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Warren Buffet's Life Advice Will Change Your Future (MUST WATCH) — Transcript

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0:02[Music]
0:08seventy years ago I was in high school
0:12almost a third as long as the country
0:15has been around and when I was in high
0:18school I really only had two things on
0:20my mind
0:21girls and cars and and I wasn't doing
0:25very well with girls so we'll talk about
0:26cars but let's just imagine that when we
0:30finished I'm gonna let each one of you
0:33pick out the car of your choice sounds
0:36good doesn't it
0:38pick it out any color you name it it'll
0:42be tied up with a bow and it'll be at
0:44your house tomorrow and you say well
0:48what's the catch and the catch is that
0:53it's the only car you're going to get in
0:54your lifetime now what are you going to
0:57do knowing that that's the only car
0:59you're ever going to have and you love
1:01that car you're going to take care of it
1:04like you cannot believe
1:06now what I like to suggest you're not
1:09going to get only one car in your
1:10lifetime but you got to get one body in
1:13one mind and that's all you're going to
1:15get and that body of mine feels terrific
1:19now but it has to last you a lifetime
1:23it's the important thing is to decide
1:25what is to be able to define which ones
1:30you can come to an intelligent decision
1:32on and which ones are beyond your
1:35capacity to evaluate you don't have to
1:37be right about thousands and thousands
1:39of thousands of companies you only have
1:40to be right about a company couple I met
1:42bill gates on July 5th 1991 we arrived
1:45Seattle and Bill said you've got to have
1:49a computer and I said why and he said
1:53well he said you can do your income tax
1:55on it I said I don't have any income
1:57Berkshire doesn't pay a dividend yeah he
1:59said well you can keep track of your
2:01portfolio I said I only have one stock I
2:04said I did I mean he says it's gonna
2:07change everything and I said well will
2:10it change whether people chew gum and he
2:12said well probably not and I said what
2:15will change what kind of gum they'd show
2:18and I said well then I'll stick a
2:19chewing gum and you stick to computers
2:21how bad I don't have to understand all
2:25kinds of but there's all kinds of
2:26business I don't understand but there's
2:28thousands of opportunities there I
2:30didn't understand the Bank of America
2:31you know and and I'll be able to do that
2:37I'm able to understand some given
2:41percentage but Ted Williams wrote a book
2:44called the science of hitting and in
2:46science of hitting he's got a diagram it
2:48shows him at the plate and he's got the
2:50strike zone divided in the seventy-seven
2:53squares each the size of a baseball and
2:56he says if I only swing it pitches in my
2:59sweet zone which he shows there and he
3:01has what his batting average would be
3:02which is 400 if he had to swing at low
3:05outside pitches but still in the in the
3:07strike zone
3:08his average would be 230 he said the
3:10most important thing in hitting is
3:12waiting for the right pitch now he was
3:14at a disadvantage because if the count
3:16was oh and two or one and two or so on
3:18even if that ball was down where he was
3:20only going about 230 he had to swing at
3:22it in investing
3:24there's no called strikes people can
3:26throw Microsoft that man you know you
3:28name it any any stock General Motors
3:31and I don't have to swing and nobody's
3:34gonna call me out on call strikes I
3:36only get a strike called if I swing at a
3:39pitch and miss so I can wait there and
3:41look at thousands of companies day after
3:43day and only when I see something I
3:46understand and when I like the price of
3:48which is selling then if I swing if I if
3:50I had it fine if I miss it that's it's
3:53it's a strike but it's an enormous ly
3:55advantageous game and it's a terrible
3:57mistake to think you have to have an
3:59opinion on everything you only have to
4:01have an opinion on a few things in fact
4:04I've told students if when they got out
4:06of school they got a punch card with 20
4:09punches on it and that's all the
4:11investment decisions they got to make in
4:13their entire life they would get very
4:15rich because they would think very hard
4:17about each one and you don't need 20
4:19right decisions to get very rich you
4:21know four or five will probably do it
4:23over time so I don't worry too much
4:27about the things I don't understand it
4:29if you understand some of these
4:31businesses that are coming along and can
4:34spot things on if you can spot on Amazon
4:36for example I mean it's a tremendous
4:38accomplishment what Jeff Bezos has done
4:40and I tip my hat to me is a wonderful
4:42businessman he's a good guy too but
4:45could I have anticipated that he would
4:48be the success and ten others wouldn't
4:50be I'm not good enough to do that but I
4:52don't fortunately I don't have to you
4:54know I don't have to form an opinion on
4:56on Amazon and I did I did form an
4:59opinion on the Bank of America and I
5:01form an opinion on coca-cola
5:03I mean coca-cola has been around since
5:051886 there's 1.8 billion
5:091.8 billion 8 ounce servings of
5:12coca-cola products sold every day now if
5:15you take one penny and get one penny
5:18extra that's 18 million dollars a day
5:20and 18 million times 365 is 7 billion 3
5:25less 730 billion or 6 billion 570
5:29million dollars so annually 6 billion
5:32570 million dollars from one penny do
5:34you think coca-cola is worth a penny
5:35more than you know Jo's Cola I think so
5:38so you know and I've got about 127 years
5:42of history indicated so those are the
5:45kind
5:45citizens I like to make and you may have
5:49an entirely different field of expertise
5:51then I would have and probably much more
5:54up to date in terms of the kind of
5:56businesses that we're seeing about and
5:57you can get very rich if you just
5:59understand a few of them and understand
6:02their future what is it that you to
6:04share what makes this friendship so
6:08satisfying for both of you well I think
6:10we both certainly share a curiosity
6:12about the world and we come from two
6:16different but related worlds so we had
6:19probably spent about 10 hours of this
6:22one-hour visit that bill was scheduled
6:23on July 5th 1991 his mother had to talk
6:26attend to it and we weren't halfway I
6:30mean we've got no place in terms of our
6:32eventual agenda just in that time in
6:34fact the governor of Washington came by
6:36and bills that had to come into the
6:38bedroom well we have fun to start with I
6:45mean that every relationship should have
6:48a lot of fun in it and and we we find
6:51the world in just such an interesting
6:53place so we like to compare notes on it
6:55when we compare notes we have a lot of
6:57fun doing it part of the time as I
6:59remember the conversation by the way
7:00there's a remarkable documentary about
7:02Lauren which is on HBO I think it
7:05premieres on Monday 30th on Monday you
7:09should take time to take a look at it
7:11bills involved in that and and you will
7:13see in a sense its call I think becoming
7:15more Buffett yeah that's what it's
7:16called because so be 86 years you're
7:24doing well on it though well so far yeah
7:25that's yet to come
7:27yeah one of the things that happened in
7:29I bill was it I guess your dad at the
7:31dinner said you know what does it use
7:34what's been the most important quality
7:35for you and you found out that you and
7:37Warren had the same word yeah I think
7:41curiosity which Warren mentioned is a an
7:47amazing thing where you try and predict
7:50what's going to happen and then when it
7:52doesn't you sort of think well you know
7:55that drug didn't get invented that stock
7:59could go up that approach wasn't popular
8:02what's what is it about my model of the
8:05world that's wrong
8:07you know who could I talk to what could
8:08I read and and the things that have
8:11happened since 1991 mostly good things
8:15have been amazing and just you know so
8:17much fun to talk about you know so you
8:22know it we read the news and we think
8:24god what did warren think about that you
8:25both are readers you both you read all
8:27time all day warren bill you're a reader
8:31you also do a lot of sort of courses
8:34online as well what does that have done
8:37what is that done for your life a sense
8:38of constantly learning
8:40well glad bill it's an incredible time
8:44to be a learner I remember when I was
8:46young and I had the World Book which is
8:48one of Warren's products and it was very
8:51good but yeah I always felt like god I
8:54want to get into this more depth I
8:56wonder if kind of better today the
8:58videos that are online and the courses
9:01that you can buy with the very best
9:03professors it's phenomenal
9:06you know take a subject like weather or
9:09climate change or what's going on in
9:12economics what's known what's not known
9:15now with the foundation a lot of what I
9:17need to learn it's about biology making
9:19vaccines and what's going on with these
9:22these various diseases this is a
9:25phenomenal time to be a curious person
9:28the information that's out there you
9:30know I my my biggest problem is that I
9:33stay up too late because I'm reading and
9:34then I'm a little bit tired the next day
9:36the other thing that you share other
9:39than reading is optimism you believe in
9:43America absolument you know you have
9:45said to me more than once I would give
9:48up a year of my life just to know what
9:50the next fifty is gonna be like yeah
9:52even like for now I mean
9:57why'd you pick for number that came to
10:01me fascinating what's happened just in
10:08my lifetime
10:09you know 86 years I I should mention one
10:11thing about reading it was at the
10:14library here at Columbia which I spent
10:17probably more time than any other
10:19student
10:21I lived there practically but and I
10:24pulled the book out there happen to be
10:26who's in America and it told me
10:28something about my professor Benjamin
10:29where I am and then I looked up and I
10:31went to the library and I said I want to
10:32look more learn more about this because
10:33I learned this over here that changed my
10:36whole life you know
10:37we owned I go now because of that
10:40library and directing me there's some
10:43other book and then following through on
10:45that it's the chance I I read about
10:49one-fifth the pace the bill does but I
10:52still spend five or six hours a day
10:53reading I mean it just you can learn so
10:55much I particularly loved biography just
10:57you know to be able to live the lives of
11:01these people have been extorted seem so
11:04extraordinary the lessons and those you
11:06know the discouragements they face just
11:08everything about it so I did you can't
11:10get enough of reading what surprised you
11:12most about bill that's an interesting
11:17question I guess what really surprised
11:19me initially we just found so many
11:22things to connect on he did try to sell
11:25me a computer that way that's probably
11:30the only sale he didn't make all that
11:31computer changed my life for the better
11:33in a big way subsequently but well he he
11:38just had the same curiosity and the
11:41other word you have used his focus well
11:43the focus there's no question if I mean
11:44he both of us got to where we are in a
11:47big big way because of focus and Bill
11:49what surprised you about Lauren I was so
11:54amazed that he comes to investing with
11:58this broad model of the world so one of
12:01the first questions he asked me was a
12:03Microsoft's a small company IBM says
12:05company why can you do better why can't
12:08they
12:09beat you at the software game airplane
12:12and I always you know you know every day
12:15I was thinking about okay what advantage
12:18do we have what do we do but nobody ever
12:20asked me that question and we talked
12:22about the economics of software which is
12:24a very different and special thing and
12:27he could relate it to things that he'd
12:29seen and you know I didn't understand
12:31banking why some get ahead and some
12:33don't and so he was able to put that in
12:34very clear terms and so I I found
12:38somebody whose model was rich enough
12:41that it helped me understand things that
12:43I really wanted to know and we could
12:45laugh about things that were surprised
12:48to us I'd say his humility in this sense
12:51of humor really stood out in this
12:54incredible way I mean he enjoys what he
12:57does and he shares that with other
12:58people and even you know when I ask
13:01questions that are pretty naive that
13:03he's probably been asked 15 times he's
13:05very nice about well it took me a long
13:07time to figure this out bill but here's
13:09how it works
13:10I tried bill out with some
13:13non-transitive dice and I'd read about
13:16him in Scientific American or some
13:17places there were only two people in the
13:19world in the history of these dice that
13:21actually figured it out while I was
13:22trying to take their money from them and
13:24one was the leading symbolical audition
13:26in the world and the other was a drunk
13:28who didn't really know any better
13:29that's the one question but bill said
13:31wait a second you choose first and the
13:33game was over and you taught him not you
13:37didn't teach him but you brought him
13:39into a great appreciation of bridge yeah
13:42he played bridge but the family is very
13:44big on games his family was very very
13:46big on games and and and so we we played
13:50bridge together and we played in China
13:51going down rivers we're supposed to be
13:53looking at the scene we had a good time
13:56yeah all right we've got a lot of
13:58questions won't talk from the audience
13:59somebody we want to start up ending up
14:01in the balcony so we so you know we
14:03haven't forgotten you it's hard to see
14:06but is there a number there that has a
14:08question okay start it wherever it is
14:12yes number six
14:18thank both of you guys for being here
14:20today my question is in regards to
14:23public health and vaccinations given our
14:27current private presidents publicly
14:29stated stance against the use of action
14:31Nations both in this country and abroad
14:33how would you recommend that we as
14:35students and future leaders in health
14:37sciences best allocate our resources to
14:39most effectively resist his alternative
14:42fact political philosophy in regards to
14:44domestic and global public health thank
14:46you but bill that's a good place to
14:49start yeah well the facts about vaccines
14:55are very clear and very strong which is
14:58both that they're safe and that the
15:00vaccine schedule has been designed to
15:03reduce disease and you know the more
15:07parents that adhere to it
15:09the more not only their children be
15:10protected but you have some kids who are
15:13immune deficient so unless the kids
15:15around them are protected then it puts
15:18those kids at risk and there are
15:19diseases like measles or pertussis that
15:22all it takes is a small cluster and then
15:24mostly those diseases would be coming in
15:27from overseas but you can get infection
15:29in in some European countries you've had
15:32deaths because the kids weren't
15:34vaccinated I don't think the US
15:36government is going to come out with any
15:38negative statements there may be a
15:40commission and fortunately if you look
15:43at the facts the facts are quite
15:45unequivocal we certainly are speaking
15:47out in favor of vaccines so I I you know
15:52I'm a little surprised that we have to
15:53stick up for them but it's true in every
15:55country that you get these rumors and
15:58particularly in today's media those
16:00rumors can get out and ahead of the
16:03facts because the rumors are sort of
16:04more salacious or you know contrary to
16:08what you've been told type things here
16:11I'm sure we'll have a chance if
16:12necessary to go through the facts again
16:15and and get a clear positive message
16:17from the government and the risk is if
16:19vaccines somehow people are scared of
16:21having vaccines the risk is well there
16:24we're engaged right now in polio
16:27eradication and the only way that
16:30succeeds is to get 95% of the kids to
16:32have these vaccines and there we found
16:35we ran into a form of anti vaccine
16:38sentiment that even worse than us rumors
16:42and that is that two terrorist groups
16:44one in Nigeria Boko Haram and another
16:47one in Pakistan Afghanistan Natale bond
16:50said that vaccination was a u.s. plot
16:53and you know would sterilize women and
16:56it was a very bad thing and they took
17:00the women who are going out to the
17:02children's houses and giving these oral
17:04drops oral polio vaccine and actually
17:06killed a number of them and so those
17:09negative rumors the only reason we still
17:11have polio today that were not done is
17:13because of that part of Nigeria that
17:16Bokke roms caused unrest in the border
17:19areas including Baluchistan in Pakistan
17:23where there have been these anti vaccine
17:25sentiments so you know our risk is is
17:28simply those negative things so it's not
17:30just in rich countries that we run into
17:33this it absolutely is
17:36causes deaths if parents don't know
17:38bring your kids in and get them fully
17:41vaccinated and your drive to eradicate
17:43polio is to show that you can't do it
17:45well it'll be it started in 1988 when it
17:49already had been eradicated in the
17:52Americas so these were the for the u.s.
17:54in the 60s the rest of the Americas and
17:57the 70s showed that it could be done and
17:59so in 1988 well before our foundation
18:02was involved rotary and a number of
18:05other organizations said let's get rid
18:07of this and it's been harder than what's
18:10expected just because of these these
18:13sentiments you know here we are in 2016
18:15a 17 last year less than 50 cases so we
18:18are very very close in fact there are so
18:21few cases now the way that we track
18:23where the virus is is we go and look at
18:26sewage samples and we see because a lot
18:28of kids get infected and pass along
18:31without getting paralyzed and so it's
18:34only through the sewage samples we know
18:35that there's still about four places in
18:37Pakistan and Afghanistan and and one
18:40place in Nigeria that we we have gotten
18:43there yet all right let's see the next
18:44question I got to see a car number one
18:49thank you both so much for being here my
18:51question again sorry is a little bit on
18:54the political spectrum I was wondering
18:55what you're both most hopeful about in
18:57this new political environments we have
18:59and also what you're both most worried
19:00about you want to take hope of worried
19:03more well I'm I'm confident there
19:08America will move ahead it's been no the
19:13time I was born until now the real GDP
19:18per capita this country was one of six
19:20for one I mean nobody ever dreamt that
19:22would be possible and when you look at
19:25what's happened in this country over two
19:26hundred and forty years you know it's an
19:29absolute miracle when I went to come be
19:31a business school September 1951 woman
19:34in the class I mean that this country
19:36moves forward and you can't stop it so
19:40I'm enormous Lee I say the luckiest
19:43person or in the history of the world
19:44was the baby being born today in this
19:46country and we will go and you know
19:49everybody half the country always is
19:51going to be able to somewhat unhappy
19:52close to half about the last election
19:55but I grew up in a household in the late
20:001930s my dad was very Republican my
20:03sisters and I didn't get dessert unless
20:05we said something bad about Roosevelt I
20:07mean it was just it was required and I
20:11heard all these apocalyptic views about
20:14after his third term don't be no more
20:16elections I've been hearing that all my
20:18life and you know year after year after
20:21year with occasional hiccups and and an
20:23occasional seizure like we got in 2008
20:26at nine but this country
20:28it's all profit folks I mean you know
20:30when I came in just thinking what it
20:32would've been like in 1776 nothing here
20:34and now we've been the velocity of
20:36change oh yes moving I mean guys like
20:38Bill you know they don't quit you know I
20:41mean he he moves on to something like
20:44polio he mentions 50 cases in the world
20:46there were more than 50 in the ward
20:49where I went when I was a teenager to
20:51see a friend of my sisters
20:53and they're all in these rocking
20:54machines and everything they were
20:55destined to a terrible terrible life and
20:59it was just one ward in Omaha and and
21:01now that's you know that's the yearly
21:03total thanks
21:04initially the as well as currently
21:06dubrow tourism but people kept working
21:09out this world moves forward and it's
21:11been doing I bought my first stock when
21:13I was 11 in April in 1942 the Dow was
21:16100 you haven't looked it's 20,000
21:18something good must have happened and
21:22it's gonna keep happening folks bill I
21:24know you fear the optimism what about
21:25concerns
21:26well the optimism is partly that I think
21:30American innovation is strong you know
21:34support for research is by and large
21:36bipartisan and so there its health
21:39breakthroughs or even energy
21:41breakthroughs I think you know every
21:43year that goes by we're going to have
21:46more of those things now this
21:48administration is new enough we don't
21:50know how their budget priorities will
21:51come out you know there are things like
21:53foreign aid which is a small part of the
21:56budget about 30 billion a year but that
21:58means the u.s. is the biggest that every
22:00time there's new leadership we have to
22:02go in and articulate the benefits it's
22:05well spent it's not the image that
22:08people have in the past and so right now
22:10I think there's a lot of intensity to
22:13make sure we get that message out and
22:16get both in terms of the executive
22:18branch and the Congress to maintain
22:20amazing things like the president's
22:23malaria initiative or PEPFAR which is an
22:25HIV thing these things started under
22:28President Bush and so our foundations
22:30had a great working relationship with
22:32Democratic and Republican
22:33administrations most people wouldn't
22:36realize that US foreign aid as a
22:39percentage of the economy which is
22:41generally how its measured reached its
22:43low point in 1999 under the Clinton
22:48administration out I'm not saying as the
22:50administration it was a mix of the
22:52administration the Congress then during
22:56those Bush years it went up fairly
22:58substantially now the economy helped
23:00with that but these initiatives were
23:02really amazing and you know I'm hopeful
23:06that maintaining or even growing these
23:09initiatives will be a priority when
23:11there's a lot of talk about tax cuts and
23:13different spending activities and so it
23:15is a bit up in the air during these
23:19months ahead and you've often made the
23:20point that no matter how big the private
23:23contributions are sometimes in terms of
23:25tiers sheer scale you need a government
23:28yeah somebody asked me Bob today
23:30you know if PEPFAR which is this aids
23:32program was cancelled when private
23:35philanthropy make up for
23:37well pEPFAR's over five dylaney or that
23:39is this one aid program which is a
23:42phenomenal thing that's saved over ten
23:45million lives that's larger than our
23:49foundation which is the largest in the
23:53world so there's no possibility the
23:55government sector US UK other European
23:59donors that's a hundred and thirty
24:01billion dollars here in coal that's
24:03uplifting these poor countries in health
24:06and education and if we lose the
24:08consensus around that if people draw
24:10inward too much the we will hurt
24:14progress and there will be millions of
24:16lives lost because of it all right one
24:19thing that might be mentioned charlie is
24:21that the difference between now and
24:25sixty or seventy years ago in the
24:27ability of really bright people really
24:30innovative really energetic people to
24:31get financed to do things is it's just
24:33dramatically better than than it was at
24:36that time so now if you've got good
24:38ideas and there's good ideas right in
24:39this crowd and you've got energy it's
24:42far easier to get financed to move
24:45forward those ideas then you couldn't
24:47fifty or sixty years is that because of
24:49the internet or crowdsourcing of what is
24:51it just lots more capital now and people
24:53more optimistic about people were very
24:56optimistic but better ways to connect
24:58the town and the capital and absolutely
25:01it's dramatic willingness to take risk
25:05you know the first venture capital stuff
25:08is in the 1960s and it's tiny Microsoft
25:12when we were taking outside investment
25:17we took a
25:18and evaluates from twenty million
25:20dollars we took a million dollars for 5%
25:22of the company
25:23I'll do it retroactively you had your
25:27chance you had your win we we we never
25:30spent the money that is our business was
25:33profitable enough we really didn't need
25:34to do that but we wanted people on our
25:36board to give us advice and there's an
25:38episode of Silicon Valley where all
25:40these venture capitalists are are
25:42courting this guy and that really
25:45reminded me of what it was like by that
25:47time which was 1984 there were dozens of
25:52venture capitalists and that's something
25:54that other countries have tried to
25:56duplicate they have in small part but
25:58not nearly as well this this willingness
26:00to take risk I did that if you have a
26:02failure it's not a mark of shame that
26:04hey what's your next startup gonna be
26:06you heard the secret folks he gets his
26:08ideas from Silicon Valley be sure yeah
26:11all right cards let's see where the
26:14cards are okay number three take the
26:17cart right there this talked about how
26:23you'd able to make a model and it won't
26:26accurately predict what happens and on
26:29the other side of the coin I was
26:30wondering what happens when you create
26:31such well-developed predictive
26:33technology and what are the
26:35ramifications and implications of that
26:37outcome well I don't think our
26:42predictive technology you know it's
26:45gonna be like an Oracle warrants
26:47nickname is the Oracle of Omaha but you
26:51know the the percentage of times you've
26:55converted things like macroeconomics
26:56because they involve emotional sentiment
27:01you know we're a long ways away from
27:03that the biggest modeling thing I'm
27:05involved in is a group that models
27:07diseases so we look at HIV or
27:10tuberculosis and understand okay what do
27:13we have to do in terms of diagnosis and
27:15drugs to get these things down once we
27:18finish polio will go on and our next big
27:20challenge which will take decades but I
27:23expect will be done in my lifetime is
27:25malaria eradication so these models
27:28aren't nearly at the point where they
27:30can take human sentiment into
27:32consideration you know the field of
27:34economics a very basic question about
