2000: Would Buffett or Munger want to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Gary Bradstrom (PH) from here in Omaha, Nebraska.

And my question is, if Alan Greenspan just decided to retire, and that job was offered, to either of you, would you take it?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I can tell you my answer is no, in a hurry. (Laughter)

I think Charlie will give you his answer.

CHARLIE MUNGER: I would say “no” more quickly. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: You notice, we gave you very unequivocal answers. And of course, that alone would disqualify us from the job at the Fed. (Laughter)

I think it was Alan that said to one senator, he said, “Since you, you know, since you’ve seem to have stated my remarks so accurately, you must’ve misunderstood them.” (Laughter)

I don’t think you could find a job in public life that would entice either one of us.

And the truth is, we’re having too much fun. I mean, this — we’ve got the best job in the world. We get to work with people we like and admire and trust every day of the year. We get to do what we want to do the way we want to do it.

We should pay, and this is true of some other CEOs, too, but we should pay to have this job.

I mean, it is really interesting. I’ve often thought, if you could get, you know, you had a sealed envelope, and you got — and you had the compensation committee say what they would pay to have the job filled, but then you had the chief executive also say what he would do before he would leave, there would be a huge, huge gap.

And I mean, it’s — there are all kinds of — I mean, it’s a lot of fun to start with interesting problems you come up with, interesting things to do, something different every day. You can’t beat the job. And to get paid for it is just the frosting on the cake.

And I don’t see any jobs like that in public life, myself.

Charlie, have you got anything to add? Charlie takes on these public jobs. He runs a hospital and a few things. And he can tell you the wonders of it. Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Oh, yeah. There’s an old saying that, “He lied like a finance minister on the eve of a devaluation.” I never wanted to have a job where lying was a required part of the activity. (Laughter and applause)