{"id":355,"date":"2017-02-13T01:15:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T01:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/?p=355"},"modified":"2017-10-25T00:26:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T00:26:30","slug":"38-berkshire-annual-meeting-2005-final-part-iii-points-17-27-for-wisdom-fun-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/13\/38-berkshire-annual-meeting-2005-final-part-iii-points-17-27-for-wisdom-fun-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"38. Berkshire Annual Meeting 2005: Final Part III: Points 17-27 for Wisdom & Fun (of Learning)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Excellent Book: Charlie Munger For All Seasons<\/a><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 17.\u00a0 No Need For Perfect Wisdom: Just a bit better than average over a long period of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Avoiding Mental Mistakes<\/p>\n

The first step is to recognize the traps. Charlie, in Poor Charlie\u2019s Almanack, talks about various traps, so read that book.<\/p>\n

Our personalities are such that we\u2019re probably less prone to falling into these traps, but it still happens \u2013 just less than before.<\/p>\n

Munger: You don\u2019t have to have perfect wisdom to get very rich \u2013 just a bit better than average over a long period of time.<\/p>\n

-15-<\/p>\n

Buffett: It reminds me of the story about the two guys being chased by the bear and one guy says to the other, \u201cI don\u2019t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you!\u201d (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Poor Charlie\u2019s Almanack<\/p>\n

Munger: Peter Kaufman did it. He came up with the idea and Warren got excited about it. It\u2019s a ridiculous name [the title]. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

If you assimilate everything that\u2019s in that simple book, you\u2019ll be far ahead in the game.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 18.\u00a0 If You Want To \u00a0learn a whole lot about life and making money: Rad Poor Charlie\u2019s Almanack<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buffett: It\u2019s a sensational book. You\u2019ll learn a whole lot about life \u2013 and making money.<\/p>\n

Learning to be a Good Investor<\/p>\n

When I was seven years old, I first took an interest in stocks. My dad was in the business, so I\u2019d go with him to the office and I saw interesting things. [When I was a little older,] I went to the library and read every book on markets and investing.<\/p>\n

When I was 11, I bought my first stock \u2013 three shares. I was following charts. When I was 19, I read The Intelligent Investor and it changed my whole framework.<\/p>\n

My advice is to read a lot. There are no secrets in the business that only the priesthood knows. It\u2019s all right there.<\/p>\n

It requires qualities of temperament way more than qualities of intellect.<\/p>\n

Once you have a 125 IQ, much more doesn\u2019t matter. Look for opportunities that fit your framework. Try to learn every day, but you can\u2019t act every day. It\u2019s important to enjoy the game, just as it is to enjoy bridge or baseball [if you\u2019re going to play those games seriously].<\/p>\n

Corporate Managers Should Learn Investing (and the Madness of Most Acquisition Activity)<\/p>\n

Munger: I think corporate managers should learn to be better investors because it would make them better managers.<\/p>\n

Buffett: Charlie makes a good point. Managers should learn about investing. I have friends who are CEOs and they outsource their investing to a financial advisor because they don\u2019t feel comfortable analyzing Coke and Gillette and picking one stock vs. the other. Yet when an investment banker shows up with fancy slides and a slick presentation, an hour later the CEO is willing to do a $3 billion acquisition. It\u2019s extraordinary the willingness of corporate CEOs to make decisions about buying companies for billions of dollars when they aren\u2019t willing to make an investment for $10,000 in their personal account. It\u2019s basically the same thing.<\/p>\n

Money Management is a Low Calling \u2013 and an Ominous Indicator<\/p>\n

Munger: I think money management is a low calling relative to being a surgeon. I don\u2019t like the percentage of our GDP and brainpower and professional effort that\u2019s in money management. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good thing for our country, and don\u2019t expect it to end well.<\/p>\n

The present era has no comparable precedent in the history of capitalism when so many people are trading pieces of paper. We have a higher proportion of the intelligent sections of society involved in buying and selling bits of paper and trying to make money doing it. There are more people doing this than at any time in history. A lot of this reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah.<\/p>\n

