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Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

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Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#11

Post by mberning »

Xichekolas wrote: post #4
mberning wrote: post #2

I always like it when a billionaire says "To focus on what you don’t have is a terrible mistake. With the gifts all of us have, if you are unhappy, it’s your own fault." Is it so much for a person to want to own their home, have a personal savings, have health care, and be able to retire at a reasonable age? I don't think it is a 'mistake' to want for any of these things, and sadly, there are a good number of people…

"and sadly, there are a good number of people in the world that this is not accessible to" This was (and has always been) Buffet's point. Everyone in America has won the 'ovarian lottery' (as he calls it) because we were born here with the opportunity to achieve all those things and more. He's not implying it's only possible here, and he is not implying everyone should be happy where they are. He is just saying we sh…

Replace 'world' with 'US' and the statement still stands. In fact, being born into poverty in the US is very unlucky because it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers. It is possible, but unlikely.

The fact that you have the opportunity to become super rich is no 'gift' when you consider that the most likely outcome is that you will work a shit job making shit money so some asshole like Buffet can squawk about how grateful you should be.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people getting rich. But please realize that the gap between the average Joe and the Warren Buffets of the world has been growing larger for quite some time.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#12

Post by [deleted] »

projectileboy wrote: post #8
mberning wrote: post #2

I always like it when a billionaire says "To focus on what you don’t have is a terrible mistake. With the gifts all of us have, if you are unhappy, it’s your own fault." Is it so much for a person to want to own their home, have a personal savings, have health care, and be able to retire at a reasonable age? I don't think it is a 'mistake' to want for any of these things, and sadly, there are a good number of people…

I'll offer up a defense, and point out that he was speaking to a group of MBA students at a prestigious school. None of the members of his audience are going to want for any of the things that you listed.

[deleted]

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#13

Post by Xichekolas »

mberning wrote: post #11
Xichekolas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and sadly, there are a good number of people in the world that this is not accessible to" This was (and has always been) Buffet's point. Everyone in America has won the 'ovarian lottery' (as he calls it) because we were born here with the opportunity to achieve all those things and more. He's not implying it's only possible here, and he is not implying everyone should be happy where they are. He is just saying we sh…

Replace 'world' with 'US' and the statement still stands. In fact, being born into poverty in the US is very unlucky because it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers. It is possible, but unlikely. The fact that you have the opportunity to become super rich is no 'gift' when you consider that the most likely outcome is that you will work a shit job making shi…

"it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers"

Just goes to show that the human psyche cares more about relative prosperity than absolute prosperity. This is well documented in research. Still, I have to question why you would prefer to be 'rich' in a place without running water rather than be 'poor' in America (where the poor people only have one TV and have to drive used cars).

Of course, there are a lot of people worse off than my above glibness suggests, and I think we should definitely be doing all we can to help those people out, but don't try and claim being poor in America is somehow worse than being poor anywhere else just because people like Warren Buffet live here.

"Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people getting rich."

The fact that you called Warren Buffet an asshole shows that you do. If you knew anything about the guy, you'd know he doesn't rate anywhere on the asshole scale. My guess he is just a soft target because he happens to be so rich that he is a statistically anomaly.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#14

Post by mberning »

Xichekolas wrote: post #13
mberning wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replace 'world' with 'US' and the statement still stands. In fact, being born into poverty in the US is very unlucky because it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers. It is possible, but unlikely. The fact that you have the opportunity to become super rich is no 'gift' when you consider that the most likely outcome is that you will work a shit job making shi…

"it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers" Just goes to show that the human psyche cares more about relative prosperity than absolute prosperity. This is well documented in research. Still, I have to question why you would prefer to be 'rich' in a place without running water rather than be 'poor' in America (where the poor people only have one TV and have to…

You seem to consider quality of life as something you can measure by material gain. Nobody cares about televisions and cars when they come down with cancer and can't afford treatment.

