“If you think you know what’s going to happen to payment systems 10 years out, you’re probably under some state of delusion,” he said.
Buffett, 86, has credited Munger with broadening Berkshire’s approach to investing beyond buying stocks at a fraction of the value of their underlying assets. The company that Buffett controlled in 1965 was a maker of men’s suit linings. With Munger’s help, he began assembling a conglomerate spanning the insurance, railroad, manufacturing and consumer-goods industries that’s now valued at more than $400 billion.
‘Grossly Defective’
On Wednesday, Munger took questions about India and China, which have more than 1 billion people each and account for about a third of the world’s population. He was asked about efforts in India, the world’s largest democracy, to encourage entrepreneurship with market reforms.
"India is grossly defective because they took the worst aspects of our culture, allowing a bunch of idiots to scream and stop everything. And they copied it,” Munger said. “They’ve taken the worst aspects of democracy.” He said the Indians he knows are “fabulous people” but that the country struggles with corruption.
"The Chinese government really tries to help its companies," Munger said, contrasting that with India. “What I like about China is they have some companies that are very strong and still selling at low prices. And the Chinese are formidable workers and they make wonderful employees.”
Still, for Munger, there is that issue with gambling.
“They actually believe in luck,” he said. “That is stupid. You want to believe in odds.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.