Subject: Someone woke up on the wrong side of the mattress
"Warren Buffett must be feeling smug right now." - 'Schumpeter', The Economist, 10 Apr 25

...and he goes on from there: What, no dividends? No recent buybacks?

"Berkshire, meanwhile, was sitting pretty on a 10% gain—and a pile of cash to make Scrooge McDuck blanch. Converted into $100 bills, its $334bn in liquid assets would fill 1,900 king-size mattresses."

Think of the things he should be doing with that money! Schumpeter surely can. We should listen to Schumpeter.

"Mr Buffett’s cash buffer may look smart in a world gripped by Trumpian turmoil. It nevertheless seems almost churlish of him to insist on holding so much insurance, for that is what such a buffer amounts to. Does Berkshire really need roughly as much liquidity as Standard Chartered and NatWest, two of the world’s big banks? Anyone can pad a mattress with dollar bills. A legendary investor ought to have cleverer ideas."

Also, Warren doesn't understand technology, as they say.

-- sutton
perfectly content with steady returns, an enormous margin of safety, and a shrewd old man carefully surveying the horizon every day

(sorry, no gift links at The Economist that are good for >1 person)