Neal’s Numbers of 2024: Warren Buffet T-Bills, Digital Cameras, and More
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What numbers stood out in 2024?
Oh my gosh, it's a special Neil's Numbers episode. It's Friday, December 27th. Let's ride. Let's ride.
Good morning and happy Friday, even though the days of the week feel a little made up during this stretch from Christmas to New Year's. We're back with another special episode, one that is near and dear to my heart because it's the best of Neil's numbers. Each Thursday, I bring you three of the most fascinating stats from the week's news, hopefully making you the most interesting person at your dinner party in the process. For this episode, our team poured over every number I discussed from 2024 and picked a bunch that stood out either for representing a bigger theme from the year or just because they were so wacky. Toby, are you ready? By the way, your commentary is a big reason why Neil's numbers is so popular.
Oh, you flatter me too much. Neil, this is my favorite segment every week. Not only because I learn a lot, but also you do most of the talking. So let's dive right in.
How did voter sentiment change in 2024?
All right, I guess I will start talking then. One of my numbers from back in January was that we were entering the biggest election year in history. In 2024, 76 countries with more than half the world's population, over 4 billion people voted in elections, including eight of the 10 most populous countries in the world. What did we learn now that all those votes have been counted? One pattern that was clearly evident is that voters were fed up with inflation. The incumbents in every single one of 10 major countries with elections this year were handed losses by voters, including the Democrats in the U.S., Britain's Tories, Emmanuel Macron's coalition in France, and Japan's liberal Democrats. It was the first time this has happened in 120 years of record keeping.
Yeah, I mean, among democracies that held elections this year, 80% saw their incumbent party lose. Some places it was longtime incumbents, too. In Senegal, its now president became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election since the country became independent in 1960. So it really was a year of people saying, we want change, we want something different. And you saw that in just the sheer amount of elections that were held and the sheer amount of incumbents that did end up losing.
And maybe a 1B number that I want to add over the U.S. presidential election was the sheer amount of outside spending from corporations, individuals. That was a major theme in the election that happened in November. With two weeks to go before Election Day, outside groups poured in $1.1 billion into the presidential race, which surpassed the record set in 2020.
And I remember you would talk about some Senate races just in specific states outspent even the entire election spending of countries like France or Canada or something like that. So it truly is a unique phenomenon to the U.S., just how much we spend on elections.
OK, moving on to a number from the summer, Berkshire Hathaway owns more Treasury bills than the Federal Reserve, which is a sign of how Warren Buffett has been stockpiling cash and sparking debate over why he seems wary of the stock market. At the end of June, Berkshire owned $234 billion in Treasury bills compared to the Fed's $195 billion Treasury war chest. Buffett's TiVo pile is more than several countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and Germany. And his overall cash pile of $325 billion would allow him to easily buy all but 25 of the most valuable public U.S. companies, including Goldman Sachs, Disney, Pfizer, and AT&T. At the same time, Buffett spent the year selling off holdings of his two most treasured investments, Apple and Bank of America.
Toby, what does Buffett see that we don't?
It's always a little scary because Buffett, he's called the Oracle of Omaha for a reason. So he's sitting on a record cash positions as the market is sitting at record high. So something's got to give here. How about this? I'll out-Neil number you. I could never do that, but here's a number for you.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What numbers stood out in 2024?
0:10–1:10
2
How did voter sentiment change in 2024?
1:10–4:47
3
What does Warren Buffet's cash position indicate?
4:47–7:24
4
How is sports gambling affecting personal finances?
7:24–12:09
5
What trends are shaping electric vehicle adoption?
12:09–16:32
6
Why should we consider abolishing the penny?
16:32–20:54
7
What are Toby's favorite tallies from the year?
20:54–25:58
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Morning Brew Daily
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