interest in railroad investments. In 2014, Gates’s trains are the better performers.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR) is beating benchmark stock indexes as profits and shipments surge, a boost for Gates, the largest shareholder. At C$64.7 billion ($59.2 billion), the railroad today passed Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) to become Canada’s fourth-largest company by market value.

BNSF Railway Co., owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/B), is struggling. North America’s biggest railroad by sales is grappling with slow traffic and is being scrutinized by U.S. regulators for poor service, spurring concern that it risks a permanent loss of some customers.

“CN still is the gold standard today, and they continue to execute extremely well,” said Stephen Groff, a fund manager at the Cambridge Global Asset Management unit of Toronto-based CI Investments Inc., which owns Canadian National stock. BNSF “is having some real problems. They are fixing these problems, but they are a little late.” MORE

From: The Motley Fool

Why Billionaire Bill Gates Owns Canadian National Railway Company

By Andrew Walker - September 2, 2014

Bill Gates is the largest shareholder of Canadian National Railway Company (TSX: CNR)(NYSE: CNI), with a massive 13% stake in Canada’s flagship railroad operator.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder and world’s richest person first declared his ownership position in Canadian National Railway back in 2000. The bet has paid off handsomely, with a stock-price gain of nearly 900% on the investment.

Here are three reasons why I think you should invest like Bill Gates and buy shares of Canadian National Railway Company. MORE

The thing really being gambled is other people's lives and property.

From: The Guardian

Canadian town evacuated after train carrying dangerous goods catches fire

Associated Press in Wadena, Saskatchewan

theguardian.com, Tuesday 7 October 2014 17.56 EDT

Hazardous materials crews are en route to derailment site in Saskatchewan after petroleum distillate spills from two train cars

A Canadian National Railway Company freight train carrying dangerous goods has derailed in central Saskatchewan in Canada and has caught fire.

The Saskatchewan government said Tuesday the derailment happened near the small community of Clair, which is being evacuated.

A highway has been closed in the area. MORE

They are both doing it. This is open, shameless, criminal behavior.

END THE GREED
A Legislative Proposal for Congress

Minimize the Impact of Toxic Events

Healing the Hazards

This is a Point Purple Issue, where all of us meet. Right, Left and Independent, all Americans should agree on our desperate need for transparency and accountability.

What did a real conservative say about the environment and free enterprise?

- “While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am

an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free

environment.” ~Barry Goldwater

Goldwater would have made sure Congress listened and did the right thing.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Bill Gates Meets Warren Buffett

"The Gambler"

Advice to a Younger Player, 1991

With thanks and apologies to Kenny Rogers – Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

Bill and Warren meet for the first time.

On a warm summer's evening
On a plane bound for nowhere
I met up with the gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-starin'
Out the window at the vastness
The boredom overtook us, he began to speak

He said, "Son, I've made a life
Out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the deals were
By the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind me sayin'
I can see you've lost your way here
For a taste of your whiskey
I'll give you some advice"

So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed my last cigar
And asked me for a light

And the air got deathly quiet
And his face lost all expression
He said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to own 'em
Know how to shut em'up

Know who to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the your deal is done

You've got to know how to buy 'em

To compromise them

When the temperatures' risen'

Call in your marks

You'll see fear on their faces

They'll know what they place is

You'll keep the profits

And they'll seal it down tight.

Little Logan needs a respirator because of information concealed from his grandma about the danger of fumes.

You stall all the losers

You send in some bruisers

You sell them on promises

You'll never keep

They'll wait while they're dying,

Complaining and crying

But no one will hear them

As they die in their sleep.

Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to sell off
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every deal's a winner
And every deal's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep

And when he finished speakin'

He turned back toward the window

Crushed out my last cigar

And faded off to sleep

And somewhere in the darkness

The gambler he broke even

And in his final words

I found the deal that I would keep

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to own 'em
Know how to shut em'up

Know who to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the your deal is done

Box Cars, Bill, buy the Box Cars

You've got to know how to hold 'em
(How to hold 'em)
Know when to own 'em
(When to own 'em)
Know when to buy them off
Know when to lie
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the deal is done

And when you do it right, there is no gamble.

The Giving Pledge: Billionaires Promise to Donate at Least Half Their Fortunes to Charity

By BRADLEY BLACKBURN

At the urging of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, forty of the world's richest families have promised to give at least half of their fortunes to philanthropy.

By taking the "Giving Pledge," the forty families or individuals, most of whom are billionaires, are promising a collective sum of at least $125 billion to charitable causes, based on Forbes' current estimates of their net worth and other data sources. MORE?

How much more of this self-congratulatory outrage can we take?

Honorable people pay their debts and honorable businesspeople take responsibility for ALL the damage they do to others, even if they are ordinary people not pre-signed with legal counsel.

It is part of the Greedville Business Plan to steal and then give to those who will then support the theft because they benefited.

Instead, let's enforce accountability for everyone, starting with Charles and David Koch and then moving on to Bill and Warren. To make this work we need to watch every single member of Congress closer than their personal proctologists.

END THE GREED
A Legislative Proposal for Congress

Minimize the Impact of Toxic Events

Healing the Hazards
Narrative