Parsad

Days like these are why I started a fund! We were buying like crazy. I think our partners will be happy within the year...I hope! ;D Cheers!

Institutional guys are the first to pull their money. So much for being professionals! Cheers!

Yes, ValueInv that is correct. My bad! Cheers!

Hi Folks, Don't bid yet. Actually, Mohnish got in touch with me and we both thought it was a better idea to put it on Ebay. That way people can see the bids easier. He's going to be doing a lunch auction on Ebay as well. So hold on to the bids until we get it up on Ebay. Thanks! Cheers!

Hi Folks, Don't bid yet. Actually, Mohnish got in touch with me and we both thought it was a better idea to put it on Ebay. That way people can see the bids easier. He's going to be doing a lunch auction on Ebay as well. So hold on to the bids until we get it up on Ebay. Thanks! Cheers!

Hi Folks, After the Fairfax dinner this year, we had no one claim the autographed books by Prem. Rather than have them just sit around till next year's dinner, I thought I would auction one of them off on the board and we'll auction the other one at next year's dinner. The proceeds from the book at next year's dinner will obviously go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Prem's executive assistant, and my friend, JoAnn Butler. The proceeds from the one I'm auctioning off now will go to the Dakshana Foundation which was started by Mohnish Pabrai and his wife Harina. Prem is on the Advisory Board for Dakshana, and the Watsa Family has made a $5M pledge donating $1M a year for the next five years. You can read about Dakshana, including Prem's pledge, here: http://www.dakshana.org/AR10.pdf I had no idea that Prem had made such a pledge. I came up with the idea for the auction last week, and got in touch with his executive assistant Pat Hios. Prem was delighted with the idea, and I emailed Mohnish this morning to confirm it was ok to do so. He then sent me the link and said I may be interested in reading page 3 of Dakshana's annual report. Lo' and behold, there was the donation by Prem! Corner Market Capital will also donate $500 to Dakshana for 2011. The auction begins at $200 U.S. for the autographed copy of "25 Years of Fairfax". For any die-hard shareholder of Fairfax, or any interested value investor, it is a must for your bookshelf. I don't believe there will be any more of these published, and getting a signed copy is even harder, so here is your chance. If you want to bid, please email me at cornermarketcapital@gmail.com. I will post each high bid as I receive them, but with no names or personal information. The winning bidder will be directed to send the proceeds to Dakshana, so that they can send you a tax receipt, and I will courier the book to you no charge. Cheers!

Hi Folks, After the Fairfax dinner this year, we had no one claim the autographed books by Prem. Rather than have them just sit around till next year's dinner, I thought I would auction one of them off on the board and we'll auction the other one at next year's dinner. The proceeds from the book at next year's dinner will obviously go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Prem's executive assistant, and my friend, JoAnn Butler. The proceeds from the one I'm auctioning off now will go to the Dakshana Foundation which was started by Mohnish Pabrai and his wife Harina. Prem is on the Advisory Board for Dakshana, and the Watsa Family has made a $5M pledge donating $1M a year for the next five years. You can read about Dakshana, including Prem's pledge, here: http://www.dakshana.org/AR10.pdf I had no idea that Prem had made such a pledge. I came up with the idea for the auction last week, and got in touch with his executive assistant Pat Hios. Prem was delighted with the idea, and I emailed Mohnish this morning to confirm it was ok to do so. He then sent me the link and said I may be interested in reading page 3 of Dakshana's annual report. Lo' and behold, there was the donation by Prem! Corner Market Capital will also donate $500 to Dakshana for 2011. The auction begins at $200 U.S. for the autographed copy of "25 Years of Fairfax". For any die-hard shareholder of Fairfax, or any interested value investor, it is a must for your bookshelf. I don't believe there will be any more of these published, and getting a signed copy is even harder, so here is your chance. If you want to bid, please email me at cornermarketcapital@gmail.com. I will post each high bid as I receive them, but with no names or personal information. The winning bidder will be directed to send the proceeds to Dakshana, so that they can send you a tax receipt, and I will courier the book to you no charge. Cheers!

I don't use any social networking site except this message board...really! ;D So all of you who have ever forwarded me an invite to your Linkedin, Facebook page or any other networking site, I apologize, as I won't ever join. Cheers!

Hey, I was right! ;D Cheers!

No idea, but it may have something to do with the original four families that invested in the fund. Perhaps an amalgam or anagram of their names. Anyone else? Cheers!

Google+ has reached 25M users faster than any other social network: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-02/google-reaches-25-million-visitors-faster-than-any-other-social-network.html I also read earlier in the day that Android now has 50% of the phone market! Cheers!

U.S.! There's a back to school sale in certain parts of the U.S. stock market...50-70% off! ;D Cheers!

Parsad I find your optimism refreshing and its nice that you arent simple a bet on America perma optimist like Buffett. Same outcome, but I prefer your rationale. I always enjoy knowing that I am on the same side of the trade(s) as you! We back it up as well! We're the largest investor in our U.S. Fund and one of the larger investors in our Canadian Fund. We were buying tons of a net-net today, as well as adding to some of our other holdings. Still have dry powder and looking for more bargains! It's funny, because earlier in the year the market was at the same level, but everything was overpriced. Now you have certain areas that are very overpriced and some that are very underpriced. That's the way it works sometimes. Cheers!

