Parsad

Short article on Wilbur Ross' views. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-30/wilbur-ross-sees-u-s-economy-entering-subpression-with-limited-new-jobs.html

one serious option for them is to focus on battery and technology, leaving car making to more established players. Yes, this would make more sense. Less capital intensive and they would have a much larger universe of customers. Cheers!

While this was primarily a cultural issue for many immigrants, I suspect that as the Boomers get older, multi-generational housing will be more common so that children can take care of their parents as they age. Already there are many homes built in Vancouver with in-law suites, even though the in-laws still live in their own home and are perfectly healthy. I don't think there will be enough retirement homes for the wave of seniors that will come. Cheers!

Happy 81st Birthday to one who inspired many! Cheers!

I've never understood this investment and I don't think this is going to help either. BYD is cutting their salesforce by about 70%. From 2,600 down to 800! Either they never needed 2,600 sales people in the first place, or they are going to kill their level of customer service when compared to their competitors. It doesn't make management look good whatever way you cut it. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/30/byd-idUSL4E7JU0RW20110830?feedType=RSS&feedName=financialsSector&rpc=43

JGBRK, What type of phone are you using, and did the old site show up properly on there? Thanks!

Because under Basel III, their stake in CCB would be penalized as it is over 10% of the outstanding shares. They are well-capitalized based on current circumstances, but they need to increase their capital due to the eventual future settlements on mortgage litigation and legacy loan losses from Countrywide. Some of this will be offset solely by their regular cash flows, but they aren't trying to run a bank with adequate capitalization. I think Moynihan's goal is to eventually compete with the best banks in the world head-on, and that means focusing BAC on its core business and jettisoning non-core assets to bolster the balance sheet. So far, so good! Cheers!

Here is one issue that was emailed to me. Please let me know if you are having a similar problem or if you've experienced the same issue and found a solution. Cheers! Ever since the "Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax" domain (http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca) was migrated to its new hosting provider, I have been periodically blocked from accessing the site. When that happens, I get the following error message: Your connection to this server has been blocked by a firewall device. You need to contact your service provider support (at) watermelonwebworks.com with the information below in order to restore your connection. Please include the information below in your message. My blocked IP address is 173.???.???.??? The blocked access will typically last for a few hours at a time, and then I'm able to access the site without any issues. It doesn't seem to matter what IP address I'm accessing from... I periodically get this message when trying to access the site from home, from the office, and when traveling out of country. It also occurs on multiple browsers (both Chrome and IE9). Do you know if I am the only person reporting this issue? Is there something I need to do on my end to fix it, or is it a server-side issue?

Hi Folks, Watermelon Webworks upgraded our server on Saturday night, so things should be even faster than when we first migrated over. Also, please let me know if you are having any particular issues with the site that may be common to other board members. I will forward those concerns to Watermelon Webworks. Some issues may just be due to settings on your own browsers or security software. Cheers!

I expect them to continue to sell non-core assets, and combined with cash flows, they should be able to easily maintain Basel III standards. I see them hitting 9% Tier 1 Capital by the end of the year, if not sooner. I also would like to see them set up a litigation trust at some point, probably in co-operation with the government, to settle long-term mortgage lawsuits...not unlike the tobacco companies. Once they do all of that, they can move forward with a much leaner and focused enterprise. Cheers!

Calonego is also very much a part of YAK, but I doubt if he's going to answer any questions here. You guys are welcome to ask him about the company at our next Fairfax Dinner which he's attended since day one. I'm sure he'll be happy to entertain any questions. Cheers!

Francis Chou's 2011 Semi-Annual Report is out. Always a few interesting comments and ideas. Cheers! http://www.choufunds.com/pdf/SemiAR11.pdf

Don't go by the year-end numbers as they had significant losses due to settlements in Q2. Although with the capital they've raised in Q3, they should be close or above 9% Tier 1 Capital, which is more than adequate relative to other large U.S. banks. Cheers!

I wasn't even paying attention to what happened at TRE until I read Libor's post right now. Damn Cwericb, I hope you took some profits off the table like I mentioned. I still don't like Block though. ;D Cheers!

I've had to remove the old message board theme which wasn't working as well with Simple Machines 2.0 and some of the modules that have been added on. Unfortunately, the new look is the one that is now the default theme. Sorry! Cheers!

I was being facetious Rranjan. Trying to get a rise out of them. Cheers!

By the way, I think the first one was probably intiated by some of the hedge funds that are going to trial against Fairfax later this year. They need some negative publicity to present to the judge/jury, as much of the negative press for the last two years has been against the hedgies...in particular the ones being sued by Fairfax! Cheers!

It's just another class-action that jumped in with the other class-actions. I can't remember who the first one was a few months ago, and then after that they all jumped in. This last one apparently was a little slower than the others, and decided to show up to the party fashionably late. They are scumbucket, parasitic lawyers that want in at the trough...if there is one! Cheers!

Manually into Quickbooks using information from monthly brokerage account statements, and then inputed into Excel. Cheers!

We still had snow on the local ski mountains until the second week of July! Normally there are water restrictions in effect this year...none so far, and not likely at all, as the reservoir is 2/3rds full. Cheers!

