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Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire

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

#131

Post by neom »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #118
JimmyBiscuit wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She shut down nuclear power because of extreme pressure from the population. Tens of thousands protested around her office. Nuclear is complicated (and mostly fear driven) in Germany. Oddly enough the first exit was done under Schröder who is a russian asset. Makes you think.

> Tens of thousands protested around her office Germany has a population of 84 million people. 10,000 should not be able to dictate a policy decision of this magnitude, regardless of how loud they are. > Nuclear is complicated (and mostly fear driven) The politics of nuclear are complicated, the science (more engineering) of nuclear are complicated, the imperative is clear and simple. You are correct that it's mostly…

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

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

#132

Post by WalterBright »

photochemsyn wrote: post #65
andrewl wrote: post #33

Buffett worked, at least informally, with the Obama administration on some financial policy issues. And he is a proponent of greater taxes on the very rich. Here's one short video (2:46) in which he talks about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzTsTU1xL8

If the US government really wanted to bring back industrial manufacturing, tax policy is one obvious route - eg a 2/3 tax on billionaire and corporate wealth, such as on the huge pile of cash Buffet-Berkshire is sitting on, but then offer a way out - invest that cash in domestic manufacturing and R & D and it won't be taxed. This could motivate the private sector to go back to the Bell Labs model, too.

Billionaires get that way by investing in companies. You don't have to force them into it.

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

#133

Post by HeavyStorm »

riffraff wrote: post #5

He's 94 years old, it's honestly impressive he was still there. Still, end of an era.

I read the title and thought, about time, he's probably 80-something.

I really hope I could be productive at 90. Heck, I hope I'm productive at 70.

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

#134

Post by nabla9 »

dehrmann wrote: post #114
nabla9 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Not to diminish the accomplishments of Magnus Carlsen , but he has lost many games." "Not to diminish the accomplishments of the world's best poker player, but he did lose many hands."

My point is that you have to put all of his wisdom and stories in the context of what he's good at and the environment he was in. He tried to apply his value investing playbook to early Google, and it looked like a bad investment. He later realized this (see my link), but that gets talked about less than value investing in its heyday. Aside: for debated reasons, value investing, which used to outperform, has been in…

Think of the time horizon.

The current tech investing boom is just a blip just like previous tech booms (Auto industry boom, aircraft boom, personal computer boom).

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

#135

Post by FirmwareBurner »

thi2 wrote: post #54
kinnth wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buffet reminded me a lot of Angela Merkel. They stood clearly and simply for good moral judgment, fair systems and looked at the bigger picture to carry most people forward. They also based all their decision in facts, truth and science. They learn't their trades (economics & politics) over time and weren't afraid to adapt as times changed. Their slow and steady presence did more for equality and fairness than many o…

That has to be about a different Angela Merkel, the one I know had one priority: preserving status quo.

Which recent German politician in power wasn't about preserving the status quo? The entire country and culture is all about the status quo.

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

#136

Post by sbankowi »

HeavyStorm wrote: post #133
riffraff wrote: post #5

He's 94 years old, it's honestly impressive he was still there. Still, end of an era.

I read the title and thought, about time, he's probably 80-something. I really hope I could be productive at 90. Heck, I hope I'm productive at 70.

Heck, I hope I’m productive on Monday!

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

#137

Post by ceejayoz »

buckle8017 wrote: post #61
ceejayoz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, similarity, can opt not to murder people. It is still an issue if others do it.

So you're saying it's no different than a murder complaining about murders. Hard to take him seriously when he doesn't himself pay more tax

Sure, in that “the world needs less murder” remains a good point even if it’s a murderer saying it.

I’ll take the billionaire who advocates for fairer taxes over the one who doesn’t, any day.

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

#138

Post by pyth0 »

WalterBright wrote: post #127
terribleperson wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the justification for tarriffs is that America is somehow being 'taken advantage' of by the rest of the world and the tarriffs are the rest of the world finally paying their fair share. The reality is that (until now) America has had a uniquely privileged position in the world economy that got America, in general, very beneficial trade deals. He's commenting on the attitude driving the tariffs.

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 neighbors to the north and south. Free markets have certainly contributed to success, but to say it's the only unique thing about America is just wrong.

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

#139

Post by zhivota »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #94
dehrmann wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to diminish any of his accomplishments, but read his quotes and story as being a product of his time. He famously missed out on a lot of solid tech investments because of his background as a value investor. Value investing doesn't exist the same way it did when Berkshire started making a name for itself. Tech investing also isn't them same as 1997, 2004, or 2010.

It's not that he missed out on it, both Buffett and munger said that they didn't really understand technology so they didn't feel a reason to go there. They felt they better understood insurance and railroads and candies and whatnot and they made Bank doing it.

I agree and I think furthermore no one has really understood technology enough to have consistently made the right moves, because tech stocks fundamentally were blazing a new trail.

Buffett invested in businesses that, relatively speaking, were already well understood, if not widely by everyone, the point being that you could look at the balances and financial statements of an insurance company and derive an investment plan that was based on basically nothing new. Google, and tech in general, were not like that.

I think now some tech stocks do look like that. Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, all have business models that are much more well understood at this point than 30 years ago.

Even though Google has been wildly successful, I do see them as riskier since they derive so much of their income from web search ads, which feels like a precarious position compared to selling office productivity suites, databases, and CRMs to enterprises (I know Google does some of this but it's not where they make the bulk of their income).

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

#140

Post by knorker »

curiousgal wrote: post #26
xNeil wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not convinced working for government is the best use of your potential, though considering he owns 5% of all US Treasury Bills, I wouldn't say his impact is any less than being a government employee.

> best use Well I don't think him sitting on billions of dollars at 94 is better from a societal perspective.

The money isn't "out of circulation". That's not how money works.

Even as T-bills they're doing something.

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