Parsad

I like you guys, but Hockey just isnt a real sport below the Mason–Dixon line. I'm a nut when it comes to my Canucks and I understand you can't relate. I'm also a Peyton Manning fan and don't miss any of the Colts games either. I use to be a huge Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant fan, but their respective infidelities kind of peeved me. Nonetheless, I would like nothing better than to see Tiger win Barclays and keep Mickelson from being #1, and as far as I'm concerned LeBron is going to have to get through Boston, just to end up losing to Kobe and the Lakers anyway! Cheers!

Hi Indirect, I totally agree with you. WFC's management is better, and their cross-selling success with their customers is probably the best. It's just that the exercise price with BAC, combined with the low dividend requirement before it impacts the exercise price, was an intriguing combination. Cheers!

Hmmm, what else do I do besides investing: - I work for Quantum Advisory Partners as a consultant and do contract work...pays the bills while the funds grow. - As you know, I really enjoy running The Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Message Board. - I like to watch hockey...I'm a die-hard Canucks fan! I don't miss a single game. I'm a big tennis fan as well. - I like to play floor hockey...a bunch of us rent a gym and play every Tuesday night from the middle of September to the end of April. - I like cooking...what they call "food porn" these days...I enjoy watching cooking shows on the weekend and then making something on the spur. - Believe it or not, one of my favourite things to do every weekend is grocery shopping. I try to get as many deals as possible...value investing affects every aspect of my life. I dig through the flyers and find the best prices. It's been a habit ever since my Dad died and I started doing all the grocery shopping for the family 20 years ago! - I love to travel and see new places. - Family dinners...we throw big family dinners with all of the cousins, nieces & nephews, etc...love it! But hands down, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I enjoy more than pouring through 10-Q's and 10-K's looking for investments. My whole life and ego are intricately tied to Corner Market Capital and the MPIC Funds. Cheers!

Incidentally, here is the original Class A warrant prospectus. Cheers! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70858/000119312510044940/d424b7.htm

Incidentally, Francis' thought process is about as close as you can get to the team at Hamblin-Watsa, and there are very few people who know Prem better than Francis. Guess what Francis thinks is relatively cheap..."financial, retail and pharmaceutical sectors are undervalued". I read his semi-annual report about two hours ago when it was first posted, but resisted putting it on here, as I was doing further research on one of his best ideas in the report. Now that Omagh went and took the cat out of the bag, I might as well mention it as well. The Bank of America Class A Warrants look enticingly cheap! I'm still revisiting the prospectus, but if I have it correct, at today's $6.59 closing price...you can buy the 2018 Class A warrants which give you the right to buy one share of BAC at $13.30. If you assume that BAC doubles book value over the next 8 years in this environment and it's market price is at book value then, you would achieve a return of roughly 15.5-16% annualized on your $6.59 investment. On top of that, and this is the clincher, if they pay any dividends over four cents annually, the strike price is adjusted for the decrease in capital, thus you could reasonably expect a 20% annualized return on the investment. Now as Francis lists in his semi-annual report, there are alot of risks, so take it with a grain of salt. But I think it would be reasonable to assume that BAC would trade at book 8 years from now, and that in this type of environment they should be able to double book over the next eight years. Love to hear everyone's feedback, now that the idea is out! ;D Cheers!

Fairfax through units and warrants controls almost 60% of the Brick Income Fund. I wonder if Prem was invited to Mike Comrie's and Hillary Duff's wedding! ;D Cheers! http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/Press/fpr2010-08-26.pdf

Sorry Watsa, don't know how I missed dividends...as well as special dividends which may be very likely. Cheers!

My first thought was the loss of the Munger's annual meeting as opposed to what I would get for my single share of Wesco Yes Ballin, you are correct on what is key and important here. Not only for Charlie, but it also reflects on the mortality of Warren as well. They are getting older...how many more years will we be fortunate enough to hear them or read their words. Cheers!

I'm noticing alot of companies are starting to hunt for higher interest income from their large cash piles. I think this is just the beginning as the yield curve in the US is flattening. They can only do a few things...sit on it at low rates, pay down debt, buy back shares, acquire other businesses, expand their existing business, or start to reach for yield. - sit on it...not a great alternative - pay down debt...good idea, but rates on debt are also at historic lows - buy back shares...good idea if the shares are undervalued - acquire other businesses...only if it makes sense, but as you know CEO's get bored fast, thus the huge spike in M&A's this year - expand their existing business...sure, but only if demand is there...for many, the demand is still muted - reach for yield...corporate spreads from treasuries are nearly as low as they were back in early 2007...not much yield. Where else...equities, real estate, commodities? Cheers!

