On Sat, Dec 25, 2004 at 09:28:35PM +0000, Mike wrote:

If it wasn't for the fact that he can do nothing about the exchange rate, some BRKa shares wouldn't be a bad conservative investment ;)

Agreed, the man's a genius. Against that, the market that _values_ Berkshire Hathaway is made up of us non-Buffetts, which can lead to the company being overvalued. A serious problem for investment in general (in any shares whatsoever) is that interest rates are more likely to rise than fall, with a non-negligible chance of a very large increase in the US. We are not currently in an attractive investment climate - that's why Buffett has been holding so much in cash. Oh, and as for the EUR/USD, WB has apparently bet heavily on the dollar's fall. Dave