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> Still, end of an era. That is an enormous understatement. At 94, Buffet has witnessed history and has represented a vision of betterment, a just society, and
by heresie-dabord 1y ago
> Still, end of an era.
That is an enormous understatement. At 94, Buffet has witnessed history and has represented a vision of betterment, a just society, and sound economic stewardship. These things were not and are not hallucinations.
But for many, it seems, the lessons about co-operation, stable economic growth. the sane application of democratic principles, and the rule of law must be learned again.
It's the end of an era bona fides and respect for truth and accountability as the structural integrity of democratic society.
- closewith 1y ago[flagged]
- jjallen 1y agoHe’s giving away the vast majority of his wealth. He’s the literal embodiment of the opposite of what you’re saying.
- closewith 1y ago[flagged]
- ianbutler 1y agoGoing to need a huge citation on this one.
- chgs 1y agoit is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God
- ignoramous 1y agoI was like, surely not someone quoting al-A'raf (Qur'an 7:40) on the orange site but it turns out it is the New Testament (Luke 18:25).
- monadINtop 1y agothere's got to be at least one hafiz commenting on HN
- WalterBright 1y agoThere are many interpretations of that line, and without the context it is in it is difficult to see which one is correct. Here's one: "Jesus' statement highlights the principle that salvation is a gift from God, not earned through good deeds or accumulated wealth. It emphasizes the need for humility and faith, rather than relying on material possessions or social standing."
- thfuran 1y agoThat seems like, uh, motivated reasoning. Maybe if it were "for even a rich man" or "for a man, rich or poor," or something, but it's pretty clearly positioning riches in contrast to entering heaven.
- WalterBright 1y agoThe interpretation I quoted came from Google. I did not make it up.
- AnimalMuppet 1y agoIf I understand correctly, at that time, riches were viewed as a sign of God's blessing. So it has the direction of "even those of you most in God's favor can't enter the kingdom of heaven". Which gets you back to something close to WalterBright's interpretation.
- chgs 1y agoIt amazing how the wealthy and powerful try to twist a tale of the life of someone so openly socialist to instead claim it’s a story championing wealth. The general theme of “don’t worry about injustice now, things will be right after you die” is of course very strong to preserve the wealth. If you believe you will get your just rewards after you die, there’s less need to fight for an equitable world today.
- ianbutler 1y agoForgive me, but as a non religious person the bible is no authority for or of me so if that's the best you have I find we're at an impasse.
- chgs 1y agoIt’s a statement that was made by learned people 1500 years ago. Just because say A Christmas Carol or Star Trek or The Bible are works of fiction, it doesn’t mean they don’t have some wise observations, especially when taken in a cultural context.
- ianbutler 1y agoThat's nice, but A it's meaning is disputed as evidenced even in this thread and B I doubt it's applicable to current circumstances. Outside of those two concerns I have, generalities aren't usually that accurate and typically fall flat. Again if you have something stronger that's cool. I don't run my life on star trek or a christmas carol either. Edit: FWIW I’m not against frameworks, I just think ones built on reason, empirical evidence, and moral intuition tested against reality beat ones that rely on ancient metaphor and selective reinterpretation. If the goal is clarity, integrity and useful signposts for modern times, that’s a better starting point.
- supportengineer 1y agoFor the most part he followed a buy-and-hold strategy. Is that stealing?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- monadINtop 1y ago[flagged]
- infecto 1y agoDidn’t he retract from the Gates foundation last year. His children will be in charge of it to “donate”. I don’t know the specific mechanics but seems like it’s a good way to simply give it to your kids. They all run types of charities. https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/with-4-words-warren-buffett-explained-why-hes-cutting-off-gates-foundation-taught-a-lesson-for-every-leader.html https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/with-4-words-warren-buffett-e...
- forgetfreeman 1y agoNot to rain on anyone's parade but it is important to note that philanthropic trusts are an excellent way to avoid taxes.
- infecto 1y agoAgree, I might not have hinted at that strong enough. It might have some philanthropic end uses but last time I remember looking at his kids charities, they were very strange.
- davidw 1y agoYou can argue that no one should be able to accumulate that much because in the wrong hands it's too much power. But that doesn't mean everyone who has made that much money is evil.
