Parsad

A bit of an under count :-) There's also the pre-dinner event, the Corner Capital annual meeting afterwards, and perhaps a Ben Graham Center conference ($$$) before hand. Yes, I forgot about George's conference. It was sold out last year, and it is from about 9am to 5pm the day before the AGM...so it works great for Norm's gathering and our dinner. I'll find out from George if he is doing it next year, but I can't see why he wouldn't. Cheers!

elltel,... actually it's very easy,... you just show up, on Thursday morning, April 11, 2013 at 9:30 a.m., Toronto time at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There is NO need for a ticket. But it's better to come 1 hour earlier. In the lobby of the Roy Thomson Hall are for the Fairfax AGM some registration desks where you show them some ID card or passport,... nothing more. Or you might want to show them your proxy letter,... but that isn't necessary. You get at the desk some badge for your shirt with the name "Fairfax Financial AGM for shareholders" and that's it. How long does the official AGM the next day usually last and what is it like? Does all the fun stuff happen at the dinner the day before and the AGM is more of the 'dry procedural business' stuff, or is the official AGM also full of goodness with presentations, Q&As, and guests making speeches and such? The dinner is less formal and we do have a whole bunch of great stuff...first you get to mingle with other investors and boardmembers...we have a great dinner...a terrific silent auction and raffle...and finally Prem comes with about 10-12 people who answer questions for the next hour and a bit. Then usually Francis sticks around answering questions until I help him escape the throng of shareholders around him! ;D The AGM is more formal. Prem runs through the AGM procedures in five-seven minutes like at Berkshire. He then introduces the team of managers and executives. Finally he gives shareholders a presentation for about 30-40 minutes. After that he answers questions for an hour and a half. Then everyone goes into the lobby area of Roy Thomson Hall for cocktails and hor d'oeurves, and you can mingle with all of the executives and managers asking questions...including Prem. They usually have a number of booths from various associated companies/charities, and there are a bunch of freebies. Last year they gave away to each shareholder a $25 gift card for their restaurants and $50 gift cards for the Sport Life stores! We also hold our AGM immediately after Fairfax's at Roy Thomson Hall. Just follow the hallway to the stairs and go down to the Pickering/Green rooms. We have food and beverages as well. We were pretty packed last year. Also NormR does his pre-dinner party nearby before our dinner. Last year Francis, Andy Bernard and Sam Chan popped by for a little while. Cheers! Cheers!

Wow, 25 tickets sold in the first 24 hours. That's a new record! Cheers!

can you source this? can't find it on the Internet? http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/for-pandit-1-this-year-a-big-bump-in-2011/ Wrong executive... it was John Thain who asked about compensation restrictions not Pandit. http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/20/bair-bull-horns/ "Then the questions began. Thain, whose bank was desperate for capital, was worried about restrictions on executive compensation. I couldn't believe it. Where were the guy's priorities? Lewis said that BofA would participate and that he didn't think the group should be discussing compensation. I watched Vikram Pandit scribbling numbers on the back of an envelope. "This is cheap capital," he announced. I wondered what kind of calculations he needed to make to figure that out. " They had that scene in "Too Big To Fail" too. Pretty funny and shocking! Cheers!

Hi guys, didn't notice anything this morning, but in the last week there has been a couple of short outages of about 2 minutes and ten minutes. Alpha23, are you doing any upgrades to your network (he's our server host provider)? Cheers!

Hi Liberty! Strathcona is a very good choice for budget-conscious attendees who just need a nice, clean place to sleep, and is really close to both the Fairmont and Roy Thomson Hall where the AGM is. The Strathcona is a boutique style hotel and I recommend it to people who don't want to stay at the Fairmont, but want something very close to all venues. Cheers!

Sorry Jack...someone else was first already...Brian. Cheers!

