Charlie Munger Compares Bitcoin to Rat Poison [VIDEO]

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Charlie Munger

Do you feel happy with the way that company’s done (ph)?

BUFFETT: Well, Don Graham’s done a great job, sure, but the trends are against — and in my view, the trends are more the adverse with a really big metropolitan papers.  So we’re — we’re in decent sized communities, but not the big metropolises.

CLAMAN:  It’s near a 52-week high, so that’s good news for “The Washington Post”.  But should they spin off Stanley Kaplan?  I know everybody always talks about that.

BUFFET:  I’m not big on spin-offs generally.  I mean, if you bring them into the fold for a reason, unless that reason changes in some dramatic way, why spin them off?

CLAMAN:  Well, from newspapers and TV to radio to PCs,  Bill, I have an opportunity to sit here and talk to you about electronics and all that’s going on.

What do you find yourself using the most these days: a PC, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.  The most — which one do you use the most, do you think?

GATES:  Well, I have my Surface Pro, because it gives you the benefits of a tablet and a PC.  It’s got the keyboard, it’s thin, it’s portable, it does everything you’d like from a tablet in terms of the battery length.  So, you know, I’m biased, but that’s a showcase machine for Windows 8.

CLAMAN:  Well, because a year ago, you were using the Galaxy Samsung?

GATES:  No, I’ve been a big users of laptops.  Laptops, because I’m just a huge e-mail user, I tend to be on the keyboard a lot.  And this year it’s the Surface Pro for sure

CLAMAN:  Still not you, Warren.  A big user of e-mail?

BUFFETT:  I’m a PC guy.

CLAMAN:  You’re a PC guy.

BUFFETT:  Right, right.

CLAMAN:  Which one?  Who makes it?

BUFFETT:  Well, actually the one — I got it at the furniture mart some years ago.  Hewlett-Packard, running on Windows

CLAMAN:  Hewlett-Packard, that’s what I — It’s a little heavy, though, these days.  I’m thinking, do I go to the dark side?

BUFFETT:  I never carry it around.

CLAMAN:  Do I go to Apple, the dark side there?  Which brings us to this, you know, Bill, you’re very used to iconic companies where a leader is no longer there.  You look at Apple right now, everybody says, oh, it will be fine without Steve Jobs.  The Apple stock has plummeted pretty considerably and it’s no longer the most highly valued company, you know, it was at the top for a moment there.  Do you think it deserves to be back there at some point?  Do you think it gets there at some point?

GATES:  Well, it’s still quite a valuable company and it’s doing great work.  This field is very competitive.  Tech stocks, you know, anybody who thinks they know where tech is going to be in ten years is — there’s a high risk that they might be missing something.  So, you know, I can’t talk about the price in the past.  You’ve got–

CLAMAN:  Well, it was higher when Steve Jobs ran it, you can see that, certainly.

GATES:  Yes, actually I think it reached a peak after.  But, you know, the stock market is going to bounce around a lot.  The competitive dynamic is in the tablet space they’ve been very strong and now you’ve got people like Microsoft with Surface, Samsung with their products, and so the competition is heating up and we all just have to surprise people with our new work.

CLAMAN:  Well, I’m just wondering if Warren he’s on a PC, is that the time sell at the top?  I mean, you look at the PC numbers and they don’t look healthy these days.  Does it go by way of the typewriter at some point?

GATES:  Well, the distinction between the PC and the tablet is going away and the combined market there is a gigantic market.  Windows 8 was designed to get Microsoft to give you the best of both there.  And so we’ll have to see.  You know, so far that looks good, but absolutely, people want the small size and portability and yet they don’t want to give up the ability to use Microsoft Office and have the keyboard and so we’re trying to give them all those things in one product.

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