伯克希尔股东大会知道这6件事就够了

    沃伦•巴菲特上周六在伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的股东大会上回答了投资者、记者和分析师提出的问题，而且破天荒地邀请了一位投资者登台——受邀者是看空伯克希尔股票的道格•凯斯（巴菲特在回答凯斯的问题时说：“你还没有说服我们抛售自己的股票，但继续努力吧。”）听众的问题很多，从美国面临的挑战到美联储（Fed）的经济刺激政策，再到内衣（内衣制造商Fruit of the Loom是伯克希尔的子公司），无所不包。下面是我们在本次大会上了解到的信息：

    1）巴菲特说，美国经济面临的最大威胁是不断上升的医疗成本。美国经济的17.5%都用在了医疗保健方面，而在其他国家，这个数字只有8%。巴菲特说这是一个重大的竞争劣势。

    2）美国公司的利润可能已经见顶，至少它占经济的百分比可能已经达到了高点。巴菲特说美国企业的复苏令人赞叹，但失业率仍然居高不下。他还说，自己认为二元对立仍将是“公众议题”。他预计美国GDP将实现增长。所以并不全是坏消息。

    3）巴菲特还没有去考察比特币（Bitcoin）交易机构Mt. Gox。他说自己对比特币了解不多——这种虚拟货币最近成了非常热门的话题。巴菲特的合伙人查理•蒙格说，他不相信比特币会真正成为一种有意义的货币。巴菲特说，他认为今后许多年内美元仍将是全球通用货币，甚至可能永远如此，“我们的490亿美元资产中，还没有任何一部分进入比特币领域。”

    4）巴菲特不担心再次出现金融危机，但蒙格也许有这样的顾虑。巴菲特说，他不担心银行制造出新的泡沫，或者经济泡沫破裂。他还说，自己并未计划抛售任何大型银行的股票，比如富国银行（Wells Fargo）、美国合众银行（U.S. Bancorp）和M&T Bancorp。但巴菲特确实提到，《多德-弗兰克法案》（Dodd-Frank Act）和其他新法规已经削弱了银行创造回报的能力。

    但蒙格表示，他觉得应该进一步限制大型银行。比如，他认为金融衍生产品市场已经变得过于庞大，应该和传统银行业务划分开来，“大型银行的财务报表很难理解。”

    5）巴菲特不得不继续为自己在报社的投资进行辩护。他首次表示，收购小型报社给他带来了税收方面的好处。

    6）巴菲特依然看好美国。他说：“我相信，如今在美国出生的人在一生中获得的机遇要好于以往任何时候。”（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    At Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA) annual meeting on Saturday, Warren Buffett fielded questions from investors, journalists, analysts and, for the first time, invited onto the stage one investor, Doug Kass, who is betting against Berkshire's stocks. ("You haven't convinced us yet to sell our stock, but keep working," said Buffett in response to one question.) The questions ranged from those about the challenges facing America, the Fed's stimulus efforts and underwear (Berkshire owns Fruit of the Loom). Here's what we learned:

    1) The biggest threat facing the U.S. economy is rising health care costs, says Buffett. The U.S. economy spends 17.5 cents of every dollar on health care, compared to 8 cents in other countries. Buffett said that's a major competitive disadvantage.

    2) Corporate profits may have peaked, at least as a percentage of the economy. Buffett says corporations have made an amazing recovery, but he notes that the unemployment rateremains high. He said he thought that dichotomy would remain a topic of "public discourse." But he

    3) Buffett hasn't been to Mt. Gox. He says doesn't know much about Bitcoin, the virtual currency that has been gotten a lot of buzz lately. Buffett's partner Charlie Munger said that he has no confidence that Bitcoin will become a viable meaningful currency. Buffett said he thinks the dollar will remain the world's default currency for years to come, perhaps forever. "Of our $49 billion, we haven't moved any of it into Bitcoins," says Buffett.

    4) Buffett isn't worried about another financial crisis, but Munger may be. Buffett says he doesn't worry about banks creating the next bubble or bust. And he says he has no plans to sell the shares he has in any of the big banks, including Wells Fargo (WFC), U.S. Bancorp (USB), and M&T Bancorp (MTB). But Buffett does say that Dodd-Frank and other new regulations have lowered the returns banks can generate.

    Munger, though, says he thinks more should be done to rein in the big banks. For one, he thinks the market for financial derivatives has gotten too big and should be separated from traditional banks. "The financial statements of big banks are hard to understand," says Munger.

    5) Buffett still has to defend his investment in newspapers. For the first time, Buffett says he's getting a tax benefit from buying small newspapers.

    6) Buffett is still bullish on America. "I believe a baby born in America today will have better opportunities in life than ever before," says Buffett.