滚雪球（下）《转贴：How to Tell Madoff from Buffett （如何辨别巴非特不是

Wednesday 24 Dec 2008

How to Tell the Madoffs From the Buffetts

Posted By: Alex Crippen

Topics:Bernard Madoff

Warren Buffett

Companies:Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Warren Buffett recalls that there were some people around Omaha who thought he was running a Ponzi scheme back in the late 1950s when he was just starting out as a money manager.

巴菲特让人想起，在50年代末，他周围就有人怀疑他运作一个庞氏骗局。

In her New York Times bestseller Buffett biography The Snowball Alice Schroeder writes that Buffett wanted absolute control over the money he managed and would "tell his partners nothing about how it was invested." They got only an annual summary of the partnership's performance.

《滚雪球》谈到，巴菲特绝对控制金钱，不给合伙人说任何投资信息。他们只是得到了年度总结。

Given that secretiveness I'm not surprised some potential investors were suspicious at the time.

ALSO ON WBW: BRUISED BERKSHIRE HOLDS LEAD OVER BATTERED BENCHMARK GOING INTO CHRISTMAS BREAK

In a post last week (Warren Buffett: People Thought "I Was Doing Some Sort of Ponzi Scheme") I noted that those who did trust Buffett got rich while years later those who trusted Bernard Madoff got burned.

Ultimately I suggested faith plays a major role as we humans struggle to distinguish reality from illusion.

当人们从幻觉中分辨出现实时，忠诚扮演着重要角色，

Schroeder however says "knowing the difference between the Madoffs and Buffetts is more than 'a matter of faith.'"

《滚雪球》作者说，我知道麦道夫和巴菲特的区别不只是“忠诚”。

Her publicist sent an email listing some "key differences" as outlined by Schroeder:

主要区别是：

1 Buffett used Peat Marwick a major firm as his auditor

巴菲特使用大公司作审计

2 Buffett stressed in writing to partners that he did not run his own broker-dealer thus no conflict of interest nor opportunity for mischief

3 Buffett spent a lot of time educating them about investing and what he was doing treating them as real partners

巴菲特花很多时间教导投资者投资理念

*****************************************

And in another email reader Harry S. offered this alternate ending to last week's post. It's Duncan speaking in Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 1 Scene 4.

There's no art

To find the mind's construction in the face:

He was a gentleman on whom I built

An absolute trust.