Warren Buffett's partner: Bank bailouts saved civilization, so those struggling should 'suck it in and cope'
Warren Buffett鈥檚 partner at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Charlie Munger at the University of Michigan 鈥淵ou should thank God鈥� for the bank bailouts. Without George W., Obama and Bernanke, civilization as we know it would have gone down the drain, making a comparison to Weimar Germany.
鈥淗it the economy with enough misery and enough disruption, destroy the currency, and God knows what happens,鈥� Munger said. 鈥淪o I think when you have troubles like that you shouldn鈥檛 be bitching about a little bailout. You should have been thinking it should have been bigger.鈥�
And for those in not doing so well in the downturn, the 86-year old Munger says 鈥渟uck it in and cope.鈥�
Why couldn鈥檛 the banks 鈥渟uck it in and cope鈥� Charlie? But then again that wouldn鈥檛 have been so hot for the , which includes : American Express, Bank of America, M & T Bank Corp, US Bank, and Wells Fargo. And of course there was that in September 2008 when Wall Street was melting down. Then Goldman received $10 billion in TARP the following month. Charlie and Warren must be clairvoyants.
Mr. Munger is reflecting an elevated time-preference typical for those his age. 鈥淟ike a child,鈥� as Hans Hoppe wrote in , 鈥渉e may only be interested in instant or minimally delayed gratification.鈥� Forget the injustice and long-term damage of bailouts, if it鈥檚 good for Munger and Buffett we are supposed to thank God for it.
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