Charlie Munger demonstrates what is wrong with humanity

The fact that Charlie is a super old rich white dude is practically irrelevant. The same can be said for huge swaths of people in many classes and ages and races. I wanted to break down his recent quote about bitcoin into several chunks.

" Of course, I hate the bitcoin success and I don’t welcome a currency that’s useful to kidnappers and extortionists, and so forth."
Here Charlie demonstrates that he believes there is a moral elite in society, that he is part of this moral elite, and because he is a good guy his version of money gets a pass because there is a lot of good that it does for society as well. Moral elitism digs down deep into the strata of classes and knows no racial divides. Charlie is a damned old fool if he cannot face the thousands of years of blood that has culminated in his monetary system. We would also be fools and incorrect moral elitists to claim our money is clean and to not strive to improve on our own system, but the path for that is not "handing over control to our betters."

​

"Nor do I like just shoveling out a few extra billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air."
If this isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is. It is also stupid. Financial products and financial systems are created out of thin air. His certainly was. They are abstract constructs communicated and agreed upon by some society. In reality what Charlie is saying is that he doesn't want someone else somehow getting rich doing what he does but doing it differently.

​

"So I think I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization."
Charlie's view of civilization is inextricably tied to the egotistic view that it cannot exist without him having an outsized power role. You know, because he is part of the moral elite. His modesty is false and the dumb bastard has fooled himself more than he has fooled anyone else. What is truly disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization is people who, for whatever reason, stop growing and learning and reflecting and improving.