6 ms·
Sorry, a person who life is built around greed is no hero.
by yndoendo 10mo ago
Sorry, a person who life is built around greed is no hero.
- jacquesm 10mo agoActualy, he didn't. He's probably the one billionaire alive today for which you could not make that case. I know of one other (but he's dead).
- SecretDreams 10mo ago> He's probably the one billionaire alive today for which you could not make that case. Is this Stockholm Syndrome?
- sharts 10mo agoVery likely. Billionaires can afford to cultivate a persona for the masses. It’s so odd when the majority actually buy it.
- csallen 10mo agoNot everyone can afford to waste energy on angry and envy directed toward private citizens who have literally nothing to do with them
- irishcoffee 10mo agoYou ever see Good Will Hunting? The scene where he talks about where he can “just play” and then describes the most talented people in history at what they do. That’s Buffett in his chosen life’s work. Buffett didn’t get, for example, a small loan of a million dollars to start. He’s been working at this longer than probably anyone what will ever read this comment has been alive. He doesn’t care about the money in the sense I feel you’re implying. Nobody is perfect, and holding anyone to that standard sets an impossible threshold. I don’t know how familiar you are with Warren Buffett, but I would encourage you to dig into his Wikipedia page at least, however accurate we think that is these days.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- SecretDreams 10mo agoHave you ever read Elon's wiki? Or any other individual rich enough to curate whatever views they choose? Warren buffet did good and he came up with a winning strategy. Momentum was ultimately his friend and what drove his success. When ETFs are great today and their popularity largely because of Warren, I think a lot of what's increasingly becoming obviously wrong with the markets ties back to the original strategy behind ETFs. There's no more self selection or focus on fundamentals. All pensions are now exposed and regular contributors to the markets, so winner and losing picking doesn't really exist in the same way and performance is no longer tied to reality. I dread what that means as populations stagnant since it puts some risk on future pensions and their somewhat ponzi-esque structure. All the pessimistic rants aside - it's insane to refer me to a billionaire's wiki as an attempt to get to know them. I largely look at people based on how they might treat family, friends, strangers, etc. In that regard, I'm mixed.
- jacquesm 10mo agoElon and Buffet are polar opposites.
- WalterBright 10mo agoMusk at one point was one explosion away from bankruptcy.
- jacquesm 10mo agoI wasn't talking about tech, but about their character.
- WalterBright 10mo agoRisk tolerance is a component of character. Musk has put his entire fortune on the line more than once, and more than once was a whisker from bankruptcy. I'm far less of a risk taker than he is, and have consequently not made big scores like Musk.
- super256 10mo agoHe was greedy when others were fearful ;)
- lokar 10mo agoYvon Chouinard has a stronger claim
- medlazik 10mo agoIt's fascinating how even smart people like you become so utterly naive when it comes to politics. This guy partly owns some of the most evil companies humanity has ever created ffs. Zero ethics, 100% capitalist greed.
- vasco 10mo agoIt's not that hard to see evil in everyone and it doesn't make one that much smarter
- MarcelOlsz 10mo agoYeah let's give the billionaires the same benefit of the doubt we give our friends & family & working-class people.
- jacquesm 10mo agoFortunately, we have you to keep naive people like me in their place. Happy New Year to you too.
- mrwaffle 10mo agoMostly true, compared to other billionaires he's a much better flavor and a stronger record of appearing human but still, agree. I'd recommend reading The Snowball for a more complete understanding of him.
- Aarostotle 10mo agoA man who built what he loves and produced so much surplus value for the rest of us to enjoy (read: profit) is _exactly_ a hero. I’m sure I could find ways critique him, but not in the context of celebrating his career.
- 650REDHAIR 10mo agoTell me more about the surplus value that Warren produced
- WalterBright 10mo agoLook at a stock chart of Berkshire Hathaway over time.
- laserlight 10mo agoI believe the point is that price is not value.
- WalterBright 10mo agoPerhaps, but the price is the value.
- user3939382 10mo agoArt vs artist debate is tired, as is celebrity distance appraisal. If you want to know if someone is good or bad your best bet (still iffy) is to ask their kids or spouse. That’s he’s skilled at the financial game is obvious. Whether that’s valuable is a philosophical question that has little to do with Warren Buffet.
- bc569a80a344f9c 10mo ago> A man who built what he loves and produced so much surplus value for the rest of us to enjoy (read: profit) is _exactly_ a hero. Life imitates art, I suppose. https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a16995 https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a16995
- IncreasePosts 10mo agoHe built his life around developing successful businesses. That's not greed.
