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Doesn't Warren Buffett own a large percentage of BOA? This is the Buffett strategy, use the public sphere to allow private entities to acquire monopoly power. H

Doesn't Warren Buffett own a large percentage of BOA? This is the Buffett strategy, use the public sphere to allow private entities to acquire monopoly power. He did this with his opposition to the Keystone Pipeline so that his trains would benefit from the need to move oil in that corridor.

neximo4 11y ago
> so that his trains would be the only option to move oil in that corridor. Not sure how true this is. There are other options, including the using the Canadian Pacific Railway, which also operates in that corridor.
- hackaflocka 11y ago
  We can never be "sure" of these things, but here's an article that provides some background to my claim: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/08/obama-did-warren-buffett-railroad-stocks-huge-favo.aspx http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/08/obama-did-w...
  - neximo4 11y ago
    Here is another fool.com article suggesting other Canadian railroads that can also transport the oil (and are doing so). Including your own article, there is hardly a hint of monopoly. http://www.fool.ca/2015/09/04/will-a-keystone-rejection-benefit-canadian-national-railway-company-and-canadian-pacific-railway-limited/ http://www.fool.ca/2015/09/04/will-a-keystone-rejection-bene...
everyone 11y ago
I've been thinking recently that powerful people treating the real world like a game is possibly one of the most destructive forces in society.
- DiabloD3 11y ago
  It depends entirely what their end goal is. To make money with no regards to anything else? Yes, they are dangerous to the human race and should be treated as the absolute worst terrorists possible. However, if their end goal is to actually leave the world a better place than when it was when they were born, and it just happens it takes being one of the richest people ever to do that? More power to them, and I hope they succeed. Not all rich and powerful people are assholes, some just want to make the world less shitty, and some actually succeed at it.
  - everyone 11y ago
    By "treat like a game" I mean, play to win, with winning defined as beating the other guy. I arrived at this line of though when I started wondering why would the head decision makers of (for example) trafigura decide to horribly pollute the Ivory coast just so they can squeeze out a bit of extra profit, when they are all already super-rich. You can only enjoy so many yachts and so on. I arrived at the conclusion that their motivation is not to get more money per se, its to beat the other guys.
    - everyone 11y ago
      ps. Above is just the product of my idle musings. One thing that is very interesting and related and certainly worth mentioning is one of the elements of Jared Diamonds framework for societal collapse: Decision makers being insulated from the negative consequences of their decisions.
      - windowsworkstoo 11y ago
        duh power > money
- x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
  It's not the game that's the problem, it's their objectives: to gain as much power as possible.
jambo 11y ago
Buffett owns about a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns warrants to purchase about a 10% stake in Bank of America at a deep discount to the current price. Berkshire does not currently have voting rights because the warrants haven't been exercised. That's not to say Buffett can't or doesn't influence Bank of America, but it is much more of distant relationship than, for example, the dozens of operating companies whose CEOs report to Buffett. It seems a stretch to imagine him involved at this level at all.
- jsudhams 11y ago
  Doesn't Warren own more parts in other banks? So is he like controlling banks?
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    Control is a magic word and requires certain minimum percentages of shares to be held.
    - jsudhams 11y ago
      Yes but then there is that percentage 8 to 10% he owns in large banks which means he will have say in what banks do atleast unofficially.
  - jambo 11y ago
    Berkshire, which Buffett manages and effectively controls, owns insurance companies and a mortgage lender outright. Berkshire also has stakes in publicly traded banks including US Bank, Wells Fargo, and American Express (they converted into a deposit-taking bank company in the wake of the financial crisis). Then there's Bank of America, in which Berkshire has warrants to buy a stake < 10%, but they likely won't be exercised until they're about to expire. Beyond this, managers and policy makers listen when Buffett talks/writes; an outcome of his 50-year track record in investing and managing at Berkshire. I personally don't think there's anything sinister going on. You can get a really good overview of Berkshire as a company, including its operating companies, investment philosophy, and current investment holdings from the annual letters that Buffett writes: http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html If you want to see exactly what securities Berkshire owns, you can look up the 13F filings on http://edgar.sec.gov http://edgar.sec.gov

neximo4 11y ago

> so that his trains would be the only option to move oil in that corridor. Not sure how true this is. There are other options, including the using the Canadian Pacific Railway, which also operates in that corridor.