I've got a very funny story about Larry. When I first entered the financial industry, I was a mutual fund and insurance dealer, and I was selected by AIC Funds to go to Omaha with them, including Michael Lee Chin. The morning of the Berkshire AGM, AIC had set up a fantastic buffet breakfast, with just about anything you would want to eat. They even had a chef making fresh omlettes with whatever you wanted, pancakes, crepes, etc. Everyone had been there for an hour or so, enjoying breakfast and talking, including all of AIC's investment managers. Towards the end of the breakfast, Larry walks in and everyone is clamoring for him. He had predicted the demise of tech stocks, was 90% cash before the market fell, and now everyone was interested in what he had to say. He walked over to the breakfast buffet, had the chef make him a crepe, and then he topped it off with four scoops of strawberry ice cream. He just walked over to an empty seat on my table, sat down and started to eat his breakfast...er dessert. He quietly ate it, and then got up to leave for the AGM. All these advisors and other managers at AIC started yelling to him "Hey Larry, wait for us, we want to sit with you." He just quietly responded "I want a good seat and you guys are going to take too long" and he left. I spoke to him on several occasions, did an interview with him for our predecessor board, and have followed him over the years. He's always been somewhat of a maverick in the Canadian mutual fund business. He parted ways with Investor's Group because he held so much cash, then he parted ways with AIC for similar reasons. He then started his own fund, but hated the administrative side...he just loves to invest and run a portfolio. So he sold it to Clarington. A very, very nice guy...a loner who trusts his instincts completely and will preserve his investor's capital. Cheers!

Parsad calling Sprott "nuts" (tongue in cheek or not) just because "he does the opposite of what I do" (Buffett bought silver once and the Br Real another time - did you call him "nuts"? C'mon.) Methinks thou dost protest too much! Oec, do you know Sprott? Do you believe I offended Sprott? If I said something like that to someone on this board, that would be one thing...and a God-awful thing to do...but we aren't are we. How many people here have been critical of Mohnish during 2008...and he's a good friend of mine...who reads the board. There have been people who have taken shots at Francis or Tim McElvaine as well...also friends...who also read the board. I think the outcry over the Sprott comment, is like the over-reaction to Professor Greenwald when he said that Buffett "has lost his mind" regarding the price paid for Burlington Northern. Do you think Greenwald actually meant that Buffett was nuts? Of course not Here I'll demonstrate...Buffett is nuts...Prem is nuts...Mohnish is nuts...I'm nuts! I don't know Buffett but do you think he's offended? How about Prem, or do you think he would understand that this was tongue in cheek as well? I'm sure Mohnish is going to clobber me in the head when I get to Chicago next month. ;D Lighten up guys...life is too short! Cheers!

Yeah, unfortunately if you don't have an invite to the Pabrai Funds meeting you're out of luck. You could write to Mohnish and see if it is possible to attend, but he gets a ton of requests now. Cheers!

I think the stuff about Susan Buffett and the kids really sparked it. From what I understand from people close to the situation, Buffett was not pleased at all about the shots at his family. Other authors I spoke to in Omaha were also very shocked by some of the stuff she put in there about his family and their personal life. Shots at him, that's one thing, but shots at the people who had no choice in his celebrity...he was really put off. Mind you, have you heard Buffett say a single thing about the situation? Nope, but you hear Schroeder spouting off everywhere. Cheers!

Jim Tisch, CEO of Loews, says they are buying some quality large-cap stocks. I'm guessing there are some posters who may think that Tisch is also subscribing to the "greater fool theory". ;D Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/loews-chief-tisch-says-buy-exxon-mobil-j-j-stock-as-bond-yields-decline.html

The team at Hamblin-Watsa have always been very diligent about counterparties...I wonder who is on the other end of this trade! ;D Cheap hedge they bought to protect a gigantic portfolio. Cheers!

Here's a direct link without having to register. Cheers! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704540904575451910642552160.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I think you guys are arguing about semantics. I'm guessing that Watsa meant that quantitative easing generally leads to elevated levels of inflation and thus a redistribution of wealth, but Munger and Ophi are saying that it is not definitive and there are exceptions to the rule. Sort of the same as some guy named Carl telling me to eat more fiber because it makes you less hungry, yet I'm completely fibered out and can use a nice Steakburger! ;D Cheers!