- huflungdung 10mo ago[dead]
- bawolff 10mo agoHe made his billions by figuring out who were worthy people to give money to. He's not exactly curing cancer but i could think of a lot more underhanded ways to make billions. I think he is above average ethically relative to his billionaire peers.
- tehjoker 10mo agoHe owns a lot of companies and keeps his distance from their reputations. Companies make money and stay on top by doing awful things. Think about coca cola and plastic pollution. Buffett has to own that when he has a controlling stake.
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> Think about coca cola and plastic pollution Does Coca Cola make plastic bottles? I thought their whole deal is they sell syrup to local bottlers.
- gsinclair 10mo agoWhat’s the counter-factual here? Coca Cola not allowed to exist? Plastic not a permissible material for soft drink bottles? Nobody allowed to drink soft drink? Companies forced to clean the streets? I dislike plastic pollution as much as you do, but your elected representatives have more responsibility here than Buffett.
- bawolff 10mo agoImagine what a world we would live in if people held themselves to the same standard they hold billionaires to. After all, coca-cola would change their ways pretty quickly if people stopped buying things over the issue.
- sokoloff 10mo agoBerkshire owns less than 10% of Coke. That’s means Berkshire’s voice is represented in the boardroom, but is more than a factor of five from the common definition of “controlling stake”.
- hyperbovine 10mo agoBut hey, he also owns Sees Candy.
- mothballed 10mo agoI don't want a society where you have to be a hero to produce mass benefit to others. I want a society where greedy people feel like they have to serve the needs and wants of others to fulfill their greed. I don't know to what extent Buffet does it. Nor does our current quasi-fascist society where the government is highly embedded with industry and regulating who is the winner and who is the loser and then taxing/inflating the working class to make sure they stay afloat. But in the idealistic version of America, it is supposed to be a place where becoming a billionaire means you are not just producing billions of profit for yourself, but billions of value for others. That every deal, both sides are better off. This is what we aspire to, the whole ideal towards voluntary trade and capitalism as a method a tide that rises almost all boats and at the very least doesn't involve sinking another boat lower.
- nntwozz 10mo ago“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.” — Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- cindyllm 10mo ago[dead]
- lr4444lr 10mo agoI respect Buffett greatly on a professional level, and think it's the height of arrogance to believe any one of us personally has the moral right to decide which level of lawful activity becomes turpitudinous greed. THAT SAID... My uncle (he's 98) had a passing acquaintance with Buffett during their overlap at Penn, and in the one econ class they shared, he remarked having heard Buffett say in almost salivating eagerness as he rubbed his hands that if only there could be another Great Depression, he would make a killing. The dude has value investing in his DNA beyond anything else, I truly believe. But he's argued for changing complex and unfair taxation, and always been a good citizen as far as I can tell. I think if all of Wall Street were like him, the world would be a much better place.
- BrenBarn 10mo agoWith $150 billion dollars he could have done a lot more than "argue for" changing taxation. If he had spent that money actively fighting for a better system, maybe that'd be worth something. To sit back on your billions and say "aw shucks, this really shouldn't be possible" is not much of an effort. Edit: Some people seem to be misunderstanding me. I'm saying if he thought taxation was unequal or thought wealth inequality was a problem, he could have used his wealth specifically to fight against billionaires like himself, not just give money towards generic charitable causes.
- conradev 10mo agoHe tasked that to his kids: He turned 95 years old on August 30. He was 75 when he began giving away his fortune, announcing plans in June 2006 to give away the bulk of his wealth to five foundations, primarily the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He changed his will in 2024, designating 99.5% of his remaining fortune after his death to a charitable trust overseen by his three children and also announcing in June 2024 that donations to the Gates Foundation would cease upon his death. https://www.omahamagazine.com/giving/buffetts-6b-gift-a-historic-donation-changing-five-foundations/ https://www.omahamagazine.com/giving/buffetts-6b-gift-a-hist...
- mothballed 10mo ago
- kakadu 10mo agoHe is an _American_ hero
- DoesntMatter22 10mo agoAnd he’s giving away most of his fortune to help others when he dies. Idk how that can be considered a “life centered around greed”
- tim333 10mo agoI don't think built around greed is fair. If he was greedy he'd be spending the money rather than giving nearly all of it to charity.
- gbacon 10mo agoIf he built his life around greed, you must have numerous examples, so give specific instances to support this charge. No handwaving.
- WalterBright 10mo agoBuffet has also made a lot of money for his investors. People can buy shares in Berkshire Hathaway.
- dingaling 10mo ago> People can buy shares in Berkshire Hathaway. They can buy stock, but B-H doesn't pay dividends. So the only way to make money with its stock is to flip it to someone who's willing to pay more.