[Carry_Okie]

Uncle Warren and his team have achieved this by being value investors who look for businesses and securities with prices trading below their intrinsic value and then gaming the government for favors to pump up that value.

There, fixed it.

[Starboard]

As a person I find Buffett at times hypocritical. He is just another limousine liberal Democrat. He also benefits from many “special deals” that are not available to the rest of the investing public. He is less than candid about that.

As an investor, however, he is very savvy and is generous with his sage advice. Unlike his personal political views, he has no reservations about admitting when his investment picks do not pan out.

For anyone who would like more insights into his investing philosophy and methodology, check out the book “Buffett - Beyond Value” (by Prem C. Jain). Good read that is well worth the time and money.

[DManA]

Right. And Uncle Warren lives in a little house in Omaha.

[LegendHasIt]

People often can make a short term profit by listening to Satan too.

[Hostage]

Uncle Warren and his team have achieved this by being value investors who look for businesses and securities with prices trading below their intrinsic value. That value is determined by analyzing a company's business fundamentals. More than just determining whether an opportunity is underpriced by the market, Buffett and his team also look at the overall potential of the company and how well that company can make money as a business. As such, these investments tend to be longer-term in nature, and Buffett has been rather open about his views on what the stock market may or may not think about his team's investments.

What schlock!

What Buffett's empire has learned over the years is that if you own a town, all its businesses and you hire all its employees and all the employees shop at stores you own in the town, then you control the game.

But Buffett's generals and lieutenants have finessed their game play over the years. They have realized one doesn't need to own everything, just have enough shares to control it. For example, the Buffett empire owns only 26% of Moody's Investment Services yet 26% is all that is needed to control it. If another player tries to buy a controlling stake, Buffett's people will bring overwhelming cash to the table and raise the ante on the upstart trying a hostile takeover.

Meanwhile Buffett's hedge funds buy short term call options before driving the stock price through the roof and just before capitulation of their opponent they buy put options to profit on the stock resettling to its former price before the hostile takeover attempt.

So there it is, Buffett's people control the game with cash, hedge funds, political smackdowns/favors and NY media support. All of these tools are available to his empire because they are the controllers. Incidentally this is why he is a democrat or why the people that are his tools are democrats. Because republican belief in free markets and competition are child-like fantasies to the likes of Buffett. He does not believe in competition. He believes in control; absolute control.

Ask yourself if there is one 'unique' thing in life that Buffett or his people have created that you could not do without. Notice I write "have created". There is nothing that Buffett has brought to life that he and his people "have created" that is unique and indispensable. If Buffett had never existed or had never risen up to being just another hired hand, life in America would not have noticed.

So should we invest our time reading his folksy letters? Only if you have time to waste.

[Vaduz]

‘Price is what you pay; value is what you get.
Only if the voters could understand that the country would be in far better shape.

[RedWhiteBlue]

While Buffett has an excellent track record, the investment philosophy of value investing did not originate with him. The father of value investing is Benjamin Graham.