“[Katrina, however, knocked out a substantial portion of the nation's petroleum infrastructure, especially refineries that produce gasoline, when gas supplies were already stretched thin.] The larger worry may not be Katrina itself, ... but if energy prices were to continue their sharp climb.”
“What makes us fundamentally different is that we give citizens the tools to become informed, organize themselves and then to take action, ... People can form or join groups, contribute money or time, or dialog with their representatives with just two clicks of their mouse.”
“We can't extrapolate from the retailers' performance in the first part of the year how retailers' will fare in the second half of the year, ... Will the holiday season be as solid as last year? I'm not sure of that yet. It may be a middle-of-the-road performance.”
“It's really become a game of chicken, ... But to mix my metaphors, the consumer has also become trained like Pavlov's dog. He expects the pre-Christmas sales and deeper price cuts through the holidays.”
“No doubt, Pier 1 has a substantial brand equity, ... My suspicion is that Buffett sees through the current problems and has confidence in whatever new vision and strategy the company is working on that isn't apparent yet to outsiders.”
“There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the business of selling recreational items. But kids today are moving away from traditional toys and toward electronics at a much younger age. Toys 'R' Us has to adapt to this shift and explore new areas of the business.”