Buffett: When we\u2019ve seen baby versions of this in the past, there have been future [very negative] implications [for the stock market].<\/p>\n

Munger: When you get so much nonsense going on, it feeds on itself and creates a frenzy. [When this has happened historically,] there have been serious implications.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 19. Buy Businesses With Untapped Pricing Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

Untapped Pricing Power \u2013 The Measure of a Great Business<\/p>\n

We like buying businesses with some untapped pricing power. For example, when we bought See\u2019s for $25 million, I asked myself, \u201cIf we raised prices by 10 cents per pound, would sales fall off a cliff?\u201d The answer was obviously no. You can determine the strength of a business over time by the amount of agony they go through in raising prices.<\/p>\n

A good example is newspapers. The local daily paper controlled the market and every year they raised the [advertising] rates and circulation prices \u2013 it was almost a big yawn. They didn\u2019t worry about losing big advertisers like Sears, JC Penney or Wal-Mart, or losing subscribers. They increased prices whether the price of newsprint went up or down.<\/p>\n

Now, they agonize over price increases because they worry about driving people to other mediums. That world has changed.<\/p>\n

You can learn a lot about the durable economics of a business by watching price behavior. The beer industry is able to raise prices, but it\u2019s getting tougher.<\/p>\n

COMMENTS ON ECONOMIC MATTERS<\/p>\n

Market Views<\/p>\n

Regardless of the market, I will keep buying businesses. We like low prices.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 20. If You Don\u2019t Do Macro-Forecasting But Recognize Value: You\u2019d Do Fine<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not good at forecasting markets. Charlie and I spend no time thinking about where the market\u2019s going. We do know when we\u2019re getting good value [when we\u2019re buying a stock or business].<\/p>\n

There are always going to be some good and bad things happening.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen more people lose more money by getting focused too much on one factor. We\u2019ve never not bought something due to macroeconomic concerns.<\/p>\n

Market Calls and Current View<\/p>\n

Very infrequently you can say something intelligent about the market as a whole \u2013 when circumstances are so extreme that you predict the next 5-10 years with some degree of certainty. This was the case in 1969 and 1974. But most of the time, we\u2019re in some in-between zone.<\/p>\n

Obviously you can get more for your money now than in 1999 when I wrote that Fortune article (\u201cMr. Buffett on the Stock Market\u201d; Fortune subscribers can click here to read it). I knew I\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n

If I had to make a choice today between long-term bonds yielding 4.5% vs. equities over the next 20 years, I\u2019d prefer equities. But people who expect 6-7% after-tax or double digits [pre-tax] and think they can do it or hire someone else to do it will likely be disappointed.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think we\u2019re in bubble times or bargain times.<\/p>\n

I think you\u2019ll get a chance to do something screamingly intelligent within a few years, maybe much sooner, relative to current choices.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 21: Best businesses can maintain their earnings without continued reinvestment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Best Business<\/p>\n

The best businesses can maintain their earnings without continued reinvestment, whereas in the worst you have to keep pouring money into a money-losing business.<\/p>\n

The best business is being the best surgeon in town. You don\u2019t have to do any reinvestment \u2013 the investment was the education. The surgeon will retain his earnings power, regardless of inflation.<\/p>\n

Likely Housing Bubble<\/p>\n

Americans feel very good about home ownership \u2013 for many people, it\u2019s been their best-behaving investment. If it\u2019s a bubble and if it\u2019s pricked, it could affect some Berkshire businesses, but it would also let us put a lot of money to work [referring to a likely crisis that would depress stock prices and let them invest some of the $40+ billion cash hoard].<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve not made our money betting on macro stuff like foreign exchange; instead, it\u2019s from buying cheap stocks like PetroChina.<\/p>\n

25 years ago, we saw the same thing [a real estate bubble] with Nebraska farmland. People fled cash, saying \u201ccash is trash.\u201d A farm 30 miles north of here sold for $2,000\/acre in 1980; I bought it later for $600\/acre. People went crazy and the consequences were huge. Many banks failed, even ones that had survived the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know where we are with housing \u2013 people may behave differently because they live in it. But when you get prices increasing at a far greater rate than construction costs or inflation [there can be problems].<\/p>\n

