The Last Letter: Warren Buffett’s Goodbye to Wall Street with Palki Sharma

Very recommendable! I think Palki did a fine job summarizing his lessons in less than 5 minutes!

Warren Buffett’s enormous charitable gifts of the Oracle of Omaha

Recommendable! This man is quite a character!

"... He has given much of his vast fortune to charity and plans to unload the most of the rest during his lifetime or upon his death. Buffett also largely lives a modest lifestyle by billionaire standards; he still resides in the spacious house he bought six decades ago. ...

With fellow philanthropists Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Buffett created The Giving Pledge, through which billionaires commit to giving at least half their fortunes to charity. Buffett is going way beyond that: “More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death,” he pledged.

Rather than establish his own foundation, he has poured his charitable money into five foundations run by others, especially the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – for which he served as a trustee until 2021. Upon stepping down, Buffett observed that he has similarly exited all the corporate boards to which he used to belong because his “physical participation is in no way needed.”

Buffett says he has given very little money to his three children, Howard Graham Buffett, Peter Buffett and Susan Alice Buffett, aside from hundreds of millions of dollars for the foundations they each run.

As of September 2024, he had gradually given the five foundations he has funded Berkshire Hathaway shares worth a cumulative total of $55 billion. “Society has a use for my money; I don’t,” he quipped in 2021.

In 2024, he announced plans to give the foundations his children run what could amount to around $150 billion more upon his death. He also said they should give this money away within a decade. ..."

How Warren Buffett’s enormous charitable gifts reflect the ‘inner scorecard’ that has guided him up to the billionaire’s planned retirement

Warren Buffett still lives in the same house in Omaha, Neb., that he bought for $31,500 in 1958, about $350,000 in today’s dollars. 

David Gottesman, scion of Jewish philanthropic dynasty and Warren Buffett partner, dies at 96

What is in a name? His last name translates into man of god! The man behind Warren Buffet.

"... After a stint in the U.S. Army at the end of World War II, Gottesman, who was known as Sandy, went to college and then Harvard Business School before heading to Wall Street. There, he got connected with Warren Buffet, then an up-and-coming investor, and the two struck up a fast friendship.

Gottesman was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway, the company that for a time made Buffett the richest man in the world. ...

Gottesman sat on Berkshire Hathaway’s board, but his relationship with Buffett was far from transactional. “Absent Sandy doing anything financially for me, we would have been the best of friends,” Buffett told The New York Times for an obituary.

Gottesman opted to remain largely out of the limelight. ..."

David Gottesman, scion of Jewish philanthropic dynasty and Warren Buffett partner, dies at 96 - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Billionaires Asking Government To Raise Taxes

Trigger

Just read “Oklahoma Oil Baron Pleads: Raise My Taxes” or “Oil Man George Kaiser Proposes Increase in Oklahoma Oil-and-Gas Tax” published on 5/13/2014 in the Wall Street Journal.

Like the other buffoon Warren Buffet (see e.g. here), George Kaiser wants the government to raise taxes on entrepreneurs like him.

George Kaiser

He is not a Koch brother. However, he is a democrat donor and “about 80% of Mr. Kaiser’s $143,900 in national political contributions since 2010 have gone to Democratic candidates.”

Caveat Emptor

When rich man ask government to raise taxes on other rich man or businesses than they most likely want to reduce competition.

Any rich man is free to give to government or to donate to any purpose as much as he or she wants. There is absolutely no need to raise taxes for oneself and others.

Buffoon Buffet Is Making Headlines Again

A Buffoon

See more about that in my previous blog post here.

He Wants Bernanke To Stay On

Warren Buffet was all over the news again domestic and international, see e.g. here. He endorsed Ben Bernanke to continue for another term.

The reckless chief of the Fed should have resigned a long time ago. See my previous blog posts here, here, or here.

Fed Is Greatest Hedge Fund In History

However, Mr. Buffet is quite right to call the government run Fed has become the “Greatest Hedge Fund In History” under the auspices of Ben Bernanke.

Which raises at least one fundamental question whether any government run central bank ought to make profits in the financial market? E.g. the German Bundesbank was also famous for its frequent and significant annual profits which were then transferred to the German federal budget.

Or should government run central banks (e.g. Fed, or EZB) be allowed to buy government treasury bonds at such an extent that their balance sheet triples in a few years like it has happened in the wake of the Great Recession?

Buffet A Latecomer

Where were Mr. Buffet when the Fed started to become the “Greatest Hedge Fund In History”? He is coming a little late to the party. I wonder whether he waits with his investments until several years later?

Warren Buffet A Rich Buffoon?

A Class Warrior Without Class

Recently Warren Buffet was quoted in a Ben Stein article in the New York Times as saying “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning”. Ben Stein prefaced his article by writing he “had the pleasure of a lengthy meeting with one of the smartest men on the planet, Warren E. Buffett”.

Mr. Buffet’s Secretaries And Clerks Pay Too Much Taxes?

Earlier, Mr. Buffet entertained us with his stunt about his secretary paying relatively more taxes than himself. More details on that are provided in the same article: “Mr. Buffett compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all. It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office.” And Mr. Buffet wonders “How can this be fair?” … How can this be right?”. How stupid is he pretending to be? Or who is trying to fool?

What was not mentioned in the article that Mr. Buffet’s secretary likely makes between $200,000 and $500,000 per year.

Mr. Buffet Wants To Coerce Other Rich People

To Pay More Taxes

Mr. Buffet wants to coerce other rich or affluent people to pay more taxes. Why?

·         He is at the end of his life and made already billions of dollars.

·         He already donated a large portion of his wealth to a tax exempt foundation run by Bill Gates and his wife

·         Perhaps, he is of the judgmental opinion that other rich people are squandering their money or life in decadence and only he understands that government knows better how to spend your money

·         I am sure he has other unconvincing reasons

Mr. Buffet Why Don’t You Pay More Taxes

If Mr. Buffet is indeed so offended, he alone should pay more taxes. Anyway, if Mr. Buffet truly feels he is not paying his share in taxes he can freely and voluntarily pay as much taxes as he likes. I am sure, the treasury would accept any check by Mr. Buffet.

Conclusion

Is the Sage of Omaha just loosing his wit? Or is he a reelection campaign aid to the current President? Is he just grumpy? Or is this just a show of crony capitalism?

I guess article by someone who interviewed in his own words one of the smartest men on the planet should be taken with the biggest grain of salt on this planet. So much for Ben Stein and the New York Times.