Article on the Pittsburgh Penguins and how players are clamoring to play for them, not unlike how managers want to work for Buffett and Berkshire. By the way, it will be the Penguins versus my Vancouver Canucks this year for the Stanley Cup. You heard it here first! ;D Cheers! http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/2010/08/25/the-pittsburgh-penguins-dividend-a-franchise-in-the-mold-of-berkshire-hathaway/?partner=yahootix

Generally, quantitative easing does lead to elevated levels of inflation. Japan's experience, and what could be our experience of a non-inflationary environment, occur because lenders are afraid to distribute the cash they are sitting on and thus the normal multiplier effect in the monetary system doesn't occur. They just have excess reserves that they cannot utilize. Cheers! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

It would be Saturday, September 25th...around 1:30pm. I think the bar in the Marriott is called Allie's American Bar & Grill. Cheers!

Last year, a bunch of us gathered at the bar in the hotel (Marriott Suites O'Hare) attached to Carlucci's, just before the Pabrai Funds AGM. I think it would probably be a good idea to do that again this year. Let me know who would be interested in meeting around 1:30pm-2:00pm. Cheers!

Munger makes very good points here. In terms of economic crisis, I believe comparing March of 09 to the Great Depression is like comparing apples to oranges. I mean, really, has anyone heard of people working for food in the past year? I can't say what the Great Depression was like, obviously, but judging by the stories from the people that lived through it, it seemed to be much more painful than what happened in the past year. Although, who knows, without the massive intervention, we might have seen people working for food in 2010. We were well on our way if it wasn't for the coordinated intervention, quantitative easing, Fed windows, and the various programs put in place (TARP, housing tax credits, extended unemployment benefits, etc). The outcome would have been very similar if not for the many programs that the populous is highly critical of today. http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3421 At the height of the crisis, the inital five months from June 2008 to October 2008, no one in their right mind would have thought that the outcome would have been as fortuitous as it has been...this is lucky! Count your blessings we didn't see the 100-year storm! You have some people working for food, but most don't because their unemployment benefits were extended almost 24 months. The deleveraging process isn't over...we still may see alot of people drifting from state to state looking for work, as it will take years to get unemployment back to the lows of 2006-2007. Cheers!

Steak'n Shake is one of the sponsers of the NBA Indiana Pacers and WNBA Indiana Fever. Cheers! http://www.indystar.com/article/20100825/BUSINESS/308250002/1003/Steak-n-Shake-partners-with-Fever-Pacers

Sanjeev, I don't see why you call Sprott a nut. You advocate long term returns and you beat him on the head for 2008, one year out of 30? Out of 30 years, he has made 20% net for his investors compounded after copious fees for: 1) his managed accounts (read stock market superstars) 2) his Canadian equity fund (19% IRR since 1997 as of last month, close to 13 points ahead of the TSX) 3) his hedge fund is also up 20% annually since 2000 Some of his funds have been launched a few years ago and/or are not managed directly by him. Watsa has had several years of terrible performance and very large leverage. He came out of it but quite possibly could not have (look at his debt to equity ratio just a few years back at FFH...). A lot of your comments I agree with but your cheap unjustified shots at Sprott don't make any sense. Hi Frog, As I mentioned to Broxburn in another post, the "nuts" comment was tongue in cheek. Sprott has a heavy vested interest in gold and commodities, and I have no interest in them whatsoever...the "nuts" comment was a tongue in cheek shot at that. Cheers!

Headlines were bad but reality was not ugly -- peak to trough GDP decline of 1-2% is nothing compared to historical periods of stress. C'mon Munger, Bill Gross was writing about the death of equities, 3000 hedge funds went under (one-third of all that existed), the credit markets were completely...and I mean completely...seized! The debacle with the credit markets was as bad as anything experienced in the early days of the 1929 market crash. It took one hell of a coordinated effort around the world to start to loosen things up, otherwise we most definitely would have been looking at another Depression. Buffett called it "an economic pearl harbour!" Prem expected a one in 50 or 100 year storm...we got the 50 one! I remember the sentiment around value investors...you couldn't get them to buy stuff...WFC at $9, GE at $6, Costco at $39...nope! Friggin' Starbucks was selling at $8! Literally everything had stopped! Go back and look at the drop in rail traffic and cargo volume between 2007, 2008 and then 2009...it was a cliff-like drop in the 4th Q 2008. The diehard investors were scared sh*tless! If you click the last few pages on the "General Discussion" page on this site, it will take you back to about February 2009 when this board was launched. You can read some of the posts, articles and stories on there. There were only a handful of boardmembers who were buying right at the bottom. And sentiment was even worse back around August through October of 2008 when the credit markets seized. Anybody who thinks that period wasn't damn ugly is fooling themselves. Cheers!