Warren Buffett touts the value of companies that make things.  But his fortune has always depended on one kind of wager or another.  His 4th quarter earnings last year were up 49% based on his derivative bets.  Many in the US argue that since we don’t make things in the US any more, derivatives are all we have left.  Like his secretary who is also held up as an example of the need for reform in the tax code with her secretary’s salary reported to be over $200,000 a year, Buffett’s talk about ‘real’ investing as opposed to gambling with derivatives is a foil for what he does.  Following Warren Buffett