Munger’s Musings: Trump’s “Not Wrong On Everything”; “Young People Should Shop Less, Learn More”

Charlier Munger, the 93 year old billionaire vice chairman of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway who once said Trump was not “morally qualified” to be President, seems to be warming up to the new administration.  Well, at least he doesn’t think Trump is quite as bad as Hitler anyway, which is a start. 

In speaking with a group of investors and students for nearly two hours yesterday at the Daily Journal’s annual meeting, on a wide range of topics, Munger said that he’s “gotten more mellow” when it comes to Trump and is now convinced that “he’s not wrong on everything.”  Per Yahoo Finance:

“Well, I’ve gotten more mellow,” Munger said at the Daily Journal’s 2017 meeting on Wednesday, adding, “I always try to think about the good as long as it’s not good.”

“He’s not wrong on everything. And just because he isn’t like us, roll with it. If there’s a little danger, what the hell, you’re not going to live forever anyway.”

“And when Donald Trump says he wouldn’t touch Social Security and Republicans have all kinds of schemes for revising Social Security — I’m with Donald Trump. If I were running the world … I wouldn’t touch [Social Security].”

When asked about the disaffected, millennial protesters around the country, Munger blasted the “agitators” saying that short of Trump turning into “Hitler” he’s not in favor of “young people agitating and trying to change the whole world because they know so much.”  He also encouraged America’s entitled, know-it-all youth to “learn more and shop less.”

“I don’t like all that. Basically, I’m not in favor of young people agitating and trying to change the whole world because they know so much. I think young people should learn more and shop less, so I’m not sympathetic to anybody. Young people are out in the streets agitating—that’s not my system. I think if you’ve got Hitler or something you can agitate. But short of that, young people should learn more and shop less.”

Meanwhile, in addressing Berkshire’s recent investments in Technology (AAPL) and Airlines (DAL, AAL, LUV and UAL), Munger sought to assure the crowd that he didn’t think the so-called ‘Oracle of Omaha’ had “gone crazy” but was “adapting” to changing markets.

On Tuesday, Berkshire revealed multi-billion-dollar stakes in all five companies, marking a reversal of its longstanding aversion to the technology sector and antipathy to the “joke” that Munger said airlines once were.

“The nice thing about the game we’re in is that we can keep learning,” Munger said.

“He’s changed when he’s buying airlines, and he’s changed when he’s buying Apple,” he said of Buffett.

“I don’t think we’ve gone crazy,” Munger added. “I think we’re adapting.”

And here is the full 2-hour meeting for your viewing pleasure: