Bloomberg and Buffet bet on recession

Posted By Blake Hounshell Friday, March 7, 2008 - 5:30 PM Share

Here's another sign that Nouriel Roubini is right about the shape of things to come:

The sprawling media-information company that Mayor Mike Bloomberg left behind is bracing for the worst in terms of a fiscal downturn.

"The new top brass here are betting on a recession," said one insider...

Bloomberg LP recently imposed a salary freeze for anyone making a base salary of over $200,000 a year, said the insider.

"Freezes on headcount are soon to come," added the source.

But who needs these under-the-radar indicators? The U.S. economy lost 63,000 jobs in February and 22,000 in January. It's pretty clear, as Warren Buffett said earlier this week, that "by any common-sense definition, we [the United States] are in a recession." Buffett is the world's richest man, and he'll weather the storm just fine. I just worry about the rest of us.

EXPLORE:NORTH AMERICA, BUSINESS, ECONOMICS
 

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