Munger: In parts of California and in the Washington DC suburbs, there\u2019s a bubble.<\/p>\n

Buffett: I sold a house in Laguna Beach, CA for $3.5 million. The house was only worth about $500,000, so the land was being valued at $3 million. It was only a fraction of an acre, so the land was being valued at $60 million per acre. That\u2019s a pretty fancy price for almost any land.<\/p>\n

Munger: One of the Directors of Wesco told me that a modest house next to his recently sold for $27 million. There are some very extraordinary housing price bubbles going on and the consequences could be serious.<\/p>\n

More on the Housing Bubble (and Why Foreigners Invest in the U.S.)<\/p>\n

The financing terms have become easier and easier as prices have risen, which is contrary to normal [and prudent] practices. But the financing process has become so disintermediated that the mortgage buyer doesn\u2019t care. The easier financing has led to a boom in prices.<\/p>\n

The Nebraska farm bubble was fueled by banks that historically had been conservative but went crazy. They said that a farm was an asset-appreciation investment, not an income investment \u2013 in other words, they were playing the greater fool game.<\/p>\n

The rest of the world is saving. They\u2019re investing $2 billion\/day in the U.S. Some say they have so much confidence in the U.S. that they want to invest, but this is silly. They invest because they have to.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 21: Easy financing is fueling big price increases in houses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Munger: It\u2019s obvious that easy financing [for houses] is fueling big price increases.<\/p>\n

Buffett: Consider the following fanciful illustration. Let\u2019s say we had a fixed population in Omaha and no new houses were built, but each year everyone sold their house to their neighbor and moved. In year one, the price was $100,000. In year two, the price jumped to $150,000, but Fannie and Freddie guaranteed the mortgage and sold it to Asian investors. This is an influx of $50,000 to the family income. In year three, the price jumps to $200,000 and the same thing happens.<\/p>\n

Obviously, it is transparent what\u2019s happening here, so it wouldn\u2019t really happen, but you can have accidental behavior that leads to certain aspects of this.<\/p>\n

Munger: There are Ponzi effects in any economy, and you can see that here.<\/p>\n

Bearish on REITs<\/p>\n

Munger: In a corporation like Berkshire, a subchapter C, owning real estate is very disadvantageous.<\/p>\n

Investing in real estate is having a bubble of its own. My friends who own real estate are selling their worst assets and getting better prices than they\u2019d imagined.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 22. You May Love REITS But Not Its Accounting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buffett: I have less than 1% of my net worth outside Berkshire and when the Nasdaq hit its high, I had nearly all of it in REITs, which were selling at a discount to their liquidation values. REITs are quite attractive now, especially compared with 5-6 years ago when they were very unpopular.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better to pay attention to something being scorned than championed.<\/p>\n

Munger: And REIT accounting is phony.<\/p>\n

Buffett: Other than that, we love REITs. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 23. Car Industry Is Not Easy<\/strong><\/p>\n

GM and Ford<\/p>\n

[GM CEO] Rick Waggoner and [Ford Chairman] Bill Ford have both been handed, by past managers, extremely difficult hands to play. They\u2019re not the consequences of their own doing, but they have inherited a legacy cost structure, with contracts put in place decades ago, that make it very difficult for them to be competitive in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

GM and Ford don\u2019t sign long-term contracts to pay high amounts for steel, but that\u2019s what they\u2019ve done with annuity and healthcare payments to employees. The result is such expenses are far higher than that of competitors, so it\u2019s not a fair fight.<\/p>\n

GM once had 50% market share, and it\u2019s fallen to 25%. Even if it was still 50%, they\u2019d still be in trouble.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what I\u2019d do if I was elected CEO of GM. It reminds me of what Bill Buckley said when asked what he would do if he actually won his race for New York mayor back in 1965 and he said, \u201cThe first thing I\u2019d do is ask for a recount.\u201d (Laughter) Well, that\u2019s what I\u2019d do at GM.<\/p>\n

The UAW says, \u201cWe have a contract and we have a deal.\u201d GM has set aside $90 billion for pensions and another $20 billion or so for healthcare, yet has a market cap of only $14 billion. That\u2019s not sustainable…. Something will have to give.<\/p>\n

If a company had to pay an extra $2,000 per car more for steel, everyone would realize there was a crisis and demand a quick solution, but that\u2019s not happening.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem arose because [the actions of previous managements] bore no accounting consequences. Back in the 1960s, companies didn\u2019t have to account for pension costs on an accrual basis, and didn\u2019t have to do so for healthcare costs until the late 80s or early 90s. But those costs are very real\u2026<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 23. If You Jump From The 42nd<\/sup> Floor, Whilst Going Through The 20th<\/sup> Floor, You\u2019re Still Enjoying The Breeze But It Does Not Mean You Don\u2019t Have A Probem<\/strong><\/p>\n

Munger: Warren just gave a very optimistic prognosis in my view. Just because the full consequences haven\u2019t yet hit, doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t a huge problem. It\u2019s as if someone jumped out of a window on the 42nd floor. As you go by the 20th floor, you\u2019re still OK, but that doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have a real problem. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

If I was the President of the U.S., Governor of Michigan or the CEO of GM, I wouldn\u2019t wait. I\u2019d address the problem right now because no one\u2019s coming to save you.<\/p>\n

Pharmaceutical stocks<\/p>\n

That industry is in a state of flux right now. It\u2019s historically earned very good returns on invested capital, but it could well be that the world will unfold differently in the future than in the past. I\u2019m not sure I can give you a good answer on that.<\/p>\n

Munger: We just throw some decisions into the \u201ctoo hard\u201d file and go onto others.<\/p>\n

Buffett: We get paid not for jumping over 7-foot bars but for finding 1-foot bars that we can step over.<\/p>\n

Impact of Rising Commodity Prices on Margins<\/p>\n

Our carpet business has been hit by rising commodity prices. Sometimes you can get into temporary situations in which you can\u2019t raise prices fast enough to keep up with rising input costs. But the main impact of the rising price of oil \u2013 it\u2019s an extra $200 million per day \u2013 is borne by American consumers.<\/p>\n

Corporate Profit Margins Likely to Fall<\/p>\n

Corporate profits are at an all-time high as a percentage of GDP. I\u2019d bet that they go down in the next few years. Corporate taxes [as a percent of total taxes] are at an all-time low and there\u2019s likely to be reversion to the mean.<\/p>\n

Bearish on Gold<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not enthused about gold. People say it\u2019s a hedge against inflation, but that\u2019s also true of oil, land, Coca-Cola, See\u2019s Candies, etc. I\u2019d much prefer to own land in Nebraska or an apartment house or an index fund as a store of value. We\u2019d rather own an asset that will be useful even if the currency drops to 10 cents on the dollar. People will always need to drink and eat [referring to Coke and See\u2019s]. We wouldn\u2019t trade ownership of businesses for a hunk of yellow metal.<\/p>\n

Munger: If you have the opportunities of Berkshire, an investment in gold is dumb.<\/p>\n

More Bearishness on Gold<\/p>\n

Gold would be way down my list as a store of value. I\u2019d much rather own 100 acres of land in Nebraska or an apartment house or an index fund.<\/p>\n

The Dow went from 66 to 11,000 or 12,000 during the last century, and you got paid a lot of dividends along the way. Gold went from $20 in 1900 to $400 in 2000, plus you\u2019d have to pay insurance and storage costs, so it\u2019s not a good store of value.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not advocating paper money \u2013 it\u2019s good to worry about this. But I\u2019d rather sell one pound of candy. That will retain its value even if the currency is seashells.<\/p>\n

Gold has done very badly [as an investment] in the past and I see no reason why it will work well in the future. All that happens is that it is taken out of the ground in South Africa and put back in the ground in Fort Knox. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Munger: Gold was good to have if you were a well-to-do Jewish family in Vienna in 1935 because of the situation [just before the Nazis took over]. But if you\u2019re in our position, gold has no interest.<\/p>\n

