Subject: Re: Todays Barron's, Buffett moves on from buy and hol
Posting on these message boards has been a very interesting 20 year journey. It started on the yahoo board, then moved to the Fools board, but not much changed regardless of which Brkville madrassa we are on. Questioning Father Buffett on any issue always resulted in negative responses, 100 percent of the time.

With that track record, maybe it's time to reconsider your positions. 20 years and 3 different boards cover a lot of time and people.

In the particular issue you're focusing on now, perhaps Buffett has other reasons for how Berkshire reports stock purchases and sales that have nothing to do with being a hypocrite. Many people have tried to gently point that out. Maybe its time to listen and consider their points.

I know that can be hard. In Dallas, it has been 25 years since the Dallas Cowboys have even played in a championship league game, must less won one. The one consistent factor is that Jerry Jones insists on being the general manager as well as the owner. As an owner, he's considered a marketing and management genius and has been elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. So it has nothing to do with his overall capabilities. He's just not a good judge of football talent, and won't accept that. And people have been pointing that out to him for a similar 20+ years. For a long time he was just stubbornly determined to prove he's right and everyone else is wrong. What he has done more recently is bring in an advisor that can judge talent. The drafts have gotten much better and we're getting closer (I hope.)

And you're not the only one who has ever critiqued Buffett. I've heard many doing so on his past refusals to do buybacks. He showed he could change positions.

Even earlier, before the shock of the sudden death of his first wife, I and others were critical of the lack of details and depth in his succession planning and what to do with his stock control of Berkshire. At the time, the successor was only known by a letter in his desk, and all of his stock was going to his wife. She's was a very nice person but also very liberal and not widely qualified. It took the shock of his wife's death to make him reconsider these factors. What has resulted is in depth succession planning involving the BRK board and teaming up with the Gates Foundation to more wisely utilize the bulk of his stock.

Maybe there are lessons to be learned from Jones and Buffett.