the letter<\/a>\u00a0[warning that Germany might develop an atomic bomb and suggesting the U.S. start its own nuclear program].<\/p>\nAnd that letter was a month before the Germans started rolling into Poland.<\/p>\n
And I don’t think Roosevelt understood U-235 any better than I do. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
I mean, you know, but he knew if Einstein signed it, he better do something.<\/p>\n
And the funny thing is, of course, he was doing it because he was worried about the Germans getting it. And it was actually used on the Japanese.<\/p>\n
But it \u2014 we \u2014 we haven’t learned to live with it.<\/p>\n
Now, we’ve been \u2014 we’ve gone 80 years since then. We’ve had a lot of close calls. I mean, we’ve had training tapes put in there that \u2014 that almost got the president to do something. They’ve had them \u2014 I mean \u2014 there is no way that the planet has an expectancy of 500 years now when it was four and a half billion when I was a kid, and \u2014<\/p>\n
We had to do it. I’m not faulting anybody. My dad was in Congress. He would have voted for it. I mean, everybody rejoiced on VJ day. You know, I mean, it \u2014 it \u2014 but there was no way we could undo it.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0 Well, I think the question becomes today \u2014 [former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations] Nikki Haley was just on “Squawk Box” right before you. And she was saying she thinks the president should go in and find the enriched uranium in Iran right now. And that’s a controversial position. It \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0 It’s a controversial \u2014 but I would be \u2014 I would be, for one way or another, if I were the president of the United States \u2014 I don’t want to be president of the United States \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 \u00a0I don’t want that \u2014<\/p>\n
I one time asked one president, I said, you know, if \u2014 if the Soviets had launched \u2014 so they already were in the air, and our policy was mutually assured destruction, would you have told Strategic Air Command, unleash ours, knowing that it wasn’t going to \u2014 I mean, it was going to just kill millions and millions and millions more people and add to a supe- polluted atmosphere, that who knows what is going to happen? I mean, it \u2014 and now we have \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0What was the answer?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0The answer. Well \u2014 the an \u2014 \u00a0this president said \u2014 he said, I’ve thought about that every day.<\/p>\n
Because some major shows up at midnight \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0\u2014 and says, we have incontrovertible \u2014 this is not \u2014 this is not geese above the North Pole. This is not a training tape that got put in by mistake.<\/p>\n
We know they’re in the air and you’ve got 10 minutes to make a decision. Mr. President, what do I tell SAC to do? Do we unleash ours?<\/p>\n
And I used to be on the SAC advisory board, but \u00a0\u2014 (laughs) \u2014 believe it or not \u2014 the \u2014 but that was for political purposes as they put people on that, truly, because they were always looking for more money, and they just figured if \u2014 and I don’t blame them.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0 But what did the president say? What was his answer?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0He said, I thought about it every day during the time I was in office. He was an ex-president.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0But did not give an answer on what he actually \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0No, he said \u2014 I think the answer is yes. I would tell him to do it. That is the policy of the United States of America.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
So if you were the president today, or if you were advising the president today, what would you say about going after the enriched uranium in Iran?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I would say that one way or another, in the next hundred years \u2014 maybe it’s two hundred years, who knows \u2014 but one way or another, something will happen that causes it to be used. And we can’t take what’s out there now.<\/p>\n
And if you thought it was dangerous with the Soviets and us \u2014 but Khrushchev, who was [a] perfectly rational guy, probably \u2014 Kennedy \u2014 just wait till we \u2014 wait till we’re dealing with, you know, the guy in North Korea that criticizes haircut or something, I mean \u2014<\/p>\n
Or \u2014 or, I would say the most dangerous thing is actually somebody that’s got their hand on the switch who is dying themselves, or is facing enormous embarrassment, he figures if I go, everybody goes.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0If you’re cornered, yeah, if you’re cornered.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0So that’s still rises to the level of one of the most important and \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It is.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It’s just that I don’t know the answer for it. But I do know that the \u2014 it’ll be more difficult if Iran has the bomb than if they don’t.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
Warren, I’m going to shift topics again.<\/p>\n
You have given away almost 60 billion dollars since 2006, when you first started giving money away. The bulk of that has gone to the Bill Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n
What have you thought about all the emails in the Epstein files related to Bill Gates?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, I won’t say what I thought about them, particularly related to Bill Gates.<\/p>\n
But I would say, it astounds me how human people are. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
It \u2014 here you had a guy that was a convicted guy, a sensational con man, and the percentage of people that he knocked off, I mean, whether it was \u2014 he found their weakness.<\/p>\n
It might have been sex. It might be power. It might be \u2014 whatever it might be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I don’t see how anybody could have pulled that off. And then \u2014 and of course, all these figures think that it’s going \u2014 when he dies, that “ha” \u2014 you know, they’ve \u2014 they’ve \u2014 they basically lied about it before. But I mean, you know, it \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0They lied about their associations with Epstein, you mean?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, I mean, you know, they’ve rationalized it one way or another.<\/p>\n
But \u2014 and now it’s all getting opened up and, of course, I’m just \u2014 I’m so happy the guy didn’t \u2014 that he didn’t stop in Omaha ever \u2014 I mean \u2014 or that I didn’t live in New York.<\/p>\n
If I had lived in New York, at some party \u2014 I would have been at some damn thing \u2014 and where people always are asking to take a picture, and I usually do \u2014 I’m so used to doing it with students \u2014 I always do these gag pictures where I’m picking some guy’s pocket or proposing to some woman or some damn thing \u2014 (laughs) \u2014<\/p>\n
And \u2014 I \u2014 thank heavens, I \u2014 I never \u2014 and I never came near the guy.<\/p>\n
And I had read the article in “Vanity Fair” in 2003 that \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0The one that lay \u2014 that laid out who \u2014 what a mysterious and strange \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0And it didn’t quite \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0figure he was.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It went as far as somebody who that’s worried about libel suits goes.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Well, it made him sound like a fraud, for sure. Yeah, I’ve read that article recently \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, the guy was a con man.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 at your suggestion.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0\u2014 and the interesting thing is, you know, he got his start at Bear Stearns \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0And they knew him. They knew he lied to them on all kinds of things. And \u2014<\/p>\n
And Ace Greenberg was a good friend of mine. Well, Jimmy Cayne may have been actually running the firm by then, I’m not sure.<\/p>\n
But Ace Greenberg always was looking for \u2014 he had a guy that the son of a friend of mine, that he hired just to be his ferret.<\/p>\n
His \u2014 and his job was to look for anything that was old or large that traders might have stuck in their desk or \u00a0\u2014 I mean, he was worried about \u2014 about people.<\/p>\n
But somehow \u2014 Ace’s daughter, I guess, was dated by \u2014 dating Epstein or something.<\/p>\n
And that guy must have been the con man of all time (inaudible).<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0But it’s one thing to be a con man. It’s another thing to be trafficking minors.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0It’s sexual prostitution.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, and be prosecuted.<\/p>\n
And even though he managed to jiggle his way through that thing with, you know, whoever the attorney general was then \u2014 it \u2014 one way or another, he \u2014 he did not really spend much time in his cell, you know, and \u2014<\/p>\n
But he had a way of conning everybody. I mean, he probably \u2014 who knows what he offered the guys, you know, to do that. He could con anybody.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Have you been concerned \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0He found their \u2014 he found their weakness.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Have you been concerned \u2014<\/p>\n
First of all, have you learned things from the Epstein files?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Sure. I can’t read them myself because my eyesight is so bad, but I’ve got a friend \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 that reads them avidly for me.<\/p>\n
And it is astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person.<\/p>\n
But you know, PT Barnum said it many years ago, too \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 there’s one born every minute.<\/p>\n
And, you know, men are going to like sex. And some \u2014 some of them are going to like not paying taxes.<\/p>\n
And whatever it was, he figured out what their weakness was, and then he was \u2014 had this ability to prey on them.<\/p>\n
But that doesn’t excuse the people on the other end. I mean \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Right. What \u2014 what are the consequences for what \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0The consequences should \u2014 are very likely to be, in my view, the same thing that happened back in 1969 when the Johnson administration left and the Ford Foundation hired a whole bunch of people that were let go from government.<\/p>\n
And it’ll take \u2014 it takes something where Congress feels that, net, they’re better \u2014 they’re better off going after the foundations than not.<\/p>\n
And foundations have got plenty of \u2014 I mean, money, and foundations have plenty of more power in Washington.<\/p>\n
I mean, it’s kind of \u2014 it’s kind of irritating. We can talk about that later, maybe.<\/p>\n
But in ’69, I think Wilbur Mills was \u2014 (inaudible) as head of the Ways and Means Committee. I don’t remember exactly how it came about, but that was the last \u2014 \u00a0that was a big revision of what foundations could do.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0OK.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I think this is the same \u2014 is going to have the same effect.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Is there anything that you’ve read, or been read, from the Epstein files that concerns you about the money that you donate to the Gates Foundation \u2014 money you’ve given in the past or money that you may have \u2013<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0There was a lot \u2014 there was a lot I didn’t know.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Like what?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0What is very clear \u2014 well, I didn’t know a lot of things.<\/p>\n
I mean, there were three trustees of the foundation \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0You, Bill and Melinda.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0\u2014 and I was one of the three.<\/p>\n
Now, we only met once a year. I did not ask probing questions.<\/p>\n
I mean, you know, if I had \u2014 if I thought I had to ask probing questions, I would \u2014 wouldn’t have put the money in, in the first place.<\/p>\n
But \u00a0\u2014 (laughs)<\/p>\n
But \u2014 and incidentally, the guy, the CEO of the foundation, wasn’t necessarily present during all these things, but he’s not the real CEO. I mean, in the end, Bill ran the foundation.<\/p>\n
And it was \u2014 and \u2014 but I learned \u2014 learned, I guess \u2014 I guess \u2014 when the divorce action happened, because I resigned a month later \u2014 less than a month later, I think.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0What did you learn then that \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I learned that I didn’t know what was going on \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 and \u2014 which didn’t mean something terrible was going on, necessarily, but I certainly didn’t know what was going on.<\/p>\n
We didn’t \u2014 and I didn’t ask the questions, either, though.<\/p>\n
I mean, in terms of being on the foundation board \u2014 or it \u2014 it was \u2014 I made a decision on it in 2006 and \u2014 and I didn’t think butting into so many marital problems \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 or anything like that was particularly appropriate at foundation meetings.<\/p>\n
But they went through and they talked about all these little things that didn’t mean anything and \u2014 and then they’ve hired a few people that \u2014 that are really bad news, you know. And I never met any of those people, you know. That \u2014 that guy \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0You’re talking about Boris Nikolic?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah. And I \u2014 I don’t even know what \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0He was mentioned pretty prominently in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I never heard of him.<\/p>\n
And I, you know, I was around the \u2014 that \u2014 that guy, so far in the proceedings, I mean, he looks like a terrible guy to employ. Now, I’ve employed terrible people, but we’ve gotten rid of them.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Boris Nikolic eventually was gotten rid of at the foundation as well.<\/p>\n
Have you talked to Bill Gates about any of this?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I haven’t. No. I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to be in a position where I know things \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 at the moment.<\/p>\n
I could get called as a witness.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Are you going to continue to give money to the Gates Foundation? You have every June since 2006.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, yeah, actually, I agreed to do it every year, but I’ve done it around June 30 most of the time, and I’ll wait and see what unfolds.<\/p>\n
The stock isn’t going anyplace. It isn’t like I’m giving it all away to something else, or won’t have it.<\/p>\n
But I’ll wait and see what \u2014<\/p>\n
I’m learning \u2014 I’ve learned things I didn’t know about something \u2014 for all these years. And \u2014<\/p>\n
I didn’t know how the marital thing would play out. I mean, I just didn’t know about it.<\/p>\n
You can guess sometimes that people aren’t getting along, you know, at a given time. But that’s true in every marriage. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
There are times when they get irritated with their spouse, or something like that. So \u2014<\/p>\n
In any event, I’ll just wait and see. And there’s three and a half million, or whatever it is, pages. I mean, it is astounding.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0In the Epstein files.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0In the Epstein files.<\/p>\n
And there’s a lot of redacted stuff. And obviously, anybody that was involved in Epstein, I mean, they’ve been miserable, probably from the moment they learned that things are going to get released. And that \u2014 and they can’t bury it now. I mean, it’s gone too far.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Are there situations \u2014 I guess you’re caught in a position where if you don’t \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0The money’s all going to get given it away. That’s for sure.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Right. If you don’t give the money to the Gates Foundation, are you in violation of the pledge that you made? Or if you do give the money, are you condoning the behavior that has taken place?<\/p>\n
