Bill Gates: I am short[ing] the dollar.

Gates sees weaker dollar, China as "change agent"

"The old dollar, it's going to go down," he told a fringe meeting at the World Economic Forum late on Friday. "I am short of the dollar."

Does this stirke anybody as severely stupid or is it just me? Did he actually say this?

Here's the link to Yahoo's news search where I found this:

news.search.yahoo.com...



[edit on 29-1-2005 by smallpeeps]

lol that article kinda scares me

i dont really know what the Chinese model is however

he said "consumers benefit more" in this model *chinese one*

what does he mean?

from reading the article it seems that the Worker gets screwed in this system

it seems like Gates is complaining about how in America, you have to pay your workers high wages, and therefore the consumer must pay higher prices

what is gates trying to say? im confused

is Gates saying he wants to outsource Microsoft so he can get richer?
this is very disturbing if it is so

scary

I think it means that he sees cheap chinese labor diving down the exchange rate for the dollar. I think it means that he is setting up for the decline of the dollar in this regard. Being "short" on the dollar is a futures trading term.

This is my take on it. Basically what he is saying is that China has not come close to using up its labor force. Meaning that they are going to be able to do everything cheaper than everyone else. Business does not have the legal problems (lawsuites) environmental concerns (they can pollute as much as they want) they have alot of educated intelligent workers and laborers that are not even close to being utilized at 100%.

Prices will come down on consumer and industrial goods as a result. This is going make things very difficult for the rest of the industiral economies. Make what money you can and save as much as you can. Things may become hard down the road especially when it seems that the US government is going to let american business compete head to head with China.

This might be one reason the Government is letting in as many illegals into the US, for their cheap labor.

The fall of the dollar (value) is due to our trade deficit and spending deficit. He must feel that both deficits are going to increase making for a weaker dollar.

[edit on 29-1-2005 by cryptorsa1001]

I think it means that he sees cheap chinese labor diving down the exchange rate for the dollar. I think it means that he is setting up for the decline of the dollar in this regard. Being "short" on the dollar is a futures trading term.

Yes, I know, but I'm one of those idiots who is bothered by a declining US dollar.

I guess it's cool if Bill Gates says so.

I'm afraid the Dollar is near to collapse. Massive economy or not.

If the Chinese and Europeans begin to dump dollar stocks then the currency plummets to a level of devaluation never before seen. The dollar becomes entirely worthless.

All it takes is a dumping of currency to drive the price down.

Given the curent levels of foreign investment in this country, that would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

that would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Do you believe that Bill Gates' opinion does or does not hold sway in the minds of the world's citizens?

so our you guys saying that we should pack our bags and move to china?

china dont sound so bad they got some cute women

I am not saying to pack your bags and move to China unless you have a fetish for Asian women. I do not see an economic crash in the US. I believe the dollar will shore up and gain strength due to the fact that interest rates are going to rise which will create investment in the US. What I see happening is wage stagnation. With illegals taking away jobs from Americans the outsourcing of white-collar jobs to India and manufacturing jobs moving to China makes for a tough time for quite a few Americans. If you are in the right field you could make a lot of money. If I were in college again I would take 2 or 3 Chinese language and culture classes. Right now we (the world) are going through changes due to telecommunications advances that has never before been seen. Capital can now move more freely than ever before. It is my belief that the US needs to start investing huge amounts of money into R&D. That is one reason I support sending people to mars.

By the way, has everyone seen these photographs of Bill Gates in Teen Beat Magazine, 1985?

blog.monkeymethods.org...

What do you think?

Here is an entry I saw on a blog about what gates said that shpuld prove to be of interest to you:

Right after he is elected to the Board of Berkshire...Buffet must have convinced Gates not only to short the $, but also to publicly announce this position, much as Buffet did recently. Buffet is 25billion short the dollar and trying to talk it down.
: :

I personally think his position is already underwater and he is trying to stop the bleeding. ...and his recruitment of Gates only serves to confirm his panic. This is not their "area of expertise". (quote from Buffets own spokesman when they reported 600 million loss from his short position last year)

This site certainly makes it clear that the current account deficit is not the causal agent that causes dollar apprecition/depreciation...not to mention Buffet's stance on the budget deficit. We saw an increase of foreing purchases of U.S. financial assets in November, and with the current malaise in Europe and (notwithstanding Warren's believe in future growth prospects) Japan, where else are foreigners going to invest?

.
Spike,

It looks like B Gates wasn't above doing a little cheesecake in his younger days.

He wasn't bad looking.
.