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Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

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Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#101

Post by oli5679 »

wz1000 wrote: post #90
thedevil wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think it's important to remember these atrocities, I think that for economic understanding it's important to note that these were not the major drivers of growth. Remember that atrocities like that happened in many places that did not grow into giant economies. Stealing land and enslaving people may have given a head start, but clearly something else delivered the big gains. If you look at the history and the…

> the big boost was started by the industrial revolution Exactly. Now, lets look at some of the causes of the first Industrial Revolution First, large tracts of lands in Britain, largely held in the commons, were stolen from the peasantry and given to private individuals and landlords, as part of the Enclosure movement. This forced the peasants to look for work in cities en masse, providing cheap labor for the capita…

Your first point is interesting. People gloss over how disruptive the industrial Revolution was, and the downward pressure it put on the wages of farm workers.

I'm not convinced by your second one. Why didn't states like Portugal industrialise equally quickly? Or within America, why didn't states with more slaves grow faster? Germany has no history of slavery, and the same is true for modern industrialisation transitions like South Korea and China.

The topic has been studied in great detail in economic history. The consensus seems to be that however horrible slavery was, it wasn't fundamental to industrialisation.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#102

Post by pg314 »

gizmo wrote: post #59
pg314 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most hedge funds have very little to do with the kind of hedging you describe. If you had that kind of exposure to currency risks, you wouldn't go to a hedge fund. You can easily hedge that risk yourself with futures or options. If you wanted to pay somebody for it, you would go to your banker and he would do it for you for a fraction of the 2/20 fees charged by hedge funds.

The average banker has no idea how to hedge any serious amount of money, nor does the average banker understand what kind of hedging strategy is appropriate for a business. Nothing about hedging with futures or options is easy. Also, hedge funds don't charge 2/20 anymore like in the good old days.

Nonsense. Futures and options and how to use them to hedge exchange rate risks are covered in any good masters in finance (source: I have a masters in finance). You don't even need any advanced math (the ancient Greeks were using options to hedge their olive harvests).

The bank teller might not know about them, but the bank most assuredly has people that can help you.

Also, contrary to what your posts suggests (any serious amount of money), the amount of money has no bearing on how you would hedge its risk.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#103

Post by loeg »

mrfusion wrote: post #37
lotsofpulp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If your business makes toilet paper you have it easy because no matter what happens demand for your product won't collapse overnight. Until people figure out the magic of bidets! https://www.amazon.com/Luxe-Bidet-Neo-120-Non-Electric/dp/B0...

You still need some paper right?

An order of magnitude less, I think.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#104

Post by hueving »

kakarot wrote: post #92
purple-again wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just described the history of China, South and Central America, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, our friendly Nordic pillagers. Am I missing any? Oh that's right all those empires that crumbled to dust to form our current nations, them too. You just described the history of Humanity.

Yeah, it isn't that America doesn't deserve its riches, it's that just about every current national government doesn't deserve its riches. The working class is as globally exploited as its ever been. edit: Yo guys I'm not saying we need to give it all back. History is stained in blood.

Im not sure America gained from slavery in the long run. The economic cost of the civil war, the destruction of the South, and the countless dead were probably a net negative over what was gain from slavery.

America achieved massive wealth in spite of a violent history, not because of it.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#105

Post by loeg »

isclever wrote: post #76
marcandre wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0.64% MER is much higher than what you can get with Vanguard. Mutual funds are about 4x less expensive, some ETFs are 10x less expensive.

My personal view of using Wealthsimple is a stepping stone, I've realise that I've throw away money to the banks with higher then needed MERs and Wealthsimple provide a easy way of transferring my money in and saving money now. When my portfolio is larger and I'm seeing a higher cost with them VS doing it myself I'll look into buying ETFs myself. The lowest bank mutual fund in Canada that I've seen in from Tangerine…

https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#106

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

hueving wrote: post #94
nickbauman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slavery was less efficient than a market economy and a free labor pool. Consider the Irish who built the Erie Canal. They were paid mostly in rum and they died off so quickly the bosses didn't care because a fresh crop of Irish workers walked off the boat the following week. Slaves had to be fed and housed and nominally cared for. After all, they cost money and you didn't want to throw away your investment. The slave…

>let's face it: those who like to hide behind "states rights", it all comes back to "states rights to buy and have slaves" This is an idiotic strawman. That's the equivalent of saying that people who think countries in the European Union should be mostly free to implement their own laws are pro slavery. Smaller localized government control vs one rule for everyone has little to do with slavery. There is no reason tha…

I think you are misunderstanding the context of the parent's argument. I'm assuming he's not talking about all states' rights arguments, only those applied to the US Civil War.

If you look at historical documents, protecting the institution of slavery was clearly the main driver for the Southern states to secede. It relatively recent years, Southern apologists have tried to rewrite this as "No, they were just for States' Rights", because this is currently less offensive than saying they just wanted to own slaves.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#107

Post by roymurdock »

dsacco wrote: post #17

There's one particular passage I'd like to point out, on page 5: Our efforts to materially increase the normalized earnings of Berkshire will be aided – as they have been throughout our managerial tenure – by America’s economic dynamism. One word sums up our country’s achievements: miraculous. From a standing start 240 years ago – a span of time less than triple my days on earth – Americans have combined human ingenu…

This is classic Warren Buffett. He leads almost all of his annual shareholder letters with something similar. While he may be talking his book, he does it in a wry and genuine way that makes it a pleasure to read regardless.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#108

Post by valuearb »

gizmo wrote: post #18
tyingq wrote: post #5

The transparency and humble tone is pretty unique. "Unfortunately, I followed the GEICO purchase by foolishly using Berkshire stock" " It was, nevertheless, a terrible mistake on my part" "Despite that cautious approach, I made one particularly egregious error" I bet you don't find that sort of thing in many other annual shareholder letters.

Warren Buffett is an expert salesperson, and this tone is the exquisitely crafted product of 70 years of salesmanship. Buffett has worked tirelessly to build his public image, and his "aw-shucks" act is a critical part of that. His image of a down-to-earth person with unquestionable integrity* has enabled him to lock down investment deals under the most favorable possible terms. *) read one of his biographies to see…

I've read his biographies. He's super ethical.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#109

Post by gwern »

skolsuper wrote: post #39
Nokinside wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life expectancy of 86 year old male is 5.4 years.

What is it for 86 year old male multi-billionaires?

Probably not as much as you would think. Money can buy you access to cutting-edge medical treatment... but not safe or effective cutting-edge medical treatment. Almost all new treatments don't work or have more drawbacks than benefit, that's why it's called research - and billionaires get access to the results of the big clinical trials at about the same time as everyone else.

Re: Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders [pdf]

#110

Post by valuearb »

otalp wrote: post #7
tyingq wrote: post #5

The transparency and humble tone is pretty unique. "Unfortunately, I followed the GEICO purchase by foolishly using Berkshire stock" " It was, nevertheless, a terrible mistake on my part" "Despite that cautious approach, I made one particularly egregious error" I bet you don't find that sort of thing in many other annual shareholder letters.

Sure, but it's easy to be humble when you're essentially an institution. In fact, it's better that way, because it appears honest. It's far harder for an unproven fund manager to admit making egregious mistakes without making his shareholders nervous. Buffett has 50 years of beating the market to soothe stakeholder concerns. Most other managers don't.

His shareholder letters from the 1950s have the same humble tone.
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