That's really silly. This chart just shows that he hoards treasury bills all the time. Only spending some after the crash possibly to buy severely discounted businesses.

No deal is better than a deal at a bad price.

It’s also really hard to deploy 188B efficiently into anything else other than stock buybacks.

But BRK way bigger too. Meaningless unless you control for size of firm

5.4% is a solid return. Given that the treasury department has initiated treasury buybacks, it's a solid guarantee that rates are not going anytime lower according to their own calculations perhaps even throwing in the towel about trying to fight inflation.

S&P has overshot even the most optimistic projects of 2023 by over 15(?)% and Apple is only going up due to buybacks.

No wonder Buffett is selling his apple shares and putting them into T bills and notes.

Not sure if this is accurate but I've read he used to sell put options relying on the float from his insurance business as collateral. He could easily be doing this using t-bills as collateral as well. The drops in cash could even partly be explained by having to use that money on puts being exercised.. although I suspect if he is doing this it's probably on a small fraction of that cash.

What does the money even do for him at that age? He’s not gonna live long enough to enjoy spending that much

It's a game for him. It's been his entire life. Money is just points. It's similar for many obscenely rich people.

There are people with hobbies of collecting stamps, insects, antiques, paintings, etc., why is only a hobby of collecting money 'obscene'?

Because an excess of stamps can't feed, clothe, or educate someone. It can't help house someone and it can't save someone's life.

Money on the other hand can do much more good not sitting in the bank account of someone who has more of it than they could ever spend. So keeping it in there for the purpose of 'scoring points' is seen by many, myself included, as obscene.

Also, I disagree that collecting money is the only hobby that would receive this criticism. Personally I would also find it obscene to collect insulin, clean water, and residential housing to name a few.

The later is quite popular in some circles

This logic doesn't quite makes sense. If that money is actually spent on consumer goods, instead of being collected or invested in long lived assets, then inflation will go up across the board for everyone so effectively there will be no net difference.

It especially punishes the middle class because the money in their wallets would buy less proportionally.

If anything ideally proportionally less money should be available for chasing after consumer goods.

He doesn't really consume the money he gathered. So the fact that he owns so much just puts a slight deflationary pressure on the economy, nothing more. Of course he could use the money to buy goods and services taking them away from poor people, or purchase political power to achieve harmful goals but as long as he doesn't do that too much his hoarding is no issue. It's not like government can't just print more money and give it to the poor if it wants to.

Besieds his money doesn't sit it in the bank. He has it in short term tresury bonds. Which means he basically lent it all to the government. If this money is not used to help the poor then blame the government because it controlls Warren Buffett money until it gives it back to him.

If I don't have a collection of stamps, I don't go hungry or unhoused. If I don't have a collection of money, I run into significant problems.

The national debt interest is 2 trillion a year and instead of taxing the middle class is paying them to use their money.

I think the middle class should get paid to use our money as well.