27:38what we should have done differently
27:39before the financial crisis there really
27:43is no consensus whether it's with the
27:45public or inside the profession of
27:47economists they agree that some of the
27:51emergency treatment we did was necessary
27:55and important and you know I wish that
27:57was was better understood but the in
27:59terms of the root causes it's actually a
28:02little disconcerting how little our
28:05models are understanding explain how
28:09that imbalance got so extreme all right
28:11well number two didn't you in school
28:19here at Columbia and I wanted to ask you
28:21were talking about that you love reading
28:23I wanted to ask you if you have a
28:25particular book that it changed your
28:27life like the way you think about things
28:29and I also wanted to ask um what is the
28:32thing that you I'm admire the most about
28:34each other
28:35I do bill about Warren and the other way
28:37around thank you they sort of touched on
28:39the on the second question but going to
28:41me when I add to it books though first
28:42changed your life well a book did change
28:45my life and it was a bio fellow who
28:47taught here at Columbia and that
28:49Benjamin Graham and I read the book when
28:50I was 19
28:51called the intelligent investor and I I
28:53had been interested in investments since
28:56I was maybe seven or eight but I never
28:58and I'd read every book in the public
29:00home all public library but why do you
29:02think you were interested in investing
29:03when you were seven or eight
29:07because I was too dumb to get interested
29:09in for my dad my dad had a very small
29:17investment firm and I was just gonna
29:18read all the books that he had there
29:20waiting to go to lunch or whatever it
29:22might be and then I went over the public
29:23library in front of all and and it just
29:26was a fascinating subject to me and and
29:28but I didn't have any I I knew but
29:32everybody thought all of that at an
29:34early age but what Graham wrote made
29:36sense I just happen to pick that book up
29:38at a bookstore in Lincoln Nebraska but
29:40but to investing per se did is there
29:44something about your core competence
29:45that made investing the perfect place
29:47for you to be yeah I mean I looked it
29:54was a question of zeroing out all the
29:55other in competencies I was left with
29:58one thing I was actually wired in a way
30:05that was this would be something I would
30:07be good at what so what wired in what
30:09way I I can't tell you precisely but I
30:12I've got the right temperament for it
30:14which is more important than IQ if
30:16you've got more than 120 points of IQ so
30:19sell the rest of it somebody else you
30:21don't need it investments but you do
30:22need the right temperament you do it you
30:24do have to be able to think for yourself
30:26and getting back to you know the earlier
30:30question the first question I asked
30:32myself when I look at the businesses you
30:34know is it important and easy what I
30:37couldn't determine about this business
30:39and a lot of them don't make it now bill
30:42is looking for hard questions that that
30:44plagued society and where intellect and
30:47money may make a difference they may not
30:49for a while and but he's taking on the
30:51tough things I take my job is to find
30:53easy things I'm looking for one-foot
30:55bars to step over you know rather than
30:568-foot bars to jump over okay and but
30:59that's not irrational if you're if
31:01you're looking at the investment
31:02universe but reading is key it on the
31:06biography on the on the book thing I
31:08know I will tell you a wonderful book to
31:10read I can tell you a number of
31:12intelligent mr. wood obviously if you're
31:15in the investment field but Katherine
31:17Graham's autobiography
31:20there's a Marvel smoking that's
31:22absolutely honest told by a incredible
31:25woman who had an incredible life and
31:27then wrote honestly but and and someone
31:30who you knew very well and interested
31:32with and and she was a bit reluctant and
31:33had to be assured yeah you know that she
31:36was afraid of me actually look what
31:40makes that book so much it just it is
31:44such a broad range of human experience
31:47honestly told I mean you couldn't have a
31:50nobody in Hollywood could write up you
31:53know a scenario that she lived through
31:56and and just just see that world develop
32:01how she reacted to it every night you
32:03can learn so much my partner Charlie
32:05Munger just loves Ben Franklin you know
32:06I mean he I mean you know it you can
32:09learn from other people and and their
32:11mistakes and and I find me a biography
32:14was my favorite part of the reason you
32:15love biographies Barney part of the
32:17reason you love biographies where is a
32:20card right here just come here I'm
32:23having a hard time seeing the card so
32:24that right here she where the hands are
32:27raised I'm a senior here at the college
32:34I'm also getting them scholar my family
32:37over here I'd like to ask so what both
32:44of you doing Ross a lot of risk and
32:46sometimes you have to face the fear of
32:48failure with that risk so I'm asking how
32:52did you overcome that fear and what
32:53steps did you take to do that well I
32:57think I was very lucky that when I was
33:03in high school the computer was brought
33:05in there and I developed a fascination
33:08for it and became kind of fanatical
33:10about it
33:11so that you know I didn't view it as
33:14risky I viewed it as this kind of fun
33:16hobby even when I went to college which
33:19I didn't finish but I spent time up in
33:23Cambridge Massachusetts the I wasn't
33:28sure that would be my life's work now as
33:30the chip came along and made it
33:32mainstream
33:33it became very obvious that something
33:36dramatic was going to happen and so my
33:40my passion my hobby and the area I could
33:44start this company right at the
33:45beginning of the the revolution that
33:48coincided in a nice way and I never felt
33:50it was risky I you know if Microsoft had
33:53failed I didn't have kids or anything I
33:57could go back to school and you know
34:00finish my degree and you know go get a
34:03job somewhere
34:04I was very risk-averse in in running the
34:09company I always made sure we had enough
34:11money in the bank to pay everybody for
34:15at least a year if nobody paid us at all
34:17because this idea I was hiring people
34:20who had kids and families and they were
34:23moving to work there and here I was you
34:26know 19 20 years old and sort of telling
34:29these people I'd be paying their
34:30salaries so I I was actually very
34:33conservative on a financial point of
34:35view and one of the few arguments I had
34:38the Steve Ballmer who came in and played
34:39a phenomenal role in the success of the
34:41company was how many people could he
34:44hire because I was trying to be so
34:46conservative but I let him go full-speed
34:49and you know it turns out our financial
34:51success meant that we never had a
34:54conflict about that but you know I think
34:57it's great to be risk-taking
35:00particularly when you're young trying
35:02out different things fields that you
35:04know aren't very popular that you might
35:05enjoy but I never got into a position
35:08where I I was taking him actually in any
35:11meaningful sense I was taking a big risk
35:13coming the risk of you would not to have
35:14acted because you felt the train was
35:16leaving the station yeah and it was so
35:18clear that you know this was gonna
35:22happen this was so much fun I mean you
35:25know I was a fanatic I didn't believe in
35:26weekends I didn't believe in vacation my
35:30mom had to negotiate whether I'd come
35:32once a week for dinner no matter who the
35:35guest was that's right but Warren you
35:39have often said you still tap dance to
35:41work average you can paint with your own
35:43colors
35:44yeah I I get I'm just excited about
35:49tomorrow in terms of what is gonna
35:51happen as I was when I started I was
35:52having a lot of fun when I started but
35:54I'm having just as much fun now and and
35:57I was when I was here at Columbia I had
36:00this terrible third I was impossible for
36:03me to speak in public I mean I wasn't
36:04able to do it I actually read an ad
36:06Newark times I went down to midtown
36:08signed up for a course gave the guy had
36:10checked and then stopped payment on the
36:12check I mean it just I just petrified
36:13but finally I and actually after you get
36:16through here hearing me today maybe
36:17you'll wish I'd stayed afraid of public
36:19speaking but that's another question
36:20then when I got out to all my I finally
36:22decided I just had to do it so I gave a
36:23guy a hundred dollars in cash and once I
36:25borrowed another dollars in cash I jump
36:28off the Grand Canyon to get my money's
36:30worth so but it change it changed my
36:34life but I would say this don't fear
36:35failure almost everything that's turned
36:37out I got turned down by Harvard - the
36:39best thing ever happened
36:41among other there's some good things
36:42that happened it seemed good at the time
36:44don't worry about and don't don't let it
36:47eat as you look back just keep going
36:49because you're gonna have some things
36:50and forget them go forward I want to go
36:54to the back of the room right back there
36:56wherever number three is hi my name is
37:00Matthew man I'm a first year at Columbia
37:02Business School both of you had a moment
37:05where you went out on your own and I
37:07guess my question would be if you were
37:10to do it all over again you're in our
37:11shoes what industry would that be in
37:14where would you start your own business
37:16today I do the same thing yeah
