Warren Buffett
On the Warren Buffet Endorsement
As long as Warren Buffet's appearance tonight at an intimate and expensive fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton attracts plenty of high rollers to the campaign and helps line Hillary's coffers, an endorsement doesn't really matter.
That's the argument made by one one major Clinton fund-raiser who will attend the dinner this evening. The fund-raiser said that the fact that Buffet is not endorsing Clinton (he is also helping Barack Obama) doesn't matter so much as long as he draws out the top donors as the second-quarter deadline approaches.
"We're not talking Tony Bennett here," said the fund-raiser, arguing that Buffet amounted to a "new breed of celebrity" who could attract more issue-oriented and wealthy donors.
"I don't know who he endorses," said the fund-raiser. "Obvious he is trying to be helpful, but I don't know if he endorses, period."
Buffet for the DSCC
Warren Buffet will be headlining a fund-raiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee tomorrow night at the Regency in midtown that is expected to bring in $1.5 million, according to a source with a role in planning for event.
In case you thought Chuck Schumer was slacking. read more »
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The Secrets of Warren Buffett's Psyche
Here as I gleaned them are the secrets of Buffett's genius:
1. Simplicity. He learned when he was young that he had a highly circumscribed "circle of competence," as he likes to say—basically, the love and study of good businesses. He stayed within that circle, forever. His judgments are filled with homespun simple analogies. "Leave yourself a margin of error. Don't try and drive a 9800 pound truck over a bridge that can only support 10,000 pounds."
2. Study, concentration. The thing Buffett likes to do most is read. He spends 80 percent of his time reading, company reports and journalism. He is a kind of luftmensch. Indeed, 45 years ago, his neighbor turned down an opportunity to give him $10,000 (a stake now worth $400 million) because he couldn't see giving money "to a guy who doesn't get up and go to work in the morning."
3. Humor. He loves to laugh at himself. He grabs every opportunity Rose gives him to do so.
4. Generosity. Many times Rose shows Buffett reaching out to others. He offered the neighbor an in on his investment company because he likes the guy's kids. He offered Katharine Graham companies he would have bought himself because he adored her so much. The third show, tonight, is about Buffett's recent gift to the Gates foundation. So brimming with generosity—and life has repaid him. "The gift is to the giver," as Whitman said.
5. The worship of women. Though psychologically incurious himself, he has, per the Jungian phrase, a "highly developed anima." He seems to respond to women more than men. This has led him to close relationships with some of the most sophisticated women on the planet. He seems to have fallen in love with Kay Graham, and made it his project to build her confidence as a manager—and his $10 million stake, picked up in the Nixon years, when the Republicans declared war, is now worth $1.5 billion. His late wife Suzie reveals herself—Rose says he got the only interview she ever did on TV, in 2004—as a woman of enormous depth and sensitivity (now reflected in her daughter) who had the wisdom to nurture Buffett when he chose to sit in his room and read all day long, and could make fun of him. The best line in the first show is when she tells Rose that her father told her when Buffett came a-wooing, "He has a heart of gold." Then she throws in, "No pun intended."
6. Pleasure-seeking. Buffett has always done what he most liked to do, and avoided all things that he disliked. "I knew what I enjoyed." Everything from delivering newspapers as a boy to hobbies of playing the ukulele and bridge and telling corny anecdotes.
Adding all this up, the one word I'd choose for Buffett is childlike. There is a naive and wondering quality to his statements. As his late wife says, he couldn't take care of himself. His humor is often cornpone, his psychological judgments seem credulous and boyish. And the joy he derives from his work, it's like a kid in a sandbox.
Buffett's Warning
Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charles Munger adds: "There is a lot of ridiculous credit being extended in the U.S. housing sector." read more »
Now, they're talking mainly about Florida here; still, it's Warren Buffett, not exactly a slouch in the investment business.
-Matthew GraceWho’ll Clean Up the Bush Mess? Gore and Clinton (Bill, That Is)
