Bitcoin Forum

Warren Buffett is seeing inflation among Berkshire Hathaway’s collection of businesses as the economic recovery from the Covid pandemic kicks into high gear.

“We are seeing very substantial inflation,” the Berkshire chairman and CEO said at the conglomerate’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday. “It’s very interesting. We are raising prices. People are raising prices to us and it’s being accepted.”

“We’ve got nine homebuilders in addition to our manufacture housing and operation, which is the largest in the country. So we really do a lot of housing. The costs are just up, up, up. Steel costs, you know, just every day they’re going up,” the legendary investor added.

Berkshire Hathaway owns one of the nation’s largest homebuilders Clayton Homes, along with companies such as Benjamin Moore paints and Shaw flooring.

Inflation has begun to accelerate recently due to multiple factors, including increasing demand and struggles with some areas of the supply chain, as well as just easier comparisons with the pace of a year ago. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.8% in March, the fastest pace since February 2020. The headline number increased 2.3%, the quickest pace for that measure since 2018.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated last week that he expects inflation to show a temporary move higher then settle back to around the central bank’s 2% target. The Fed has resolved not to raise interest rates until the economy sees full, inclusive employment, so long as inflation doesn’t run too far above the goal.

Higher price pressures could weigh on stocks as inflation erodes the value of future company profits, and can cause a spike in Treasury yields.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/warren-buffett-says-berkshire-hathaway-is-seeing-very-substantial-inflation-and-raising-prices.html

Funny how he recognizes this but is unable to see that Bitcoin is the best protection for the coming hyperinflation, but hey, as I have said in other posts about him and Munger, he got rich in another era, he has one foot in the grave and Bitcoin is not needed for him to get rich, far from it.

It is interesting how every potential cause of inflation is mentioned here. EXCEPT for Biden and the fed printing increasing piles of fiat to fund their aggressive stimulus plans and COVID lockdowns.

Funny how he recognizes this but is unable to see that Bitcoin is the best protection for the coming hyperinflation, but hey, as I have said in other posts about him and Munger, he got rich in another era, he has one foot in the grave and Bitcoin is not needed for him to get rich, far from it.

It will remain to be seen if as inflation rises, the FED dares to raise rates. We are in a headlong rush forward in which we cannot have our cake and eat it too: if the FED keeps printing, there will be hyperinflation, thus bad for the economy; if, on the contrary, it raises interest rates it will probably affect negatively the stock market and economic growth.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

Consumer inflation in the US will increase,but it won't become hyperinflation.
Going from 1,8% to 2,3% is not a big deal.The real inflation will happen in the US financial markets.
Economists and businessmen in the US were expecting growing inflation over the last 10 years.Such big inflation never happened,but the people keep talking about the US dollar doing down,in terms of value.
Another interesting question is will the USA "export inflation" like they did back in 2011,when the increased levels of inflation in the middle east,combined with increased poverty and unemployment caused the revolutions in Egypt,Libya,Tunisia,Syria and other countries.

That makes sense that those who have wealth in USD should consider the statement of Buffett.

And with that having said, is he going to look for another way to protect their assets on his BH? will this give a point to him that he should take a look  how bitcoin performs while they are experiencing inflation?

That makes sense that those who have wealth in USD should consider the statement of Buffett.

And with that having said, is he going to look for another way to protect their assets on his BH? will this give a point to him that he should take a look  how bitcoin performs while they are experiencing inflation?

And you don't have to be Warren Buffett to realize what he said in the interview is true: that we're in for some very rough times ahead.

The prices of raw materials used to make almost everything are skyrocketing, and the upward trajectory looks set to continue as the world economy roars back to life.
From steel and copper to corn and lumber, commodities started 2021 with a bang, surging to levels not seen for years. The rally threatens to raise the cost of goods from the lunchtime sandwich to gleaming skyscrapers. 

China, a crucial source of supply and demand for raw materials, is playing a big role, particularly as the government tries to reduce production of key metals like steel and aluminum. It’s also buying up massive amounts of grains. Food prices are also being affected as poor weather in key growing nations like Brazil and France hits harvests.

