Berkshire: Shareholder Value Generation

NakedValue submits:Warren Buffett recently made headlines by writing in Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A, BRK.B) 2010 shareholder letter that company's "elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy."

Jacob Wolinsky submits: 2009 was not a great year to be a Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) shareholder. While the S&P 500 returned 23.5%, BRK.A stock had a gain of only 2.7%, lower than a ten year treasury note.

Obviously with Buffett a major shareholder of Moody's, the only place where a downgrade of Berkshire could come from was S&P. Moments ago, the rating agency that dared to downgrade the US for which it is being targeted by Eric Holder's Department of "Justice", did just that. On New Criteria, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Downgraded To 'AA', Core Ins. Subs Affirmed At 'AA+', Senior Debt Rated 'AA' Overview

By Charles Margolis:A fellow Seeking Alpha author, Larry Smith, recently wrote an article titled, Berkshire Hathaway Is A Sell.

By Gregory Vousvounis:If you ever go looking for the best businesses around the world you will definitely bump into a fully or partially owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), (BRK.B).

Ira Stoll submits: The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Warren Buffett, has released his annual letter (pdf), and, as always, it makes for some interesting reading. Said Mr. Buffett: "We will never become dependent on the kindness of strangers. Too-big-to-fail is not a fallback position at Berkshire.

Back in 2011, BlackRock's Larry Fink revealed one of the great unspoken truths of capital markets, namely that "markets like totalitarian governments." They also like authoritarian socialism, sprinkled in with a healthy dose of nationalization, because as Bloomberg reports, one of the biggest beneficiaries of over ten years of the "glorious socialist revolution" in Venezuela, coupled with over 1000 nationalizations by the bed-ridden and roughly 15 times deceased Hugo Cha

Frank J. Constantino submits:Many investors are spending today gearing up for the "Woodstock of Capitalism," better known as the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) shareholders' meeting. The meeting, which I will attend for the first time, begins Saturday morning.