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Charlie Munger has died

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311–320 of 454 posts

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the outrage over this. Are windows a major selling point of dorm rooms? When I was in college i don't recall dorm windows being that important. I was studying or elsewhere most of the time anyway.

I'm going to assume your comment is in good faith. In which case, yes, they are more important than almost anything else. Modern humans spend more and more time indoors, and this has catastrophic consequences on our mental and physical health. Even in properly sized apartments, most of us have too much CO2 in our rooms. But worse (and especially in the US), there is all manner of ghastly outgassing from furnitures, f…

> they are more important than almost anything else

I don’t think I had a window that wasn’t immediately blacked out until my mid twenties. And I always went for cheaper accommodation to have more cash on hand over luxuries I didn’t use nor value.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#312

In 1949, Charlie Munger was 25 years old. He was hired at the law firm of Wright & Garrett for $3,300 per year, or $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars. A few years later, in 1953, Charlie was 29 years old when he and his wife divorced. He had been married since he was 21. Charlie lost everything in the divorce, his wife keeping the family home in South Pasadena. Munger moved into “dreadful” conditions at the Univer…

In 1949, Charlie Munger was 25 years old. He was hired at the law firm of Wright & Garrett for $3,300 per year, or $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars. This shows how much white collar salaries have really exploded over the past few decades, especially since 2010 after financial crisis bottom. White collar work is more lucrative than ever even accounting for inflation and student loan debt. The media and ppl on Twi…

> If lawyers and doctors earned what they earned in the 40s, i am sure student loan debt crisis would miraculously go away.

What's the expression... "the plural of anecdote is not data"?

It's important to keep in mind a few things... First of all, the point about $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars was that he was not doing well. Secondly, "inflation-adjusted" is not "cost of living adjusted" for where he was living. Pasadena was comparatively sparsely populated with a low cost of living back then, as opposed to the densely populated, high cost of living area it is now. Accordingly, he was not making anything resembling the median income of lawyers back then: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/SCB/pa...

Adjusted for inflation, the average legal salary from 1949 would be $104,108.17. The average pay for a lawyer in California in 2023 is... $90,028/yr. So yeah, accounting for inflation, lawyers have been earning comparatively less over time... and yet the cost of law school has been consistently growing faster than inflation.

Beyond that, lawyers and doctors are a special class of white collar worker where scarcity is artificially inflated by trade boards. They aren't representative of the majority of people with massive, unmanageable student debts. As an example, median income for an accountant in California (I can't think of a more stereotypical white collar job) is... $49,479.

I also wouldn't presume that the dividing line between blue & white collar workers is a college education. About ~12% of people with college degrees work in blue collar jobs (and the numbers are way higher for college drop outs).

I don't think the data supports your narrative.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#313
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No billionaire earned his money but got it by exploiting others, especially if you make your money through investments. If you point that out it's always called envy and jealousy.

"No billionaire earned his money" only the young and feeble minded live in absolute "exploiting others...if you make your money through investments" the covid shot that saved your life was supported by investments

>only the young and feeble minded live in absolute

If you could save $100 a day it would take 27,397.26 years to reach $1 billion. No human is so productive to earn that in only decades or even years.

Facts are absolutes, only an idiot would deny facts.

>the covid shot that saved your life was supported by investments

First: Pablo Escobar financed an hospital, doesn't mean he's a good person and drug dealing is a good thing

Second: I bet they met a lot a money from the vaccine, somebody has to pay for these profits, means this somebody lacks the money elsewhere. Not all went the way of AstraZeneca and renounced profit but AstraZeneca only had a vaccine because the BMG foundation convinced Oxford to sell their vaccine instead of giving it away for free as initially planned.

Third: Corona was an equalizer. Unlike climate change Corona also hit the rich and many of them are in the especially endangered age range and Corona hit them now and not in 10, 20, 30 years like climate change. So the invest was also to save their lives.

