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Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#201

Post by Locke1689 »

imron wrote: post #192
Locke1689 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

This is the Art of the Deal:

  1. Think big
  2. Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself
  3. Maximize your options
  4. Know your market
  5. Use your leverage
  6. Enhance your location
  7. Get the word out
  8. Fight back
  9. Deliver the goods
  10. Contain the costs
  11. Have fun
Aside from the last one, these are simply statements of strategy on how to achieve your goals. This is not a framework for arriving at the goals themselves. You could use this strategy to work for autocracy or democracy or really any world you want. The first question to ask is which world you want to live in, not how to get there.

His only statements on normative, not positive, values come from things like "America winning" and "being great" and "going back." But it absolutely true that, for many Americans, these are a contradiction in terms.

I can attempt to infer his values from these vague statements, but I think that it is improper for a leader to not start with a set of first principles, independent from ill-defined notions like "winning", that guide what it means to win and what it means to be great.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#202

Post by pjmorris »

xapata wrote: post #170
pjmorris wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very fair to say that there is a class of people of various professions who have a great deal of influence but not a great deal of money. To what degree would you buy my notion that most of those people work for people in a higher economic class? Where do you see decisions being made independent of (or out of proportion to) their economic impact?

Now you're going in a different direction. I'm just saying that not all wealthy people are "insiders".

I'm more sure that wealthy people tend to be insiders than the professional non-wealthy. Once you've acquired enough to be considered wealthy, you care about the stability of currencies, banking systems, countries at least to the degree that it preserves your own wealth.

'The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.' - Ecc 5:12

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#203

Post by imron »

Locke1689 wrote: post #201
imron wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

This is the Art of the Deal : 1. Think big 2. Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself 3. Maximize your options 4. Know your market 5. Use your leverage 6. Enhance your location 7. Get the word out 8. Fight back 9. Deliver the goods 10. Contain the costs 11. Have fun Aside from the last one, these are simply statements of strategy on how to achieve your goals. This is not a framework for arriving…

> I can attempt to infer his values from these vague statements,

Well, there's a whole book that goes in to specific details about those vague statements, so you don't have to infer much at all about what he means by them.

Much of the crazy, and supposedly unpredictable things Trump does, follows the playbook laid out by Art of the Deal. He's been following the same script for decades, and people are somehow surprised when he keeps doing the same thing.

> but I think that it is improper

I'm not commenting on the propriety or value of Trump doing this, just pointing out that he does do it (whether others think it improper or not).

Love him or hate him, if you want to understand him, the Art of Deal provides insight on that.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#204

Post by DontGiveTwoFlux »

aczerepinski wrote: post #142
hxta98596 wrote: post #29

It's hard not to be impressed by what the Gates Foundation is doing. I don't think they get the full recognition they deserve sometimes, maybe because much of their work is abroad in the poorest countries in the world. Hard to fathom the number of people out there in the world thankful and who owe their lives to the foundation choosing to help their community or their cause. With that said and not to diminish the goo…

Also, Buffett's gift is still inspiring to me 10 years later. The world's richest man never spent his enormous fortune other than living a normal upper middle class lifestyle. He not only decided to give away all the money, but is doing so without the typical pursuit of marking his name in stone on every building in the world. He didn't even create a charity in his name. Very possible that the Gates foundation will l…

While in most cases the man is frugal relative to his wealth, he still does own a private jet. Not exactly upper middle class.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.cnbc.com/amp/id/49787452

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#205

Post by xapata »

pjmorris wrote: post #202
xapata wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you're going in a different direction. I'm just saying that not all wealthy people are "insiders".

I'm more sure that wealthy people tend to be insiders than the professional non-wealthy. Once you've acquired enough to be considered wealthy, you care about the stability of currencies, banking systems, countries at least to the degree that it preserves your own wealth. 'The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.' - Ecc 5:12

The way you phrased it previously suggested equivalence (all wealthy are insiders) rather than tendency (more wealthy are insiders).

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#206

Post by Locke1689 »

imron wrote: post #203
Locke1689 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the Art of the Deal : 1. Think big 2. Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself 3. Maximize your options 4. Know your market 5. Use your leverage 6. Enhance your location 7. Get the word out 8. Fight back 9. Deliver the goods 10. Contain the costs 11. Have fun Aside from the last one, these are simply statements of strategy on how to achieve your goals. This is not a framework for arriving…

> I can attempt to infer his values from these vague statements, Well, there's a whole book that goes in to specific details about those vague statements, so you don't have to infer much at all about what he means by them. Much of the crazy, and supposedly unpredictable things Trump does, follows the playbook laid out by Art of the Deal. He's been following the same script for decades, and people are somehow surprise…

By "vague statements" I was referring to his comments on "America winning" or "being great again." Does Art of the Deal describe those statements in detail?

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#207

Post by pjmorris »

xapata wrote: post #205
pjmorris wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more sure that wealthy people tend to be insiders than the professional non-wealthy. Once you've acquired enough to be considered wealthy, you care about the stability of currencies, banking systems, countries at least to the degree that it preserves your own wealth. 'The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.' - Ecc 5:12

The way you phrased it previously suggested equivalence (all wealthy are insiders) rather than tendency (more wealthy are insiders).

It would help my argumentation skills if you could you point out where I suggested equivalence. I started with 'more like an insider than an outsider'.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#208

Post by imron »

Locke1689 wrote: post #206
imron wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can attempt to infer his values from these vague statements, Well, there's a whole book that goes in to specific details about those vague statements, so you don't have to infer much at all about what he means by them. Much of the crazy, and supposedly unpredictable things Trump does, follows the playbook laid out by Art of the Deal. He's been following the same script for decades, and people are somehow surprise…

By "vague statements" I was referring to his comments on "America winning" or "being great again." Does Art of the Deal describe those statements in detail?

It does!

Well, not those statements specifically, it describes that type of statement and Trump's rationale for using them.

Here's a quote -

"The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.

I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion."

So, it's a promotion tactic to get people thinking positive and thinking big, but also, the vagueness means that each person can attribute it to whatever is important to them, which leads to much stronger engagement and emotional connection.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#209

Post by OliverJones »

derefr wrote: post #180
OliverJones wrote: post #152

You don't need a Gates- or Buffett- sized pot of money to make a difference. Sure, they can, and do, place massive orders at vaccine factories to get economies of scale. That's how a dose of the pentavalent vaccine comes to cost about the same as the CD that Windows used to arrive on. You probably can't place a US$50M order at a pharma company. But that's OK. You can find a local NGO or charity that promotes, I dunno…

Giving money to any charity is potentially better for the world than giving money to no charity. But part of the premise of this article—and of the Gates Foundation—is that some charitable acts have much higher ROI (in lives saved per dollar, or whatever other metric you might want to measure by) than others, and you should focus on those if you want your money to go furthest in doing good in the world. This approach…

Keep the old slogan in mind: the best is the enemy of the good. Even the Gates Foundation had to try various things as they were getting started. So can you. Don't overthink it.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#210

Post by Locke1689 »

imron wrote: post #208
Locke1689 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "vague statements" I was referring to his comments on "America winning" or "being great again." Does Art of the Deal describe those statements in detail?

It does! Well, not those statements specifically, it describes that type of statement and Trump's rationale for using them. Here's a quote - "The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the…

Once again, I think that's more of a statement on how he achieves his goals, not how he arrives at goals in the first place.

For instance, there's an inherent conflict between freedom and security. The government and the people must strike a balance on these issues. How does Trump decide what the right balance is? What philosophical principles does he use to decide how much freedom we should be willing to trade for security?

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