The problem with being a property-casualty insurance investor is that horrible events generally translate into a hard market in insurance premiums. While I hope that everyone that is affected by Hurricane Irene get through it quickly and as painlessly as possible, the reality is that this is a pretty big storm whose landfall path is going to be quite wide. Take a look at the satellite image below. This is going to be a hell of a storm in those coastal states! Four of which have already called state of emergencies and mass evacuations. Cheers! http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/data/satellite/goes_eusa_visible_100.jpg

That feature is there for those that want to use it. Personally, I would not use it (even not as admin), simply because I get a kick out of rolling in the mud with Munger and Harry, as they periodically decide to participate when events are briefly in their favor. Call me a masochist, but I enjoy it and love to hear them bat around my ideas or ideologies. It gives my beliefs and analysis more credence...especially when I'm regularly proven right against them! ;D Cheers!

By the way, if there weren't so many other bargains around, I'd be buying LVLT. Did anyone see that Amazon AWS has selected Level 3 for its Direct Connect service? (Boom-- I just LVLT'd this thread!) Nice! Our resident LVLT expert, ValueCarl, is away right now helping his daughter settle into her new dorm. But he'll be back soon enough to torment the RSS Feed folk. Cheers!

Here is Becky Quick's comments on her call with Buffett this morning. ...I ASKED HIM WHY NOW AND HE SAID HE THINKS IT'S BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE THAT I CAN THINK OF AT THE TIME. HE ALSO SAID THAT IT'S VERY LIKELY THAT OVER TEN YEARS, THAT THEY DO EXERCISE AND OWN ALL OF THOSE WARRANTS, THAT THEY TURN THEM INTO SHARES. AT THAT POINT, IF SHARES OUTSTANDING EXISTS AS THEY DO TODAY, THEY'D OWN SIX AND A FRACTION OF PERCENT OF THE COMPANY. SO IT'S A MASSIVE INVESTMENT THAT HE'S THINKING OVER THE NEXT DECADE HE'D BE MAKING IN BANK OF AMERICA. I HEARD YOU ALL EARLIER POINT OUT THAT THIS IS SOMETHING HE'S DOING WHILE INVESTING IN WELLS FARGO. HE POINTED OUT HE THINKS WELLS AND BANK OF AMERICA HAVE TWO BEST DEPOSIT FRANCHISES IN THE UNITED STATES. HE DOES SAY THAT BANK OF AMERICA HAS SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS IN THEIR PAST, BUT THEY'RE WORKING THEIR WAY THROUGH THEM. HE ADMITS THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO BE RESOLVED IN A WEEK, MONTH, VERY LIKELY EVEN IN A YEAR, BUT THIS IS REMINISCENT OF SOME THINGS HE'S DONE IN THE PAST. YOU LOOK WHEN HE'S MADE MAJOR, MAJOR INVESTMENTS, IT WAS WHEN AMERICAN EXPRESS BACK IN THE 1960s. IT WAS WHEN AMERICAN EXPRESS HAD BIG PROBLEMS, TOO. IT WAS THE SALAD OIL SCANDAL... ...BUT I ASKED HIM WHY NOW AND HE SAID IT'S BECAUSE THE STOCK HAS COME DOWN SO MUCH RECENTLY, BANK OF AMERICA HAS GONE DOWN A LOT RECENTLY. AND HE SAYS HE THINKS BANK OF AMERICA IS CERTAIN TO BE AROUND OVER THE LONG-TERM. HE ALSO SAYS BY THE WAY, THAT THIS IS A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. NOT ONLY IN BANK OF AMERICA, BUT ALSO IN THE COUNTRY. AND LISTEN TO THIS, HE SAYS ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO THINK THE WORLD IS GOING TO END. I THINK THEY'RE WRONG... ...HE SAYS THIS IS LIKE GOING BACK TO HIS YOUTH WHERE NOT ONLY AMERICAN EXPRESS, WHERE HE GOT IN BACK IN THE 1960s, BUT THEN WITH GEICO BACK IN 1970. GEICO WAS IN TROUBLE, TOO. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF SOME ACCOUNTING ISSUES. HE BOUGHT INTO THAT COMPANY, TOO AND BOUGHT A MAJOR STAKE AT THAT POINT, BUT IT'S THE IDEA OF BUYING INTO THE COMPANIES THAT LOOK LIKE THEY ARE IN TROUBLE, TAKING SOME MAJOR BETS AND BUYING BIG INTO THEM. THIS IS REMINISCENT OF SOME OF THE DEALS HE'S DONE IN THE PAST... http://www.cnbc.com/id/44207362 Cheers!

Sanjeev - can you explain what you mean here? How would the warrants be less risky than common in the case of large liability/loan losses? Do you just mean that in terms of risk/reward, the warrants passed your criteria while common did not when you started buying? I just meant that the outlay of capital was significantly lower buying the warrants rather than common equity. The bank warrants also have the benefit of being adjusted if any dividends are paid out, unlike most other warrants. We just felt more comfortable buying through the warrants at the time. We were much more comfortable with WFC and bought the common equity. Cheers!