on paper, 7% inflation minus the 1%-2% T-bill interest seems like they're losing 5% per year.
But this fails because of one underlying assumption - that the cash losing value at inflation is an absolute truth. it's not. The reason is that inflation pushes cost of consumption, but the cash Berkshire is holding is not for consumption, but for investment. Investments could be expensive, or cheap, and holding on to cash _without the requirement that the cash be spent on consumption in the future_ means the cash is not hit hard by inflation figures like a household holding cash.
