Sure. So, um, this bar is not too high. Uh, no, it's, uh, but very fortunate when you think of Berkshire again, and we've, we've talked about this where we start from, and I'll clearly touch on the, uh, investment and the related investment allocation, but we start from a very great place where we've got a, a great culture within the business. We have values that we as a management team and, and, and really, um, as defined by Warren and, and those Charlie and, and everybody associated with the business, we've got great values that really set Berkshire up, Berkshire up well for the, for the future.
And obviously as we deploy capital, uh, and allocate capital, it's critical to Berkshire as we go forward, and equally it's around, uh, managing risk. But when I think of our, our, our values, there are a couple that are absolutely, uh, critical. Uh, one, we'll maintain the reputation of, of Berkshire and, and that of our, our company, and, and I view that in investing or how we operate things, uh, across each of our businesses, that will always be, uh, a priority and something that we'll, we'll ensure is in the forefront of our minds. I think equally as we
then look at our, our various, our back to Warren's balance sheet comment, we will have a fortress of a balance sheet. And we want to, I thought Sudekum, our lead director, said it well yesterday. We've got a, we've got a significant set of cash right now, but it, it's an enormous asset to have that. And that will continue to be a philosophy. Yes, when we can deploy it, uh, we'll deploy it well, and I'll come to that. But equally, we do recognize it as a strategic asset. And it allows us to weather the difficult times and, and at the same, and, and not be dependent on anybody. So again, that will be an, an investment philosophy. We will remain Berkshire, and we will never be dependent on a bank or some other party for Berkshire to be, uh, successful. I would thank you.
I would then move to, um, to touch on allocation of capital be absolutely critical, but with that comes management of risk and, and understanding risk. And that falls upon, uh, all our managers, insurance, non-insurance, but we'll bring that across Berkshire. And then the other value I would touch on, but that really relates to where I'm going is ultimately we have a great set of operating companies that do produce significant cash flows, be it in the insurance companies creating float or our various non-insurance companies producing significant cash flows on a, on an annual basis. We intend to continue to ensure that's a strength of Berkshire as we go forward. It's absolutely critical to our, to our long-term success.
Now, with those cash flows and with the float and then equally as touched on, we have significant resources already on our balance sheet. We'll really continue to move forward with a very similar philosophy, or it's an identical philosophy to what we've had, uh, currently and, and, and for the past 60 years. We'll start by looking at those opportunities, uh, within our business, and by that I mean within our insurance, non-insurance businesses. Are they, are they properly capitalized and have the opportunity to manage their business? And, uh, to that will continue to exist. They'll operate in an autonomous way. But in the end, Berkshire still manages the capital that will go into that, those businesses or what potentially will come out of those, uh, businesses.
Equally, the next opportunity is to acquire businesses in their totality or 100% and, uh, there are great times when we can do that. Warren touched on we had one that was interesting in the last quarter, the $10 billion acquisition. But again, the value relative to the risk have to be right, and if it's right, we want to own it. If it's not the time, there'll be another time to own assets like that. And then there's the opportunity to own pieces of, uh, of companies through the equity. But as Warren's always highlighted, and again, this will be our approach to, to how we think around those companies.
Though we, we own a piece of a company, we own a, a piece of that, uh, cash flow, we own a piece of their balance sheet. It's not just, uh, a share certificate. And as we approach that, and really we'll approach it with the thought that we're going to own this company for the long term. Um, it's again understanding what be it the 100% company or the 1% company, yeah, do we thoroughly understand and thoroughly do we have a strong view of what those economic prospects of those companies will look like? And Warren said it earlier, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. If, if we don't have a view of that, um, we won't be investing. Be it 100% or 2% of a company through equities. We have to thoroughly understand what those prospects look like, and associated with understanding those prospects, we need to understand the underlying risk of the businesses. And it's, it's really the investment philosophy and, and, and how we, how Warren and, and the team have allocated capital for the past 60 years, you know, really the, the, it will not change, and it's, it's, it's the approach we'll take as we go forward. Warren?
No, no, no, but this is, this is important because the, uh, you know, it's, it's very obvious, um, that the country, for example, needs, uh, an incredible improvement, rethinking, redirection, even to some extent, in the grid. I mean, we, we've out, outgrown what would be the model that America should have. And in a sense, it's a problem something akin to the interstate highway system where you needed the power of the government really to get things done because it doesn't work so well when you get 48 or 50 jurisdictions that each has their own way of thinking about things. And of course, in World War II, we called in people at a dollar an hour, and we knew we had to turn out ships like crazy, and we knew that we had to convert Ford Motor from, from being a car manufacturer into an aircraft manufacturer in, in a matter of days, not weeks, not months.
So, you need the... There are certain really major investment situations where we have capital like nobody else has in the private system. We have particular know-how in, in, in the, in the whole generation, uh, and the transmission, uh, arena. Uh, the country's going to need it. Uh, but we have to figure out a way, uh, that makes sense from the standpoint of the government, since from the standpoint of the public and from the standpoint of Berkshire. And we haven't figured that out yet. I don't know whether, where you want Steve to explain a few of the major problems, but, but that is a, that is a clear and present use of hundreds of billions of dollars, and, you know, you have people that set up funds and say, you know, they're getting, they're getting paid for just assembling stuff. But it, it's, it's, it, it, that's not the way to handle it. The way to, the way to handle it is to just have some kind of a, a government, private industry cooperation. Some of it is what you're doing in a war, and, uh, and I don't think when they were doing the highway system, I don't think the, the government set up his own guys that were going to pour all the cement or anything like that, but they, you, you needed a cooperation, and then, and, uh, we're at that point, I think, in, uh, in, in terms of energy, but, uh, I don't think, I don't think we've made any progress particularly, though. Tell us more about that. Yeah.
