HMM: Warren Buffett Sends a Dire $134 Billion Warning to Wall Street. History Says the Stock Market Will Do This Next.

In 1965, Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway. The stock has since returned 19.9% annually, while the S&P 500 has compounded at 10.4% annually. That outperformance is due in large part to shrewd investments made by Buffett, which makes his recent capital allocation decisions a dire warning to Wall Street:

Berkshire sold $143 billion in stock in 2024, while purchasing only $9 billion. That brings its net sales to $134 billion last year. Berkshire has never been a net seller on [sic] that magnitude at any point in its history.

Berkshire had $334 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet, as of December 2024. That figure doubled in the past year, and it represents a new record for the company.

Importantly, in his most recent shareholder letter, Buffett wrote, “Berkshire will never prefer ownership of cash-equivalent assets over the ownership of good businesses.” That implies Buffett struggled to find good stocks at reasonable prices last year, which itself is a clear warning to Wall Street.

“Buy the dip” remains solid advice for billionaires and small investors alike.

CHANGE:

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, SLEAZY? SHOCKED.

GOLDEN STATE FOLLIES:  Voters here in California would like their elected leaders to do something to prevent wildfires.  Behold Senate Bill 653 (introduced by Senator Dave Cortese):  While the bill’s title is “Wildfire prevention:  Environmentally sensitive vegetation management,” the entire text reads. “Section 1:  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to define ‘environmentally sensitive vegetation management’ and to encourage the use of environmentally sensitive vegetation management practices.”

That’s it.  Maybe they’ll get around to it later; right now they just wanted us to know that they’re thinking about us.  Cortese sent around an email bragging about having introduced this very important … bill about wildfire prevention statement of vague intent.  Not surprisingly, the email doesn’t quote the bill’s text, it only quotes the title.

Meanwhile, the California legislature is swimming in slavery reparations bills.  For example, one bill would establish a “Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.”  Another would give the descendants of slaves “priority” for certain professional licenses.  A third would give admissions preferences at California universitiesto descendants of slaves.  There are more.

The folks in the Cal Legislature never learn.  They have their priorities.  But they don’t look much like the voters’ priorities.

CUE THE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Trump Admin’s War on Federal Bureaucracy Threatens Nancy Pelosi’s ‘Local Legacy’ in San Francisco. “President Donald Trump announced in a Wednesday executive order that his administration will look to cut the Presidio Trust to the fullest extent possible, picking a fight with the federal agency that oversees the nearly-1,500 acre park in San Francisco. Pelosi worked in Congress to establish the Presidio Trust in the 1990s to manage the city’s famous Presidio, and she subsequently helped land a $200 million award to Presidio Trust in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to cover costs of ‘climate resilience’ projects at the park.”

$200 million on “climate resilience” at a 1,500-acre park in a city that rarely gets very hot and almost never gets very cold is patently absurd and certainly a grift.

YES, PLEASE:

NOT BY ACCIDENT: The decline of friendship in America. “The loss of friendship is measurable, and can be seen in every age group and demographic — although working-class Americans look to be hardest hit.”

OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.