hackaflocka 11y ago
We can never be "sure" of these things, but here's an article that provides some background to my claim: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/08/obama-did-warren-buffett-railroad-stocks-huge-favo.aspx http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/08/obama-did-w...
- neximo4 11y ago
  Here is another fool.com article suggesting other Canadian railroads that can also transport the oil (and are doing so). Including your own article, there is hardly a hint of monopoly. http://www.fool.ca/2015/09/04/will-a-keystone-rejection-benefit-canadian-national-railway-company-and-canadian-pacific-railway-limited/ http://www.fool.ca/2015/09/04/will-a-keystone-rejection-bene...

everyone 11y ago

I've been thinking recently that powerful people treating the real world like a game is possibly one of the most destructive forces in society.

DiabloD3 11y ago
It depends entirely what their end goal is. To make money with no regards to anything else? Yes, they are dangerous to the human race and should be treated as the absolute worst terrorists possible. However, if their end goal is to actually leave the world a better place than when it was when they were born, and it just happens it takes being one of the richest people ever to do that? More power to them, and I hope they succeed. Not all rich and powerful people are assholes, some just want to make the world less shitty, and some actually succeed at it.
- everyone 11y ago
  By "treat like a game" I mean, play to win, with winning defined as beating the other guy. I arrived at this line of though when I started wondering why would the head decision makers of (for example) trafigura decide to horribly pollute the Ivory coast just so they can squeeze out a bit of extra profit, when they are all already super-rich. You can only enjoy so many yachts and so on. I arrived at the conclusion that their motivation is not to get more money per se, its to beat the other guys.
  - everyone 11y ago
    ps. Above is just the product of my idle musings. One thing that is very interesting and related and certainly worth mentioning is one of the elements of Jared Diamonds framework for societal collapse: Decision makers being insulated from the negative consequences of their decisions.
    - windowsworkstoo 11y ago
      duh power > money
x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
It's not the game that's the problem, it's their objectives: to gain as much power as possible.

jambo 11y ago

Buffett owns about a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns warrants to purchase about a 10% stake in Bank of America at a deep discount to the current price. Berkshire does not currently have voting rights because the warrants haven't been exercised. That's not to say Buffett can't or doesn't influence Bank of America, but it is much more of distant relationship than, for example, the dozens of operating companies whose CEOs report to Buffett. It seems a stretch to imagine him involved at this level at all.

jsudhams 11y ago
Doesn't Warren own more parts in other banks? So is he like controlling banks?
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Control is a magic word and requires certain minimum percentages of shares to be held.
  - jsudhams 11y ago
    Yes but then there is that percentage 8 to 10% he owns in large banks which means he will have say in what banks do atleast unofficially.
- jambo 11y ago
  Berkshire, which Buffett manages and effectively controls, owns insurance companies and a mortgage lender outright. Berkshire also has stakes in publicly traded banks including US Bank, Wells Fargo, and American Express (they converted into a deposit-taking bank company in the wake of the financial crisis). Then there's Bank of America, in which Berkshire has warrants to buy a stake < 10%, but they likely won't be exercised until they're about to expire. Beyond this, managers and policy makers listen when Buffett talks/writes; an outcome of his 50-year track record in investing and managing at Berkshire. I personally don't think there's anything sinister going on. You can get a really good overview of Berkshire as a company, including its operating companies, investment philosophy, and current investment holdings from the annual letters that Buffett writes: http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html If you want to see exactly what securities Berkshire owns, you can look up the 13F filings on http://edgar.sec.gov http://edgar.sec.gov