Just over 100 years ago, the sociologist Max Weber wrote his seminal book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he portrayed the pursuit of profit as virtuous and described work as a kind of religious duty. The attainment of wealth was seen as the fruit of labor, a blessing from God in return for hard work, piety and frugality.

Weber comes to mind thinking of the recent comment from Goldman Sachs (GS) Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein (pictured) that the world's most successful bank is doing "God's work." It's hard to imagine that $16.7 billion in executive bonuses to millionaire bankers during a crippling recession is what Weber had in mind. In an effort to put its money where Blankfein's God-talk is, Goldman Sachs has announced it will partner with Warren Buffett, the very personification of virtuous capitalism, in a $500 million project to help small businesses.

Warren Buffett is doubling up on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) stock. Why does Warren want Walmart? Obviously, he thinks the price will go up from the $49.81 at which I estimate he bought the shares. But the stock is not cheap -- unless Warren has a better yardstick for measuring Walmart's future earnings growth.

How much Walmart stock does Buffett own? CNNMoney reports that his investing company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), boosted its stake by 90% from 19.9 million in the second quarter to 37.8 million shares in the third quarter. I don't know precisely what price he paid for the 17.9 million additional shares he bought , but Walmart's stock ranged between $47.73 and $51.88 in the third quarter, so let's guess his average cost was halfway in between: $49.81.

Home Depot (HD) said Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 8.9% to $689 million, or 41 cents per share, as the housing and renovation markets remained weak. Revenue fell 8% to $16.36 billion. Same-store sales dropped 6.9%. Results beat estimates of 36 cents per share on revenue of $16.27 billion. The company also raised its full-year earnings outlook. Shares declined over 2% ahead of the bell.

Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) said Tuesday that it will buy Semitool Inc. (SMTL) for $11 a share in an all-cash tender offer. The aggregate purchase price is about $364 million. Semitool shares, which closed Monday 10% higher at $8.4, shot up 30% in premarket trading to $10.94 at last check.

Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) announced Monday it has appointed Kenneth M. Jacobs, 51, as chairman of the board of directors and CEO, effective immediately. Jacobs replaces Bruce Wasserstein, who died on Oct. 14.

It's hard to ignore the fact that mergers-and-acquisitions activity has jumped dramatically recently. Although we're not even halfway through November, 214 deals have already been announced for a total deal value of $67.1 billion according to Thomson Reuters.

By far the biggest one was Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) $44 billion deal for railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI). Others include Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) deal to buy 3Com (COMS) for $2.7 billion, which was announced late Wednesday, and the $5.2 billion deal by private-equity firms TPG Capital and the CPP Investment Board for IMS Health announced on Nov. 5. If the trend continues, deal flow could easily surpass January, when the $68 billion Pfizer/Wyeth (PFE) deal was announced, pushing deal activity to $86.6 billion.

Much of the fun of observing the friendship between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates is derived from the fact that they are such unlikely comrades. In Gates, you have the 54-year-old quintessential tech geek billionaire. And in Buffett, the revered 79-year-old homespun, value-investor billionaire. What could they possibly have in common?

Oh yeah, billions. Together, the two are worth a combined $100 billion, an announcer pointed out during an event in New York Thursday organized to let future business leaders -- MBA students at Columbia University -- ask questions of the fabled capitalists.

President Barack Obama's recently extended homebuyers' tax credit may help revive the flagging fortunes of the manufactured home industry -- and not a moment too soon.

According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, about 55,000 prefabricated homes will be sold in the U.S. in 2009, down from 81,000 a year earlier. Improvement could come in 2010 thanks to the tax credit, but expectations appear to be modest. The industry's woes extend beyond the current economic crisis, with one executive talking of "10 tough years."

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) has made a 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) cash-and-stock offer for Cadbury PLC (CBY). Unable to seal a friendly deal and as the deadline for Kraft to make an offer was today, the bid has been expected to turn hostile. Kraft indeed went directly to shareholders with a lower offer than its previous rebuffed approach, but many of the shareholders are hedge funds with perhaps different interests. Cadbury advised its shareholders to reject the offer, saying it is "derisory" and represents a worse deal than when Kraft made its original approach in September. CBY shares traded over 1% higher in premarket trading.

