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March 28, 2009

Buffet says we are at war...

I always stay tuned to hear what the great man has to say on anything related to the economy, investing or financial policy.

And he thinks we are at war.. Warren, welcome to the battleground!

Minor players in our economies have known this for a long time. We are watching as manufacturing work that used to support lower middle class lifestyles are transferred to countries where they now support a hand to mouth existence. (I hat this form of slavery)

Recent government activity to buoy the financial sector by taking stakes in the banking industry has received howls of protest. Yet we have been allowing unfriendly nation states to purchase up formerly private industry in the USA, Europe and Australia.

"Wealthy" nations continue to pump aid money into developing countries. Countries that are now sitting on nuclear stockpiles and their poor still live in desperate hopelessness.

Our cities are continually being challenged as tourist and business destinations by nations built on the back of horrific slave labor policies. And related to this, our citizens are taking financial decisions to live in cultures that will persecute them (severely) for a wrong word or action.

Don't get me wrong. I am a capitalist of the tallest order. In fact - I am all in favor of letting the market correct itself. But I am also no fool.

If we are going to compete on the same playing field then the rules need to be the same for everyone.

If we are going to live in a flat world, then the humps need to be ironed out.

Just a few thought on some of the more endemic issues facing us as we try to reshape our financial collective destinies.