had over the weekend was on climate change. I want our viewers to know we have three smart guys here. Bill, you are a Harvard drop-out. Warren, you’re a Harvard reject and you’re happy to always point that out. And Charlie, you’re a Cal Tech-trained meteorologist.
Let me start with you then. Is climate change a reality? Is it really happening? There are people on both sides here that disagree virulently.
MUNGER: I think the evidence is pretty clear that there’s some global warming. Exactly what the long-term effects are going to be on climate is a more complicated question and the answer is less sure. There has been some global warming caused by man.
CLAMAN: Warren?
BUFFETT: I have nothing to add, as Charlie would say
CLAMAN: Yes,
Charlie always says I have nothing to add. But Bill, you have alternative investments in energy, what do you think?
GATES: Well, it’s a very serious problem. It’s going to hurt the poorest in the world who have done very little to cause it. You know, there are farmers and there will be more drought, there will be more severe weather. And so this is something we’ve got to get very serious about, changing our energy system so that it’s not putting out so much CO2.
CLAMAN: Well, then we get to something that is a different kind of liquid than gasoline or oil or whatever people believe is causing some type of global warming, and that is Coca-Cola. I have to ask you, because throughout the meeting, not only do you both drink a lot of Coca-Cola, I believe you drink Diet, right, Charlie?
MUNGER: Yes
CLAMAN: Did I see Diet there? But you’re full strength. What do you drink, Bill?
GATES: Diet.
CLAMAN: You drink Diet. And then you guys are sitting there eating peanut brittle. I checked. There are 240 grams of sugar in this. You stuck up for all the sugar you’re drinking. What must you guys, as Coca-Cola’s largest shareholders, think about Mayor Bloomberg of New York trying to eliminate 16-ounce sodas and ban them?
BUFFETT: Well, 16 ounces of Coca-Cola has roughly 200 calories in it. And all kinds of things have more than 200 calories that you take in. And I don’t see why one product should be picked out. I mean, actually I’ve already had some ice cream today.
CLAMAN: It’s a little early.
BUFFETT: But, you know, I eat peanut brittle. I eat fudge. I eat hamburgers. I eat French fries. Real key is how many calories you eat in a day and soft drinks are not unusually calorie intensive. I mean, like I say, 16 ounces is 200 calories and I don’t know, you know, what anybody had for dessert at lunch time.
CLAMAN: Charlie, do you see any side of what Mayor Bloomberg is trying to do as valid?
MUNGER: Well, I wouldn’t intervene in — if I had the power in rationing Coca-Cola. I think Warren’s cognition has actually been improved by his consumption of Coca-Cola. He force-feeds it to me, actually. No, he skips the last two months drooling in a nursing home, I don’t think that’s a big tragedy.
(LAUGHTER)
MUNGER: Come visit me, please.
CLAMAN: Well, I think somebody who is here is going to realize that there’s a soda fountain in your office with Coca-Cola and she is the brand new board member of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B). This is a Fox Business exclusive. Meryl Witmer of Eagle Capital Partners is joining us now. Meryl, welcome.
MERYL WITMER, EAGLE CAPITAL PARTNERS: Thank you.
CLAMAN: You were just voted in this weekend. Thank you for speaking to Fox Business exclusively. We’re thrilled to have you.
This is the first a lot of shareholders and viewers are getting to see you. What did you think when Warren Buffett first asked you to join the board?
WITMER: Well, it was very exciting, as you can well imagine, and of course you worry that you are not going to be qualified or do a good job, so he we talked
