Investing icon Warren Buffett took his own advice Tuesday – getting “greedy when others are fearful” – when he ignored the banking-sector bonfire and slapped down a cool $5 billion for a stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS). By literally putting his money where his mouth is, Buffett’s actions – and reputation as a shrewd bargain hunter – restored some of Goldman’s luster and helped bolster investor confidence in the U.S. banking system.

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Having savaged the U.S. financial sector since it surfaced in the summer of 2007, the credit crisis evolved into a crisis of confidence – which has manifested itself as a liquidity crisis. And that liquidity crisis is no longer confined to the financial sector. It’s spilled over into the energy sector, as well.

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High energy prices make companies both rich and greedy. Electricite de France (NYSE:EDF) has $54 billion to spend on investments over the next two years. If it doesn’t spend this war chest on external acquisitions, it will spend it on internal expansion. Either way, EDF will remain a top energy company in Western Europe, says Sara Nunnally in Taipan’s Emerging Markets blog…

A merger that would have united the two largest U.S. independent power producers has hit a roadblock.