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Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

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Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#191

Post by Nomentatus »

WalterBright wrote: post #184
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely spot on. How an average user was expected to download an "alternative browser" without having a browser pre-installed was beyond me. The whole "browser choice" prompt was a farce. This is before we get into the part about removing Windows Media Player from some EU releases...

I still have IE "installed" on my computer. I never use it, for reasons stated. Who cares if it is installed? I don't. I did use it to download Chrome, though :-)

Window 10 is now finding excuses to open itself to tell me about travel spots whenever I open the computer. Again and again there's a new bit of Microsoftmalware for me to disable.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#192

Post by imron »

Locke1689 wrote: post #179
imron wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Except that all the numbers on his net worth are based just on his word and he's clearly a serial liar. No they're not, the link I provided also showed figures based on Forbes estimate of his net worth. $40,000,000 (Trump's share of his father's fortune) invested in the market in 1974 would be worth $1.22 billion in 2015 (when he announced his campaign). Compared to Forbes estimate of his net worth at $4.5 billion…

> figures based on Forbes estimate of his net worth. You know Forbes is just a business magazine, and just a small one at that? They don't have any privileged information. They probably just based their reporting on his self-reported wealth. At best they could look at the public valuations of some of his properties, but since the Trump organization is privately held they have no way of knowing how badly he's leverage…

> That you don't see the difference ... is the crux of the problem.

I'm simply pointing out observable reality.

'Art of the Deal' may just be a set of strategies for making money in real estate, but those same strategies seem to guide how he sees the world and acts as a person.

I'm not making any judgement about whether that is a good or bad thing, but failing to understand that means failing to understand Trump.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#193

Post by wallace_f »

idiot_stick wrote: post #168
wallace_f wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this issue could be addressed in the ballot box I don't believe that is true. Recent history is especially illustrative of this.

> Recent history is especially illustrative of this. Are you referring to Trump's election? Well, some people's problems were solved by the ballot box, and they got their man elected. The fact that you disagree with the politics doesn't negate the system working as intended.

Well, for instance, I supported clemency for Bradley Manning, and that Edward Snowden should be honored as a patriot for risking his own welfare to stand up for the people of America against illegal government abuses. I had no choice in the election in that matter. I did have some hope with Bernie, but all of the subversion against him by the DNC my hope was burned to shreds.

So there's an example of how, one of the most important issues, has no ability to be addressed in the ballot box in recent history.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#194

Post by wallace_f »

bowersbros wrote: post #169
wallace_f wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this issue could be addressed in the ballot box I don't believe that is true. Recent history is especially illustrative of this.

More money wouldn't help that cause though. The US doesn't need the billions to solve issues, it already has it. The lack of solutions in the US is due to people not working towards them, not the resources being lacked.

I disagree. Money is not the only motivation, but it is the most reliable to model as the primary reason why people work.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#195

Post by imron »

xapata wrote: post #172
imron wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but he is far from a brilliant businessman. I'm not claiming he is a brilliant businessman. I'm only disputing the assertion that he "lacks intelligence", which is what started this side-thread. > How do you lose a billion dollars? Many different ways. For example, Hillary spent over a billion dollars on her losing campaign, but I don't assume that Hillary lacks intelligence because of this. > Could his relative su…

> Hillary spent Not her personal wealth

Well, how about this one then: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-12/soros-los...

Losing a billion dollars is easier than you think, because even if you're intelligent, sometimes circumstances conspire against you.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#196

Post by wallace_f »

oblio wrote: post #154
wallace_f wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read my comment.... > civil and human rights abuses

What should they do, exactly? In my eyes improving education and helping the poor aim exactly at the root of your problems.

Easy. Give money to the EFF, ACLU, etc. Or create a similar organization with that kind of money.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#197

Post by lend000 »

gorbachev wrote: post #98
imron wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Trump lacks intelligence I keep seeing people say this, but I'm not sure it's true. He took a loan of a few million from his father and turned it in to a billion dollar empire. It's difficult to do that without some measure of intelligence. He almost lost that billion dollar empire in '94, but recovered and built it back up again in to a billion dollar empire. It's more difficult to do that without some intelligenc…

> He took a loan of a few million from his father and turned it in to a billion dollar empire. http://fortune.com/2015/08/20/donald-trump-index-funds/ What kind of business genius does it take to lag S&P 500 that badly? If he had done absolutely nothing with his dad's money, except park it in an index fund, he'd be 4 times richer. The article linked also compares the investment performance of Bill Gates and Warren Bu…

An important note: this assumes he spent no money. Obviously, this is a ridiculous assumption, as he has lived a very ostentatious and expensive lifestyle.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#198

Post by imaginenore »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #188

I appreciate these efforts, but my mind is drawn to a somewhat orthogonal set of tactics. When I see stats like $1 of vaccines releasing $44 of economic value, I think: there is a market opportunity here. The question I keep asking is: what would a hedge fund look like that was making a bet that most people in poverty could produce the $44 if we invested the $1? What kind of corporate structure would be needed to dis…

It's not like there's a simple way to invest $1 and extract $44. That $44 is diluted in the total GDP. There's also a quite low limit on how many people you can vaccinate, even if you offer it for free.

This kind of thing is quite profitable for the government though, because they get to collect that $44, even if it is diluted.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#199

Post by imaginenore »

majani wrote: post #135
obilgic wrote: post #2

I wish Bill or Warren would have run for presidency as an "outsider" instead of Trump. I guess our only hope will be their successor Mark (Zuckerberg)

None of those have the charisma necessary to run a successful presidential campaign

Do you think George Bush (junior) did?

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#200

Post by erikpukinskis »

imaginenore wrote: post #198
erikpukinskis wrote: post #188

I appreciate these efforts, but my mind is drawn to a somewhat orthogonal set of tactics. When I see stats like $1 of vaccines releasing $44 of economic value, I think: there is a market opportunity here. The question I keep asking is: what would a hedge fund look like that was making a bet that most people in poverty could produce the $44 if we invested the $1? What kind of corporate structure would be needed to dis…

It's not like there's a simple way to invest $1 and extract $44. That $44 is diluted in the total GDP. There's also a quite low limit on how many people you can vaccinate, even if you offer it for free. This kind of thing is quite profitable for the government though, because they get to collect that $44, even if it is diluted.

I don't need a simple way, I just need a way.

The way I am currently pursuing it is basically to build an agency (like a Hollywood agency) for people in poverty and use automation to get economies of scale so it can survive on many slices of small payouts. It's not simple, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Arguably TaskRabbit and Uber are a version of this, but they target poor working class people, not those in actual poverty.

Would be interested to hear other ideas. I don't expect any of them to be simple.

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