QuestionerThis question comes from John in Brunswick, Georgia. He says, you are clearly entitled to speak your mind on any and all subjects as an individual, but the recent publicity around the Buffett tax has become quite loud, and as a shareholder, I fear it is limiting to some degree the interest in the Berkshire stock on principle for some people. For instance, my 84-year-old father is not interested in investing in Berkshire because of his opposition to this tax position, and otherwise he likely would. While being a public company CEO, should some of the political dialogue be somewhat muted for the betterment of the company at its share price?
WarrenYeah, that's a question that raised frequently. But I really, in the end, you know, I don't think that any employee of Berkshire, I don't think that the CEOs of any of the companies that we own stock in should in any way have their citizenship restricted. And I mean, we did not. When Charlie and I took this job, we did not decide to put our citizenship in a blind trust. And the, you know, people are perfectly willing, you know, it's fine if they disagree with us. I think it's kind of silly. I really think that that that 84-year-old man making a decision on what he invests in based on who he agrees with politically, and it sounds to me like you ought to own Fox. I want to report that Warren's view on taxes for the rich has reduced my popularity around one of my country clubs. If it keeps him from hanging around the country club, I'm all for it. And it's a disadvantage I am willing to bear in order to participate in this enterprise. Charlie and I, we don't disagree on as many things as you might think, but we certainly have disagreed on some things over 53 years. years. It's never, in any, we've never had an argument in 53 years. And maybe you can get one started here if you work on it, but they, and it, it's just, it's irrelevant. I mean, it, you know, roughly half of the country is going to feel, one way, you know, this November and the other half is going to feel a different way. And if you start selecting your investments or your friends or your neighbors based on trying to get people that agree with you, totally, you're going to live up. pretty peculiar life, I think.