Warren Buffett at his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' meeting this past weekend:Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without Hell.

His sidekick Charlie Munger: We try to behave as if Berkshire stock was all owned by crippled relatives.

It's definitely working, many of Berkshire's investors have become multi-millionaires.

Buffett said the current financial crisis is a byproduct of a system that encouraged executives to "paint pretty pictures."

At his annual stockholder's meeting, he followed his owned advice and gave very blunt guidance:

"There is absolutely no question" that Berkshire's returns will decline, Buffett said. "Anyone that expects us to come close to replicating the past should sell their stock. It isn't going to happen. I think we're going to get decent results over time, but we're not going to get indecent results."

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive