Warren Buffett's Biggest Weakness: Interview With Alice Schroeder, Buffett Biographer

fool.com:

o what about Buffett the person? What's his biggest weakness? Does anyone in his circle openly disagree with him? How does he measure his success? In part two of our three-part series, my colleague Chris Hill talks about Warren's world with Buffett biographer Alice Schroeder, author of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.

Read the whole story: fool.com

Comments

[Faraja]

"The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you. " Gordon Gekko

[mzonic]

Yeah man, this weakness made him the richest person in the world.

[oath of fealty]

Stock market surging while main street keeps getting squeezed

good articles: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

It looks like 9-8% unemployment is the new normal since the govt. wants ppl to be unemployed. Otherwise we would have REAL shovel ready projects and green jobs instead of the BS we have now.

[condor101]

This story demonstrates that he's just a Greedy man.
has he done anything to help mankind with his wealth? Nothing.

[schatsie]

Read FREE LUNCH about the corporate perks that Warren and Billy get, let alone the fact that they do not pay their taxes and pay no interest and penalties,,,make the Bushs look like Kindergarten cops....

[Democratt]

This more than anything else is why I don't trust Obama anymore.

The moment it became clear he wasn't going to fight to actually clean up the financial industry is the moment it became clear that the hope and change rhetoric was just that, rhetoric. All he cares about is keeping corporate money in dem hands, he doesn't dare anger his corporate sponsors.

good articles 4 slow news day: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

the system needs to be overhauled cuz nothing seems to change .

[Tennys Daughter]

What does this article have to do with the President?

[nopilikia]

He must have a odd form of greed. The vast majority of his fortune has already been designated to charity.

[schatsie]

Yes and his children are the ones running the so called Charities....you probably believe that the Heritage Foundation is a charity also,,,,I don't think so, it is a PR arm for the WALTONS and the HAVE MORES......

Business expenses, jets, country club fees all go thru as business expenses, pretax dollars and then make it deductible,,,while you and I get to pay for our cars post taxes and no deductions...none at all....

[nopilikia]

You are mistaken. The largest gift (37 billion) has already gone to the Gates Foundation with more going to it in the future. It is the largest most transparent charity in the world.

[jon86]

Aren't most people really greedy though?

[FoonTheElder]

Some of the new multi-millionaires' greed never ends. Would the average person think that a net worth of $100 million+ wasn't enough money or power and that they were obsessed with getting more?

[schatsie]

I think it is time to cap income and wealth accumulation or at least make them pay some kind of tax on it...think about warrens Wealth, do you beileive that the man has actually paid 2% of his wealth in taxes,,,and 90% of it is capital gains and he will pay less in taxes than we do....

[SamKnause]

No. I know many people who are not greedy in the least. Most people I know just want a decent paying job, a decent place to live, food on the table, and not to have to worry about those things every waking second of the day and night. They were this way before the recession (depression) and even more so now.

[hellboundtrain]

And, the problem with greed sir, is this: That once that greed is allowed to infiltrate
any personality that then that life itself will be judged unacceptable as whatever position
that the recipient holds is immediately judged unworthy.

As in NEVER satisfied!

[indy100]

" when he was younger, making money was so overwhelmingly important to him that he really did not pay a lot of attention to his family" Nice. So Warren Buffet, the "great" man, really isn't such a great man is he? And like all old men he is realizing that you cannot take money with you, that money cannot buy you a good legacy or make people remember you fondly. Yup Warren you can't BUY BACK TIME.

[Gover]

The heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune did a documentary about the incredibly wealthy interviewing people deep inside the world of the ultra-rich. One of them was Warren Buffet's granddaughter.

Just for appearing in the video, and she didn't say anything particularly demeaning or disrespectful, she was sent a letter a few weeks later informing her she'd been disowned by Buffet and would never get a penny of it.

There's the real Warren Buffet for you.

[sonofsamphm1c]

It's one aspect of Warren Buffet's private life, and one of the few that could be perceived as a character flaw.

His son maintains a relationship with his daughter and his son will have a will.

Most of the documentary was about children who get large amounts of money. Warren Buffet does not believe in doing that. He obviously took great offense that she would appear in a documentary about rich kids who were living in a way that he does not allow his family members to live. He paid for her college tuition, room and board, and living expenses. Few kids get that from grandpa. Mine certainly don't.

[Gover]

I tend to believe there's many things about the man I would consider character flaws.

I simply don't believe you can get that wealthy and be nice or scrupulous.

[schatsie]

and he gave her 10 grand each and every year as he did with all his children and grandchildren.

[Sumocat]

Greed is Warren Buffett's greatest weakness as competitiveness is Michael Phelps' greatest weakness.

[BannedNBoston]

The Ultra-Rich are different than you and me.

Here is proof;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU

[Hank007]

Cool, a bunch of random clips edited together to show some kind of conspiracy theory. Ironically, some people actually believe this nonsense.

[Artos]

The Rich are different than us, and we helped make them that way, in ways both big and small. We buy what they sell. We idolize them when we write very flattering bios about their lives. Most of those bios are half truths or embellished so that more often than not we are inclined to lionize them. Look at all the men who supposedly built America. The Railroad Kings, the Coal and Steel barons, the City builders who build their huge phallic symbols ever taller into the sky. We are the ones who Idolize them and not the actual workers who often died in the employ of these Rich men and sometimes women. Who makes the Entertainers what they are, We do when we buy their products and go to their movies or concerts, willingly paying a months pay just to go see or hear one. Sports figures same thing. We are the ones who flatter the handsome and pretty ones because we feel so slighted by fate in that regard that we envy them and fawn over them. Aren't there plenty of stats that show that the attractive or the taller folks most often see success and are told from day one how wonderful they are. We are all part of the equation. When we stop envying what they have and revise our standards, then perhaps our values will show themselves in who we raise up as the influential in our society.

[FoonTheElder]

The thing about Buffett is that he's not different than any of the robber barons of the last 30 years. It's just that he has good publc relations going for him.

When it comes to business, he is just a very sharp stockbroker. He creates monopolies and oligopolies and destroys jobs and competition, just like the rest of the robber barons.

His recent investment in Goldman Sachs was nothing more than a set up by the Bush Administration to get his money in return for a better deal than the taxpayers ended up getting. He knew they were going to be bailed out ahead of time.

[nopilikia]

Still, anyone that can suck that rate of return from the veins of GS is o.k. in my book.

[uneeda]

just another emotional zombie