Being rich in America is certainly great. Being poor in America is not that much different than being poor in the developing world, aside from the better hand-me-downs.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#15

Post by pchristensen »

mberning wrote: post #14
Xichekolas wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers" Just goes to show that the human psyche cares more about relative prosperity than absolute prosperity. This is well documented in research. Still, I have to question why you would prefer to be 'rich' in a place without running water rather than be 'poor' in America (where the poor people only have one TV and have to…

You seem to consider quality of life as something you can measure by material gain. Nobody cares about televisions and cars when they come down with cancer and can't afford treatment. Being rich in America is certainly great. Being poor in America is not that much different than being poor in the developing world, aside from the better hand-me-downs.

I'm speechless. Now I finally understand why all of those poor Americans in makeshift boats are sailing to Cuba or south across the Rio Grande.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#16

Post by pchristensen »

mberning wrote: post #11
Xichekolas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and sadly, there are a good number of people in the world that this is not accessible to" This was (and has always been) Buffet's point. Everyone in America has won the 'ovarian lottery' (as he calls it) because we were born here with the opportunity to achieve all those things and more. He's not implying it's only possible here, and he is not implying everyone should be happy where they are. He is just saying we sh…

Replace 'world' with 'US' and the statement still stands. In fact, being born into poverty in the US is very unlucky because it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers. It is possible, but unlikely. The fact that you have the opportunity to become super rich is no 'gift' when you consider that the most likely outcome is that you will work a shit job making shi…

Beats working all day every day and still watching your children starve to death in front of your eyes. I've worked fast food and custodial and I'll still take that over what billions of people on this Earth have.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#18

Post by comatose_kid »

mberning wrote: post #14
Xichekolas wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"it is highly unlikely that you will achieve a fraction of the success of your more well funded peers" Just goes to show that the human psyche cares more about relative prosperity than absolute prosperity. This is well documented in research. Still, I have to question why you would prefer to be 'rich' in a place without running water rather than be 'poor' in America (where the poor people only have one TV and have to…

You seem to consider quality of life as something you can measure by material gain. Nobody cares about televisions and cars when they come down with cancer and can't afford treatment. Being rich in America is certainly great. Being poor in America is not that much different than being poor in the developing world, aside from the better hand-me-downs.

I'd suggest traveling to a country in the developing world before making a statement like that.

Clean water (ie, no Malaria), soup kitchens, human rights, no shanty towns, opportunity to improve your life, and the availability of public education provide a safety net that developing countries often lack.

Being poor in America is surely difficult, but I'd much rather be poor here (or in the developed world in general) than be poor in a 3rd world country.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#19

Post by rms »

pchristensen wrote: post #15
mberning wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to consider quality of life as something you can measure by material gain. Nobody cares about televisions and cars when they come down with cancer and can't afford treatment. Being rich in America is certainly great. Being poor in America is not that much different than being poor in the developing world, aside from the better hand-me-downs.

I'm speechless. Now I finally understand why all of those poor Americans in makeshift boats are sailing to Cuba or south across the Rio Grande.

I think you guys missed the point of this downmodded guy's argument because he focused on the wrong thing. In the world economy today, if you're born poor, whether in America or the third world, you're not going to end up like Warren Buffett. It's impossible to go from the lower class to being an uber-capitalist.

Re: Notes From a Meeting with Warren Buffett

#20

Post by misterbwong »

Excellent article. It seems what he said about classmates would also apply to choosing a startup founder:

What if you could buy 10% of one of your classmates and their future earnings? You wouldn't buy the ones with the highest IQ, the best grades, etc, but the most effective. You like people who are generous, go out of their way, straight shooters. Now imagine that you could short 10% of one of your classmates. This part is usually more fun as you start looking around the room. You wouldn't choose the ones with the poorest grades. Look for people nobody wants to be around, that are obnoxious or like to take all the credit. If you have a 500 HP engine and only get 50 HP out of it, you'll be beat by someone else that has a 300 HP engine but gets 250 HP output. The difference between potential and output comes from human qualities. You can make a list of the qualities you admire and those you despise. To turn the tables, think if this is the way I react to the qualities on the list, which is the way the world will react to me. You can learn to turn on those qualities you want and turn off those qualities you wish to avoid. The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. You can't change at 60; the time to look at that list is now

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