Munger praises Chinese government's moves to reduce speculation

CNBC aired a one-hour special Tuesday evening called "Buffett & Munger: A Wealth of Wisdom" with extensive portions of a taped interview Becky Quick did recently with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

It generated a lot of headlines, and some of them focused on Munger's praise for the Chinese government's moves to reduce what he sees as "excess" speculation.

"The people who are avoiding it are the Communist Chinese. They step in preemptively to stop speculation ... [Alibaba Group co-founder] Jack Ma is one of the swingers.  So they just cut his — they said 'to hell with you...'

"He basically gave a speech, when he said to a one-party state, 'Well, you guys are a bunch of jerks and you don't know what you're doing, and I know what I'm doing and I'm going to do it better.' And he was going to wade into banking — and no rules — and just do whatever he pleased...

"The Chinese Communists did the right thing. They just called in Jack Ma and said, 'You aren't doing to do it, sonny.' 

"I wish we had a — I don't want the — all of the Chinese system, but I certainly would like to have the financial part of it in my own country."

Munger and Buffett differ on key aspect of pandemic life

Munger likes Zoom and thinks the videoconferencing trend is here to stay. Buffett isn't a fan.

But they agree on key belief that's guided them in life

"We've made a lot of money, but what we really wanted was independence."

More headlines from the interview

• CNBC.com: Warren Buffett says the pandemic has had an ‘extremely uneven’ impact and is not yet over
• Associated Press: Warren Buffett says pandemic’s impact still hard to predict
• CNBC.com Make It: Charlie Munger calls Robinhood ‘a gambling parlor’—here’s how Warren Buffett says to invest instead
• Bloomberg: Munger Calls Robinhood a ‘Gambling Parlor’ in CNBC Interview
• CNBC's "Squawk Box": Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger on Berkshire Hathaway’s unique management style
• CNBC.com: Buffett reflects on his first meeting with Munger: ‘I’m not going to find another guy like this’
• Business Insider on MSN: Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger knocked Robinhood, discussed the Archegos fiasco, and reflected on their friendship in a new interview. Here are the highlights

Here's the entire program

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

It's that time of year again. To celebrate Independence Day, here's "Warren Buffett: Never Bet Against America."

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - July 2, 2021

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of March 31, 2021 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on May 17, 2021, except for Apple, Bank of America, and U.S. Bancorp, which also include shares held as of March 31, 2021 as disclosed in New England Asset Management’s 13F filing on May 17, 2021.

In addition to U.S. stocks, shares held as of December 31, 2020 of China's BYD, as listed in Buffett's 2020 letter to shareholders, are included. The price of those shares in U.S. trading is used to approximate the current market value of the position. The value of the stake as a percentage of the company's market value is fixed at what was listed as of December 31, 2020 in the letter.

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

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-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch