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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

#311

Post by DavidPiper »

iancmceachern wrote: post #66
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #16

I always run across great quotes from Warren Buffett, but I never spent any time actually reading any of his writings or anything written about him. What's the best place to start to absorb some of his wisdom? Anything that's applicable to startups, tech, and life in general, beyond being the CEO of a holding company?

Watch YouTube videos of old Berkshire meetings, especially ones with Charlie.

For the lazy, "1994 - 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meetings" will get you started :-)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7aFD7bbigjgjUt0L2LWk...

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

#312

Post by Flatcircle »

deeg wrote: post #214
Flatcircle wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charlie Munger used to talk about how easy it used to be because there was so much less competition and the competition wasn't that smart. Think by the 70's once they figured out how to accurately price options with the Black-Scholes model things started to ramp up. By that point, Buffett was already a player and had the funds to make moves.

Interesting. I've never heard of that model. So what Munger is implying is that by the 80s even Buffett wasn't beating the market but was leveraging his money for gains. Thanks!

Sorry I didn’t mean Buffett and munger used the option pricing, I mean regular people did. They also got more money by buying up insurance companies and investing the float

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

#313

Post by sumedh »

iepathos wrote: post #301
arrosenberg wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an alternative hypothesis, I’m all ears. The lack of good paying jobs and the knock on effects of expanding wealth disparity seems to be underlying most of the issues driving radicalism, left and right, up and down. In America, at least, workers think tomorrow will be worse than today and they are resorting to populism to try and reverse the trend.

I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the working class is “resorting to populism to reverse the trend.” If anything, the fact that so many working-class voters support a wealthy oligarchy—one that consistently advances policies benefiting the super-rich at the expense of ordinary people—suggests that a significant portion of the population is being swayed by misinformation and manipulation, not that they’re succes…

> it’s often the opposite party that actually pushes for policies that would materially benefit the working class.

Except on immigration.

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

#314

Post by zeven7 »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #97
tchalla wrote: post #24

Buffet on Tariffs > “It’s a big mistake, in my view, when you have seven and a half billion people that don’t like you very well, and you got 300 million that are crowing in some way about how well they’ve done - I don’t think it’s right, and I don’t think it’s wise,” Buffett said. “The United States won. I mean, we have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing 250 years ago. There’s not been any…

I’m a bit slow in this field. Could someone explain how this quote relates to tariffs? I’ve re-read it three times now, looking for the connection to a tax on imported goods, but I just can’t see it. I think it’s saying that the US population is crowing about how well we’ve done, and so we should be able to tax whatever imports we want? But what an odd way to say that if so. How well we’ve done seems completely unrel…

Good question, and I think the misunderstanding is Buffett is speaking against, not for, tariffs here. I’m surprised none of the responses have spelled that out clearly yet.

He’s saying tariffs are making 7.5 billion people dislike us even more, and that jeopardizes our unique position in the world.

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

#315

Post by xboxnolifes »

liamwire wrote: post #246
xboxnolifes wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And no amount of good doctors can make you change your lifestyle. At the end of the day, a ton of doctor advise is ways to change your lifestyle, and that takes personal effort.

Buffet, famously, is known for not having great dietary habits. I agree with you, but he’s not a good example here.

He's a perfectly fine example. I didn't suggest he had habits he changed.

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

#316

Post by jjani »

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.

Besides the many factors (e.g. reserve currency) others have already mentioned, here's another one:

Digital services not being taxed/tariffed when exported whereas physical goods are, is purely a historical artifact. The US has managed to get the whole world addicted to their doomscrolling dopamine algorithms, raking in trillions of dollars. If these were physical goods, this would've been entirely different.

The heroine dealer of the world. So far they've been allowed this position, which is incredibly privileged. And now that the EU sometimes takes a (paltry) step towards slightly taxing the drugs, the dealer screams and kicks, "it's unfair! They're targeting just me!".

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

#317

Post by epolanski »

gwbrooks wrote: post #284
epolanski wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it completely opposite of you. 1) The foreign entity is investing where Americans aren't. 2) There is a very huge risk for the foreign entity to own such an operation because of political changes. By law or decree the US or the state can always nationalize these lands. Thus, ultimately, I see no issue there.

1. Foreign entities are also investing in land that is strategically or tactically important -- agricultural land is a good example of the former; land near military bases an example of the latter. China has demonstrated a willingness to do both. 2. I think this represents a misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law. The Constitution provides no power for the federal government to acquire land without ju…

I still see no issue, the government can always buy it out at fair price, whatever it is, and it can just print money or easily issue debt to fund that.

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

#318

Post by tasuki »

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.

America was uniquely positioned due to the dollar being the world's most desired reserve currency. This enabled the USA to spend far beyond what it produced.

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

#319

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

WalterBright wrote: post #287
TeaBrain wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Significantly less free than in the US, and correspondingly less prosperity. Which measures of freedom became restricted in the EU following the GFC that led to the prosperity of the EU diverging from the US?

One problem is you cannot fire people in the EU. This makes for companies being very slow to hire, and inefficient allocation of workers to jobs. Free markets are chaotic, and are constantly reallocating resources from less efficient uses to more efficient uses. Regulations that impede that make for lower prosperity.

But those laws have only got closer to the US ones since the 2008 crisis, and yet measures of productivity have diverged negatively in the EU.

How does your theory account for this?

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

#320

Post by raffraffraff »

riffraff wrote: post #5

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

My father is 98. His health has declined gradually but visibly over the last 10 years. He's taking a mouthful of pills each day to keep himself alive. However, he's able to get up, walk, use the bathroom, feed himself etc. He can remember things that happened 5 minutes ago, last week and in his childhood. He keeps up to date with all the family affairs, and watches the news. Also my mother (his wife) is still alive and healthy, and they don't hate each other.

That's more than most people can expect if they even make it to their late 80s.

Frankly I'm astonished at people like Warren Buffet and David Attenborough (a hero of mine).

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