37:21one thing I'd be a failure than anything
37:23else probably no I mean I've had I had
37:28fun one is it my 20s my 30s now I'm 86
37:30I'm having fun and so I I advise
37:33students as much as possible
37:35look for the job that you would take if
37:37you didn't need a job
37:39I mean don't sleep walk through life and
37:41don't don't say it's all gonna be great
37:43you know I'll do this and I'll do that
37:45you know I'm just marking time don't
37:47need to be older that I've told people
37:49that's like saving up sex for your old
37:50age I mean it is not a good idea yeah
38:03what are you urging them to do guess
38:09what I'm talking about
38:10[Laughter]
38:15you really want to be doing what you
38:18love doing and you can't necessarily
38:20find it on your first job right but
38:22don't give up before you find it bill
38:24you've had the unique experience pick a
38:26because if you curiosity because of your
38:29involvement in global health to see the
38:32impact of a lot of other areas whether
38:34it's biomedicine or whether it's you
38:38know a whole range of other things other
38:40than computer science if you were gonna
38:43drop out of Harvard today know which
38:47field would you be most likely attracted
38:50to well I love the hard sciences and
38:54there's some phenomenal things that
38:57people will get a chance to be part of
38:59I'd still probably pick computer science
39:02because the work in artificial
39:04intelligence today is that a really
39:07profound level you know our ability not
39:11just to play games but that is a
39:13profound milestone the alphago work that
39:16the deep mind people at Google were able
39:18to achieve and that kind of technology
39:20is and all the leading companies a lot
39:22of universities with AI creation of
39:26agents the ability to read and
39:28understand material it is going to be
39:29phenomenal so anything connected with
39:32that I think would be an exciting
39:34lifetime
39:34career I also think in energy we have
39:37the imperative to have energy that's
39:40reliable cheap and clean and no system
39:44available today can provide that whether
39:47it's for rich countries or for for poor
39:50countries and so the innovations there
39:52will be profound and there's many paths
39:54that could provide that solution finally
39:57I think biology it's the most thrilling
40:00time you know we are going to figure out
40:05obesity cancer even things that are very
40:09hard like depression because the you
40:12know the mind is is is even more
40:14complicated than other parts of the body
40:17I see this through the lens of the
40:19disease of the poor the infectious
40:21disease where new vaccines new drugs we
40:24are moving faster than ever and some of
40:27these are platform technologies like DNA
40:29vaccines that are gonna give us just
40:31that one thing will give us lots and
40:32lots of solutions and so working in that
40:35space is is phenomenal now I say this
40:39you know to my children and you know
40:43they they may not want to do hard
40:45sciences the the one who's picked wants
40:47to counsel patients and and be a doctor
40:49and even more than the science piece
40:51that relationship with patients is what
40:53grabs her so everybody has their own
40:55taste but in terms of big impact those
40:59three hired science problems would be at
41:01the top for me alright next right here
41:04right next to number one hello thank you
41:10guys for being here also thank you to
41:11mr. gates I'm also a good scholar and
41:13without your foundation I wouldn't be
41:15here
41:16many industrial based communities have
41:17been severely affected with higher
41:19levels of unemployment due to the
41:20increasing utilization of automation
41:22which ends up displacing workers what do
41:25you believe it what do you believe is a
41:26possible solution to unemployment
41:27arising from automation it's a good
41:30question now because there's a lot of
41:32talk about globalization and all of that
41:34and a lot of other people step forward
41:36and and talk about how technology and
41:39the impact technology is having on jobs
41:41and and the demand for new kinds of
41:43skills yeah we were here at 1800 and
41:46conducting this
41:48and somebody would point out that
41:51eventually tractors would come along and
41:54and better fertilizer and everything and
41:57that 80% of the people are now employed
41:59on the farm and in a couple hundred
42:01years it's gonna be two or three percent
42:03and what are we gonna do with all these
42:04people we'll the answer is we release
42:06them we Keynes wrote something about it
42:09in something called essays on persuasion
42:10he wrote in 1930 about what a more
42:12prosperous society would become like and
42:15he actually postulated that in a hundred
42:19years and we're now eighty-seven years
42:20away from them that there would be four
42:22to eight times as much output per capita
42:25and you know he's remarkable but he
42:27didn't quite get how it might get
42:30distributed but the idea of more output
42:32per capita which is what the progress is
42:36made on productivity that that should be
42:38a harmful beside is crazy I mean the
42:40distribution may be a problem but if one
42:42person could push a button and turn out
42:44everything we turn out now is that good
42:46for the world or bad for the world you
42:48know you'd have to figure out how to
42:49distribute it but but you'd free up all
42:52kinds of possibilities for everything
42:54else so you every everything should be
42:59devoted initially to getting greater
43:01productivity but people who fall by the
43:04wayside through no fault of their own as
43:06the goose lays more golden eggs should
43:08still get a chance to participate in
43:10that prosperity and that's what we're
43:11government comes in right they'll int
43:13they add to that yeah the problem of
43:17excess is a different problem than a
43:19problem of shortage you know if all the
43:21tractors and computer stopped working
43:23then we would have problems of shortage
43:26there and you know we just wouldn't have
43:29enough people to to make the output a
43:32problem of excess really forced us to
43:35look at the individuals affected and
43:37take those extra resources and make sure
43:39they're directed to them in terms of
43:41re-education and incomes policies and
43:44the need for labour in terms of smaller
43:47class size helping handicapped kids
43:50reaching out to the elderly the demand
43:52for labour is not at zero if you ever
43:55get to that point fine you can shorten
43:57the workweek and
43:59you'll you'll be just just fine with
44:02that and so the this idea of taking an
44:05individual who during their generation
44:07is affected I think there's a lot to be
44:10learned about that a lot of thinking we
44:12have to do but the macro picture that it
44:14enables is is is an opportunity number
44:19two also I'm urging people at the back
44:23so you have a chance and we want to go
44:25back up to the balcony as well so when I
44:28see number six will come to six after
44:30two yes
44:30hi my name is Sam I go to Columbia
44:33College and my question is what steps
44:35you think need to be taken in order to
44:37improve public education particularly in
44:41economically depressed areas of the
44:43United States yeah I think this is a
44:52super important issue because the
44:55dropout rates although they've gone down
44:57a little bit they're still very high and
45:00and very based on income and even kids
45:05graduate a lot of them don't enter
45:08college or they do enter college and
45:10they end up in these remedial courses
45:12for their reading or math capabilities
45:15and those people have an extremely high
45:17dropout rate from higher education and
45:20you know they can incur debt they have a
45:22negative experience so we have a long
45:26ways to go in education there are some
45:28very strong points of light like here in
45:31New York City some of the charter
45:32schools are with even less resources
45:35than schools at large doing a phenomenal
45:39job of educating kids there are a lot of
45:41countries particularly in Asia who
45:45spending way less of their GDP on
45:47education are doing a great job
45:49educating their kids and it's not just
45:52the top 20% their bottom 20% is pretty
45:56phenomenal in the case of China South
45:58Korea and Singapore and so looking at
46:01what we've learned in charter schools in
46:03terms of building the culture giving
46:05teachers feedback what is good teaching
46:08look like do we give teachers a chance
46:10to learn from each other about that you
46:12know
46:12development that makes the subject seem
46:15relevant and important there are great
46:19teachers but spreading those practices
46:22is has been very very tough and so I'd
46:25say it's a top priority and we've take
46:27our foundation has that for our work in
46:30the United States education is is the
46:32top priority whereas outside the US we
46:35take on health it's a tough problem
46:38because the institution of Education are
46:40fairly resistant to change and people
46:43are not yet convinced by various
46:46approaches very easily but we need to
46:49keep at it we're gonna you know stay and
46:51even actually put even more money into
46:53trying to help help create models okay
46:57up number six Hey first I wanted to
47:02thank well I witnessed I found all of
47:04your foundation and eliminating polio in
47:06India and I'm really thankful for that
47:08my question is more on how to set the
47:12basic level of debate in any any public
47:14sense like there are many trade-offs how
47:17do I explain climate change policy for
47:20people who are losing losing jobs in the
47:22coal sector how do you balance the
