This year is pretty weak, primarily because things not keeping up with inflation, particularly subsidiary earnings
which have been below my predictive models by 10-14% for the last three quarters.

Thanks for posting this Jim.

I saw a reference from the annual letter to this statement on inflation:
"Berkshire also offers some modest protection from runaway inflation, but this attribute is far from perfect."

Berkshire's 2022 after-inflation performance makes me wonder if it prompted this statement, though I wouldn't characterize last year's inflation as "runaway" exactly.

There's been discussions in the past on Berkshire's perceived power to keep up with inflation given the considerable moat many Berkshire companies are perceived to have, the theory being that they should have greater pricing power than the average stock to keep up in a high inflation environment.

Does the decline illustrated in the metric above concern you at all, or make you question Berkshire's ability to be inflation protected? With the relatively hot and rebounding January CPI reading, it's a burning topic on my mind.

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

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