Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 435 posts

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#191

Post by neom »

willhslade wrote: post #189
neom wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've been running nuclear here in Canada for over 80 years now. CANDU is very safe and not very complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor

Did you know about this? https://thewalrus.ca/nuclear-accidents/

Sure, NRX and NRU were research rigs running experiments far outside normal reactor envelopes. And I think it's amusing that it's considered INES-5 when very little actually happened and there was...no..wider...events... literally. If the worst we can cite is a 70 year old research accident that killed no one and ultimately produced design fixes we still use, you have a the strong case for nuclear safety...Anyway: The Walrus needs to find some new civic interest story around Barrie to write about or something, it's an awful rag. We could decarbonize our grid completely with 15 new reactors, if I was PM we'd be popping them up like it was CANDU Christmas.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#192

Post by WalterBright »

pyth0 wrote: post #138
WalterBright wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uniquely privileged position? The only unique thing about America is free markets. Any country can become highly successful by enacting free markets. The only thing in the way is their disbelief that they work. There's a common thread across the world and history. The more free market a country is, the more it prospers.

This is only true if you ignore the important material and historical factors that go into the success of a country. Like for example, the immense wealth of natural resources and variation in climates that the US has. Or how about escaping much of the devastation that Europe faced in WW2 and benefiting immensely from helping them rebuild. Or having (for the most part) incredibly safe and stable relationships with nei…

The Sovied Union and Communist China all had vast natural resources. But a third world economy.

Japan, S Korea and Hong Kong have next to no natural resources. Great prosperity.

Germany turned to free markets after WW2 and enjoyed the "German Miracle". (Germany has since turned to socialism, with predictable results.) Germany received far, far less Marshall Plan money than Britain and France, who had no miracle.

> but to say it's the only unique thing about America is just wrong

History shows otherwise.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#193

Post by WalterBright »

yodsanklai wrote: post #168
WalterBright wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uniquely privileged position? The only unique thing about America is free markets. Any country can become highly successful by enacting free markets. The only thing in the way is their disbelief that they work. There's a common thread across the world and history. The more free market a country is, the more it prospers.

> The only unique thing about America is free markets Is that unique to America? I'm in EU, I thought we had free markets too. > The more free market a country is, the more it prospers. Some countries, including the US, reached prosperity by protecting their markets.

> I'm in EU, I thought we had free markets too

Significantly less free than in the US, and correspondingly less prosperity.

> Some countries, including the US, reached prosperity by protecting their markets.

Not true. If it was true, N Korea would be massively prosperous.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#194

Post by WalterBright »

terribleperson wrote: post #141
WalterBright wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uniquely privileged position? The only unique thing about America is free markets. Any country can become highly successful by enacting free markets. The only thing in the way is their disbelief that they work. There's a common thread across the world and history. The more free market a country is, the more it prospers.

I would say that the dollar being the global reserve currency is a unique privilege, yes.

It's a result of American prosperity, not the cause.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#195

Post by WalterBright »

ajross wrote: post #155
WalterBright wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uniquely privileged position? The only unique thing about America is free markets. Any country can become highly successful by enacting free markets. The only thing in the way is their disbelief that they work. There's a common thread across the world and history. The more free market a country is, the more it prospers.

> Any country can become highly successful by enacting free markets. And the existence proof for that assertion is which country, exactly? Lots of nations lack regulation of some form or another, many of them are "freer" than the US. The US isn't entirely "free" of trade barriers either (c.f. tariffpocalype). Basically this sounds like a no-true-scotsman in the making. No, it's not that simple.

The US is not a perfect free market. But it is closer than other countries.

Socialism, on the other hand, makes things worse the closer one gets to "true" socialism.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#196

Post by WalterBright »

thfuran wrote: post #159
WalterBright wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many interpretations of that line, and without the context it is in it is difficult to see which one is correct. Here's one: "Jesus' statement highlights the principle that salvation is a gift from God, not earned through good deeds or accumulated wealth. It emphasizes the need for humility and faith, rather than relying on material possessions or social standing."

That seems like, uh, motivated reasoning. Maybe if it were "for even a rich man" or "for a man, rich or poor," or something, but it's pretty clearly positioning riches in contrast to entering heaven.

The interpretation I quoted came from Google. I did not make it up.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#197

Post by EasyMark »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #97
tchalla wrote: post #24

Buffet on Tariffs > “It’s a big mistake, in my view, when you have seven and a half billion people that don’t like you very well, and you got 300 million that are crowing in some way about how well they’ve done - I don’t think it’s right, and I don’t think it’s wise,” Buffett said. “The United States won. I mean, we have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing 250 years ago. There’s not been any…

I’m a bit slow in this field. Could someone explain how this quote relates to tariffs? I’ve re-read it three times now, looking for the connection to a tax on imported goods, but I just can’t see it. I think it’s saying that the US population is crowing about how well we’ve done, and so we should be able to tax whatever imports we want? But what an odd way to say that if so. How well we’ve done seems completely unrel…

Because we're letting one clown running a circus toss it all on a bonfire because 10% of the population lost manufacturing jobs.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#198

Post by AnimalMuppet »

thfuran wrote: post #159
WalterBright wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many interpretations of that line, and without the context it is in it is difficult to see which one is correct. Here's one: "Jesus' statement highlights the principle that salvation is a gift from God, not earned through good deeds or accumulated wealth. It emphasizes the need for humility and faith, rather than relying on material possessions or social standing."

That seems like, uh, motivated reasoning. Maybe if it were "for even a rich man" or "for a man, rich or poor," or something, but it's pretty clearly positioning riches in contrast to entering heaven.

If I understand correctly, at that time, riches were viewed as a sign of God's blessing. So it has the direction of "even those of you most in God's favor can't enter the kingdom of heaven". Which gets you back to something close to WalterBright's interpretation.

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#199

Post by D-Coder »

deadbabe wrote: post #170
behnamoh wrote: post #29

All that money and he's still a mortal just like the rest of us. I wonder if mega billionaires like him have done private research on life longevity, cryosleep, mind-upload, etc. It's the only useful thing they can do with that much money that directly benefits them. Anything else (legacy, influence, children, etc.) doesn't benefit them when they're gone.

With all the billionaires we've had, the fact that no one is living unnaturally long or in some kind of cryosleep or AI simulation probably means one thing: It's simply not possible, and if it is, all the money in the world won't get you there.

> the fact that no one is living unnaturally long or in some kind of cryosleep or AI simulation probably means one thing: It's simply not possible

_Yet_.

If you looked at the Wright Brothers aircraft, what real use is there for a vehicle that carries one person, maybe 50lbs of cargo, and moves at 80 mph?

Re: Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

#200

Post by yellowapple »

bnjms wrote: post #109
ChadNauseam wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s zero-sum thinking. Increases demand for US assets can make americans wealthier in many ways (e.g. providing more capital to american businesses).

Some goods are zero sum. Land is zero sum. Ownership of land by non local entities is… idk seems bad

The solution to that is land value taxation, not foreign trade policies that have zero bearing on land ownership.
Post reply on HN