47:26current current short-term economic
47:28goals with a long term peaceful
47:30transition to the renewable sources of
47:32energy now it's a good question and the
47:37certain topics are so complicated like
47:41climate change that to really get a
47:45broad understanding is a bit difficult
47:48and particularly when people take any of
47:50that complexity and trying and create
47:52uncertainty about it and you know for
47:56example India's kind of paradigm attic
47:58in that they want to electrify for all
48:01sorts of good reasons having to do with
48:03health and reading at night and quality
48:06of life and the question of should they
48:09delay electrification for climate issues
48:14is is going to be very difficult the
48:17ideal is to innovate in such a way that
48:20they can go full speed ahead on
48:21electrification without emitting the co2
48:24that a the
48:26natural path them today which is coal is
48:28the way to go in so we have a lot of
48:31cost reduction to do because rich
48:35countries may be able to buy premium
48:36electricity when you get to middle
48:39income or lor that's just just not going
48:41to happen and you know democracy has
48:45this allocate these resources in terms
48:47of investing in the future and things
48:49like research and investing in in the
48:53present and when you have a problem like
48:55the financial crisis then you do get a
48:58little bit of more of short-term
49:00thinking and I'm hopeful I think it's
49:03better for the world and for the country
49:05if we can get back into a little bit
49:09more of a focus on the long term we have
49:12some questions from Facebook one a
49:14central tenant of your investing is
49:16invest for the long term and this comes
49:18from Brian white who says how my bill
49:20and warrant convince investors to think
49:22beyond short-term returns to encourage
49:25world-changing innovation well I've
49:30spent my life trying to convince people
49:32on investing for the long term and
49:35listen if I know how to double my money
49:36tomorrow I probably and those with the
49:38short term - it's much it's much easier
49:43to invest for the long term if you're
49:46just talking pure and that's not because
49:47you know what's going dead and I my view
49:50be very high probably what's going to
49:52happen 10 and 20 years from now in a
49:55major way and I don't have the faintest
49:57idea what's going to happen tomorrow or
49:59next week but you get if you're talking
50:03about societal it's very tough because
50:07politicians face elections either every
50:10two years or six years and the way the
50:13way bridging like congressional
50:15districts have been organized primaries
50:17have become more and more important and
50:19so it's very hard to have politicians
50:24think of something that's wonderful for
50:26the country for 20 years but will cost
50:27them the election two years from now and
50:30that that's a basic problem and a
50:31democracy and it gets to be more of a
50:32problem as as we get arraigned we've
50:37arranged congressional districts so the
50:39primary
50:39dominates because a very limited number
50:42of people turn out on their motive tend
50:44to be on the extremes of both parties so
50:45it it's not easy
50:47whether you're gonna make an investment
50:49in a company or whether you're gonna buy
50:51the company now what are the factors
50:53that you have to be that you're looking
50:56for what test
50:57I'm looking for durable competitive
50:59advantage I'm looking for something that
51:01has a moat around it for a considerable
51:03period of time and I'm looking for an
51:05honest and able management Toronto
51:08because I don't know how to run it
51:09myself and I'm looking for a purchase
51:11price that's not excessive but it's
51:13better to pay a little too much for
51:14something that's a very good business
51:16than it is to buy some bargain but
51:19believing a company but not much of a
51:21future and I don't know I don't have a
51:25ability to predict with a higher high
51:28probability of success the future of
51:30most companies so I'm looking for the
51:32exception but the nice thing is if
51:34there's thousands of companies out there
51:35and we don't have to be right on a
51:37couple I mean it's exactly the opposite
51:40of baseball where you have called
51:42strikes and the pitchers trying to throw
51:44it to it the worst part of the strike
51:45zone for you and if he succeeds in
51:49getting into that corner two three times
51:50and you don't swing you're out and and
51:52investing it's a no it's a no cold
51:54strike things I can sit there all day
51:55and somebody can throw me one company
51:57after another and finally I got one of
51:59my sweet spot both of you have chosen
52:01both wives and partners well charlie
52:07munger added what Charlie Munger changed
52:10my views are we he'd be find them in a
52:13huge way in terms of looking for the
52:16quality companies and and and looking
52:19further the ability to make an
52:21investment that would work out well for
52:23five or ten or twenty years as opposed
52:24to something might there might be one I
52:26call it cigar butt investing where there
52:28was one puff left in the cigar butt the
52:30cigar was free so he picked up these
52:32disgusting looking things and got one
52:33puff out of and went on to another one
52:35and that worked okay but it was
52:37small-scale and it really doesn't build
52:40something satisfying so so he he kept
52:43forcing me in the direction of saying
52:45you know existed a really a business we
52:47want a home for forever
52:49and do we want to get a Soviet it's like
52:51a marriage I mean you want to get
52:52associated with this person forever and
52:54it's a great way to look at things build
52:57your wife Melinda has added what well
53:02she's going for children because she is
53:12your partner and she was there in the
53:14philanthropy I would say one at
53:16Microsoft I had two partners who were
53:18amazing I had Paul Allen in early days
53:19and then Steve Ballmer's that company
53:21got bigger and we would not have
53:23achieved anything what we did without
53:25those partnerships because you know when
53:27things are tough when you're making big
53:29decisions having somebody who's really
53:31in there with you committed you know for
53:35me I I couldn't have done without that
53:37for the foundation Melinda is an amazing
53:40partner she thinks about the people
53:43issues better than I do she you know
53:46knows when I get over excited about the
53:48science she can you know make sure we're
53:51being realistic about it and it makes it
53:53fun you know last week I went to Europe
53:57to build economic formers she went to
53:59Nigeria and then this weekend we just
54:00sat and talked about okay what did we
54:02see what does that say about the work we
54:04should do and so you know I don't think
54:07I did enjoy it without a partner and
54:10particularly someone amazing like her
54:11it's more fun with a partner I mean
54:14Charlie and I've had more fun working
54:16together than neither one of us would've
54:17had individually and we have never had
54:19an argument after working together for
54:2158 you could talk every day not anymore
54:24because we know what the other guy's
54:25gonna say we just run we talked it all
54:30out 50 years ago so if you see Charlie
54:34and he says why am you calling you'd say
54:36well I knew what you say anyway right
54:42there let's say noir - hi my name is
54:47Molly Zanger I'm a student at Barnard
54:49College I guess what I'm basically
54:52wondering is what your main
54:53considerations are when you're choosing
54:55where to donate on what causes to donate
54:58to you and what the main challenges are
55:00that are associated with that yeah I
55:03wholesale look because I made a choice
55:05that I wanted to have well originally my
55:08first wife and I planned that I would
55:10pile up and she would unpiloted
55:13that was plan number one but she she
55:15died in 2004 and then I had the problem
55:19of figuring out the best way to
55:21distribute book which turned out to be a
55:23lot of money and I wanted I wanted some
55:27people who had similar values and summer
55:30objectives what I have I also wanted
55:33people who would pour in intelligence
55:34and energy and case of Bill Melinda a
55:37lot of their own funds work at a full
55:41time but who really saw society as I saw
55:44it which is that every life is of equal
55:45valuing and that if you start with that
55:48and then you figure what you might be
55:50good at changing whether it's a medicine
55:52or education or early learning or
55:55whatever it may be you know that was my
55:58answer was the the wholesale and retail
56:01philanthropy would drive me crazy but
56:03hotel philanthropy everybody like Bill
56:08yeah for our work at the foundation the
56:12belief in innovation which both Melinda
56:17and I saw it
56:18Microsoft our question was okay how do
56:21we bring that kind of innovation to help
56:24the world's poorest and we learned that
56:26coming up with new vaccines that
56:29although you can pay a lot to have them
56:30created the marginal cost comes down to
56:33less than $1 so great getting a new
56:36vaccine for the main cause of diarrhea
56:38or pneumonia that can be a phenomenal
56:43thing so you're looking for these super
56:44nonlinear dramatic things because as a
56:48you know perp or person are compared to
56:50government funding philanthropy is
56:53actually quite small and yet funding
56:56vaccine projects the government isn't as
56:59good as that as a philanthropist who
57:02assembles a team and over time it's
57:04learning how to do that very well and we
57:06had models in a Rockefeller Foundation
57:09was a phenomenal foundation the Green
57:11Revolution is just one of many things
57:14that they did which raised agriculture
57:16activity and saved avoided hundreds of
57:19millions starving and so studying the
57:21other foundations that have taken these
57:23big breakthroughs and created model out
57:26of those that was very informative to
57:28the to what we've gone after what's the
57:31most important lesson you've learned
57:32though about making investments from the
57:37foundation today that you learned along
57:40the way well I think when we started out
57:44I thought that just coming up with a new
57:47vaccine or drug alone would be enough
57:49and that the world would then take that
57:52and get it out to all the children of
57:53the world
57:55you know partly through field this as I
57:58did that Melinda did looking at the
58:00statistics that delivery system it
58:03doesn't get out to a lot of the kids and
58:05so having to figure out how people were
58:09hired or how that was funded and
58:10measured this what's called primary
58:12health care we were drawn into that out
58:16of necessity it didn't fit the normal
58:18sort of in the lab you know come up with
58:21this great concoction and and yet in
58:25order to achieve our goals we needed to
58:28to think about those delivery pieces in
58:30fact sometimes the state of the product
58:33actually had to be simpler in some ways
58:35in order to get through that very
58:38limited delivery capacity and now we're
58:41getting to eighty-six percent of the
58:42world's children with vaccines it was
58:44about 70 percent when we got started so
58:47that's good increase we still have have
58:4914% to go well about mil good to have
58:52amazing convening and persuasive powers
58:57as well so I mean they they bring
58:59something far more to it than just money
59:02I mean they they work incredibly hard as
59:05do my three children and our foundations
59:07but they work incredibly hard at getting
59:11governments involved in vaccines or
59:12whatever it may take and that that just
59:15is you know it's it's an extra dimension
59:18that I think very few people have in the
59:21field yeah I mean it's a hands-on it's a
59:24travel to when Melinda is in Africa and
59:27she's holding a little baby I mean she
59:28is actually thinking
59:30you know this kid needs to be back that
59:32it has a decent chance in education all
59:34that I feel the same way about the kid
59:36but what I really think is isn't gonna
59:38pee on me so I you know there's just a
59:42difference in that human touch makes a
59:44big difference I'm halfway in between
59:46I think he's closer to me my number
59:50three and number four first one then
59:51three then four me at the Columbia
59:56Business School if the current
59:57government were to ask for your advice
59:59on immigration or health care reform
1:00:02what would you recommend to them well
1:00:07I'm on immigration
1:00:09yeah well immigration I mean this
1:00:11country is built on it I would say the
1:00:13people that are anti-immigration let's
1:00:15put it in retro actively everybody
1:00:18leaves this country if you think about
1:00:25it I'm little Ferguson before from me
1:00:27but we are sitting here in part because
1:00:30of two Jewish immigrants who in 1939 in
1:00:35August signed the most important letter
1:00:36perhaps in the history of the United
1:00:38States and you can you can go to the
1:00:40internet and go to search Bing and just
1:00:52type in Einstein Roosevelt 1939 Leo
1:00:55Szilard and Albert Einstein two
1:00:57immigrants came here they both they came
1:01:01directly from Germany's the Lardon came
1:01:03from Hungary before that and they told
1:01:05President Roosevelt that the Germans
1:01:08were likely to develop an atom bomb
1:01:11which was likely to work it's less than
1:01:13a full page and we'd better get to work
1:01:15on something fast and that the Manhattan
1:01:17Project came out of that and have it had
1:01:20been for those two immigrants you know
1:01:21who knows whether we'd be sitting in
1:01:23this room immigration I mean right it's
1:01:38this country has been built on the west
1:01:42exactly by immigrants and you can take
1:01:44them from any country you want and they
1:01:46they've come here and they found
1:01:48something that unleashed the potential
1:01:50that the place where they left did not
1:01:52and and we're the product of it let me
1:01:55the question also was about health care
1:01:57I mean what can you tell us about health
1:02:00care that you think is important in
1:02:02terms of the consideration of what might
1:02:05happen I mean if you were building a
1:02:08health care plan for America what would
1:02:11be the elements that you would want to
1:02:12include well there's no doubt that in
1:02:18order to provide decent health care the
1:02:21percentage of GDP devoted to it is going
1:02:25to go up over time it's already very
1:02:27high and yes there's some efficiencies
1:02:30to be gained in that you know 18% are so
1:02:35number but as society ages as we come up
1:02:39with new things like joint replacement
1:02:42organ transplant which are going to
1:02:43create lots of human benefits we're
1:02:46going to have to have more resources
1:02:47overall including more government
1:02:49resources for health care and so it's a
1:02:53tough problem because you have both
1:02:54access problems today and you have cost
1:02:58problems today and you know I whenever I
1:03:03look at a problem I have this one simple
1:03:05lens which is those innovation should
1:03:07help here but in this case innovation
1:03:11while it will provide breakthrough drugs
1:03:13that will save costs like if you can
1:03:15cure Alzheimer's which we certainly
1:03:17haven't done yet that will save on huge
1:03:20long-term care costs so we have these
1:03:22chronic diseases that we've made less
1:03:24progress on then than some of the others
1:03:27and you know the market mechanism to get
1:03:30Pharma to go after those things and the
1:03:33basic research because funds I am quite
1:03:35optimistic that we'll have some advances
1:03:37but they'll also give us some very
1:03:39expensive things that will mean where
1:03:42we're spending more money against it and
1:03:44I do hope you know that at some point
1:03:47that we really are calling on the best
1:03:50minds to look at the incentives for the
1:03:53breakthroughs the most efficient
1:03:56system we have here I think there's a
1:03:58lot of unhappiness in the country now
1:04:00stems from the fact that the health care
1:04:04system isn't delivering and yet you know
1:04:07people are saying less government more
1:04:09government you know I don't think
1:04:11they're being given the depth of
1:04:12education about why it's so tough that
1:04:15over time will help them vote the depth
1:04:21of explanation I mean let me go to
1:04:24Facebook in just a moment but where was
1:04:26I promised three four and six three is
1:04:28there and six is up there so quote three
1:04:31six and then we'll go to Facebook hi my
1:04:35name is Josh Shaffer and I'm a dental
1:04:37resident at Columbia my question is for
1:04:40future doctors in genesis of America
1:04:43what what advice you have in giving
1:04:46about having a proper balance of
1:04:48providing that health care but also
1:04:50mastering the concepts of Business and
1:04:52Economics well I told gowanni
1:04:59is you know incredible Walter he in the
1:05:03current issue of The New Yorker has a
1:05:07the latest in wonderful articles about
1:05:11the health care system and he's talking
1:05:14about the people who do sort of heroic
1:05:16surgery like himself are paid twice as
1:05:18much as the the people who are on an
1:05:21ongoing basis and a great incremental
1:05:23way learning about the patient and and
1:05:26seeing what works for them and he it's a
1:05:29calling choir to say hey though that
1:05:31part of the system needs to be run
1:05:33better needs needs more resources and
1:05:36you know so I think it's brilliant that
1:05:39he's saying that and it also corresponds
1:05:41to what what is working in in some other
1:05:44countries six
1:05:50so you both have invested a great deal
1:05:52of money abroad but there is a
1:05:54prevailing belief by some that there are
1:05:57pressing issues in America there are
1:05:58poor people here there are sick people
1:06:00here and we should deal with that first
1:06:02before even tackling anything abroad so
1:06:05what are your thoughts on that my own
1:06:08personal thoughts is that every life is
1:06:12of equal value and in many ways
1:06:21in many ways if you have a little bit
1:06:23number of dollars you actually can do
1:06:25more for more people outside the United
1:06:27States and we do have greater resources
1:06:29here for our 320 million people than
1:06:32exists around the world for seven
1:06:34billion people so if if you you can
1:06:38improve the lot of more people by
1:06:40intelligently spending a billion dollars
1:06:43or any other number in other areas of
1:06:45the world actually and then here and I
1:06:47get you know I coming from Omaha and
1:06:50having the money I have people can say
1:06:52well why not spend it all in Omaha you
1:06:53know you grew up here and almost done
1:06:54all kinds of things for you and I
1:06:55absolutely knowledge that but in the end
1:06:59if I've got X dollars to spend I can
1:07:02make life better for more people if I
1:07:04can have it intelligently allocated in
1:07:06other parts of the world actually than
1:07:08the United States and that draws a fair
1:07:10amount of criticism but you know I live
1:07:12with it because I read it's what I
1:07:13believe in all lives have equal value is
1:07:15really the driving force
