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Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

berkshirehathaway.com

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

#161

Post by runeks »

vintermann wrote: post #147
danjermaus wrote: post #145

> In 1958, I bought my first and only home. He does also own holiday homes and farms but for the most part he doesn't go in for the typical billionaire lifestyle. On the surface it seems less awful than Musk or Zuckerberg but to hoard that kind of wealth while people suffer is unethical. He may have pledged to give away his wealth, but now he's giving it to his children to give away. What's stopped him from giving it…

Excessive consumption isn't really the main problem with billionaires. It's the money they don't spend on consumption which is worst. The money spent on the pursuit of more money, buying up zero-sum goods that shouldn't even be for sale, like political power.

> Excessive consumption isn't really the main problem with billionaires. It's the money they don't spend on consumption which is worst.

Which consumables do you think billionaires should spend their money on?

And how would this improve the world?

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

#162

Post by kiba »

input_sh wrote: post #123
epolanski wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's donated, already, the equivalent of 200+ billions USD (give or take 420M class B shares). Say what you want, but the list of billionaires who have donated such large amounts of money while still alive (or dead) is small. Cherry picking events like layoffs, without truly knowing how much was he involved (Berkshire directors notoriously enjoy lots of autonomy) or if the layoffs made sense, etc, seems a stretch whe…

To whom? To "charities" owned by other billionaires such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and those owned by his children. I don't want billionaires to donate anything, I don't want them to use their money to shape the world to their liking. I want them to pay their fair share of taxes and a functional government that properly allocates those extra funds instead of funding the bare minimum.

We shouldn't tax production but what people take, like land, or polluting our environment, or monopoly privileges granted by government.

Which all coincidentally tax billionaires a lot to the point there might not be billionaire, but it's not the 'fair share' that people thought of. It's not asking the rich people to pay more because they make more, but because they owned non-reproducible privileges or because they imposed a cost on our shared environment such as CO2 emission.

Don't tax what people produce, but what they took.

The tax revenue collected would be then be invested by government to boost the economy or else return to the people via the Citizen's Dividend.

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

#163

Post by ozim »

rwmj wrote: post #138
piltdownman wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

//Keep also in mind that the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company than an entire board of directors and managers ever will. In Buffet's time maybe. Nowadays the sanitation staff more likely to be a contractor from some form of MSP on an exploitative contract with a 3-6 month lifespan. All the more reason to be nice, but don't expect an 'Inside Baseball' level of…

That means they know way more about what's going on at many companies. Maybe listen to them for market tips.

But that’s what people do - they would wine and dine some low level employees to get inside info.

You want to know when how much shit new GTA developers take by managers pressing them on deadlines - guy doesn’t have to spell it out he just needs to nag a bit here and there while having a beer.

Then you can know if they are not pressing them all goes smooth and they really will release when they want - if they are pressed much most likely product is in shambles and they most likely will not hit any targets or promises.

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

#164

Post by trenning »

7thpower wrote: post #84
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…

The BNSF people I’ve talked to have all told me about how much they’ve loved their jobs and what their jobs allowed them to do, including adopting children from Ukraine and get them out of a war zone. Maybe you should talk to more people. The people to blame for the predicament of the US auto industry are the.. US auto industry. Perhaps turning every vehicle into a luxury car and getting rid of affordable vehicles is…

The people I know from BNSF will tell you that name stands for Better Not Start a Family.

I’ve worked with and known former engineers who left, took lower paying jobs in other industries and not one has ever said I miss it there.

Let’s not even get started on what that industry has evolved into with precision scheduled railroading and the dramatic increase in risk and real derailments that have followed.

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

#165

Post by input_sh »

throw20251110 wrote: post #141
input_sh wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To whom? To "charities" owned by other billionaires such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and those owned by his children. I don't want billionaires to donate anything, I don't want them to use their money to shape the world to their liking. I want them to pay their fair share of taxes and a functional government that properly allocates those extra funds instead of funding the bare minimum.

Your government is pretty dysfunctional the way it is. I'm not surprised billionaires don't want to waste their taxes on that crap.

Who do you think is responsible for such a dysfunctional government? Is it your average working class person earning about $65k/year or is it billionaires that can throw unfathomable amounts of money at any topic of their interest without it even making a dent in their pocket?

To take a recent example, the median income in New York City is about $79k/year (before taxes), while Bill Ackman alone essentially threw away 21.5x that in his failed attempt to influence the mayoral election.

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

#167

Post by RickJWagner »

input_sh wrote: post #123
epolanski wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's donated, already, the equivalent of 200+ billions USD (give or take 420M class B shares). Say what you want, but the list of billionaires who have donated such large amounts of money while still alive (or dead) is small. Cherry picking events like layoffs, without truly knowing how much was he involved (Berkshire directors notoriously enjoy lots of autonomy) or if the layoffs made sense, etc, seems a stretch whe…

To whom? To "charities" owned by other billionaires such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and those owned by his children. I don't want billionaires to donate anything, I don't want them to use their money to shape the world to their liking. I want them to pay their fair share of taxes and a functional government that properly allocates those extra funds instead of funding the bare minimum.

Billionaires are simply people who play the money game best.

I’m not the best basketball player, but I can admire the game of the best players without being jealous of them.

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

#168

Post by lotsofpulp »

badpenny wrote: post #122
epolanski wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's donated, already, the equivalent of 200+ billions USD (give or take 420M class B shares). Say what you want, but the list of billionaires who have donated such large amounts of money while still alive (or dead) is small. Cherry picking events like layoffs, without truly knowing how much was he involved (Berkshire directors notoriously enjoy lots of autonomy) or if the layoffs made sense, etc, seems a stretch whe…

If somebody focuses on something negative, it's cherry-picking, but if you focus on something positive it isn't? How much money has he saved dodging taxes over the years[1]? [1]: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trov...

It is logically consistent to play the game by the rules that exist, and simultaneously advocate for changing the rules. There is no reason to fall on the sword alone.

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

#169

Post by Pooge »

aetherspawn wrote: post #124

At such an old age why does he care about his business? With so much money why do his kids care either? For goodness sake, stop working, try and solve global warming or world hunger or something. Or buy a small country. Make yourself president. Create a utopia for its population. But more of the same.. more of the same.. $300B or $301B when you finally kick the bucket? How shallow.

Why should he stop caring about the things he spent his whole life building?! You don't stop caring about things you love just because you get old. Maybe you don't care about your business because your goal is to sell your idea to Big Tech and sip cocktails for the rest of your life, but that's not what this is about.

If you think world hunger and global warming can be solved purely with financial means, you live in a damn simple fantasy.

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

#170

Post by sd9 »

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…

This is lovely writing. I need to go back and read some of Buffett's other letters.
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