Cash combined with courage in a time of crisis is priceless.” -Warren Buffett - Warren Buffett

When Charlie and I finish reading the long footnotes detailing the derivatives activities of major banks, the only thing we understand is that we don’t understand how much risk the institution is running.

We're more comfortable in that kind of business. It means we miss a lot of very big winners. But we wouldn't know how to pick them out anyway. It also means we have very few big losers - and that's quite helpful over time. We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff.

Can you imagine any public company embracing a business model that would lead to the decline in revenue that we experienced from 1986 through 1999?