Thu, Apr 15, 2027

Berkshire’s 2018 and 2019 years glaringly illustrate the argument we have with the new rule. In 2018, a down year for the stock market, our net unrealized gains decreased by $20.6 billion, and we therefore reported GAAP earnings of only $4 billion. In 2019, rising stock prices increased net unrealized gains by the aforementioned $53.7 billion, pushing GAAP earnings to the $81.4 billion reported at the beginning of this letter. Those market gyrations led to a crazy 1,900% increase in GAAP earnings!

Source： https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2019ltr.pdf
2019 Chairman's Letter, excerpt 3

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

大國者下流， 天下之交。 天下之牝， 牝常以靜勝牡，以靜為下。 故大國以下小國， 則取小國； 小國以下大國，則取大國。 故或下以取，或下而取。 大國不過欲兼畜人，小國不過欲入事人。夫兩者各得其所欲，大者宜為下。

Source： https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%81%93%E5%BE%B7%E7%B6%93_%28%E7%8E%8B%E5%BC%BC%E6%9C%AC%29
王弼本·六十一章

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

《周書》曰：「農不出則乏其食，工不出則乏其事，商不出則三寶絕，虞不出則財匱少。」財匱少而山澤不辟矣。此四者，民所衣食之原也。原大則饒，原小則鮮。上則富國，下則富家。貧富之道，莫之奪予，而巧者有餘，拙者不足。故太公望封於營丘，地澙鹵，人民寡，於是太公勸其女功，極技巧，通魚鹽，則人物歸之，繦至而輻湊。故齊冠帶衣履天下，海岱之閒斂袂而往朝焉。其後齊中衰，管子修之，設輕重九府，則桓公以霸，九合諸侯，一匡天下；而管氏亦有三歸，位在陪臣，富於列國之君。是以齊富彊至於威、宣也。

Source： https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7129
貨殖列傳·周朝·第1则

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a newspaper. It was the second that appeared in America, and was called the New England Courant. The only one before it was the Boston News-Letter. I remember his being dissuaded by some of his friends from the undertaking, as not likely to succeed, one newspaper being, in their judgment, enough for America. At this time (1771) there are not less than five-and-twenty. He went on, however, with the undertaking, and after having worked in composing the types and printing off the sheets, I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/148
Excerpt 6

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

A “normal year,” of course, is not something that either Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire and my partner, or I can define with anything like precision. But for the purpose of estimating our current earning power, we are envisioning a year free of a mega-catastrophe in insurance and possessing a general business climate somewhat better than that of 2010 but weaker than that of 2005 or 2006. Using these assumptions, and several others that I will explain in the “Investment” section, I can estimate that the normal earning power of the assets we currently own is about $17 billion pre-tax and $12 billion after-tax, excluding any capital gains or losses. Every day Charlie and I think about how we can build on this base.

Source： https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2010ltr.pdf
2010 Chairman's Letter, excerpt 1

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.