Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#101

Post by rob74 » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:04 AM UTC

ralph84 wrote: post #38

harry8 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He definitely wants us to think that about his integrity, his fans even more so and in fairness, he's pretty good. Not quite the sunday-school capitalism perfection that some would have us believe. Which can grate a bit if you've looked in detail at his career.

Yeah he’s not quite Jack Welch level of dissonance between reality and his fanboys, but he’s hardly some superhero for profiting from the great financialization of the US economy. He made sure his book got bailed out during the GFC. He cheered on Wells Fargo while they opened up a bunch of fraudulent accounts. And so on.

Well yeah, if he wouldn't have profited from the great financialization of the US economy, he couldn't have amassed nearly the wealth that he has amassed, and we wouldn't be talking about him now, so the point is kind of moot. Let's say that, in the cut-throat world of big money, he is (or, at this point, was), one of the nicer guys...

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#102

Post by rob74 » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:10 AM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #64

SilverElfin wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask the railroad workers of BNSF about Buffet’s “integrity”. He’s responsible for them being rampantly abused. If you’re not familiar look up interviews with actual workers. They are asked to work insane hours and with little scheduling, and are unpaid when they’re waiting around. The (local) monopolization of the rail industry and constant lobbying against regulations by Buffet’s minions have let this continue to th…

> Let’s not forget Buffet also funded BYD significantly and is responsible for their growth, What is this weird nationalism? Investing in a company from a foreign country does not make you a bad (or good) person. There is no moral duty to make your own country the most economically powerful one.

I don't like Chinese companies that much either, but if you look at the current US administration's stance on electric cars (and related topics like renewables, battery storage etc.), investing in BYD was actually a smart move...

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#103

Post by surajrmal » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:16 AM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #94

glitchc wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no moral duty to make your own country the most economically powerful one. No? Then why do we ask people to give their lives to make it a safe one?

Are you in America? No one in the Us military is giving up lives to keep citizens safe. For other countries, it’s because the nation state is the current agreed upon divider for certain things like borders. To moralize nationalism is weird and anti-humanity.

What are they giving up their lives for? American soldiers die in duty every year.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#104

Post by MonkeyClub » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:17 AM UTC

wbl wrote: post #70

bawolff wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time i dont think luck is something prople really want to hear about. It makes a terrible story. You can't emulate luck, you can't control luck, you can't explain luck. I suspect luck has less to do with Buffet's fortune than most billionaires since he's in investments, so he gets compared to other hedge funds with similar starting resources. He seems to have made it work over the long term and not just h…

Chance favors the prepared mind.

And compounding works wonders over the long run.

Apparently he started his first investment at age 11. 8 decades is a long time to compound even at low rates.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#105

Post by MonkeyClub » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:19 AM UTC

mcmoor wrote: post #86

kelnos wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they hoard unnecessarily, or do they hoard what they need to get through winter months, without much surplus?

I've heard that a lot of trees are grown from forgotten squirrel seed stashes. So at the very least they do store more than they eat.

And over the long term it compounds to more food for their descendants through the buy and forget investments (the trees that sprout out of the stashes).

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#106

Post by bfkwlfkjf » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:26 AM UTC

harry8 wrote: post #18

bfkwlfkjf wrote: post #10

Here's a person with integrity. They're very rare these days, especially amongst the wealthy.

He definitely wants us to think that about his integrity, his fans even more so and in fairness, he's pretty good. Not quite the sunday-school capitalism perfection that some would have us believe. Which can grate a bit if you've looked in detail at his career.

I've all shareholder letters, about 1500 pages. Please point to whatever you're insinuating.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#107

Post by csomar » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:27 AM UTC

postalcoder wrote: post #98

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #41

>Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior. >I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistake…

Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G and Buffett came in to do layoffs at Tim Hortons was one of the most cold blooded things they've ever seen.

Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired.

Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That was wise.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#108

Post by fruitworks » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:27 AM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #95

SilverElfin wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask the railroad workers of BNSF about Buffet’s “integrity”. He’s responsible for them being rampantly abused. If you’re not familiar look up interviews with actual workers. They are asked to work insane hours and with little scheduling, and are unpaid when they’re waiting around. The (local) monopolization of the rail industry and constant lobbying against regulations by Buffet’s minions have let this continue to th…

Not all of us care about certain in-groups over others. Like caring about humanity as a whole. Nothing wrong with any one investing in BYD or similar tech (vs any other investing). If anything, investing in non-“imperial core” companies seems to be a good thing to balance out unequal exchange and the global north and global south divide.

That is interesting, because the chinese do care about in-groups

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#109

Post by unmole » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:29 AM UTC

csomar wrote: post #107

postalcoder wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G and Buffett came in to do layoffs at Tim Hortons was one of the most cold blooded things they've ever seen.

Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired. Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That wa…

> Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy.

Find a better dictionary.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#110

Post by SilverElfin » Tue, Nov 11, 2025, 9:30 AM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #95

SilverElfin wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask the railroad workers of BNSF about Buffet’s “integrity”. He’s responsible for them being rampantly abused. If you’re not familiar look up interviews with actual workers. They are asked to work insane hours and with little scheduling, and are unpaid when they’re waiting around. The (local) monopolization of the rail industry and constant lobbying against regulations by Buffet’s minions have let this continue to th…

Not all of us care about certain in-groups over others. Like caring about humanity as a whole. Nothing wrong with any one investing in BYD or similar tech (vs any other investing). If anything, investing in non-“imperial core” companies seems to be a good thing to balance out unequal exchange and the global north and global south divide.

Investing in BYD is propping up the CCP and their dystopian authoritarian regime. Your phrasing of “imperial core” is meaningless. But the CCP is literally authoritarian in its political system.