That's not last century thinking. You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. You're not even forced to buy an an expensive Apple or Google phone. You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs. They reason why people are running around with 1k phones is because it's a status symbol. It's exactly this century where you can buy anything at manufacturing cost from India or China if y…
You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. Sure you can. If you're the dominant player, you can pay or buy out new entrants. Happens all the time in generic drugs.[1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight...
It happens with a lot of stuff. Chocolate candy bars in gas station kiosks are always the same 5 brands. Anybody _could_ make chocolate bars, but the big players make deals to control retail, so you don't get a choice of other candy bars, in the situation you'd typically buy one.
If I control the conditions under which you buy something, I can control what you are going to buy.
I'm pretty sure the peanut brittle has crack cocaine in it. Avoid at all costs unless you want to spiral into a never ending addiction. Sees is able to transform cheap ingredients into a premium product. It has a strong brand and pricing power. These are good things to have in a company. Still though, it's a luxury good and not something I'd want to own as we head into a recession. Own things people need, not things…
I watch the Berkshire annual meetings, and after watching Warren and Charlie eating peanut brittle for 6 hours, I couldn't help but buy/try some, and then you're hooked.
Warren Buffett seems to specialize in the kind of monopolistic sectors that many other countries have chosen to nationalize, as there really isn't any 'competitive free-market model' that applies - namely, the power grid and the the railroads.
That's not last century thinking. You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. You're not even forced to buy an an expensive Apple or Google phone. You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs. They reason why people are running around with 1k phones is because it's a status symbol. It's exactly this century where you can buy anything at manufacturing cost from India or China if y…
You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. Sure you can. If you're the dominant player, you can pay or buy out new entrants. Happens all the time in generic drugs.[1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight...
Sounds like the perfect start-up plan: just open a 50 bucks vitamin C store, and the dominant player will buy you out for $$$. Rinse and repeat for infinite money.
It's the slow and steady increase in prices that made it so profitable. About 5x over inflation during Buffett ownership. This has happened to far too many items over the last few decades. Most of the things drugstores sell are cheap to make, but have steadily increased in price in the US over the last few decades. Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-…
>Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-priced to match the expensive ones. Vitamin C is about $10/Kg in bulk, but about $100/Kg at a US drugstore. How does one even know if the Vitamin C is Vitamin C? There is no government agency that confirms supplements and vitamins are what they say they are, nor are there penalties. The only thing I have heard of i…
I think this is part of why they’re so expensive. If you can only go off reputation, you pay for it.
>Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-priced to match the expensive ones. Vitamin C is about $10/Kg in bulk, but about $100/Kg at a US drugstore. How does one even know if the Vitamin C is Vitamin C? There is no government agency that confirms supplements and vitamins are what they say they are, nor are there penalties. The only thing I have heard of i…
The US is very bad at ensuring our food supply is what it claims to be.... you have to trust companies, basically.
Or do your research with companies that have independently assess products
Competition generally eliminates these kinds of margins. That's last-century thinking, from when manufacturing cost dominated. Today, it's all about building a monopoly and crushing any new entrants. Comcast. Apple. Google. Facebook. CVS. The US is down to four big banks.
That's not last century thinking. You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. You're not even forced to buy an an expensive Apple or Google phone. You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs. They reason why people are running around with 1k phones is because it's a status symbol. It's exactly this century where you can buy anything at manufacturing cost from India or China if y…
Do you have any idea on how I can avoid the excessive interest rate the bank charges on my mortgage? :) Yes I checked, other banks loans are just as expensive. So it seems I'm not able to buy loans at "manufacturing cost" and neither am I able to buy gas or electricity for minimal cost.
I know I am "supposed" to like Warren Buffett, but frankly I don't; and this does show why I don't. Buffett buys a discretionary, almost a luxury item, store, and jacks up the prices well above the rate of inflation. The owner of LVMH does the same. This is not the same as a company that is advancing technology or building the same item, but for less money. I value the guy who runs the sriracha sauce company higher t…