The dangers that derivatives pose for both participants and society — dangers of which we’ve long warned, and that can be dynamite — arise when these contracts lead to leverage and/or counterparty risk that is extreme. At Berkshire nothing like that has occurred — nor will it. It’s my job to keep Berkshire far away from such problems. Charlie and I believe that a CEO must not delegate risk control. It’s simply too important. At Berkshire, I both initiate and monitor every derivatives contract on our books, with the exception of operations-related contracts at a few of our subsidiaries, such as
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