M10:55
GEICO 的这些决策——就像你说的，大概有五十亿美元的有价证券——过去是 Lou Simpson 在做，现在是 Lou Simpson 在做，未来也会继续由 Lou Simpson 来做。
The decisions at GEICO, which as you say is about $5 billion of marketable securities, have been made and are being made and will be made by Lou Simpson.
Lou 从大概一九七九年开始管理 GEICO 的投资，而且一直干得非常出色。
Lou has done a fabulous job of running the investments of GEICO since about 1979.
我们很幸运能有他。
And we're lucky to have him.
这样的人很少，不过在 Lou 这件事上，我们真的是非常高兴。
There's a lot of them, but we're delighted in the case of Lou.
我的意思是，这种人大概一千个里才出一个，但 Lou 干得特别棒，以后也会继续干得特别棒。
I mean, it's one in a thousand or something, but Lou has done a terrific job, will do a terrific job.
而我们现在能提供给他的一点是，他现在可以用这些资产去做任何他想做的事。
And the one thing we offer him, he has the ability to do whatever he wants to do with those assets now.
在 GEICO 成为 Berkshire 一部分之前，他并没有这种权限，因为那时候有一些必须满足的比率要求——这些要求也是可以理解的，是合理的。
He did not have that ability before GEICO became part of Berkshire because at that time, there were certain ratios that were necessary for— which were understandably necessary, that made sense.
因为当 GEICO 还是一个独立实体、自身净资产只有十五亿到二十亿美元、业务规模有三十亿美元的时候，如果他把权益类资产的配置在某个程度以上进一步提高，那就是不合适的。
Where with GEICO as a standalone entity with its own net worth of $1.5 billion or $2 billion, and doing $3 billion of business, it would have been inappropriate for him to take on a different configuration beyond a certain point in equities.
所以他当时是受到他所处业务性质以及资本结构约束的。
So he was constrained by the nature of the business he was in and its capitalization.
现在这个约束已经不存在了。
That constraint no longer applies.
所以，这五十亿美元，他想怎么配置都可以。
So he, with that $5 billion, can do whatever he wants.
当然，如果他做了某些配置，我们就需要为 GEICO 提供后盾，这样它的保单持有人即使在最不利的情况下也能得到保障。
Now, if he does certain things, we would need to provide backup to GEICO so that their policyholders would be protected under the most adverse of circumstances.
不过这对我们来说不是问题。
But that's no problem for us.
我们可以通过 quota-share reinsurance 来做。
We could do it by quota-share reinsurance.
我们还可以做很多别的安排。
We could do a lot of things.
我们也可以直接为他们的义务提供担保。
We could just guarantee their obligations.
而且我们有能力这么做。
And we are in a position to do that.
我们现在还没这么做，因为目前还没有这个必要。
We haven't done it yet because it hadn't been necessary yet.
但如果这样做有道理，如果 Lou 想把五十亿美元都配到权益类资产里，而且这么做是合理的，那我们会安排好一切，让 GEICO 的保单持有人得到同样充分的保障。
But if it made sense, if Lou wanted to be $5 billion in equities and it made sense, we would arrange things so that the GEICO policyholders would be every bit as protected.
这种安全程度，会和采用最保守投资组合时一样高。
Secure as under the most conservative of investment portfolios.
所以 Lou 现在等于是又多了一张牌，将来也许会用得上。
So Lou has another string to his bow now, and there may be a time when it gets used.
他在原来的体系下就一直表现得很出色，而在现在这个体系下，他也许会表现得更好。
He's been great under the old system, and he may be better under this system.
这是个非常敏锐的问题。
That's a very shrewd question.