Buffett bashes bitcoin as thriving on mystique, favors stocks

[webfact]

Buffett bashes bitcoin as thriving on mystique, favors stocks

Jonathan Stempel, Jennifer Ablan

 

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, pauses while playing bridge as part of the company annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska U.S. May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Monday said buyers of bitcoin, which he has characterized as “rat poison squared,” thrive on the hope they’ll find other people who will pay more for it.

 

Likening bitcoin demand to the tulip bulb mania in 17th century Holland, Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said the mystique behind the cryptocurrency has caused its price to surge.

 

“If you don’t understand it, you get much more excited,” Buffett said on CNBC television. “People like to speculate, they like to gamble.”

 

He said investors now are much better off owning U.S. stocks, whose prices are elevated but not in a “bubble,” and it would take a “nanosecond” for him to choose stocks over 10- or 30-year U.S. government bonds now yielding around 3 percent.

 

Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime business partner and a Berkshire vice chairman, is also no bitcoin fan, describing it as “worthless artificial gold.” He likened it to Oscar Wilde’s definition of fox hunting, calling it “the pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable.”

 

Buffett, 87, and Munger, 94, spoke two days after they presided at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, which was expected to have drawn more than 40,000 people.

 

It was the first meeting since Berkshire elevated longtime executives Greg Abel and Ajit Jain to vice chairmen, making them top contenders to replace Buffett as chief executive.

 

Buffett said their promotions have been “very, very good” for the company. Berkshire has said its board knows who would become chief executive if the need arose.

 

One of its members, Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates, said on CNBC “it’s not a horse race” between Abel and Jain. Buffett renewed his desire to spend some of Berkshire’s low-yielding cash on a major acquisition. He said he would be happier if Berkshire had $30 billion of cash and equivalents, not the $108.6 billion it reported holding at the end of March.

 

“If a $100 billion deal came along that Charlie and I really liked, we’d get it done,” he said.

 

Buffett revealed last week Berkshire had bought about 75 million additional Apple Inc shares in the first quarter, adding to the 165.3 million it already owns. It now has a 5 percent stake in the iPhone maker, trailing only Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc.

 

Buffett said he would be happy to see the Apple share price fall if it would spur repurchases.

 

Munger, meanwhile, said Berkshire may have been “a little too restrained” in buying Apple, saying “it’s reasonably priced and strong.” He added: “I wished we owned more of it.”

 

Buffett also said the list of CEO candidates has been “narrowed down” for the healthcare venture between Berkshire, Amazon.com and JPMorgan Chase. He said choosing the CEO will be “by far the most difficult decision we will make.”

 

Reporting By Jennifer Ablan and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Nick Zieminski and Susan Thomas

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-08

[Brickbat]

The last time he bashed Bitcoin in Jan, prices tanked and as the largest shareholder of Bank of America and a large share holding in JP Morgan, I am sure they all bought up big time. Why not have another go. Afterall, there’s only 21 million Bitcoin circulating.

[rocketman777]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He said investors now are much better off owning U.S. stocks, whose prices are elevated but not in a “bubble,”

Historic Bubbles in the Stock Market and subsequent crashes:

 

Twenties Bubble 1929 Crash  - took more than 25 years for the market to recover from the 1929 crash

 

Eighties Bubble  1987 Crash - 22.6 percent in value, its largest single-day percentage drop

                              1989 Japan Market crash     -  down eventually over 80%

Nighties Bubble:  2000  Dot.con   Bubble  down 80 %

 

These are hardly examples of " elevated" markets

 

And currently the stock market is probable in the mother of all Bubbles with valuations reaching  extreme levels not seen since 1929

 

Buffet does buys value but it does not take genius when you have inside information.

 

The stock markets have always been rigged and manipulated by the elites who are the players in the know.

 

 

 

[JimmyJ]

" Likening bitcoin demand to the tulip bulb mania in 17th century Holland..."

 

This has been pretty thoroughly debunked - Buffett needs to keep up:

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-tulip-fever-180964915/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by JimmyJ

[Thailand J]

 

On 5/8/2018 at 2:46 PM, rocketman777 said:

Historic Bubbles in the Stock Market and subsequent crashes:

 

Twenties Bubble 1929 Crash  - took more than 25 years for the market to recover from the 1929 crash

 

Eighties Bubble  1987 Crash - 22.6 percent in value, its largest single-day percentage drop

                              1989 Japan Market crash     -  down eventually over 80%

Nighties Bubble:  2000  Dot.con   Bubble  down 80 %

 

These are hardly examples of " elevated" markets

 

And currently the stock market is probable in the mother of all Bubbles with valuations reaching  extreme levels not seen since 1929

 

Buffet does buys value but it does not take genius when you have inside information.

 

The stock markets have always been rigged and manipulated by the elites who are the players in the know.

 

 

 

 stock market is not expected to go up in a straight line.

there will always be ups and downs. U S stock will continue to go UP in long term.

 Population growth, economic expension both in US and overseas..etc.

 

Buffet is an extra ordinary man, few people are as so as he is at  what he is doing, so good that you'd think he has inside information. Tell that to SEC.

 

I put some money in BRK/B 5 years ago and it has doubled.

 

 

 

 

[Justfine]

Gold is real

Platinum is real

Land is real

 

Crypto is an illusion and it's basically a mlm system.

[Justfine]

19 minutes ago, Thailand J said:

The stock markets have always been rigged and manipulated by the elites who are the players in the know.

 

Share prices go up and down based on revenue and profits or expected profits and revenue.

 

If a business goes from $5m in revenue and $100k profit in 1980 to $5bn revenue and $1bn profit in 2001 then the share price would have risen a lot.

 

It's just logical stuff.

 

Crypto is a made up mlm currency by IT geeks. It only exists cause some people believe in it.

[Justfine]

On 12/05/2018 at 7:39 PM, JimmyJ said:

" Likening bitcoin demand to the tulip bulb mania in 17th century Holland..."

 

This has been pretty thoroughly debunked - Buffett needs to keep up:

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-tulip-fever-180964915/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

 

 

 

Keep up with Wiki? Buffett doesn't care about Wiki definitions.

[Thailand J]

According to NY Times, the 1929 crash recovered in 4.5 years not 25. i wasn't there so i don't know what to believe . :)

 

  https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/your-money/stocks-and-bonds/26stra.html

[Justfine]

Just now, Thailand J said:

According to NY Times, the 1929 crash recovered in 4.5 years not 25. i wasn't there so i don't know what to believe . :)

 

  https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/your-money/stocks-and-bonds/26stra.html

Yes it took 4 or 5 years.

 

25 years lol

 

 

[phycokiller]

he also recommended not investing in amazon and google. Im sure hes very knowledgeable in his field but this isnt it