Parsad

I didn't notice on the board if anyone else put this article up, but apparently former Paulson manager Paolo Pelligrini cooperated with the SEC in the case against Goldman! Cheers! http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-47764420100416

I don't feel sorry for the investors that lost money, since they put it at risk to begin with. My problem is with disclosure and with the ethics of being an oversized Wall Street bookie! Let me ask a simple question: Goldman lost $90M on the deal with a $15M fee...how much did they make going short on these deals alongside Paulson between 2007 and 2009? Here's an article I read back in 2007 that concerned me about the ethical dilemma Goldman found themselves in. It wasn't an issue for anyone back then other than a handful of people. Today they are involved in a huge civil suit by the Federal Government. The question asked in the article and the one I continue to ask today is "Why did Goldman continue to peddle CDOs to customers early this year (2007) while its own traders were betting that CDO values would fall?" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/14/how-goldman-won-big-on-mo_n_76888.html Cheers!

Hi Folks, We cannot take any more attendees for the dinner this year, as the room we booked has a maximum capacity of 75 people...double our attendance last year! Anyone who received the confirmation email on the weekend, or this morning as well, you are good to go for the dinner. Next year we will book the room next door as well! When you come into the restaurant, let them know you are attending the "Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner". The room is at the back of the restaurant on the left hand side. You'll see a large banner near the front of the room with "Corner Market Capital" on it. Please pay the $5 admission when you pick up your nametag. It looks like we'll be able to raise a nice sum of funds for the "Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada". Thanks very much for everyone's support! Look forward to seeing you all. Cheers! Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Joe Badali's Restaurant 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Drinks: 6:30pm Dinner: 7:00pm Q & A: 8:00pm-9:30pm

Small article on Fremont's attempt to legislate away Biglari Holdings takeover attempt. Cheers! http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/biglari-vs-michigan-a-form-of-protectionism/?partner=yahoofinance

I think shareholder's may have a case, since it is certainly a material event. Whether they should have told Buffett or not is another matter, since he is a shareholder and shouldn't be privy to material information that isn't public. I don't think he knew...because if he did, Buffett would have made them go public. Cheers!

I don't agree with most of the sentiment Alice Schroder expresses in this article, but I do agree with the comment about whether Goldman informed Buffett about the SEC investigation when it first started months ago. Or did Goldman hide it from Buffett? Will be interesting to hear what Warren and Charlie say about this at the AGM. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=adbst.qXhw9s

Agreed. I doubt there would be as much indignation if people understood the nature of a synthetic CDO. In every synthetic, someone (or sometimes many) must be short. In the institutional arena, this is an accepted fact and it is not required information for disclosure. If it were required, where would it end? Did Prem's motivation get disclosed when his handpicked CDS contracts were placed in corporate synthetic CDO's? Did WEB's motivation get disclosed to the sellers when he bought back his customized put options on the S&P? How about PIMCO selling Treasuries they think will underperform to mutual funds, would that need to be disclosed too? How about any institution that had input into the construction of a specialized ETF that intended to short it, should that be disclosed also? The answer is no because the counterparties are institutional investors with research capabilities, not babes in the woods. I could understand your analogy if they were going after Paulson...they are not. They are going after Goldman, who was the bookie. The problem was that the game was fixed...they knew the outcome and were betting on it. There is a very clear ethical dilemma in what they did...even back when they were actually doing it, not just in hindsight. The federal government believes that the context of their argument is in the best interest of investors. I couldn't agree more! Are they the only ones guilty? Of course not. Should the counterparties and other investors be held responsible for their losses? Yes, and they have lost fortunes. Cheers!

Goldman Sachs leveraged real estate fund, Whitehall Street International, lost 98 cents on the dollar for investors. Another round of applause for the titans of Wall Street! At least Goldman lost the most in the fund. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/36591654

That's why I was disgusted! I've seen labor unions and other organizations get legislators to draft bills to maintain jobs in a state, but never to prevent the removal of a specific executive. Cheers!

I absolutely agree Harry! That is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen both from a political and corporate standpoint. Absolutely abhorent! I think the federal government should actually step in here and prevent this legislation from being enacted. I can understand a corporate CEO doing this to remain entrenched, but I cannot believe a legislator would bow to a single corporation's desire to remain entrenched. God awful! Cheers!

Hi Folks, As per the comment I made on the original post, any commentary on ITEX will be removed. Cheers!

Interesting article on how Google is adopting "Notice and Access" disclosure for sensitive company-related announcements, rather than using press releases through major business wires. Cheers! http://news.stv.tv/business/170695-googles-unorthodox-press-release-raises-questions/

I'm glad the SEC is making these charges. I think Goldman's actions during this whole period is akin to what the tobacco companies did...cigarettes or CDO's...take your pick! Cheers!

Heh, whereas, I've been doing that with laptops for over a decade. (You should follow a strict "bathroom sanitary protocol", though.) How exactly do you do that? Put it on your lap? My legs would go numb! ;D Or do you keep a folding table tray in there? Cheers!

The other thing is that I don't see myself ever carrying a Kindle or IPad into the washroom! ;D Cheers!

I think it is most definitely a generational thing. I would be surprised if newspapers are around three generations from now in their current format. Cheers!

