Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, discusses whether market pullbacks are something investors should be concerned about making money.
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, released his annual letter on Saturday. This promoted the company’s record-breaking tax payments last year, prompting the federal government to spend money wisely.
When Buffett first bought Berkshire Hathaway 60 years ago, his longtime business partner Charlie Manger was a massive textile business at the time, which led to profits and taxes. I remembered warning him that he had been shown to be unable to pay. time.
“The US Treasury Department in all places had already received a quiet warning of Berkshire’s fate,” he wrote. “In 1965, the company did not postpone income tax. 10 years. Such economic behavior may be understood by attractive startups, but when it occurs in the venerable pillars of American industry, it is a blinking yellow light. Berkshire was heading towards a can of ashes. ”
“Fast-forward 60 years, the same company is still operating under the name Berkshire Hathaway – imagine a surprise at the Treasury Department. far There are more corporate income tax than the US government had Until now Even American high-tech titans who ordered market value in received from any company – The signwrote Buffett.
Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway to shareholders: Read here
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, promoted the company’s record-breaking tax payments in an annual letter. (J. Kempin/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“To be precise, last year, Berkshire made four payments to the IRS, totaling $26.8 billion, about 5% of what all Corporate American payments. (In addition, it paid a substantial amount of income tax to foreign governments and 44 states.)
Buffett added that the company’s gross income tax payments to the U.S. Treasury totaled $100 billion over time, and that it has only paid one dividend over the past 60 years.
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Value investors known for holding stocks over the long term have also promoted his best investments.
“We own a small portion of very large, very profitable businesses with common names like Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, Moody’s, and many of these companies are operating. He has earned very high returns with the pure concrete equity needed. “He said.
| Ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aapl | Apple Inc. | 245.55 | -0.28 |
-0.11% |
| axp | American Express Co. | 295.37 | -8.40 |
-2.77% |
| KO | Coca-Cola Co. | 71.39 | +1.34 |
+1.91% |
| MCO | Moody’s Corporation. | 500.03 | -11.54 |
-2.26% |
Buffett continued to discuss the value of capitalism. He said there are drawbacks and abuses of “in certain respects it’s even worse than ever,” but “it can work with unparalleled wonders in other economic systems.”
“It’s true that our country has borrowed overseas from time to time to compensate for our own savings. But at the same time, we have been consistently saving many Americans, and we have been able to consistently save and savers and others. The Americans had to wisely deploy the capital. What it produced would have made the country spin its wheels.”
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“The American process has it do not have It was always beautiful. Our country has forever had many villains and promoters trying to capitalize on people they mistakenly trust in their savings. But even with the many developments of such misconduct (which today leaves a total power) that were ultimately amazed by brutal competition and destructive innovation, American savings are the ones who have been stolen from the past. , has brought the quantity and quality of production beyond any colony’s dream.
“Even though they had only four million bases and despite brutal internal wars at an early stage, America quickly changed the world, despite having one American face-off against another.” wrote Buffett.
Buffett urged the federal government to spend wisely and secure a stable currency. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images / Getty Images)
He said, “very Minor Way” Berkshire shareholders took part in the American miracle by refraining from dividends. Originally, over time, “a small, almost meaningless “reinvestment” suddenly came to an abrupt end.
“Berkshire’s activities are now affecting every corner of our country. And we are not finished. Companies are dead for many reasons, but unlike human destiny, Old age itself is not fatal. Berkshire today is much younger than 1965,” he wrote.
“butAs Charlie and I have always admitted, Berkshire would not have achieved that outcome anywhere except America, but America would have been successful if Berkshire never existed. ”
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“So, thank you, Uncle Sam. One day, Berkshire’s nie and neo hope to send even bigger payments than they did in 2024. Spend wisely. They deserve better in life. need Both wisdom and vigilance on your part,” Buffett wrote.
