BUFFETT'S HUMOR UNDIMMED BY LOSSES

At a time when every rule of investing has been turned on its head, there is apparently one constant: The renowned investor Warren Buffett has kept his sense of humor and his gift for plain-spoken investment wisdom.

In his annual letter to shareholders of his Omaha, Neb.-based holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, released Saturday, Buffett sifted through the wreckage of his worst year in four decades at the helm and produced a folksy state-of-the-economy address that predicts no end to the mess this year.

Buffett found much to criticize about his own performance -- including a reported 62 percent drop in 2008 net income -- and far more to criticize about the performance of other top executives. And he was scathing on the subject of derivatives, which he famously likened to weapons of mass destruction long before they eviscerated the balance sheets of banks worldwide.

Blissfully ignored, he wrote, were the perils of relying on mathematical models devised without worst-case situations in mind. Too often, he wrote, Americans have been enamored of "a nerdy-sounding priesthood, using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like." Some skepticism about these models is overdue, he said. "Our advice: Beware of geeks bearing formulas."

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