Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting attracted 35,000 people to downtown Omaha to see the world's second-richest man Warren E. Buffett speak.

Buffett predicted a dark future for Berkshire and federal efforts to stimulate activity could cause higher inflation.

The Omaha-born Buffett has transformed Berkshire from a failing textile maker into a corporation with close to 80 businesses, ranging from car insurance, paint, ice cream and underwear with tens of billions of dollars in investments.

He said that in insurance, which represents about half of Berkshire's operations, the earnings power “was not as good last year as normal” and “won't be as good this year.”

Berkshire has seen a 39 percent fall in stocks since December 2007, and a 62 percent fall in profits from one year earlier.

RM/HGH