Meanwhile, countries looking to rebuild infrastructure may find their budgets buy less than they used to. President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan is one such case. Electricity grids, railways and refurbishing buildings are among the items on the shopping list that will use large amounts of metal. Consultancy CRU Group estimates the program will add 5 million tons of steel to the 80 million the US uses each year, with similar boosts to aluminum and copper demand.

Costs for corn fed to livestock have doubled in the past year, and soybean meal is more than 40% higher. While there’s a delay before that hits the burger chain or steakhouse, there are already signs of prices creeping higher.

Steel producers in Europe and America have suffered for years from low prices caused by global overcapacity. Plants struggled to make money and job security became a growing worry. Over 85,000 steel jobs were lost in the European Union between 2008 and 2019, according to industry association Eurofer. That’s all changed dramatically thanks to booming steel prices. Futures in China, by far the biggest producer, have smashed records — even outpacing gains in key ingredient iron ore — as the government took measures to curb output. That’s supercharged rallies of benchmark prices in Europe and America, where mills were already running at maximum capacity as they try to meet unexpectedly high demand.

Whether you prefer latte or espresso, sweetened or plain, the key ingredients of a cup of coffee have surged. Arabica coffee futures have risen about 33% in the past year, while raw sugar has also advanced. Fancy a slice of toast? Benchmark wheat prices have hit the highest since 2013.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

It is interesting how every potential cause of inflation is mentioned here. EXCEPT for Biden and the fed printing increasing piles of fiat to fund their aggressive stimulus plans and COVID lockdowns.

The timeline of events and the media's stance on it form 2020 leading to the present, speaks volumes on everything.

It appears that those concerned with US dollar devaluation and potential hyperinflation can expect no relief from the fed or official sources. All of whom are already laying the groundwork to deny their involvement in any hyperinflation/devaluation which occurs.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

It is interesting how every potential cause of inflation is mentioned here. EXCEPT for Biden and the fed printing increasing piles of fiat to fund their aggressive stimulus plans and COVID lockdowns.

The timeline of events and the media's stance on it form 2020 leading to the present, speaks volumes on everything.

It appears that those concerned with US dollar devaluation and potential hyperinflation can expect no relief from the fed or official sources. All of whom are already laying the groundwork to deny their involvement in any hyperinflation/devaluation which occurs.

Buffet IMO is not wrong if he says inflation is around  because most economy have not taken back to their feet about full production (because of covid-19) that will lead to export and capital to the economy and raising reserves. The countries go with the option of printing money. Printing money is not always good for the economy if the purpose is for circulation into the economy because it will cause prices of goods to increase. US have been on this and this is not a better option if not properly handled.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

It is interesting how every potential cause of inflation is mentioned here. EXCEPT for Biden and the fed printing increasing piles of fiat to fund their aggressive stimulus plans and COVID lockdowns.

The timeline of events and the media's stance on it form 2020 leading to the present, speaks volumes on everything.

It appears that those concerned with US dollar devaluation and potential hyperinflation can expect no relief from the fed or official sources. All of whom are already laying the groundwork to deny their involvement in any hyperinflation/devaluation which occurs.

Oddly enough, but in this case, inflation is a boon and shows that the economic mechanisms are working and responding and the economy is really starting to recover. On the contrary, it would be strange and suspicious if, after pouring so much printed money into the economy to overcome the pandemic, there would be no price growth and, accordingly, inflation, and all the money would only warm up the stock market and the cryptocurrency market. There is nothing wrong with reasonable inflation, although of course ordinary citizens are unlikely to be delighted with this.

I quite agree with you that inflation is part of interaction of policies and production and that it can be humanly induced for certain purposes but the point is let the purpose not be selfish. High rate of inflation has already gone against whatever purpose because the after effect is going down to the masses as the end effect. If inflation is above 2% in an economy, you just know hardship is starting to crop in. Example in Nigeria the high level of hardship is majorly caused by high inflation which is far above in the 2 digit figure and that is having advance effect on even the rich. Cost of food stuffs is far above what any one can expect and that is just a basic need, then luxury life is just a dream.
Cost of living is very high where there is high rate of inflation.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

It is interesting how every potential cause of inflation is mentioned here. EXCEPT for Biden and the fed printing increasing piles of fiat to fund their aggressive stimulus plans and COVID lockdowns.

The timeline of events and the media's stance on it form 2020 leading to the present, speaks volumes on everything.

It appears that those concerned with US dollar devaluation and potential hyperinflation can expect no relief from the fed or official sources. All of whom are already laying the groundwork to deny their involvement in any hyperinflation/devaluation which occurs.

Buffet is good at doing his research for stocks and has made huge gains at stocks but he is not very good at doing his research for cryptocurrencies, where he absolutely lacks of knowledge. He even wanted to date Justin Sun, CEO of a fraudulent coin called "TRON".
Buffet should stay at his stocks or doing technically detailed research about cryptocurrencies before making conclusions, like he often does. As a Boomer, his focus is clearly outdated like so many conservative Boomers. Cryptocurrency will be a step forwards and everyone who will buy it right now (only good coins) will make good money.

Too many people are conflating the increases due to supply chain issues because of COVID, problem is, the supply chain was stressed, did not fail, and at some point the prices for these goods would return to normal once the pandemic subsided. Well, we are at the lowest COVID cases in almost every major country since around March (or whenever an individual country's peak was). Prices for goods continue to increase.

I don't know why everyone here gives so much importance to Warren Buffet. Across different sub-sections I have seen at least 4-5 threads which mentions him in the title. Warren Buffet was a great investor. But that was many decades ago. Right now he is a bitter old man who can't fathom the success made by cryptocurrency. Most of the economic analysts have predicted a steep rise in inflation, which corresponds to Biden's plan for an additional $6 trillion in spending ("American Families Plan"). Now we don't need Buffet to repeat those words.

Printing more money to pump into the market and taxing the rich capitalists is one way to drive inflation.
Capitalists will increase the price of the products they make to have more income to pay taxes.
Citizens will use government subsidies to invest in cryptocurrencies and the money they earn to invest because they know that their money is losing value over time.
Not Buffet, but we see it ourselves. Gold has risen, food has risen. The next item outside the supermarket will increase slowly until we realize it.

Going by my recent findings/observations, I don't think the expected inflation is something that's too far-fetched, I think the inflation is already upon us, basically everything in my country has gone up, from the most expensive commodity, down to the cheapest of them all, and I've been in talks with some of my friends abroad, and I'm told it's the same thing where they are as well, the thing is people are yet to understand that this is the post-pandemic (not that we're even out of the pandemic yet), inflation we've all been talking about since the printing of excess money and other policies used by the government for the sake of covid-19 pandemic began.

The thing is corporations will buy Bitcoin as a hedge against the devaluing Fiat currencies cause they have money at their disposal, but for the average individual, it's much more difficult, especially now that cost of living is pretty high, they would rather use their stimulus for their daily needs than for investing in something that's somewhat risky.

The thing is corporations will buy Bitcoin as a hedge against the devaluing Fiat currencies cause they have money at their disposal, but for the average individual, it's much more difficult, especially now that cost of living is pretty high, they would rather use their stimulus for their daily needs than for investing in something that's somewhat risky.

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

And with that having said, is he going to look for another way to protect their assets on his BH? will this give a point to him that he should take a look  how bitcoin performs while they are experiencing inflation?

This serves as a counterpoint to everyone who says the US economy is "booming" atm.

The government prints too much money to regulate the economy, so that's the first reason. Another reason is due to the reduction of agricultural production and commodity production, making these products reduce production and inventory more. Firms need to deal with their own economic problems, which are fees such as storage, product distribution, and capital recovery. They will do everything according to plan to revive their business. The escalation in commodity prices is inevitable.

