What did Warren Buffett mean by the term "weapons of financial mass destruction"?

Warren Buffett used the term "weapons of financial mass destruction" to refer to complex financial instruments like derivatives. He believed these instruments were extremely risky and could lead to significant financial losses, similar to how weapons of mass destruction can cause massive physical destruction and loss of life. He warned about these in 2003, foreseeing the credit crunch that happened later.

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Aside from those four strategies, it all comes back to Buffett living his life by his inner scorecard. Not going with the flow has saved him millions of dollars, such as when he refused to get in on the dotcom boom. He was proven right, ten fold. In 2003, he warned of the "weapons of financial mass destruction," referring to the driving force behind the credit crunch. Again, he was proven right.

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The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business Life

When a group of economists came up with the Efficient Market Hypothesis, to explain how it was impossible for multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffet...

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