That you may or may not \u2014 that you may not have \u2014 we haven’t learned everything, potentially, yet, about.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0That’s why I want to learn.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I don’t have to make that decision today. And I haven’t made it today.<\/p>\n
But I do keep reading things. I mean, I (inaudible) \u2014 somebody reads them for me, actually.<\/p>\n
And I \u2014 I was always astounded somewhat by the Epstein thing when it was taking place.<\/p>\n
But what this reveals about humans and the degree, whether \u2014 whether it’s money or whether it’s sex or whatever. I mean, this guy found people’s weaknesses, but they did do things. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I don’t think \u2014 if you ask me my personal opinion, I don’t think Bill had anything to do with girls or the island or anything like that.<\/p>\n
But I am learning things about all kinds of stuff when I read this, and it is ruining one person after another.<\/p>\n
I mean \u2014 it \u2014 it’s just astounding to me how bad \u2014<\/p>\n
People always do things. I mean, there’s consensual sex and all kinds of things.<\/p>\n
But \u2014 but this guy \u2014 how many hours are there in the day? I mean, three and a half million, or whatever \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 of his communications, and all the thinking that goes into \u2014<\/p>\n
And \u2014 and he found people’s weaknesses. And boy, did he know how to use it.<\/p>\n
And he used \u2014 he obviously used this guy, Boris somebody. And he used the woman at Goldman Sachs, I mean, just every place you looked.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I’ve never seen anything \u2014 (laughs) \u2014<\/p>\n
And I’m sure that once you get rid of the redacting of a few things, you know, you’re going to learn more.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0So you’re waiting to hear what else comes from the files \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Sure.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 potentially what comes from congressional hearings?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
I think they may change the law on foundations, too.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0You may think \u2014 I’m sorry, you think \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I think \u2014 I think there’s a good chance. But Congress doesn’t act that fast \u2014 they \u2014 they \u2014 so \u00a0the \u2014<\/p>\n
But \u2014 I \u2014 I just think that \u2014 that Congress reacts to whatever the public’s mad about, and they’ll be mad about the Epstein thing.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0But you said that you think they could change the law on foundations as a result?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Oh yeah. I think there could be major foundation hearings.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0And the changes that would go after the foundations, that would do what, strip their tax status?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Congress will want to look like they’re doing something about it. And foundations have done a lot more lobbying in the past.<\/p>\n
I mean, there’s been \u2014 hasn’t been any anti-foundation lobbying to speak of. And there’s been \u2014the foundations are there, and everybody goes to Washington.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Do you \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It’s astounding to me how \u2014 how \u2014 no \u2014 Washington is \u2014 it’s really become important. That’s where the money is doled out. That’s where the rules are doled out.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Do you think the foundation \u2014 foundations in general \u2014 have done good work? Do you think the Gates Foundation has done good work?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Oh, I’m sure they’ve done some good work.<\/p>\n
I don’t think they’d be around if they hadn’t done some good work.<\/p>\n
The question is whether the rules get changed in terms of what they can do, or their taxation gets \u2014<\/p>\n
I mean, look at \u2014 look at the Harvard, I mean \u2014 you know, that \u2014 it \u2014 it \u2014<\/p>\n
Once public opinion changes, Congress changes. You know, it’s \u2014 it’s just the way it works.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Are you sorry you’ve given the money to the Gates Foundation?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0No. No. I’m \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0So you’re happy that it’s gone \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah, well I mean, I \u2014 it’s \u2014<\/p>\n
But I wish that certain things hadn’t happened, obviously.<\/p>\n
But I don’t \u2014 but it isn’t like they’re stealing money for themselves or anything like that.<\/p>\n
I mean, Bill pours his efforts into it. Melinda poured her efforts into it. The present guy that runs it does \u2014 he’s \u2014 he’s a guy who I’d hire myself, you know, I mean it \u2014 it \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Mark Suzman.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0And \u2014 and \u00a0I think he’s actually the best CEO they’ve had, you know, and I don’t envy his job. But I also \u2014 I also think that \u2014 that I’ll wait and see. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
