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Buffett this, Buffett that. People could do better than idolise someone whose wealth came from parasitic speculation on productive activity.

wudangmonk 2y ago
I got a chuckle out of having the 'expert' be Buffet and the subject be finance. I don't think there is a worse example of a subject that lacks first principles and where vocabulary is used to obfuscate and give it a veneer or credibility. Why not pick astrology? those guys will give insight and agree with each other at a higher rate than anyone in economics.
jiggawatts 2y ago
Buffett is rich precisely because he’s not just running off with a fraction of a percent stolen from real investors. He’s the real investor. His strategy is to take a controlling stake in a struggling company with good fundamentals but poor management. Then he’ll “fix up” the small problems and return the company to profitability. How exactly is that parasitic?
- risenshinetech 2y ago
  > How exactly is that parasitic? Because shallow dismissals of wealthy / successful people is all the rage. Surely none of these people can actually have any talent. They're all just lucky or irredeemably evil, right?
  - zelphirkalt 2y ago
    If we all did what they did, who would do the actual work?
    - lesuorac 2y ago
      > https://buffettfaq.com/#what-are-the-risks-in-the-financial-system-2005 https://buffettfaq.com/#what-are-the-risks-in-the-financial-... > CM: what if we had no manufacturing and our only businesses were hedge funds?] Buffet is very aware of that thinking. Even if CM is Charles Munger (VP of Hathaway).
- H8crilA 2y ago
  Actually his strategy is mostly to buy businesses that are so fundamentally solid that even an idiot could run them (because one day an idiot will). The whole "fixing it up" thing is for the so called activist investors. The basic problem is that people do not want to appreciate the social value of capital allocation, well because a side effect of it is often making millions or even billions of dollars for yourself. And yet not having this mechanism is precisely the reason why the USSR collapsed.
  - jiggawatts 2y ago
    He’s explained in interviews that he’ll buy things like a steel mill for less money than its scrap value, then install his own (competent) accountants and start making an actual profit on top of that. Imagine this from the perspective of the employees: years of bad management, facing down the barrel of unemployment in a shrinking industry. Suddenly Buffett turns up, fires the bad managers and tells you profits are up so here’s a Christmas bonus. Capitalism at work.

wudangmonk 2y ago

I got a chuckle out of having the 'expert' be Buffet and the subject be finance. I don't think there is a worse example of a subject that lacks first principles and where vocabulary is used to obfuscate and give it a veneer or credibility. Why not pick astrology? those guys will give insight and agree with each other at a higher rate than anyone in economics.

jiggawatts 2y ago

Buffett is rich precisely because he’s not just running off with a fraction of a percent stolen from real investors. He’s the real investor. His strategy is to take a controlling stake in a struggling company with good fundamentals but poor management. Then he’ll “fix up” the small problems and return the company to profitability. How exactly is that parasitic?

risenshinetech 2y ago
> How exactly is that parasitic? Because shallow dismissals of wealthy / successful people is all the rage. Surely none of these people can actually have any talent. They're all just lucky or irredeemably evil, right?
- zelphirkalt 2y ago
  If we all did what they did, who would do the actual work?
  - lesuorac 2y ago
    > https://buffettfaq.com/#what-are-the-risks-in-the-financial-system-2005 https://buffettfaq.com/#what-are-the-risks-in-the-financial-... > CM: what if we had no manufacturing and our only businesses were hedge funds?] Buffet is very aware of that thinking. Even if CM is Charles Munger (VP of Hathaway).
H8crilA 2y ago
Actually his strategy is mostly to buy businesses that are so fundamentally solid that even an idiot could run them (because one day an idiot will). The whole "fixing it up" thing is for the so called activist investors. The basic problem is that people do not want to appreciate the social value of capital allocation, well because a side effect of it is often making millions or even billions of dollars for yourself. And yet not having this mechanism is precisely the reason why the USSR collapsed.
- jiggawatts 2y ago
  He’s explained in interviews that he’ll buy things like a steel mill for less money than its scrap value, then install his own (competent) accountants and start making an actual profit on top of that. Imagine this from the perspective of the employees: years of bad management, facing down the barrel of unemployment in a shrinking industry. Suddenly Buffett turns up, fires the bad managers and tells you profits are up so here’s a Christmas bonus. Capitalism at work.