Buffett - a man of no sentiment buys into Goldman

When a child of six is wondering how to make profit out of selling chewing gum alarm bells must surely be going off. Having read an extract of Warren Buffett's official autobiography, where this story was presumably used to show the child genius, like Mozart writing a symphony, it finally came clear to me what has long been bugging me about this odd man. There's no doubt he is the greatest trader of them all rarely not turning one dollar into three but it's clear he's a man of completely no sentiment where the return to his shareholders is the only thing no matter what the external costs to society in general or even his own shareholders in the longer run.
I'm currently driving through the Southern States of Florida, Georgia and Alabama and there's hardly anything left in the South that is older than 20 yrs; the rest is just fast food outlets and mall clusters. You have to drive around for quite a long time, off the main highway of course, with your eyes peeled like a man on point in Vietnam, to find a diner that is not the Waffle house chain, BK, Wendy's or McDonalds. The lack of choice is striking when one considers how one of the great arguments for capitalism is the choice of consumer goods it offers (not that these oligarchic food franchises are pro competition – their main aim is to eradicate the competition). Mobile Alabama has quite a bit left in comparison to the rest (except Savannah which also has some really beautiful parts) so it really stands out - it's makes you wonder at what they must have destroyed over the years. But when the Buffett mentality is at work sentiment doesn't come into it in the slightest. The beautiful architecture and history of his country would never have crossed his mind when making a business decision for his company. It's simply what brings the biggest return over the long run to my shareholders. Everyone should drink Coke and buy it in Tesco with no other possibility and he’d be really happy.
Now they have finally realised that it may be good business to save some of the old stuff and it's kind of sad when you pass into an old town which has part of it labeled a historic district and there are about ten old 1950s and earlier style buildings that you'd remember from the movies left. They look pretty but of course are ringed by the generic outlet rubbish which makes this most beautiful country look virtually the same now coast to coast.
Today during America’s threat of financial disaster, according to ex Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson, Buffet is exhibiting the same behavior or in other words he sees it simply as an opportunity. Everyone knows well that Goldman Sachs with their animal pit rank and yank policies (all be it in an environment made possible by Greenspan), which encouraged the massive deals to get the maximum price for every asset, were well at the center of the massive over production of financial assets to real assets (reckless trading which is a criminal offence in many countries). They were at the center of the financial threat to Buffet’s beloved America (and of the huge corporate payouts and bonuses he has long criticised). Yet when he could have intervened before and did not, he has just intervened by buying into Goldman Sachs. He saw Phil Gross at Pimco prosper by buying into Fannie and Freddie and then whine that a bail out was needed from the tax payer. Despite loving America Buffet knows that Government money is there to buy the rubbish debt and Goldman are one of the last investment firms standing to be bailed out and he wants a bit of the action.
With patriots like that what country need enemies!