Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire • Hacker News Board

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

#431

Post by tekknik » Wed, May 07, 2025, 12:52 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #426

tekknik wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets not forget higher taxes! > Democrats passed ACA, which made insurance even possible to purchase if you weren’t offered it by employer, and the annual out of pocket maximum, ban on pre existing conditions as a criteria for calculating premiums, and ACA premium credits made it more attainable than it was before ACA. Have you actually ever purchased a plan from the website? The last time I checked, the costs were t…

>In fact, one could argue that all ACA accomplished of benefit was forcing coverage of preexisting conditions. Aka giving people access to healthcare. Health insurance is not real insurance, it’s a facade where we pretend premiums are not taxes. 99% of people could never afford the healthcare they get, they would just die. Which is fine, but there is no situation where healthcare + low taxes (wealth redistribution) e…

You ignored my post.

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

#432

Post by tekknik » Wed, May 07, 2025, 1:02 PM UTC

sofixa wrote: post #414

tekknik wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you get your data on BNSF? The data I have shows you’re off by a factor of near 5.

Their own website: https://www.bnsf.com/about-bnsf/financial-information/ Every quarter you click on, <70% operating ratio, $1.something billion net income.

So you’re missing quite a bit of data. BNSF has pension liabilities and took a small loss there last year. Additionally BNSF has only about $500mil of cash reserves and just pushed another near $3bil in maintenance and investment that’s not on their Q4 financial data.

I don’t know how much sick leave costs them, but they’re not as wealthy as a company as you claim here.

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

#433

Post by danielmarkbruce » Wed, May 07, 2025, 4:01 PM UTC

TFYS wrote: post #429

danielmarkbruce wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not remotely close to a communist country - folks have many choices as to who to work for and on what terms. Employers have all many choices as to who to hire on what terms. Both sides have to agree. Employees jump around from company to company all the time. Someone can decide to start a company tomorrow and keep 100% of the outcome (less taxes) if they want to do that instead - it's trivially easy to be 100% o…

You can choose who to work for, but you can't choose the nature of the relationship. It's always the same, you're a worker who has to give away a part of what you produce and you have to do what the owners tell you or you're gone. That choice closer to getting to choose which government official you work for in a communist country. That choice only prevents the worst abuses, and only if you're not in a position despe…

Many employment contracts have equity components to them. As for "giving away what you produce" - no, you are agreeing to trade it for cash, not give it away. You basically imply that anyone trading work for cash is being exploited.

A capitalist system would collapse without workers, without capital, without a decent legal system.

Many people do work as one man businesses. It does change the nature of the relationship because the economy isn't a one way river. There are all manner of feedback looks - you mine copper, I buy your copper, make some electrical component, sell it to the manufacturer of a Komatsu, they make mining trucks, sell it to you. It all goes round and round.

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

#434

Post by 0xBDB » Wed, May 07, 2025, 7:22 PM UTC

hhghkj wrote: post #375

danielmarkbruce wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called competition - it's the reason you get to sit there and type away on an incredible machine at a very low cost and eat food at a very low cost... The vast majority of businesses are operating on thin margins. Get in the real world, not some fantasy land.

The vast majority of companies can afford sick days for their workers. It's even good for morale, job satisfaction and performance. Ones that choose not to treat their workers with basic dignity are badly managed.

American railroads have pretty good pay and benefits, including some of the last defined-benefit pensions left in the private sector.

They didn't want to give in on same-day sick days (not the same as prescheduled PTO, which they did have) because it kills what they call precision train scheduling, which is basically running trains with the absolute minimum number of people possible. I'm not saying this was right or wrong, just that it's the reason.

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

#435

Post by 0xBDB » Wed, May 07, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

khazhoux wrote: post #128

For all I've heard about WB the last few decades, I couldn't tell you a single thing he's done that's impacted my life, the country, or the world. AFAIK he's a guy who makes a ton of money, plays bridge with Bill Gates, gives advice, and has a fund that made money for other people. Am I missing something?

If you have ever purchased insurance, including car insurance, he has impacted your life either because he probably insured or reinsured you. There's a good chance if you've ever purchased anything shipped by railroad, or electricity in any of several states, or boots, or industrial parts, or a manufactured home, or a financial product of any kind, or an Apple product, or a Coca-Cola, or any of a bunch of other things, it was from a company he either owned or owned a huge stake in and influenced.

If you liked the fact that the Great Recession didn't turn into the Even Greater Depression, he seems to have had quite a bit of influence there behind the scenes as well.