NYSE\u2019s Merger with Archipelago<\/p>\n

I personally think it would be better if the NYSE remained as a neutral, not-for-big-profit institution. The exchange has done a very good job over the centuries. It\u2019s one of the most important institutions in the world.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 24. The enemy of investment success is activity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The enemy of investment success is activity. The exchange of yesterday will be better for the American investor. I know the American investor will not be better off if volume doubles on the NYSE, and I know the NYSE will be trying to figure out how to do that if it is trying to maximize its own earnings per share.<\/p>\n

Trading is the frictional cost of capitalism. GM or IBM will not earn more money if their stock turns over more actively, but a for-profit NYSE will.<\/p>\n

Munger: I feel the same, only more strongly. I think we have lost our way when people like the [board of] governors and the CEO of the NYSE fail to realize they have a duty to the rest of us to act as exemplars. I don\u2019t think you want to turn the stock exchange of the country into an even larger casino than it is already.<\/p>\n

You do not want your first-grade school teacher to be fornicating on the floor or drinking booze in the classroom; similarly you do not want your stock exchange to be setting the wrong moral example. I am appalled.<\/p>\n

Buffett: I wish I\u2019d gone to first grade where he did. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Asbestos<\/p>\n

Munger: There\u2019s been terrible behavior by doctors, terrible behavior by lawyers, gutless behavior by courts, and even more gutless behavior by politicians, who [he said something disparaging about them].<\/p>\n

You keep hoping that it will get so bad that things will change, that reform will happen. And it can happen: for example, the Workman\u2019s Comp system in California. With the Schwarzenegger revolution in California, it\u2019s been partly \u2013 maybe 15% \u2013 corrected. If it gets bad enough, it\u2019s possible that it could be fixed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy that judges give money to people who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for their entire lives, are dying, and have one little spot on their lungs.<\/p>\n

Even asbestos will eventually go away, but who knows how much damage will be done before the storm passes.<\/p>\n

But the behavior is so terrible It\u2019s that kind of behavior that makes me talk about [the U.S. being at] the apex of its civilization.<\/p>\n

Inflation<\/p>\n

The talk of deflation was total nonsense.<\/p>\n

You would think that the trade deficit, which has resulted in a weaker currency, would have led to higher inflation.<\/p>\n

The price of oil has risen far more in dollars than in euros.<\/p>\n

So, inflation matters. It\u2019s always there and is something we think about. But See\u2019s Candies will do fine in an inflationary environment.<\/p>\n

Munger: So far, the weak dollar has acted to restrain inflation.<\/p>\n

Buffett: Yes. For example, we\u2019re paying less for shoes, few of which are made in the U.S. anymore.<\/p>\n

Interest Rates and Inflation<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want to be long the long bond [e.g., he thinks there\u2019s risk of rising interest rates].<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019d told me two years ago what the macro conditions would be today, I\u2019d have been very surprised by where interest rates are today [i.e., he thought they\u2019d be higher].<\/p>\n

Munger: There won\u2019t be an automatic correlation between interest rates and inflation \u2013 there will be weird things.<\/p>\n

ADVICE ON LIFE AND OTHER<\/p>\n

The Future of the United States<\/p>\n

Overall, I\u2019m an enormous bull on the United States. In 1790, we had a population of 3.9 million people vs. 290 million in China and 190 million in Europe. We\u2019ve all had roughly the same conditions since then, yet 215 years later, we have 30% of the world\u2019s GDP. This is one of the great all-time success stories.<\/p>\n

Munger: I believe that we are at or near the apex of a great civilization.<\/p>\n

Buffett: I don\u2019t feel that way. You\u2019ll know who\u2019s right in 20 or 30 years.<\/p>\n

America vs. the Rest of the World<\/p>\n

What we do is no secret. The relative importance of America will diminish. The rest of the world is catching on and adopting our best practices. But our castle will grow. It\u2019s good for us if the rest of the world does well, and they\u2019re growing from a lower base. I don\u2019t think their success comes out of our hide.<\/p>\n

Munger: In 50-100 years, if we\u2019re a poor third to some countries in Asia, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. If I had to bet, the part of the world that will do best will be Asia.<\/p>\n

