Has Midas Lost His Touch?

Fitch Ratings announced on March 12, 2009 that they were cutting its top-level AAA credit rating for Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. to AA+ on the so called issuer default rating and cutting its senior unsecured debt to AA. Fitch left the insurance and reinsurance units with AAA ratings but changed its view to a negative outlook. Fitch went on to say"Fitch views this risk as unrelated to Mr. Buffett's age(78), but rather Fitch's belief that Berkshire's record of outstanding long-term investment results and the company's ability to identify and purchase attractive operating companies is tied to Mr. Buffett". Berkshire Hathaway has $37.1 Billion in equity puts tied to four of the world's stock markets. Buffett recently told investors that they have lost $9.5 Billion in value since the markets turned down.

I wonder if Moody's will cut Berkshire Hathaway's rating like they have all the other insurance companies that Berkshire competes with? Given Berkshire's significant holdings of Moodys common stock, I doubt it. They will wait to do that until way down the road or until Midas dies.