Things were going great and WB was thisclose to fulfilling his lifelong dream of performing an Angry Pirate in the Lincoln bedroom and then boom! Out of nowhere, The Oracle stops hearing from the guy. Jonathan Alter reports:
Warren Buffett, who had been in contact with Obama every week as the economy collapsed in the fall of 2008, found himself mysteriously out of touch with the new president. In late 2009, the billionaire told a friend that he’d not had a single one-on-one meeting with Obama since he became president. They did speak once on the phone. No one knew the reason Obama held him at arm’s length, though it likely had to do with Buffett’s $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs and his large ownership stake in Moody’s, one of the ratings agencies Obama blamed most for the economic crisis.
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You know, it’s really not that easy being Sandy Weill. Most if not all the institutions at which he spent significant time in his life at get zero respect, and even those on the inside have no pride (in fact they’re downright embarrassed to tell their friends and family where they are all day). Call it the Curse of the Weill Taint, if you will. Anyway, the big guy has more or less given up on doing anything about company morale at the Citi (previously he’d planned some sort of pep rally that involved him, Vikram, a whole lot of face paint, plus a Chuck Prince-shaped piñata, but that plan went to hell the day he found out he’s not allowed within 200 feet of the building). And so, he’s set his sights elsewhere. Continue reading »
It’s not that Stephanie Madoff, wife of Mark, sister-in-law of Andy, D-in-L of Bernie and Ruth isn’t proud of the name or family she married into. Far from it. It’s just that she’s been thinking about it and it just doesn’t “mesh” so well with the image she’s going for. Stalin would be better. Or, hey, how about Hitler? Manson? Wouldn’t have to changed the monogrammed towels. That’s always something to consider. Think about it.
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