(May 3, 2008) Warren Buffett sounds the alarm about "too big to fail" financial firms that have taken on too much risk to manage, and Munger call the housing bubble a "particularly foolish mess." They also urge investors to quickly take advantage of market dislocations because they don't last long, and Buffett worries about what he calls the "primary problem of mankind."
Berkshire beat the S&P for a third straight year in 2007 with an 11.0 percent increase in per-share book value, exactly double the S&P's 5.5 percent gain. As the housing price bubble deflated, Berkshire's brick, carpet, and real estate brokerage operations suffered, but Buffett wrote that the setbacks would be "minor and temporary" thanks to their strong competitive positions.
READ 2007 LETTER (DATED FEB. 2008)