Gates also sees longer slide ahead for dollar
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the world's two richest men, are partners in business, bridge and travel. Now both are predicting the dollar will weaken.
Gates, chairman of Microsoft in Redmond, said he expects the dollar to extend its three-year drop because of widening U.S. trade and budget deficits.
"I'm short the dollar," Gates told television interviewer Charlie Rose this weekend at the World Economic Forum. "The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down." Buffett, whose personal fortune of more than $42.9 billion is topped only by Gates' $46.6 billion, has been buying foreign currencies since 2002, citing the impact of the U.S. deficits. Their concerns were echoed in Davos by policy-makers such as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and investors such as George Soros.