People are missing half the story here. Buffett made such a killing because he was the only person with cash in the bank. For years and years before the crisis, while everyone was leveraged to their eyeballs and making tidy profits, Buffett was complaining how his cash was piling up because businesses were overvalued.

So although he made a 75% gain over the last 2.5 years, that was only because he made around a 20% gain in the previous 5.5 years. Still, doubling money in 9 years is far better than the Dow Jones.