“Charlie Munger Speaks at the Daily Journal’s Annual Shareholder’s Meeting” Interview of Charlie Munger by CNBC’s Becky Quick, who selected and read a pair of questions from me.
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Here’s that transcript, starting at 37:37, from the full interview here: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/charlie-munger-speaks-daily-journals-185409394.html
Kass: “Recent appointees Lina Kahn as Chair of the FTC and Jonathan Kanter as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department have each pledged to follow an aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement. Do you believe there’s a need for new antitrust legislation and/or more stringent antitrust scrutiny with respect to the largest technology companies?
Munger: I think what’s happened is so important and so tied up with national strength … I’m not trying to weaken the internet companies in the United States. I like the fact that we have strong national champions that are big strong companies, and I think other nations are proud of their strong companies, too. So, I don’t think ‘bigness’ is bad in the end. I don’t want the internet to be dominated by foreign companies. I want big strong American companies that stand well in the world. So I’m not as worried about antitrust aspects of the internet. I’m not worried that [Kahn’s and Kantor’s pledged antitrust scrutiny] will have much practical consequence.”
Kass: Currently Congress is considering legislation to address the trading and ownership of individual stocks by members of Congress. What are your views on this subject?
Munger: “I don’t think we’ve had big, serious moral lapses in Congress. Maybe a fairly scattered, minor amount of miscreancy. So, I’m not much worried about this.”
Article by Dr. David Kass