They’ve got 96 billion dollars that they’re sitting on now.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0At the foundation.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0At the foundation.<\/p>\n
Nobody’s got anything like that.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Although Bill has also said that he plans to spend that money down \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 pretty rapidly over the next 20 years.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0He’s got plenty of his own money. Add to it. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
I don’t \u2014 I don’t know what will happen.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0There’s been \u2014 you and Bill and Melinda also created the Giving Pledge \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 where you got billionaires around the world to sign up and agree that they would give away at least half of their wealth, either while they were living or upon their death. And you got hundreds of people to sign up to that. There’s \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Two hundred and some \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah, 250-some \u2014<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0\u2014 people to sign up to that.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It \u2014 it’s astounded me that we’ve gotten that many, and we \u2014<\/p>\n
Look, what \u2014 what Bill has done, and which I give him credit for, is he’s taken it abroad. And you’re changing \u2014 you’re changing the behavior of societies to some small degree.<\/p>\n
The United States is \u2014 now they’ve got it partly by laws that favor it, too, and everything else. But \u2014<\/p>\n
The United States is an experiment, not only in a lot of other ways, but also, actually, in terms of private philanthropy.<\/p>\n
And Bill has made small, little cracks in that around the world, which I think always defies centuries and centuries of behavior.<\/p>\n
So \u2014 his \u2014 the energy he brings to anything he’s involved in is incredible. I mean, you know \u2014<\/p>\n
I’m too lazy. (Laughs).<\/p>\n
I’m not going to go around the world. I just, you know \u2014 I feel we launched something good, and I feel that there is no one that’s a member of the Giving Pledge that is giving less than they would have given otherwise.<\/p>\n
Now we never told them what to give it to. We never told them when they should give it. We didn’t make it a legal pledge, I mean \u2014<\/p>\n
But, we really got response on that.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0There has been \u2014 there’ve been some articles written recently about the backlash in certain sectors, technology billionaires, in particular \u2014 Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen \u2014 who have said that they don’t like the Giving Pledge, and they think it’s woke.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0If \u2014 if they don’t like it, they don’t have to belong to the \u2013 (laughs)<\/p>\n
They can retire from it.<\/p>\n
They didn’t make a legal pledge, anyway.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Right.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0There may be any one of a lot of reasons why rich people don’t like other rich people \u2014 or who knows what happens \u2014 (laughs) \u2014<\/p>\n
But \u2014 but I would say this, that \u00a0\u2014 well, I just would bet a lot of money that nobody is giving less because of it than they would have otherwise given.<\/p>\n
And a fair number of people \u2014 not \u2014 not huge numbers \u2014 but not insignificant numbers either \u2014 are giving it earlier or giving more.<\/p>\n
The biggest objection that people would raise with me, and it usually was by the mother, was that they just didn’t want to become targets of articles about how rich they were. And you can’t blame them for that.<\/p>\n
I mean, they’re worried about \u2014 they can be worried about anything, but \u2014<\/p>\n
A lot of people joined.<\/p>\n
One guy even joined, because he \u2014 he said, all I want is to have lunch with Becky Quick. (Laughter)<\/p>\n
I said, I think \u2014 I think \u2014 and he didn’t \u2014 he didn’t follow through, apparently, but \u2014 but \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0No, I never heard from him.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0But \u2014 but I mean that \u2014<\/p>\n
If you get a lot of billionaires, you get a lot of peculiar people, but they \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 they \u2014<\/p>\n
Not that that’s peculiar. I know I shouldn’t present you with that.<\/p>\n
But it was amazing, to me, the reception we got. And we just started dialing.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0And we hit the obvious \u2014 I mean, obviously, it’s fallen off \u2014 the rate of additions.<\/p>\n
And obviously, you know, we made \u2014 we genuinely said we’re not judging the people.<\/p>\n
We’re not going to judge whether if they made their money in liquor. We weren’t, you know \u2014<\/p>\n
What counts is what \u2014 what they’re doing with it, you know. I mean, that’s all we’re talking about, is, for God’s sakes, you know, give away half of it.<\/p>\n
And that’s so different from a \u2014 for a family that’s got a family farm for a hundred years, and they planned on giving it to their kids and all kinds of things \u2014 than it is for some guy like me that just made it in stocks, you know, I mean.<\/p>\n
It would be a big, emotional decision if I were like a bunch of \u2014 well, you’ve got certain very rich farmers, you know, that own lots of acreage, and they’ve been building it their whole life for their \u2014 turn over to their kids, and they buy the farm next to them and everything. So, it \u2014 it \u2014<\/p>\n