Fourth: how many investments are done in things that harm humanity, for instance who is funding all those climate change denial think tanks. Billionaires mean to much power for single people with democratic control. Just look at the damage the Koch brothers did. Billionaires are financial dictators.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#315

In 1949, Charlie Munger was 25 years old. He was hired at the law firm of Wright & Garrett for $3,300 per year, or $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars. A few years later, in 1953, Charlie was 29 years old when he and his wife divorced. He had been married since he was 21. Charlie lost everything in the divorce, his wife keeping the family home in South Pasadena. Munger moved into “dreadful” conditions at the Univer…

RIP Charlie

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to assume your comment is in good faith. In which case, yes, they are more important than almost anything else. Modern humans spend more and more time indoors, and this has catastrophic consequences on our mental and physical health. Even in properly sized apartments, most of us have too much CO2 in our rooms. But worse (and especially in the US), there is all manner of ghastly outgassing from furnitures, f…

> they are more important than almost anything else I don’t think I had a window that wasn’t immediately blacked out until my mid twenties. And I always went for cheaper accommodation to have more cash on hand over luxuries I didn’t use nor value.

Congratulations? Now, what does that have to do with anything?

Oh wait, you thought that just because you were speaking "your truth" it should automatically be used to override research, discard statistics, override policy and make decisions for a teenage population?

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really uncharitable take and sounds to me like basically just jealousy. What exactly is so immoral about What Charlie and Warren have done?

They pioneered the modern private equity playbook. Ultimately, they're largely responsible for transitioning the economy based on driving productivity through innovation, to driving "productivity" (if you can call it that) through financial engineering. Absolute evil.

[deleted]

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The women in my life have all played a significant role in my ability to build my career. For some, like my mother and my kids mom, this incurred some cost to their careers. I wouldn’t be where I am without them, therefore in a sense yes, they did work for my income. Often in hidden and yet incredibly important, valuable ways. My mom died, but if she were still around I wouldn’t think twice about taking care of her.…

What, exactly, are you talking about? The OP is referencing the fact that the wife got _everything_ in the divorce. I'd be curious to understand why "facilitat[ing] his success in some way over the better part of a decade" entitles her to everything he ever made.

Your parent comment argument is a flawed argument, of course.

By definition everything that ever happens, happens from cause-effect conditions. So if you end up winning, everything that happened that led to it, in some way is responsible. But that's splitting hairs.

I have seen these situations even in other relationships. There are these cousins, or uncles who would have dropped you to an interview, or lent you some money to get there. You work hard and are fairly successful a few years later. Now they think they are responsible for the whole thing, and you owe a great deal of things to them.

If you are not relatively old(and 30s goes as young as adults can), you should be responsible for yourself, your finances and your decisions. Pension guarantees, and handing over whole life's work and savings because they other person wanted out feels not only excessive, but also devoid of any logical sense.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pioneered the modern private equity playbook. Ultimately, they're largely responsible for transitioning the economy based on driving productivity through innovation, to driving "productivity" (if you can call it that) through financial engineering. Absolute evil.

> pioneered the modern private equity playbook No? That began with the LBO boom meeting the management consulting wave. Berkshare Hathaway are the last vestige of the conglomerate era if anything.

Yes while he often called PE evil things like the disastrous Heinz merger were classic PE moves. Incredible stupid and value destroying.

Re: Charlie Munger has died

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The women in my life have all played a significant role in my ability to build my career. For some, like my mother and my kids mom, this incurred some cost to their careers. I wouldn’t be where I am without them, therefore in a sense yes, they did work for my income. Often in hidden and yet incredibly important, valuable ways. My mom died, but if she were still around I wouldn’t think twice about taking care of her.…

What, exactly, are you talking about? The OP is referencing the fact that the wife got _everything_ in the divorce. I'd be curious to understand why "facilitat[ing] his success in some way over the better part of a decade" entitles her to everything he ever made.

It’s probably an exaggeration. He wasn’t literally living on the street. Also, his wife was still taking care of two children.
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