[0:00]
WarrenGood morning. I'm Warren, and this hyperkinetic fellow is Charlie. Charlie and I have, we have fudge up here, and we have peanut brittle, and I said the meeting would run till 3.30. If we've consumed 10,000 calories each, we sometimes have to stop a little early at that point.
QuestionerWarren, I should say I was not planning to ask you this question, but in the past hour I've received probably two dozen emails from shareholders in this room who want the question asked, so I will ask it. And it's a very simple question. How are you feeling?
WarrenI feel terrific. And I always feel terrific, incidentally. That's not news. This is a really minor event, and Charlie will tell you how minor it is.
CharlieWell, as a matter of fact, I'd rather resent all this attention and sympathy Warren is getting. I probably have more prostate cancer than he does.
WarrenHe's bragging.
CharlieI don't know because I don't let them test for it.
WarrenHe's not kidding.
QuestionerWith the election coming up, have you thought about making a donation to a super PAC to try to protect a competitive advantage?
WarrenNo, I won't. I, you know, I wish it never had, citizens United never happened. I think the whole idea of super PACs is wrong, and I think the idea of huge money by relatively few people influencing politics. I think we've got enough of a push toward a plutocracy from a lot of other factors that we, We don't need to throw it into the voting process.
QuestionerCorporate tax rates last year were 1.2% of GDP. Medical costs were 17 in a fraction percent of GDP. And there we have a at least a seven percentage point disadvantage against the rest of the world, which is a big multiple of all the corporate taxes paid. If you ask me about the tapeworm of American industry, you know, it's basically our medical costs. We've got a huge cost disadvantage against the rest of the world.
QuestionerWhat would you suggest to change the way that business leaders are trained in our country?
WarrenI look at the books that are used sometimes, and there's really nothing in there about valuing businesses. And that's what investing is all about. If you buy businesses for less than they're worth, you're going to make money. And if you know the difference between the businesses that you can value and the ones that you can't value, which is key, you're going to make money. But they've tried to make it a lot more. more difficult. And of course, that's what the high priests in any particular arena do.
[2:48]
WarrenThey have to convince the laity that the priests have to be listened to. I would not be at all surprised to see them be worth a lot more money 10 years from now, but I wouldn't want to buy either one of them. I do not have, I do not get to the level of conviction that would cause me to buy them. But I sure is how I wouldn't short them either. And Amazon has been an incredible security. It's very hard to find people who have done business with Amazon that are unhappy about the transaction. They have happy customers. And, you know, a business that has millions and millions of happy customers can introduce them to new items and then, you know, and it will be a powerhouse. And I think it could affect a lot of businesses. It's hard for me to figure out. I think it's almost sure to hurt a lot of businesses a lot. I think it will hugely affect a lot of people. I think it's terrible for most retailers. Not slightly terrible, really terrible.
QuestionerBesides thinking harder and learning from your own mistakes, what are the most effective techniques you've used to minimize the mistakes?
WarrenWe are always thinking about, you know, worst case situations and there are, on the other hand, we have a natural instinct to do things big, both of us. So we have to think about whether we're doing anything really big that could have really terrible consequences.
CharlieWell, Warren, I would argue that what you've done and what I have done to a lesser extent is to learn a lot from other people's mistakes. That is really a much more pleasant way to learn hard lessons. And we have really worked at that over the years, partly because we find it so interesting, the great of human mistakes and their causes. And I think this constant study of other people's disasters and other people's errors has helped us enormously.