"Berkshire shareholders can rest assured that we will forever deploy a substantial majority of their money in equities – mostly American equities although many of these will have international operations of significance.
"While our ownership in marketable equities moved downward last year from $354 billion to $272 billion, the value of our non-quoted controlled equities increased somewhat and remains far greater than the value of the marketable portfolio.
Billionaire Warren Buffett is viewed as one of the world's greatest investors, so his annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders are always read closely for lessons.
Buffett no longer ventures much into politics or current events in his letters, so he won't offend anyone who might take it out on his many companies that include well-known ones like Geico insurance, Dairy Queen and Helzberg jewelry.
But even with such malfeasance – which remains in full force today – and also much deployment of capital that eventually floundered because of brutal competition or disruptive innovation, the savings of Americans has delivered a quantity and quality of output beyond the dreams of any colonist.