Comcast (CMCSA) and GE (GE) have reportedly agreed on the worth of NBC Universal, thus clearing another hurdle. The value is reportedly around $30 billion. CMCSA shares were 2% higher, GE's nearly 3% higher ahead of the bell.

Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men and CEO of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), once proclaimed that "the banking business is no favorite of ours." The comment came in one of his famous missives to Berkshire's shareholders by way of explaining that financial companies were too risky and opaque for the über-investor's tastes.

But that was in 1990. Today, well-timed investments in banks like Goldman Sachs (GS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are looking like smart moves for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, according to figures contained in the company's quarterly earnings statement released Friday. So are bets on a number of other blue-chip stocks like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Coca-Cola (KO). The company's third-quarter net income nearly tripled to $3.24 billion, or $2,087 per Class A equivalent share, compared with $1.06 billion, or $682 per Class A equivalent share, in the year-ago quarter.

For years, the price of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)'s Class A and Class B common stock has been priced out of the range of what most retail investors can afford. A share of the less expensive of the two classes, the B, trades at about $3,300.

Berkshire, run by Warren Buffett, announced on Tuesday that its Board of Directors approved a 50-for-1 split of its Class B Common Stock. The transaction still has to be approved by shareholders, but that's nearly a sure thing.

If the Sage of Omaha is truly an oracle of future returns and a leading indicator for where the market is going, it's hard not to think that U.S. carbon emissions will continue to grow apace and that the budding green revolution will be more bang than bucks.

Why? On Tuesday, Buffett paid a hefty 25 percent premium to acquire the remaining 77 percent interest in railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) that his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), did not already own. The fate of Burlington Northern is closely tied to shipments of coal.

Warren Buffett likes railroad stocks. One of his largest positions has been in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI). It turns out that he likes the company so much that his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) will buy the 77.4 percent of Burlington Northern that it does not already own. And at a price of $100 a share, it will pay a huge premium. Burlington Northern shares traded at $76.07 at the end of trading Monday.

Berkshire said that based on the number of outstanding BNI shares (including shares currently owned by Berkshire) on Monday, the transaction is valued at approximately $44 billion, including $10 billion of outstanding Burlington Northern debt, making it the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway history. Buffett explained, "Our country's future prosperity depends on its having an efficient and well-maintained rail system."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) announces that it will buy the remaining stake that it does not already own in railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI). The deal is valued at approximately $44 billion, including $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt, making it the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway's history.

"Our country's future prosperity depends on its having an efficient and well-maintained rail system," Buffett said in a press release. "Conversely, America must grow and prosper for railroads to do well. Berkshire's $34 billion investment in BNSF is a huge bet on that company, CEO Matt Rose and his team, and the railroad industry."

Sometimes bad stocks happen to good companies.

That's not a moral judgment; it's merely a reminder that shares and the corporations that issue them are not the same thing. After all, the best company in the world isn't worth buying into if its stock is too expensive -- and likely to fall. The reverse also holds true: Just because a company's business is in the dumps doesn't mean its shares aren't oversold -- and poised for a pop.

That's why a stock that fetches $500 can be said to be "cheap," while a $5 stock can be said to be "expensive." It's not the face-value of equities that investors need to focus on -- it's the valuation and, of course, the fundamentals.

It's a silly poll -- a bit like taste tests between Pepsi (PEP) and Coke (KO): Who is the most sage investor in the world?

In a survey of its terminal subscribers, Bloomberg found that Warren Buffett, chief of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) is still the world's most highly regarded investor. Longevity accounts for something; Bond king Bill Gross of PIMCO, who has been a leading investor in the fixed income markets for decades, came in second. Buffett was picked by 24 percent of respondents, and Gross by 14 percent. Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, now in his advanced old age, finished high on the list, as did mercurial economist Nouriel Roubini.

How to survive on only $1,000,000 a year salary in a recession.

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The Halloween Indicator is not dead yet.

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Modern Graham brings us their top 10 dividend stocks for the enterprising investor.

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