Charlie Munger Quotes
Another thing I think should be avoided is extremely intense ideology because it cabbages up one's mind. You see it a lot with T.V. preachers (many have minds made of cabbage) but it can also happen with political ideology. When you're young it's easy to drift into loyalties and when you announce that you're a loyal member and you start shouting the orthodox ideology out, what you're doing is pounding it in, pounding it in, and you're gradually ruining your mind. So you want to be very, very careful of this ideology. It's a big danger.
Kaufman, Peter D., ed. Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. Donning Company Publishers, 2005, p. 403.
Most recent American Presidents have appointed their most senior officials who were of their own political party although FDR, Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama appointed members of the opposition party to several important posts. However, in the Soviet Union, the senior officials would appoint no one to even a minor post who they did not perceive was politically reliable—was a dedicated communist and supported the views and programs of the Russian Communist Party leadership. However, rarely in America has there been any criteria of political or ideological doctrine in the hiring of staff. The George W, Bush Administration was a dramatic exception. Being a loyal Republican was totally insufficient. New officials had to be politically and philosophically consonant with the very conservative wing of the Republican party. This was bad enough but by following the same approach as the Russians and other ideological countries, the Bush administration had many of the same problems. One dramatic one was the hiring of people with no professional experience or qualifications but were ideologically perfect and totally loyal. One very dramatic example was the man appointed to head the Federal Emergency Management Administration. His experience consisted of managing horse shows and he had never had anything to do with natural disasters or any other kinds of emergencies nor did he have any experience with first responders. Another is the man appointed to set up the Stock Exchange for Iraq after we occupied that country and were involved in nation building. The appointee’s only job experience had been as a White House intern and not only knew nothing about Stock Exchanges or Economics, but had no business experience as he never held any other job. There were many such examples. No other administration in modern times—Democratic or Republican—went to such lengths as the Soviets to maintain ideological purity.
Charles Thomas Munger is an American billionaire investor, businessman, former real estate attorney, architectural designer, and philanthropist. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Munger as his closest partner and right hand man. Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011. He is also chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation.
