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Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

latimes.com

521–530 of 612 posts

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Equality is a founding value and one we still respect. Easily stated by someone who was not a slave. Equality had fuck all to do with the founding of this country. Some people were *literaly* slaves. You *literally* could not vote unless you were a male land owner. Fuck this nonsense propaganda. Every bit of freedom in this country had to be fought for against this country and against the majority of white men. And…

What a strange and naive post

I think it comes from the all-billionaires-are-evil mindset, which I see more and more of

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#522

Driving 7 minutes to work and stopping at a drive-thru to pick up McDonalds breakfast every day. The man is a true American hero.

He shamelessly advertised companies in his portfolio, whether it was always having a can of coke or candies on the table or stopping at a McDonald's in a documentary. I refuse to believe that his lifestyle was what was on display. He lived in the same house for 60 years, sure, but his private jets kept getting upgraded. Good for him, but I find the frugality theater very off putting.

I have read enough on Munger and Buffet that I don't think it was quite theater. I think they really believe/believed their own bullshit.

Like the way Munger would promote reading but Andrew Carnegie built 2500 libraries. They would view building libraries as an opportunity cost and waste of capital.

"Ah shucks, I wish people like me would pay a lot more in taxes" but of course these guys didn't spend a dime on actual lobbying to make that happen. Again, that would be seen as a giant opportunity cost and waste of capital. They wouldn't want to go outside their "circle of competence" into something like politics or policy. How convenient.

I think the only way to have this image of a saintly grandpa when actually an absolute cut throat , money obsessed, richest person of all time is to believe your own bullshit.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America, as an idea, is so strange

America was the first influencer country in the history

>America was the first influencer country in the history

Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Spain, France, Britain, pre-Columbian Mexico and India would like a word with you after class.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#524
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what world is he a “pseudo” philanthropist? He’s already given more than $60 Billion away and pledged to donate 99%+ of his wealth. He has also called for his class of ultra-wealthy to be taxed more

Also, on what planet did Ancient Greeks not celebrate their wealthy.

Also why are they "pseudo-Gods?"

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#525

[flagged]

Classic debate: labor theory of value, adding physical manipulations into the world is true value, the works of bankers, marketers, etc. are not “true” work creating true value. This ignores the enabling and empowering effect of those actions. You wouldn’t have many companies without banks to loan money for capital investment. How could a new but better product make headway without some form of marketing? In our worl…

Very few companies producing physical goods make the kind of money that companies producing meta-physical goods do. They produce more money at a fraction of the cost. Value is always an issue of culture and the west in particular values money above all, so all inefficient labor relative to the task of making money is devalued. It's easy enough to point the finger and say "wall st bad" but we enshrined it collectively as a culture.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, however I don’t think the last two of your bullets are necessarily something to learn from on the surface.

The last one is key to my entire value system as a person. I have had some financial wins in life and try not to let it impact my day to day. I avoid, sometimes with great effort, flashy things (I’ve been tempted to by exotic cars as an example but have found if I just rent one for a day or two that urge goes away, it’s just a toy to me). I usually say I’m not materialistic, but I am at times, and what I strive to be…

Love this take!

Modern society is too narrow minded about what wealth means. To most people it means fancy watches, cars, homes, etc. To me wealth is about time and freedom. I can pick up the tab at dinner for a group of 12. I can afford to keep my 1972 Schwinn bicycle in tip top shape or my grandfather's jacket mended when it breaks. I can afford to rent forever if I want. I'll never work a job I don't like, I can just quit. I feel more wealthy this way than if I owned 3 lambos and had to work to make ends meet.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#528

Driving 7 minutes to work and stopping at a drive-thru to pick up McDonalds breakfast every day. The man is a true American hero.

America, as an idea, is so strange

No America as an idea is awesome. In reality ? Quite strange

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#529
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think moralism is an side effect of the demise of spiritualism in the west. We somehow have to shape moral values, the lack of a framework for it makes it feel blunt and chaotic. That being said, I find it odd to moralize on moralism. We have way too many people in power that are awful humans and do a bad job and never get punished. Meanwhile, stealing a car because you are hungry can be the begin of a ruined life.…

The point is that moralism makes everyone blind and see in black and white. Instead of seeing the nuance, you’d see everything that comes out of Elon Musk or Israel whoever you’ve managed to convince yourself is that current villain, as bad - without attention to details. More than that - you’d waste your time arguing whether they are “good” or “bad”, instead of focusing on specific actions, which is what society as…

You are clearly describing "villainizing" people or groups. This is actually the opposite of moralism, which would be criticizing specific violations of morals.

Moralism can make people see things without nuance (i.e. saying "stealing is bad" with no regard for the context). This must be tempered. But this is not a good reason to throw out the pursuit of shared moral values within society.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think moralism is an side effect of the demise of spiritualism in the west. We somehow have to shape moral values, the lack of a framework for it makes it feel blunt and chaotic. That being said, I find it odd to moralize on moralism. We have way too many people in power that are awful humans and do a bad job and never get punished. Meanwhile, stealing a car because you are hungry can be the begin of a ruined life.…

> We have way too many people in power that are awful humans and do a bad job When was this ever not the case? And what makes you think that you (or any other human) are somehow morally superior and would do a better job if subject to the same environment and pressures? The point is that power corrupts, so we try to design decentralized systems wherever possible that don't require absolute power to function (ie. free…

> And what makes you think that you (or any other human) are somehow morally superior and would do a better job if subject to the same environment and pressures?

Morals are necessary for humans to live together. We all shape them, we are all entitled to do so, they are inevitable. We encode morals into laws if we deem it necessary. But that doesn't originate from an individual in a functioning democracy. It's a process, not a individual decision. Each individual can decide to stand for it's own morals. A large public backlash is a sign that you acted against public morals, you don't have to agree, but you have to deal with it. That's how a society works if everyone is free to speak and has a tiny bit of power.

> Sure, but the overwhelming majority of people who steal cars are not starving. And thinking that being poor makes someone morally superior is simply an argumentum ad lazarum, one of the oldest logical fallacies going back to biblical times.

I didn't mean any of that, I don't even know how you come up with that conclusion. My example simply expresses that a simple act of theft can ruin a persons life, while powerful people cause much more damage and get away with it.

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