Hi Everyone, Our 2013 Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner is coming around the corner. Unfortunately, the beautiful "Imperial Ballroom" was booked for 2013, so we have the Tudor Rooms, one floor above on the Mezzanine Floor. The dinner menu will be tweaked to make it a bit better...details to follow. Book your tickets early, as we are limited to only 170 people this year. We had 143 last year, so I expect this thing to be sold out pretty fast! 2013 Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner April 10th, 2013 Fairmont Royal York Tudor Rooms 7 & 8 - Main Mezzanine Floor 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)368-2511 All proceeds, including profits from tickets sales, corporate sponsorships, advertising, auctions and donations, go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of JoAnn Butler, who was Prem Watsa's assistant for many years! Buffet Dinner Tickets $150 No Buffet Tickets $75 Cash Bar Buy tickets at www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca (top of right hand column) Reception: 6:00-7:00pm Dinner: 7:00pm-8:30pm Speakers and Q&A: Approximately 8:30pm on

Watch out fellow Canadians...you're getting yourself into a real pickle! Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/household-debt-surpasses-levels-foreshadowing-us-housing-bust/article4613321/

Transcript of his speech to the Atlanta Rotary Club. Cheers! http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/op-ed/remarks-atlanta-rotary-club-annual-prayer-breakfast-moynihan

Hi Folks, For all new members, please remember that we have new registration requirments that went into effect October 1st, including a one-time fee of $10: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/terms-of-use/terms-of-use/ In terms of spam registrations, so far so good...the one-time fee has eliminated about 70% of the fake registrations so far and made my life a heck of a lot easier. Cheers!

Pphhhtttt! LOL! For the purpose of creating an initial, timely supply of Class B shares, we currently intend to issue the Class B shares through a pro rata dividend on the Class A shares at a rate of ten (10) Class B shares for each Class A share outstanding. Shareholders should note that the proposed issuance of Class B shares in the form of a stock dividend will not mean that a shareholder of the Company will be diluted, nor will his or her voting power be minimized. Page 3 of PROXY STATEMENT FOR SPECIAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 2, 2012 I have read all your objections, and they are well thought and expressed, still I just dont see the difference between what Mr. Biglari is doing and, for instance, what Mr. Loeb is doing at Third Point and what Mr. Ackman is doing at Pershing Square. Or what Mr. Ichan has done for the last 40 years. Is Mr. Loeb an activist? Yes. Does Mr. Loeb operate on a value basis? Yes. Is he willing to bet big on a single idea? Well, to be an activist investor you are compelled to do so (YHOO). Is Mr. Loeb friendly and fair? Hardly Ask Yahoos management (actually, ex-management!). Is Mr. Loeb very well remunerated? Yes. Has Mr. Loeb achieved great results since inception in 1996? Of course. Exactly the same could be said regarding Mr. Ackman. And what about Mr. Ichan? Though I cannot claim to have studied Mr. Ichans career in depth, I am sure he is one of the greatest american investors, he has always pushed for changes within companies that were destroying value, and, because of that, he has never been associated with the word friendly. Furthermore, Ichan Enterprises is very much concentrated in just a handful of big ideas (9). So, just one more question, if you please, then I wont bother you anymore! I promise! ;D Do this board generally thinks poorly about activists? Thank you, giofranchi Giofranchi, if you are comfortable with the three examples you've mentioned, then Biglari Holdings should be no different. Other than Ackman, I do not trust Loeb, and Icahn has the type of reputation that Sardar is aiming for and I do not prefer. If your only goal is to make money, then that is perfectly fine...most people have the same interests...heck at the right price I would buy BH if I knew it was tremendously undervalued. Unfortunately, how someone treats their partners is also important...make sure you go into that investment with your eyes open and understand the risks in terms of being shareholder friendly. Cheers!

Operation twist will not help, as it drives down longer term rates, so the spreads on loans and deposits narrows. That being said, markets are ridiculously stupid about how they react to any reduction in NIM. Loans are growing by leaps and bounds; loan loss provisions are incredibly low; banks are still making money hand over fist; capital levels are the highest in 50 years...silly reaction today. Cheers! Yes, of course. I realize I was confusing operation twist with the latest scheme which is the 40 B/month of mortgage buying. That Benefits banks by putting a floor on mortgage values, and providing a ready market for servicing new mortgages. Yeah Al, you are correct. Buying mortgage bonds back is beneficial. Cheers!

Article on Well's mortgage business: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/10/wells-fargo-mortgage-record-earnings.html?ana=yfcpc Cheers!

Interview with Wells Fargo's CFO. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/video/wells-fargo-cfo-on-third-quarter-earnings-ZAOnStdtRFmbIS2zclIEyQ.html?cmpid=yhoo

Parsad, I am just asking. Maybe you have known Mr. Biglari personally for a long time, and you know many things that I ignore. So, your opinion will be greatly appreciated! He is determined, driven, intelligent and poised. That being said, I would not be surprised to see him accidentally blow up Biglari Holdings by going "all in" into one investment and it goes bad. With Cracker Barrel, he borrowed against Steak'n Shake to invest almost everything into this one investment. Leverage cuts both ways. I was also immensely disappointed with the contradictions in his statements and actions when it came to compensation...the name change give it away, and that's when we started selling our stock and we also wrote a letter to the board of directors. The compensation change was the final straw for us, and we sold the rest of our stock after that. We won't invest with him, but if he ever does blow it up, I'm more than happy to invest in Steak'n Shake. ;D Cheers!

