QuestionerGood morning. I'm all worn out. How can you possibly support an administration which has plunged our country into $16 trillion worth of debt?
WarrenThe $16 trillion, and we'll have to give Bush a certain amount of credit for that too, but they certainly didn't, certainly wasn't the Obama administration that at least allowed policies that created the greatest financial crisis and required an appropriate stimulus on the part of the government. The amount of deficit spending in the last four years, the amount of stimulus provided, I think has been quite appropriate in relation to the threat to the economy that was posed by the greatest panic in my lifetime. The main problem was that as things got crazier and crazier, The government could have intervened by pulling the way the punch bowl before everybody was totally drunk. And instead, the government increased the proof. And this was not a good idea. But you, it's hard to get governments in a democracy to be pulling away the punch bowl from voters who want to get drunk. Well, it's almost impossible.
QuestionerYeah. It's a labor-intensive, capital intensive, largely commodity type business, and it's been a death trap for investors ever since Orville took off.
WarrenI mean, as I've said, if there had been a capitalist, he should have shot down Orville and done us all a favor. But having neglected to do that, investors have poured money in to airline companies and aircraft manufacturing companies. now for a hundred years plus with terrible results. We've always tried to stay sane, and other people, a lot of them, like to go crazy. That's a competitive advantage. Number two, as we've gotten bigger, we've used this sort of golden rule that we want to treat the subsidiaries the way we would want to be treated if we were in the subsidiaries. And that again is a very rare attitude. attitude in corporate America, and it causes people to come to us who don't want to come to anybody else.
QuestionerI am an estate planning lawyer. Many of my clients come to me and say, they want a plan like Warren Buffett's, leaving their kids enough so they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing. Now they ask me, and I'm asking you, and I'm asking you, how much is that? And how do you keep from ruining your kids?
WarrenI think more kids are ruined by the behavior of their parents than by the amount of the inheritance. That your children are learning about the world through you
[3:52]
Warrenand more through your actions than through your words, you know, from the moment they're born. I do think that that if you get to be very wealthy, that the idea of of trying to pass on, create a dynasty of sorts, it just sort of runs against the grain as far as I'm concerned. And the money has far more utility. You know, the last hundreds of millions or billions have far more utility to society than they would have to make it, create a situation where your kids don't have to do anything in life except call a trust officer once a year and tell them how much money they want.
QuestionerMr. Buffett, I've heard that one of your ways of focus your energy is that you write down the 25 things you want to achieve, choose the top five, and then avoid the bottom 20. I'm really curious how you came up with this and what other methods you have to prioritizing your desires.
WarrenWell, I'm actually more curious about how you came up with it because it really isn't the case. It sounds like a very good method of operating, but it's much more disciplined than I actually am. I've never made lists. I can't recall making a list in my life. But maybe I'll start. You've given me an idea. Thank you.