Comments on Social Security<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 25. I don\u2019t want to do anything to hurt the bottom 10-20% of the population.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to do anything to hurt the bottom 10-20% of the population. I\u2019ve seen people who fear for the last years of their lives [that they won\u2019t have enough money].<\/p>\n

We\u2019re worrying about a problem in 25 years, that\u2019s a fraction of our current $500 billion trade deficit. We\u2019re spending 4.5% of our GDP on Social Security now; if we have to increase it to 6% in 50 years, this is not a worry.<\/p>\n

There are some things we should do, however: means test it, lift the $90,000 cut-off [there are no Social Security taxes above this amount each year] or eliminate it, and increase the retirement age. 2005 is a lot different from 1935 [in terms on longevity].<\/p>\n

Munger: That\u2019s the perspective of the Democrat up here, so you might be surprised to hear from the Republican that I think the Republicans are out of their cotton-pickin\u2019 minds to be taking on this issue at this time. The thought that more of our GDP will be going to the elderly over time is not anathema to me.<\/p>\n

Social Security is very successful. Apart from disability \u2013 a small part \u2013 there\u2019s almost no fraud; it\u2019s hard to fake being dead. (Laughter) It rewards work, it\u2019s low cost. It\u2019s one of the most successful government programs ever.<\/p>\n

For the current administration, which needs to face down North Korea and Iran, deal with Iraq, etc., to waste political capital on this twaddle\u2026<\/p>\n

On Tough Decisions<\/p>\n

I honestly can\u2019t think of any [investment] decision I\u2019ve agonized with over a long period of time.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 26. A good public school system is a lot like virginity: easy to preserve, but not to restore.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public Education<\/p>\n

A good public school system is a lot like virginity: easy to preserve, but not to restore. To succeed, well-to-do people need to be involved. I admire the fact that people like John Walton, Bill Gates and Ted Forstmann have gotten involved with this issue.<\/p>\n

Next to the nuclear\/chemical\/biological weapon problem, the #1 problem we face is making sure our educational system is providing a good education to all children \u2013 and it\u2019s not. Dealing with the problem is complicated, as there are thousands of school districts and many unions as well.<\/p>\n

A big problem is that in many places, the rich have opted out. I imagine that if I used the local golf courses, I\u2019d care a lot about how they were managed and maintained \u2013 it\u2019s the same with schools. There\u2019s a two-tiered system right now.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big believer in public schools.<\/p>\n

Wisdom & Fun 27. No Child Left Behind Should Not Mean All Children Are \u00a0Left Behind <\/strong><\/p>\n

Munger: I met a guy whose wife teaches 8th grade in the local schools. He told me that, due to requirements of No Child Left Behind, for the numerous students who can\u2019t read, she records the books herself so that these students can listen to the books and follow along in class. This is [the best of] No Child Left Behind in a sense, but it\u2019s also a failure. It\u2019s very hard for a civilization to fix failure when 8th graders can\u2019t read.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very serious failure that we\u2019ve allowed this to happen.<\/p>\n

Buffett: Bill Ruane [of Ruane, Cunniff, managers of the Sequoia Fund] has an extraordinary program that teaches kids to read. It\u2019s been going on for 10 years and the kids are enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

A major reason for the success of the United States is the equality of opportunities compared to the rest of the world. It\u2019s a bad situation when some kids have great families, caring teachers, good schools, etc., but less advantaged kids have teachers that just push their students through the system, in schools where other students are doing bad things\u2026<\/p>\n

This [failure of the educational system] shouldn\u2019t be allowed in a country with almost $40,000 of GDP per capita.<\/p>\n

Humor<\/p>\n

[When he was asked if, now that Bill Gates is on his board, a Berkshire-Microsoft merger might be in the offing, Buffett replied:] I keep hinting, but it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excellent Book: Charlie Munger For All Seasons Wisdom & Fun 17.\u00a0 No Need For Perfect Wisdom: Just a bit better<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charlie-mungers-3-categories-of-investment-in-out-too-tough"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charliemungersays.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}