On September 19, 2008 Dick Durbin dumped his mutual funds and bought stock in Berkshire-Hathaway, Democrat supporter Warren Buffet’s investment company. According to the Sun Times, Durbin dumper his funds after a private meeting with Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke the day before. How convenient.
As U.S. stock markets plummeted last September, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, sold more than $115,000 worth of stocks and mutual-fund shares and used much of the money to invest in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The Illinois senator’s 2008 financial disclosure statement shows he sold mutual-fund shares worth $42,696 on Sept. 19, the day after then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged congressional leaders in a closed meeting to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. The same day, he bought $43,562 worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock, the disclosure shows.
Altogether, Durbin sold investments worth $116,000 in September. By Oct. 2, he had invested $98,046 in Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, the form shows.
Durbin’s office states that he just did what many Americans did and he was simply trying to preserve his savings. At first that sounded plausible. September 19 was the day I started thinking about dumping my mutual funds. I remember because it was my wedding anniversary and my husband and I discussed it. We decided not to do anything just yet. We figured, we made it through 2001 and 2003 relatively unscathed. We also didn’t want to be those people who panic, knowing that when people panic en masse it only makes matters worse. If only we had known then what Durbin knew.
This chart shows the daily price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from September 2008 through November 14, 2008. Durbin sure did avoid alot of carnage, didn’t he? Visit My Trader’s Journal for the full size chart.
No doubt millions of Americans wish they had the foresight to get out of the market on September 19.
Thanks for the link.
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