In remarks made at the Sohn Conference in Sydney, Australia, Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger said that the current economy is “even crazier” than the dotcom boom and bust in the late 90s and early 2000s, reports an article in Bloomberg.
Munger also expressed his frustration with cryptocurrency, saying he wished “they’d never been invented,” and praised China for regulating their use. He also took the opportunity to encourage Australia to help bridge differences between China and the U.S. and help the two nations come to a more constructive relationship.
With the valuation of the U.S. stock market even higher now than before the pandemic drop, it’s no wonder Munger is recalling the wild ride from two decades ago. The S&P 500 has more than doubled since its epic drop at the start of the pandemic, and Bitcoin has skyrocketed over 1000%, the article reports. Investors have flooded $900 billion into equity funds in 2021 alone. But the volatility and the threat of stricter monetary policy to rein in inflation has made investors jittery.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves hit a record-high of $149.2 billion in the third quarter, with Munger also relating that he’s been bullish on renewable energy, calling the reduction of fossil fuels in favor of cleaner energy the “smart thing for the world to be doing.”