It will be a sad day in hell for me if newspapers are ever completely discarded for electronic media. I like receiving the paper every day. It's the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up...get the paper. I like the feel of the paper between my fingers, being able to skim two broad pages at a time for articles that peak my interest...hard to do that on a laptop! I like keeping old articles or entire papers for posterity. The broad base of information that it provides is unique. A dying business, but one that I find extremely valuable and nostalgic...kind of like hardcopy annual reports. I like the feel of an old annual report...gently opening the cover and paging through it...imagining the time when the individual wrote it. A very kind individual gave me all the Fairfax Financial annual reports...thought I would find it more useful than he...I love paging through all of them. I can imagine what was going through Prem's head when he wrote the first one after acquiring Markel. I do it now just before I start writing our own annual report for our funds. Cheers!

Senator Schumer believes more funding for the SEC could have prevented Bernie Madoff. http://www.cnbc.com/id/36562610 I'm sure the SEC is understaffed and underpaid as Schumer says, but more funding would not have stopped Madoff. There is a disconnect between the training some of the staff at the SEC receive and the enforcement of the law. I don't think Harry Markopoulous could have done anything more than he did to draw attention to Madoff...at various levels of SEC enforcement. All to no avail! Cheers!

Parsad - this is a little random, but can you disclose your main sources of info (maybe the top 3 - 5 that you look at daily)? Oh boy, that's not easy! I'll give you the ones I go to everytime I turn on the computer each morning and I resurf them at least four-five times a day until I go to sleep around 12-1am: Yahoo Finance - U.S. site Google Finance CNN Bloomberg CNBC Globeinvestor.com FT.com EDGAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies) SEDAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies) The Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Message Board (of course!) During the rest of the day and evening, I read the Vancouver Sun & Globe & Mail. I also read the National Post & Washinton Post online and Business In Vancouver. When I read the paper, I read every page other than certain portions of the classifieds. I'm a newspaper junkie! I can easily consume 3-4 a day. Surprisingly, I don't read the WSJ unless I'm at the airport...go figure! I'm cheap and for the price of the WSJ, I can get the other four papers I like. I also like to read on all sorts of subjects not just business. In between and weekends, I view various other sites...too many to name...but I stay away from any other message board sites - too much group think even if they are value investors. Any other chance I get, I re-read all the foundation books - Securities Analysis, Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits, Of Permanent Value, Old Buffett Partnership Letters, Old Berkshire Annual Reports, Old Fairfax Annual Reports and any other books I want to read. Throw in there any other business magazine I find lying around at the office. I also read all the community papers, flyers, etc. It gives me a perspective on what happens with business and pricing of goods locally. Cheers!

Berkshire insurance subsidiary Pacific Gateway, which is under the National Indemnity umbrella, has acquired a book of business from Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies. What an easy way to know that you are acquiring a quality book of business with legitimate underwriting! Cheers! http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2010/04/15/109025.htm

Interesting article on Eddie Lampert and Sears. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601108&sid=av1tr0zzmrgg

Hi Folks, As I've mentioned in the past on this board, as long as we are working on ITEX in the MPIC Funds, I won't be allowing discussions on here. The Polonitza Group was interviewed recently on ITEX: http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=90134 If you have any follow-up questions, David will be more than happy to answer them to the best of our abilities, since they will be printed within the public domain. Please submit questions directly to the author of the article, not us. Any subsequent posts on here relating to the article will be removed. Cheers!

Hi Folks, This is last call for our annual dinner! We've got 60 people attending...may creep closer to 70 by the time all is said and done. For those that have already RSVP'ed, I will send an email confirmation out to you Friday evening. Please email me Monday morning or earlier to confirm your attendance. I have to give the final tally to Joe Badali's Monday afternoon so that they can prepare. See you there! Fifth Annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner When we first started our annual dinner in 2006, we had nine people attend and Francis Chou was our lone representative from Fairfax. The following year, we had about 17 people and Francis brought Sam Mitchell as well. The third dinner in 2008, we had about 28 or 29 people and our guests were Sam and Francis again. The fourth dinner in 2009 had about 38 attendees and Fairfax surprised us by sending Sam Mitchell, Wayne Cadwallader and Brian Bradstreet...of course Francis was also there...he never lets us down! This year's dinner will have well over 50 attendees...probably close to 60! Don't worry, we have a mic and speaker system set up this year! It's an amazing opportunity to ask questions and listen to answers from some of the best investors in North America, as well as meet with fellow Fairfax shareholders and "Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax" board members. We will also have a raffle with various prizes, including Fairfax memorabilia and books signed by Prem, and other prizes donated by Corner Market Capital. All proceeds, along with the $5 admission (and matching contribution by Corner Market Capital) will go to the Crohns Colitis Foundation of Canada, in honor of Jo Ann Butler. Joe Badali's 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Drinks: 6:30pm Dinner: 7:00pm Q & A: 8:00pm-9:30pm RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca Admission: $5/head with all proceeds going to the "Crohn's Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Jo Ann Butler (Corner Market Capital Corporation will match all admissions). Cheers!

A good article on how the government is making taxpayer interests more aligned with the private sector's interests in profiting from bailouts of distressed assets. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=auaKDb0RLjWQ&pos=10

Morgan Stanley reported to investors that their 2007 Global Property Fund will probably recover only about 40% of its total value...$5.4B down the drain! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeO9Ze5Vz7bo&pos=5