Warren Buffett keeps taking investors to school as stock meltdown reveals the uncanny wisdom of his recent moves BYJason Ma April 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM EDT Warren Buffett at the 2019 Berkshire shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Warren Buffett at the 2019 Berkshire shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Johannes Eiselle—AFP via Getty Images The stock market crash triggered by President Donald Trump’s global tariffs brought Warren Buffett’s investment moves over the past year into a fresh light, underscoring his prudence amid the once-raging bull market. His decision last year to shed most of Berkshire Hathaway’s Apple stock now looks especially well timed. Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett’s investment moves over the past year now seem uncannily well timed in the wake of the stock market meltdown caused by President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. Related Video Trump’s tariffs were calculated through a simple math formula Next Stay In the last two trading sessions alone, the S&P 500 crashed 10%, and the broad market index is down 17% from its mid-February peak. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the small-cap Russell 2000 are in bear market territory, having tumbled more than 20% from their recent highs. Since Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on Wednesday, US stocks have lost more than $6 trillion in market cap in the worst selloff since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as Wall Street prices in a tariff-induced US recession. But Buffett appeared to anticipate a market downturn coming. Berkshire sold $134 billion in equities in 2024—when the bull market was still raging—and was sitting on a record $334 billion cash pile at year’s end. That’s nearly double from a year earlier and more than its shrinking stock portfolio of $272 billion. The famously value-oriented investor has also been complaining for years that valuations were too high and has held off on using his cash on major acquisitions due to a lack of bargains. Most of Berkshire’s cash is in short-term Treasury bills, which not only offer shelter from the storm but also provide the conglomerate a tidy gain that Buffett noted in his most recent letter to shareholders. “We were aided by a predictable large gain in investment income as Treasury Bill yields improved and we substantially increased our holdings of these highly-liquid short-term securities,” he wrote in February. In addition to what he bought, what he sold also stands out, given the market crash. Last year, Berkshire slashed its Apple stake by about two-thirds, representing the bulk of the company’s equity sales, though the iPhone maker remains its largest stock holding. Those stock sales, which came in the first three quarters of the year, also occurred while Apple was still on the rise, with shares peaking in late December. But since that peak, Apple has collapsed 28% as US tariffs on China are expected to hit especially hard. That’s because Apple, like many tech companies, relies on China for parts and manufacturing. With Trump’s latest round of tariffs, imports from China now face a 54% duty. And if the administration follows through on its threat to impost a “secondary tariff” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela, the rate could hit 79%.
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AntisemitismCanada In 2026, Tulsa And Panama Are Courting Canadian Jews As Antisemitism Redefines The Cost Of Staying As antisemitism reaches unprecedented levels across Canada, Jewish families and professionals are quietly reassessing their futures, and some are being actively courted elsewhere. Ron East By: Ron East December 31, 2025 SHARE A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options as antisemitism intensifies and confidence in public protection erodes. (Image: Illustration.) TORONTO — For generations, Canada sold itself as a country where Jews could thrive without constantly looking over their shoulders. That assumption no longer holds for a growing number of Canadian Jews, particularly in the aftermath of October 7 and the months that followed. What has changed is not only the number of antisemitic incidents. It is the atmosphere. Public hostility has been normalized. Jewish schools, synagogues, and community centres operate under permanent security protocols. Anti-Jewish intimidation is increasingly framed as political expression. Enforcement is inconsistent. Accountability is rare. When Jewish life requires constant risk assessment, mobility stops being a luxury. It becomes a rational act of self-preservation. That reality helps explain why, in 2026, two very different destinations, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Panama, are appearing with growing frequency in serious conversations among Canadian Jews who have the means and flexibility to move. This is not a panic migration. It is a strategic recalculation. Canada’s new warning lights