Well, my personal opinion is that Bruce is completely right...and that's because we've pretty much made the same bet! ;D Although we've also bet heavily on discounted technology companies. No one thinks that things will improve right now...that the hole is so deep, we'll never get out. That's exactly the time to start looking for things no one wants to touch. What would have happened if the house and senate were both controlled by one party? We would have a big problem. I think what we all consider stupidity with the debt ceiling debate, actually makes the system work better, because no one gets exactly what they want and no special interest gets exactly what they want. The U.S. will do fine going forward because the system works. There is alot of work to do, but with no single party in control, they will have to work together. Things look messy right now, but that's the way things work! Cheers!

Parsad, That is why I like to stick to SIMPLE questions at first, so that you start out agreeing with each other. The simple question for you is this: When does the duly-elected President of the United States become responsible for his actions? Big problems don't get fixed overnight. Do you think that Clinton didn't benefit from the work of Regan & Bush Sr.? Or that Bush Jr. didn't benefit from the balanced budgets and initiatives under Clinton? This was a mess over ten years in the making and it isn't going to be fixed in 36 months by any President...living or dead! Another question which I need you to answer: Which conservative fiscal ideology tries to equalize disparity in income and wealth? Well, I certainly don't think disparities in income and wealth are going to be cured by hoardes of cash remaining stagnant and not distributed throughout the system. No increase in tax revenues is a non-starter. They have to be raised somewhere, and they should be raised from areas where the multiplier effect in the economy is benefitting the least. For example, I think estate taxes for very large estates ($100M+) is a great start...and not a small tax...10%! I think a temporary reduction in corporate tax rates for corporations with much of their assets offshore would also be a good idea. Allow them to repatriate their assets and growth in assets with a temporary reduction and reduced penalty. Those assets and their respective jobs should be here, not elsewhere! Programs need to be overhauled and cost efficiencies implemented...be it Welfare, Education, Defense or Government. Implement graduated tax rates on all citizens for income and property (including those on welfare), but reduce or eliminate regressive taxes such as sales...the luxury goods sales tax should remain in place and any environmental consumption taxes on gasoline, etc. I'm sure you can come up with many other ways, but the tax code needs to be changed and unfortunately people are going to have to pay to get the system in shape. Cheers!

Congratulations to the party leaders who acted like grown-ups and got this thing done! Now they can actually worry about all the real work that needs addressing. Cheers! http://www.cnn.com/

It's funny watching the vote. You can see how certain members are withholding their votes towards the end, so that they can make themselves look good to their constituents. Glad they are putting the country ahead of themselves! They could really avoid all this by not releasing the vote tallies until the end. Cheers!

Either way, we have a crazy market tomorrow! Cheers!

I have to politely disagree with many of the complaints about Obama. He's been dealt a cruddy hand ever since he won. This mess wasn't of his making, and I think everyone would agree, that it is nothing short of a no-win proposition. He's damned if he does, and he's damned if he doesn't. Right now, they've tabled an agreement that caters primarily to a conservative fiscal ideology that does nothing to equalize the disparity in income and wealth. Yet, his own party members are throwing him under the bus. Reid, McConnell and Boehner are also doing everything they can to get an agreement without causing a default, yet their respective party members are throwing them under the bus. The truth is, the inanity of this whole mess occurred because we have always had strong partisian biases, and now when something has to be done where people have to come to the middle, it's the stubborn left and right wings that are stirring the pot. I was just watching CNN and I watched this representative from Missouri, Eldridge Cleaver, who called the agreement a "sugar-coated, Satan sandwich". When Wolf Blitzer asked him which way he was voting, he said that the consequences of not voting for the agreement may be worse than voting for it, to which Blitzer replied, "I can't imagine the consequences of anything that could be worse than a sugar-coated Satan sandwich!" I couldn't stop laughing! It's this type of rhetoric, be it the Tea Partying nimrods, or the caustic left-wing Democrats who create this mess...Barney Frank comes to mind. You have a President who was as left-wing as they came before being elected, suddenly playing up the middle through this whole crisis and trying to channel Ronald Regan, and again you have everyone saying he's not playing ball and is irresponsible. The truth is that even Ronald Regan would not have been elected by the present day Republican Party...he would be considered more moderate than Boehner! Cheers!

I think the deal will pass. Hardcore democrats and republicans against, but you'll get enough from the rest to make it through the House. Senate will probably pass it with little difficulty. They can't play games anymore...this is it! Either they vote yes, or the rest of the world sees what bumbling idiots are running the country. Cheers!

Other than customer service, it was not a good quarter at all! You could hear it in Patrick's voice during the webcast...not pleased. Better now than in the 3rd and 4th Q. Cheers!

Some comments from Prem today: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/29/fairfaxfinancial-idUSN1E76S0XA20110729?feedType=RSS&feedName=bondsNews&rpc=43 Cheers!

Holding pattern...wait for opportunity...reap dividends and interest income while waiting for insurance market to harden. Patience is a virtue! Cheers!

This afternoon after market close. Cheers!

Another article including comments by Wilbur Ross. Although they butchered Prem's last name! Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/43924621