1. In what way is Warren Buffett’s plan the equivalent of a tariff? What would be its likely impact on American consumers?
2. What would be the likely effect of Mr. Buffett’s plan on U.S. exports?
3. How would Buffett’s plan likely affect saving, investment, and interest rates in the United States? The value of the U.S. dollar?
4. How would the ‘‘bonus’’ ICs affect the U.S. trade deficit?
5. Buffett’s plan focuses on the U.S. trade deficit. What would be its likely impact on the U.S. current-account deficit?
6. What are some possible costs of Buffett’s plan?

In October 2003, Warren Buffett, the ‘‘Sage of Omaha’’ and one of the shrewdest investors of all time, announced that over the past year his company, Berkshire Hathaway, had made significant investments in other currencies. He said that he made these investments in the belief that the large and growing U.S. trade deficit would result in a steep decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.