Who would have expected, 35 years ago, that a newspaper in communist Vietnam would give such respectful attention to archcapitalist Warren Buffett...and about a possible pandemic? This is why we science-fiction writers know we have no imagination.
Via Thanh Nien Daily: Buffett attacks bank tests, eyes flu pandemic. Excerpt:
Berkshire would consider writing insurance policies for pandemics, including one that Buffett said assumes the US mortality rate rises by 25 percent in 2010, equivalent to roughly an additional 600,000 deaths.
The company paid out billions of dollars on claims losses from Hurricane Katrina, but will still assume big risks for the right price.
“You could get us to quote a policy on the present potential pandemic,” Buffett said, though “you may not like” how much Berkshire would charge.
“You need someone with a real sense of the probabilities” to write such policies, he said.
