Have you ever wondered what today’s titans of industry and world leaders were like in the third grade?

Would you have wanted to sit next to Bill Gates?

Or would President Obama have been in your top five picks for a game of pick-up basketball?

If little Warren Buffett — America’s most famous investor and multi-billionaire — had asked you to lend him $1, would you have done so?

In elementary school, it’s difficult to see who will succeed and who won’t.

In school, it was easy to ignore the overly smart kids, especially the ones who seemed to revel in sharing their intelligence with the rest of us.

Looking back on it, that may have been a mistake. While I cannot recall receiving advice from smart students in school, as an adult, I’ve heard and read great advice from really smart people.

One of the latest examples was last fall as the stock markets plummeted day after day and nearly everyone in the country was panicking.

Buffett, the world’s most storied investor, wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times. In his article, he provided several bits of excellent investing advice including:

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

Buffett was talking about buying stocks, but his advice — buy good value when the prices are pushed lower than they should be — is great advice for any purchase.

This is especially true when fear, not value or quality pushes prices down.

Just like many stocks that are currently “on sale” and the investors who have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy stocks at heavy discounts, the same is true for new car purchases.

The national credit crisis that helped tumble stock markets caused lots of car buyers to hold off on car purchases. This was combined with profitability issues for some of the large automakers.

The result is a perfect storm of opportunity for new car buyers. Qualified buyers can get amazingly low interest rates, and almost all dealers are offering rock-bottom prices.

That combination helped inspire The Democrat’s first Look Local event, the Ultimate Auto Extravaganza that will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It’s a partnership between four local auto dealerships, Natchez Ford, Heritage Chrysler Dodge Jeep, Trace City Toyota and Southland Mazda.

Essentially, all four dealerships have decided to work together to market the three-day event.

Each dealership will be offering great deals. With low interest rates, a number of dealers offering “employee pricing” (meaning the lowest prices they ever offer), and lots of manufacturers’ rebates now is the best time to buy a car or truck.

The idea of four normally competitive auto dealers partnering together is almost unheard of, but it’s a sign of how much they want your business and how committed they are to showing you that the best deals on cars are often found here at home.

These four dealerships have been significant partners in our community for years. Their contributions to both our tax base and to dozens of local non-profits is vitally important.

If you think you can leave town and head to a bigger city to find a better deal, think again. In addition to providing you with a great price, our local dealerships provide an economic boost to our community, too. And that’s an investment that Warren Buffett might say is invaluable.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.