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of this kind of praise was that it sometimes caused people to wonder whether they were getting paid a quarter of what they were worth.14 Buffett, however, was skilled at paying people with more praise than cash. Those who sat closest to the sun, Muchemore, Bosanek, and the receptionist, Deb Ray, were the most Carnegized of all Buffett’s employees; every shareholder had heard all about how wonderful they were. The Carnegizing seemed to work like a sort of sunscreen helping protect them from Rickershauser’s Law of Thermodynamics. Thus, they threw themselves into the fray, while keeping their boss sheltered in his private cocoon down at the end of the hallway, separate from everybody else. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, they all pulled double duty. On meeting day, Deb and Debbie handled the most important VIPs and the press room, while Muchemore ran around with a walkie-talkie, field-marshaling.

By four o’clock in the morning on Saturday, several hundred restless people wearing laminated meeting credentials on lanyards around their necks lined up outside the Civic Auditorium, waiting for the doors to open. Three hours later, people stampeded past the guards who checked their credentials to claim the prime seats on the floor. After hanging their jackets and sweaters over the backs of their chairs to save seats, they made their way to the concession stands for the free breakfast of sugary sweet rolls, juice, and coffee. By eight o’clock it became clear that they needn’t have bothered to show up before dawn. Half the seats in the house were empty. Thirty minutes later, the auditorium held nine thousand people.15 While most CEOs would be thrilled (or horrified) at such a turnout, it didn’t compare to the fifteen thousand who had come the year before. Attendance was down by forty percent.

On schedule, the auditorium darkened and the film rolled for the premeeting movie, which had been growing longer with each year. It opened with a cartoon featuring Warren as a superhero, with Charlie in a supporting role, shilling for Berkshire products. Next, Judge Judy adjudicated a mock dispute over a two-dollar bet between Buffett and Bill Gates. Comedy videos and commercials for Berkshire products followed; finally Susie Buffett sang a Berkshire-ized version of the Coca-Cola theme song, “What the world wants today…is Berkshire Hathaway.”

Around nine-thirty Buffett and Munger walked onto the stage in suits and ties and looked out over the shrunken crowd of the faithful, clad in everything from business garb to shorts. Yellow foam hats bobbed here and there in the audience. After a five-minute business meeting, the question-and-answer session opened as usual, with shareholders lined up at microphones positioned around the auditorium, lobbing questions on how to value stocks. Somebody asked about technology stocks. “I don’t want to speculate about high-tech,” Buffett said. “Anytime there have been real bursts of speculation, it eventually gets corrected.” He compared the market to the phony riches of chain letters and Ponzi schemes. “Investors may feel richer, but they’re not.” Pause. “Charlie?”

Munger opened his mouth. The audience perked up slightly. Munger often said, “Nothing to add.” But whenever Buffett handed the microphone to him, the auditorium hummed with the subtlest sensation of danger. It was like watching an experienced lion tamer working with a chair and a whip.

“The reason we use the phrase ‘wretched excess,’” Munger said, “is because it produces wretched consequences. It’s irrational. If you mix raisins with turds, they’re still turds.”

The crowd gasped. Did he say turds? Did Charlie just compare Internet stocks to turds in front of children who had come with their parents, not to mention in front of the press? He said turds! It took some time for the meeting to settle back into its normal rhythm.

Somebody asked “the silver question.” Around then, people started heading down into the basement to shop for shoes and Ginsu knives and See’s Candies. An annual question about Buffett’s silver position had become a tedious