The best thing I did was choose the right heroes.
When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business.
I mean, Hank Paulson is in there [ Treasury] at the wrong time, probably shouldn't have taken the job. He's a friend of mine. But he knows markets, he knows corporations' work, he knows money, and he's got the interests of the country at heart.
We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff.
You know, with your money and my brains, I mean, there's no telling how far we'd go.
Americans are in a cycle of fear which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, and that leads to more fear. We'll break out of it. It takes time.