I think I \u2014 I feel good about the Giving Pledge.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0You said you haven’t talked to Bill about any of the issues that have come out from the Epstein files. Are \u2014 are you still good friends with him?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0We’ve had great times together. But \u2014 and he’s treated me better than I think he’s probably treated anybody else. I mean, he’s arranged trips that \u2014 that \u2014 arrange for the kinds of foods I like, to the Wall Street Journal being in China, or what \u2014 I mean, he’s been terribly thoughtful with me throughout this.<\/p>\n
But I think until it gets cleared up, I don’t \u2014 I just don’t think it makes sense to do a lot of talking.<\/p>\n
For one thing, I don’t want to be under \u2014 my memory is no good anymore.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to be under oath, in terms of trying to remember everything over 30 years, or 20 years, the foundation’s done, or anything like that.<\/p>\n
I didn’t have anything to do with it, except I put \u2014 put the money in. But \u2014<\/p>\n
And you may say, you can \u2014 you can say, well, you’re derelict in not \u2014 in not doing it.<\/p>\n
But I’m giving money to my children’s foundations and I’ve never looked at what they give, either, you know. I mean, I just \u2014 I \u2014 I trust people.<\/p>\n
And I think I’ve trusted very good people. But I think \u2014<\/p>\n
I can see where if somebody gets a guy like Epstein involved in their life, they don’t want to talk about it.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0Yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0You know, I wouldn’t \u2014 I mean, it’s been very useful to me that Bill never said, come on along, I want you to meet \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 Epstein.<\/p>\n
So he \u2014 he could have \u2014 he could have done things that that would have been \u2014 screwed up my life.<\/p>\n
I’d have gone along with him. If \u2014 if he’d said to me, after the annual meeting or sometime, and he said, you know, I’m going to New York, why don’t you fly along, and there’s this interesting guy, or something, I probably would have gone, you know.<\/p>\n
And so, I’ve got him to thank for not doing that.<\/p>\n
But you can’t get away from what happened, either. And \u2014 and you can’t get away from the fact that foundations are a peculiar \u2014 they’re something that our country has really endorsed, I mean, charitable deductions, and donor advised funds and all of that sort of thing.<\/p>\n
And that’s worth looking at, probably more often than every 30 or 40 years.<\/p>\n
Foundations just \u2014 what they do is they lobby, just basically leave us alone. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0We \u2014 we have 87 seconds left in the show.<\/p>\n
Any other thought that you’d like to throw in, because I don’t think we’ve covered enough ground.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Well, I think the interesting thing is, you’ve got America, which is the wonder of the world.<\/p>\n
And at the same time, you’ve got a great number of people that \u2014 and they’re just as much human beings as you or I \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 and you know, they may not \u2014 they may not have the same IQ or anything like that, but I think the differentials are too great, but I also think it’s worked.<\/p>\n
So how do you actually solve all that through an entity which is basically broken down into two sides that sort of automatically vote against each other no matter what the issue is. I mean \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0You mean Democrats and Republicans?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0Yeah, Democrats and Republicans. I mean \u2014<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0We have 20 seconds.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 it’s become more partisan than \u2014 than ever. And \u2014 and we’re more prosperous than ever than anybody ever dreamt.<\/p>\n
So you have to say, capitalism’s worked. But it still needs, you know \u2014 it \u2014<\/p>\n
I guess we’re finished.<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0We’re finished, three seconds.<\/p>\n
You \u2014 you start \u2014<\/p>\n
Are you a Democrat or a Republican?<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0I’ve been both. And I \u2014 I was \u2014 I was actually on the ballot as a Republican in 1960, but \u2014 and my dad was very Republican.<\/p>\n
I went to the Democratic side. And now I’m an independent. (Laughs)<\/p>\n
QUICK:\u00a0OK. We’re going to leave it on that, and that’s enough of a tease till the next time we talk with you. But Warren, thank you very much for your time.<\/p>\n
BUFFETT:\u00a0It’s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BECKY QUICK: Warren, welcome. It is wonderful to see you this morning. WARREN BUFFETT:\u00a0It is fun to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[162],"tags":[6424,2327,6423,1702,651,999,38,1913,6425,16,1011,6420,4143,17,669],"class_list":["post-8949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-warren-buffett","tag-american-express-co","tag-apple-inc","tag-bank-of-america-corp","tag-berkshire-hathaway-inc","tag-bill-gates","tag-breaking-news-markets","tag-business-news","tag-chevron-corp","tag-coca-cola-co","tag-markets","tag-microsoft-corp","tag-mitsubishi-ufj-financial-group-inc","tag-occidental-petroleum-equity-warrants-exp-3rd-august-2027","tag-united-states","tag-warren-buffett"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116346802928428140","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}