Reply #37: Bill Gates, World's Richest Man, Bets Against Dollar (Jan 29 04)

[Tinoire]

Between Bill Gattes, Soros and Buffet all betting against the dollar, you can take your pick of who not to thank down the road.



Bill Gates, World's Richest Man, Bets Against Dollar (Update2)
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gates, the world's richest person with a net worth of $46.6 billion, is betting against the U.S. dollar.

(snip)


``I'm short the dollar,'' Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., told Charlie Rose in an interview late yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down.''

Gates's concern that widening U.S. budget and trade deficits are undermining the dollar was echoed in Davos by policymakers including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The dollar fell 21 percent against a basket of six major currencies from the start of 2002 to the end of last year. The trade deficit swelled to a record $609.3 billion last year and total U.S. government debt rose 8.7 percent to $7.62 trillion in the past 12 months.

``It is a bit scary,'' Gates said. ``We're in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.''


(snip)

The U.S. budget shortfall is ``the No. 1 risk, disregarding geopolitical risks'' to the global economy, German Deputy Finance Minister Caio Koch-Weser said in a Jan. 27 interview in Davos. He urged Bush to present a ``credible'' plan for getting the deficit under control.

(snip)

U.S. policymakers including Trade Representative Robert Zoellick defended Bush's deficit-reduction plans and blamed the U.S. trade gap on sluggish growth in Europe and Japan, which reduces foreign demand for American goods.

(snip)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=atQjxQiQeANA&refer=us