Postcards

Power Point: Buffett says economy is out of the E.R.

"The United States economy is now out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery."

--Warren Buffett, today in a New York Times op-ed. The Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) CEO writes that while mistakes were made in the recovery effort, a "gusher of federal money" prevented a meltdown. He goes on to caution that "enormous dosages of monetary medicine continue to be administered and, before long, MORE

Power Point: Simple doesn't mean easy

"If you are in the investment business and you have a high IQ, sell 30 points to the next person. You do not have to be a genius at all. But you do have to have emotional stability, and you have to have some peace about your decisions. I don't know how much is innate and how much can be taught. If you have that quality you will do very MORE

Power Point: Be a healthy skeptic

"When I call Charlie with an idea, and he says, 'That is really a dumb idea,' that means we should put 100% of our net worth into it. If he says, 'That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard,' then you should put 50% of your net worth into it. Only if he says, 'I'm going to have you committed,' does it mean he really doesn't like the idea."

--Berkshire Hathaway MORE

Power Point: Buffett on 0% interest rates

Warren Buffett emailed this note to the directors of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Tuesday after he heard that the U.S. Treasury sold $32 billion in 4-week bills at a yield of 0%:

"This should be bullish for Berkshire. With great foresight, I long ago entered the mattress business in a big way through our furniture operation. Now mattresses have become fully competitive as a place to put your money, and sales MORE

Yahoo CEO candidates line up

With Jerry Yang demoted at Yahoo (YHOO), who might be the struggling Internet giant's next CEO?

Former COO Dan Rosensweig and ex-AOL chief Jon Miller are known to be on the candidate list held by Heidrick & Struggles' uber-recruiters John Thompson and Gerry Roche. Also: Tim Armstrong, who oversees Google's (GOOG) North American and Latin American sales and operations, and Todd Bradley, EVP of Hewlett-Packard's (HWP) $28 billion Personal MORE

Warren Buffett in "heaven": the photo gallery

Amidst the chaos in the markets, it's difficult to find time to breathe, much less pore over 2,500 pictures from our Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in early October. But I finally made it through our trove and want to share part of it with you.

If you've been reading Postcards, you know that we had Warren Buffett with us for three days. What a treat. More than that, the Berkshire MORE

Power Point: Be greedy when others are fearful

"A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful."

-- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) CEO, has shared this advice before and offered it to readers of The New York Times in an Op-ed piece today (see cnnmoney.com for an overview). Buffett reasons that in fearful times, people are reluctant to invest their cash in the stock market. But cash, he MORE

Behind the Buffett and Blankfein meeting

Where did America's richest man and one of Wall Street's most powerful CEOs meet face to face for the first time after their $5 billion deal? The Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, a three-day, invitation-only gathering of the world's most prominent women leaders.

So who let the guys in? Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) and Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein were two of just three men invited this year; MORE

Power Point: Breathe confidence

"We go through life and we never think about oxygen. Give any of us five minutes without oxygen, it's the only thing we think about. Confidence is like that. This wonderful American economy works wonderfully with confidence. You have to have confidence. It has to be justified confidence, but it is justified confidence in how our system overall will work. But there is no confidence about the fact that anybody's MORE

Random bits of hope

It's hard to be hopeful. Turmoil in the financial markets is spreading geographically and psychologically. The Dow closed down 508 points today. At last week's Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, we heard plenty about stress and sleep deprivation -- starting with Warren Buffett's comments on a clearly exhausted Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Sallie Krawcheck, who is leaving her high-level post at Citigroup (C), and Barclays Capital (BCS) vice chairman Barbara Byrne MORE