Free money drives everyone to consume, and this happens to almost everyone. Converting their assets to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be easier for businesses with stable revenue. That is easy to see. Not everyone has a vision of inflation, especially for the poor.

what's "substantial" for warren is considerable and integral for the ones that are at the lower echelons of the society. The ones that are impoverished are most affected by the never-ending inflation of the US dollar, which further subjects them to a substandard way of living that I believe Warren wouldn't be able to survive had the positions been switched between them.

what's "substantial" for warren is considerable and integral for the ones that are at the lower echelons of the society. The ones that are impoverished are most affected by the never-ending inflation of the US dollar, which further subjects them to a substandard way of living that I believe Warren wouldn't be able to survive had the positions been switched between them.

That's funny in my opinion, these out of touch billionaires think that they know what's best for the poor when all they do is get fed of the money that they stole from them "legally". If these fuckers all pay their taxes in their country, the poor will have the help they will receive or if they don't want to pay taxes in legal way then they should probably pay the debts of these people, they will still have a lot of leftover when they do this.

The reason why poor do not really care about inflation in a savings stand point (obviously we all care about inflation for regular purchasing prices increasing) is the simple fact that if you are actually a poor person you would know that you can't save money, anyone who can put money aside time to time is not a poor person, even a poor person could do that maybe a few times in their life but not constantly and not in a consistent manner.

It means they can't care about increasing their account, they can't care about finding a way for their bank account to grow faster than inflation, because they spend it, whatever they earn they end up spending and that means they do not have any money at all. I am sort of in the middle, I do save a bit of money so I am definitely not poor thank god, but I am also not rich by any standard neither, I am saving up funny amount of money per month, like maybe $50 per month but that is better than be in debt every month.

It is the duty of the government to remove those loopholes, which allow billionaires such as Buffet and Gates to avoid paying taxes. Whenever the tax rates are increased, it is the middle class which suffer. The billionaires are not affected, because they almost never sell their shares. When was the last time that Warren Buffet sold his shares in Berkshire Hathaway? So it is clear that increasing the capital gains tax or the income tax will not have an impact on these people.

I would rather disagree. Inflation has the most negative impact on the middle class, and not on the lower class or the rich. The poor usually don't have any savings and their earnings from various blue collar jobs increase with respect to inflation. The middle class on the other hand will witness the net worth of their savings go down as a result of inflation (unless they are saving in the form of some asset that is protected against inflation - such as gold or Bitcoin).

If the government could be lobbied then probably those loopholes are going to stay there forever. Believe a lot of people have tried to close this loopholes and they failed miserably. Look back at the times of Banana Republic, when an elected president tried to get in the way of these Fruit Companies, they conspired to overthrow that president.

what's "substantial" for warren is considerable and integral for the ones that are at the lower echelons of the society. The ones that are impoverished are most affected by the never-ending inflation of the US dollar, which further subjects them to a substandard way of living that I believe Warren wouldn't be able to survive had the positions been switched between them.

It is the duty of the government to remove those loopholes, which allow billionaires such as Buffet and Gates to avoid paying taxes. Whenever the tax rates are increased, it is the middle class which suffer. The billionaires are not affected, because they almost never sell their shares. When was the last time that Warren Buffet sold his shares in Berkshire Hathaway? So it is clear that increasing the capital gains tax or the income tax will not have an impact on these people.

That's the sad reality of today's politics. The billionaires are major donors for various political parties, so none of the mainstream parties would favor a law which would remove the loopholes used by the super-rich to avoid taxes. Every now and then, they will increase and decrease the income tax and capital gains tax, just to fool the ordinary people. None of these tax increases (or decreases) will have any real impact on the billionaires. There should be a complete overhaul on how the taxes are being paid.

I don't know why everyone here gives so much importance to Warren Buffet. Across different sub-sections I have seen at least 4-5 threads which mentions him in the title. Warren Buffet was a great investor. But that was many decades ago. Right now he is a bitter old man who can't fathom the success made by cryptocurrency. Most of the economic analysts have predicted a steep rise in inflation, which corresponds to Biden's plan for an additional $6 trillion in spending ("American Families Plan"). Now we don't need Buffet to repeat those words.

Tell me you're a clown without saying you're a clown, lol. Buffet and Munger are still the greatest investors in history, and their opinions matter a great deal which is why they get so much attention.  Trying to say Buffet is a bitter old man because he's not a crypto enthusiast is a hot take, and a dumb one at that.