- karmakurtisaani 1y agoBuffet is one of the rare good ones. IIRC he has talked how absurdly little he pays in taxes and that it makes no sense rich pay so little.
- tekknik 1y agofor the record I like Grandpa Buffet, but this statement made by rich people is vomit inducing. If they are so eager to pay more, why not donate the money to the gov? Or instead why not take the money they would’ve donated and distribute it amongst the population based on income? People complain they don’t pay enough taxes, then continue because nobody else is doing it and it would put them at a disadvantage.
- kinnth 1y agoBuffet reminded me a lot of Angela Merkel. They stood clearly and simply for good moral judgment, fair systems and looked at the bigger picture to carry most people forward. They also based all their decision in facts, truth and science. They learn't their trades (economics & politics) over time and weren't afraid to adapt as times changed. Their slow and steady presence did more for equality and fairness than many others. We will need to find these values again after the current times have played out.
- fifilura 1y agoIt is ok, I understand how you are thinking. But unfortunately I think Merkels legacy will be "Wandel durch handel". Trying to pacify Russia and Putin through increasing trade. Did not work.
- jnwatson 1y agoDon't forget the climate-change-decision-accelerating decision to mothball all their nuclear reactors. This was a monumentally poor strategic decision from multiple angles.
- impossiblefork 1y agoIt doesn't have to have been totally wrong always, but it's certainly been wrong at least since the invasion of Georgia in 2008.
- Aeolun 1y agoYes. But that wasn’t a rational outcome. By any measure Russia is momumentally worse off after basically anything it’s done in the past three years.
- DumbForceDFDC 1y ago[dead]
- thi2 1y agoThat has to be about a different Angela Merkel, the one I know had one priority: preserving status quo.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- emchammer 1y agoI wish I could have breakfast with him and just talk about what it all means. I hear he goes to some local diner.
- tw04 1y agoI will say that his pragmatism seemed to fall apart pretty quickly when the rubber met the road - unless I’m misinformed (which I may be). Berkshire was a key player in the rail workers strike of 2022 and Warren didn’t seem to want to give an inch to the working man when given the opportunity to do so. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_railroad_labor_dispute https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_railroad_...
- karaterobot 1y agoI'm not clear how this represents him not being pragmatic, could you say more?
- jagged-chisel 1y agoWhere did pragmatism enter this thread?
- Rebelgecko 1y agoThe comment above
- arrosenberg 1y agoDeteriorating conditions for the working class are the main driver of our push toward authoritarian government. A pragmatist would have been more sympathetic for reasons beyond pure capitalist economics.
- linotype 1y agoI just don’t buy this argument. By global standards, even the poorest Americans (with obvious exceptions like the homeless) are relatively wealthy. Comparison is the theft of joy.
- arrosenberg 1y agoSeems kind of silly to pretend it won’t happen though. Especially since we’ve chosen to base social status on wealth.
- gnulinux996 1y ago> At 94, Buffet has witnessed history and has represented a vision of betterment, a just society, and sound economic stewardship How exactly did he "represented a vision of betterment, a just society, and sound economic stewardship"? > But for many, it seems, the lessons about co-operation, stable economic growth. the sane application of democratic principles, and the rule of law must be learned again. Who are these "many" that need to be taught about those "democratic principles" and the "rule of law". How are these related to Buffett? > It's the end of an era bona fides and respect for truth and accountability as the structural integrity of democratic society. What?
- throwaway314155 1y ago> Who are these "many" that need to be taught about those "democratic principles" and the "rule of law". How are these related to Buffett? The current status of things in US politics is what I assume is being referred to here. Happy to be corrected.
- amy214 1y ago>It's the end of an era bona fides and respect for truth and accountability as the structural integrity of democratic society. You're splitting. Psychiatrically binarizing things into two possible states - a psychiatric pathology fueled by online propaganda in this context.
- solarkraft 1y ago> a vision of betterment, a just society, and sound economic stewardship Please point out one case in which he wasn’t firmly on the side of capital over societal advancement. As far as I can tell he is deeply invested in oil and keeps shilling Coca Cola (and that’s probably only the surface).