Jewish Canadians represent a small fraction of the population, yet account for a vastly disproportionate share of reported hate crimes. This is not a perception problem. It is a documented pattern. More troubling than the statistics themselves is the message many Jews hear in response: concern, sympathy, and context, but little deterrence. Protests that spill into harassment are tolerated. Jewish institutions are targeted repeatedly. Antisemitism disguised as antizionism is parsed endlessly rather than confronted directly. The result is a slow erosion of confidence in the state’s willingness or ability to enforce equal protection. When a community moves from assuming it belongs to hoping nothing happens today, the social contract has already been fractured. It is within this context that Tulsa and Panama are not merely attracting attention but actively courting. Lech Le’Tulsa and intentional Jewish welcome Tulsa is not presenting itself as a refuge city. It is presenting itself as a place that wants Jewish life to grow. In 2026, that effort has taken concrete form through Lech Le’Tulsa, a Jewish-focused relocation initiative designed to attract Jewish families, professionals, and entrepreneurs to the Tulsa area. The program combines relocation assistance with intentional community building and access to Jewish infrastructure. The name is deliberate. Lech Lecha, the biblical call to go forth and build a future, is not branding by accident. It speaks directly to a Jewish historical instinct that understands movement not as retreat, but as agency. Lech Le’Tulsa offers what many Canadian Jews increasingly feel is missing at home: A clear signal that Jewish presence is welcomed, not merely accommodated Immediate access to synagogues, schools, and Jewish communal life A civic environment where Jewish identity is not treated as a liability The financial incentives matter, but the social architecture matters more. Tulsa is offering a landing ramp. It is saying, we are prepared for you to arrive. That clarity stands in stark contrast to the ambiguity Canadian Jews experience when their safety concerns are acknowledged but endlessly deferred. Panama and the appeal of optionality Panama represents a different but equally rational response to insecurity. For Canadian Jews with international mobility, Panama offers residency pathways tied to investment, business activity, or long-term economic contribution. It also offers something increasingly valuable: optionality. Panama has an established Jewish community, a comparatively lower cost of living, and an immigration framework that openly courts skilled and capital-carrying residents. For some, it is a permanent relocation. For others, it is a second base, a contingency plan, or a future passport pathway. What matters is not the destination itself, but the logic behind the choice. When Jews seek second options, they are not rejecting diaspora life. They are applying historical lessons. Jewish continuity has always depended on redundancy, resilience, and the ability to move before crisis becomes catastrophe. The Zionist lens Canadians prefer to ignore Zionism does not deny the legitimacy of diaspora life. It insists that Jews must never be dependent on the goodwill of others for safety or equality. That lesson was written in blood long before the modern State of Israel existed. Israel institutionalized it at a national level. Individual Jews apply it on a personal level. When Canadian Jews explore Tulsa or Panama, they are not abandoning Canada in anger. They are responding rationally to warning signs. They are building leverage. They are ensuring their children have options. This is what Zionist consciousness looks like outside Israel. It is quiet, pragmatic, and unsentimental. An indictment Canada should take seriously Tulsa and Panama are not superior societies. They are intentional ones. Tulsa is saying, we want contributors, and we are prepared to integrate them. Panama is saying, we want residents and investment, and we have clear legal pathways. Canada, too often, is saying something else entirely: we are sorry you feel unsafe, but the politics are complicated. A serious country does not treat antisemitism as a public relations challenge. It treats it as a threat to civic order. That requires enforcement, deterrence, and moral clarity, including the willingness to name antisemitism even when it hides behind fashionable political language. Until that happens, Canada should not be surprised when Jews quietly explore exit ramps. The bottom line In 2026, the fact that Tulsa and Panama can plausibly court Canadian Jews is not an oddity. It is a warning. When antisemitism reaches levels that fundamentally alter how Jews calculate their futures, movement becomes strategy. History teaches Jews to act before apologies arrive too late. Canada still has time to reverse this trajectory. But time matters. And Jews, having learned this lesson repeatedly, are no longer inclined to wait.
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