charlieruane

@gfp How is shrewdm, generally speaking? Quality material over there?

I enjoyed this Kingswell transcript of an interview Ajit Jain gave in 2011. Jain's closing comment re: his evolving views on philanthropy is particularly interesting, I haven't quite heard this POV before: AM: In terms of charity. AJ: It’s a very difficult question. It’s a very personal question. My views have also sort of changed over time. Without getting into a lot of the details — which aren’t relevant to you and your audience — we have a son that has been diagnosed with a serious illness. Before he was diagnosed with the illness, I always sort of thought much like the Buffett philosophy. I always felt, “Gee, I’ve got this fame, I’ve got this wealth, I didn’t deserve it, and it doesn’t belong to me.” But, after my son’s illness, things did change. I felt I didn’t deserve my son’s illness, either. He didn’t deserve what he’s getting. So, in terms of my giving… Again, without getting into too much detail, two things have changed: One is that we focus on a foundation that is trying to find a cure for his illness. And, secondly, I feel guilty in as much as in the earliest days of his life, while he was healthy, I didn’t let him spend money and have a nice time. So I’ve done a u-turn on that and I spend a lot more money a lot more freely than what I used to.

Trump approached Berkshire Hathaway in hopes of getting an appellate bond:

And as a followup, here's one of the most bizarre Buffett anecdotes I've encountered, from an Atlantic article on Howard:

Apropos of nothing, a fun fact about Howard Buffett's foundation: according to its latest 990 filing, although Howard receives no standard compensation for his role as Chairman and CEO, he does receive contributions to an employee benefit plan. In 2022, those contributions totaled $15,219. Anyone have any color on this? Screenshot from the 2022 990 is attached for reference.