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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: sutton   😊 😞
Number: of 21944 
Subject: Re: Data Point: Railroads
Date: 06/23/26 10:40 PM
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No. of Recommendations: 8
It's one of those classic Buffett insights where a single, simple data point completely reframes how you look at a giant, traditional industry.

Charlie Munger talked about the need to have a very (very) large store of general knowledge, so as to be able to occasionally connect seemingly unrelated points from different disciplines. Mental models, he called them.

A couple of weeks ago Jim/mungofitch described an approach that reminded me, again, of the albatross energy budget (1): make it look easy by harvesting a little bit from each updraft, avoid the downdrafts, and before you know it you're never needing to land again.

That, plus knowing enough history to where now and then you can't help but hear the rhyming in real time, plus simply anticipating where other peoples' incentives will necessarily lead them -- seems to work. Mostly.

-- sutton

(1) sutton writes on On Charlie Munger's centenary, and albatrosse
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This community has written 21,448 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 57 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 54 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
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