Operation twist will not help, as it drives down longer term rates, so the spreads on loans and deposits narrows. That being said, markets are ridiculously stupid about how they react to any reduction in NIM. Loans are growing by leaps and bounds; loan loss provisions are incredibly low; banks are still making money hand over fist; capital levels are the highest in 50 years...silly reaction today. Cheers!

Canada...Like America, just better! ;D Cheers!

Bloomberg article on foreclosures. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/california-leading-u-s-out-of-housing-bust-mortgages.html

It is held the morning after the Berkshire meeting and includes a very nice breakfast. This year it expanded to the Omaha Hilton across the street from the CenturyLink Center where the Berkshire meeting is held. Tom Gayner and Steve Markel make some opening remarks and then open it up for Q&A. The audience includes a lot of informed investors and large value investors such at Tom Russo, David Winters, Mohnish Pabrai, etc. The discussion is useful and questions are typically informed and intelligent. I have found that attending gives me an opportunity to both follow the investment and take the measure of management, whom I've found to be first class people. Thanks Val. Do you have to be a MKL shareholder? No. Cheers!

I definitely think they have found or negotiated another target company. The cash from Fortescue is to be received by the middle of December I believe, once Fortescue's new credit line is fully in place. Cheers! Are there regulatory or other factors that would constrain or even prevent them from acquiring Jefferies? Seems to me like they are within strking distance if they wanted to make a cash + stock offer. I have no special insight into what Leucadia would or wouldn't be after, but they purchased a significant amount at higher prices, and why purchase a single share if you wouldn't purchase the whole thing? When Leucadia originally made the equity investment in Jefferies, they were restricted from acquiring more than 30% of the company. I would expect that with board approval, and their cordial relationship, that limit could be lifted if it came to that. I don't believe there are any other regulations that would prevent Leucadia from acquiring Jefferies, but it would probably still need government approval if a deal came to fruition. Cheers!

It is held the morning after the Berkshire meeting and includes a very nice breakfast. This year it expanded to the Omaha Hilton across the street from the CenturyLink Center where the Berkshire meeting is held. Tom Gayner and Steve Markel make some opening remarks and then open it up for Q&A. The audience includes a lot of informed investors and large value investors such at Tom Russo, David Winters, Mohnish Pabrai, etc. The discussion is useful and questions are typically informed and intelligent. I have found that attending gives me an opportunity to both follow the investment and take the measure of management, whom I've found to be first class people. They are most definitely first-rate management at Markel. A more trusted bunch would be hard to find. Cheers!

Parsad I don't think you understood me. What I meant by my comment was that we live in very very dangerous times when a large part of the electorate, specifically the younger generation think that people like Jon Stewart are so brilliant and then they demonstrate that they are just actors. If Stewart doesn't get the severity of our debts I can assure you his viewers have no clue. Same answer as before. Basically this is the same old inter-generational debate that we have every so often..."you young whipper snapper"..."you old guys are out of touch"...etc, etc. You do realize that the same arguments were made against the misunderstood, naive, belligerent, sophmoric youth of the 70's, and they ended up being some of the greatest capitalists in history. I don't see how this proportion of the electorate will be any different. Am I the only old guy here who isn't turning a shade of "old geezer"? Geez...I feel like Neil Young..."Old man, look at my life, I'm alot like you were!" ;D Cheers!

I need to hire myself a financial assistant too! ;D Cheers!

Well, of course I like hearing this from that article: Not all of Klarman's bets have paid off, or not as large as he would have hoped. Earlier this year, Baupost dropped its objection to a $8.5 billion settlement Bank of America (BAC) made with bond investors. Baupost had been pushing B of A for more. But with the AG suit, legal experts say it's more likely Klarman will get JPMorgan to pay up. "The Martin Act gives the NY AG superior subpena power than any private plaintiff has," says Issac Gradman, a lawyer who specializes in securities claims. "So Schneiderman could get much more than anything Baupost has unearthed so far." Cheers!