Subject: Re: The good old days ...
"The step change in Berkshire's rate of value creation was in 1998--it has been remarkably constant since then."

Yes. The reason, I think, was a step change in the growth rate of Berkshire's equity portfolio, not the growth rate of earnings.

metric______________ growth rate 1981-1998_______ growth rate 1999-2013

BV/share____________ 27%/yr______________________ 9%/yr

earnings/share______ 18%/yr______________________ 16%/yr

S&P 500 index_______ 13%/yr______________________ 1%/yr