1:07:17I mean I found a I'm an accident I won
1:07:20the ovarian artery when I was born in
1:07:23the United States in 1930 it was 40 to 1
1:07:25against me
1:07:25I was male that now it's 80 to 1 against
1:07:28being a male in the United States in
1:07:301930 I was just plain lucky my life had
1:07:33been far different bill always said if
1:07:34I'd been born a long time ago I'd have
1:07:35been some animals lunch because I can't
1:07:37run fast and I can't climb trees and
1:07:39everything no and I'd be think I
1:07:41allocate capital it wouldn't work and I
1:07:47was lucky but a 79 out of the 80 weren't
1:07:50as lucky as I was at that time go ahead
1:07:53bill yeah in terms of the helping people
1:07:56in other countries the foreign a bunch
1:07:59of the u.s. is is 0.8 percent of the
1:08:04budget and there will be in in the years
1:08:07ahead a discussion about is that we're
1:08:10doing it saves lives for typically about
1:08:13a thousand dollars of life saved and in
1:08:16terms of stability and countries
1:08:19eventually being self sufficient to meet
1:08:23part of the world economy there are some
1:08:24some huge benefits to that so if we were
1:08:27talking about should we spend 20 or 30
1:08:29percent overseas okay you know that
1:08:31would be a very interesting discussion
1:08:34but what we're trying to preserve is
1:08:37something that's gotten smarter and
1:08:38smarter all the time as proven benefits
1:08:40all of which are things that our
1:08:42foundation coin vests invest in the same
1:08:44things like like the polio thing is is
1:08:470.8 percent so I'm hopeful that in a big
1:08:51world that can remain a priority let me
1:08:54go to another Facebook question this is
1:08:56from Nadia Rockwall says how my bill and
1:09:01Lauren encourage innovation particularly
1:09:03among teens and young adults how do you
1:09:06encourage innovation well I think you
1:09:09have a market system to provides rewards
1:09:10for it and we have it I mean we we have
1:09:15an incubator for innovation in the
1:09:17United States and you know Bill can drop
1:09:20out of school Andy Grove can come from
1:09:23Hungary and I mean this just welcomes it
1:09:27and thank God I mean that's why we have
1:09:29the kind of prosperity that we have I
1:09:31mean the question of how it gets divided
1:09:32is a secondary question and that does
1:09:34not get solved as well by the market
1:09:36system but but our system is just
1:09:39designed for then look at what has
1:09:41happened all right number one so also I
1:09:46want to make sure we get to people the
1:09:47back so we don't only have five minutes
1:09:48left so there's a couple of hands up in
1:09:50the back so please recognize it hi my
1:09:54name is ah here I'm a senior in the
1:09:55engineering school as men of such great
1:09:59influence I'm curious and we touched a
1:10:01little bit about this in the last
1:10:02question but how you deal with
1:10:04reconciling your convictions with maybe
1:10:06what is believed by the public maybe
1:10:08even a majority considering that you
1:10:10have the wealth and power and fame to
1:10:12make such great things happen
1:10:19either well I don't see you know the the
1:10:23convictions I have you know I love
1:10:28sharing them and talking to people
1:10:30understanding you know where people
1:10:32disagree I you know I can be overly
1:10:35science centric about things I you know
1:10:40there's all sorts of causes that are
1:10:43super important that our foundation
1:10:46because we have limited resources we
1:10:47don't get to go and do there's there's
1:10:49lots of diseases there's aspects of
1:10:52Education you know part of the strength
1:10:55of philanthropy is its diversity and and
1:10:58and so just by sharing the fact that
1:11:00it's fun it really can have measurable
1:11:04impact I hope that sets an example for
1:11:06all of philanthropy I don't happen to
1:11:09believe that you know my voice should be
1:11:11that much louder than other people you
1:11:15know so you know some of these big
1:11:17political donations you know at least
1:11:19you know I and I'm worn as well you know
1:11:23we've chosen not to have that be a huge
1:11:27way that you know we're spending our
1:11:29money that's a personal choice you know
1:11:31the monies being saved for not for the
1:11:34megaphone but for the the work of the
1:11:36foundation we get a podium of a certain
1:11:39sort you know and but people do not with
1:11:43a partner like Charlie Munger you don't
1:11:44have to worry about my use being
1:11:46accepted automatically point out the
1:11:49shortcomings the the influence of money
1:11:51in politics I really think is bad news
1:11:53for this country I think citizens united
1:11:55was a terrible decision and the idea
1:11:59that somebody can for millions and
1:12:03millions of dollars into a campaign and
1:12:05in certain cases it not even be
1:12:06identified I think really kind of goes
1:12:09counter to the kind of America I believe
1:12:11in the two of you created along with
1:12:13blend and others created the Giving
1:12:15Pledge how's that going going terrific
1:12:20good day Atlanta these kind of a little
1:12:24color it is exactly yeah okay this is
1:12:26you know we love philanthropy of all
1:12:28types
1:12:30and part of the strength of American
1:12:31clamp is actually people with very
1:12:33little who are incredibly generous here
1:12:36though we said for the people who are
1:12:38super lucky have over a billion dollars
1:12:41we want a group who are working together
1:12:44who are committed to give the majority
1:12:46their wealth away to learn from each
1:12:49other what's worked what hasn't work how
1:12:52do you involve your kids how do you hire
1:12:55staff and they'll find areas they're
1:12:57working on together and cooperate but
1:12:59we're not pulling any money and we
1:13:01thought we'd get you know twenty
1:13:03twenty-five people together and in fact
1:13:06now we're at one hundred and fifty six
1:13:09so it is a wonderful yearly event I've
1:13:13made some great people I do think that
1:13:15the quantity and quality has gone up
1:13:18because we're getting together we'll
1:13:19never be able to measure that in a
1:13:21direct way in we're making special
1:13:24efforts in China and India because now
1:13:26we have a lot of welfare that wasn't
1:13:29there before and in their own way I
1:13:32think they by having a strong
1:13:33philanthropic sector that will help
1:13:36those countries and and therefore help
1:13:38the world what's interesting now
1:13:39building I are having dinner actually
1:13:41with a group tonight for example but if
1:13:44you go back 100 150 years people got
1:13:46wealthy by making some money from the
1:13:49first oil refinery or still a mill and
1:13:51building another one that Henry Ford
1:13:52would build a plan to build cars and
1:13:54then it would be from actually from
1:13:56retained earnings which eventually
1:13:58turned into cash now you can get rich
1:14:00very young just by having an idea and
1:14:02you can get that idea monetized and
1:14:05capitalized in a way that you cannot
1:14:06believe so we are particularly
1:14:08interested in getting younger people
1:14:09interested in flying because they there
1:14:12will be huge
1:14:13there are huge fortunes by people that
1:14:15are now in their 20s and 30s and just
1:14:18think about those the potential for that
1:14:20group and so on this thing has worked
1:14:22out way way better including getting
1:14:24younger people to join us number six
1:14:29hello my name is Christina Nunez I'm a
1:14:31fellow dental student - Josh thank you
1:14:34for speaking with us today I'm curious
1:14:37about your insight related to
1:14:39relationships
1:14:40I'm personally given a desire to honor
1:14:43myself and respect other individuals
1:14:46have found it difficult throughout life
1:14:48to discern which relationships to really
1:14:52foster and invest in and accept
1:14:54challenges from and which to kind of
1:14:57forego and abandoned because they're
1:14:59more harmful than helpful so are there
1:15:03any major life lessons that you to have
1:15:06learned through your personal
1:15:08experiences it's a very important
1:15:10question and the more you will move in
1:15:14the direction of the people that you
1:15:16associate with so I it's important to
1:15:18associate with people that are better
1:15:20than yourself and actually the most
1:15:22important decision many of you may not
1:15:23all of you will be the spouse you choose
1:15:25and you really you want to associate
1:15:31with people who are the kind of person
1:15:32you'd like to be and you'll you'll move
1:15:34in that direction and the most important
1:15:36person by far in that respect is your
1:15:38spouse I can't overemphasize how
1:15:40important that is you're right
1:15:42the friends you have they will form you
1:15:46as you go through life and make some
1:15:52good friends keep them for the rest of
1:15:54your life but have them be people that
1:15:57you admire as well as Wykeham don't do
1:16:00that to that yeah some friends do bring
1:16:03out the best in you and and so those
1:16:07it's good to invest in those friendships
1:16:09I and you know some friends challenge
1:16:13you about things you're doing
1:16:16and that you know that level of intimacy
1:16:19is great I wouldn't say that I'm you
1:16:21know I was so obsessed with work I
1:16:23didn't invest I'd say in my 20s and 30s
1:16:26as much as I should have
1:16:27it's really through Melinda and seen you
1:16:30know other people I realize okay that is
1:16:32you know it's really worth the
1:16:34investment to have those people as
1:16:37you're always there to help them and and
1:16:39vice versa
1:16:43you

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