Parsad

Hi Hawk, To clarify, the meeting is simply a gathering of investors, and Joe and Matt just happen to belong to Chanticleer. Whether they comment or don't comment on Chanticleer is up to them, but I wouldn't expect attendees to hear anything specific about Chanticleer outside of what they say in their filings and press releases. Cheers!

If you plan on attending the upcoming Pabrai Funds AGM in Chicago on September 12th, please email me at sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca . I'll be coordinating with Matt Miller and Joe Koster of Chanticleer Holdings, so that we can have a nice gathering before the meeting. If you would also be interested in a coordinated visit to a Steak'n Shake in the Chicago vicinity, on Friday the 11th or Sunday the 13th, please also indicate that in your email. Cheers!

I'm having a very, very hard time with what is happening in the markets these days. AIG at $50/share! Wow! You're kidding right? This weekend I was at a wedding, and a family friend of mine was telling me how his uncle has nearly doubled his stock market investment for him in a few months. The process...a little of this, a little of that, some of this and some of that. No discussion of valuation, intrinisic value, growth, balance sheet strength or economics. We expected the markets to rebound considerably from the March lows in our 1st Quarter letter, but me thinks speculation is beginning to run rampant again and the stupid fast money is flowing swiftly. Beware the rising tide! Cheers!

Hi Libor, Yes, the old board was archived, but in a somewhat inconvenient form. Use the visual hash search Uhuru posted, and then note the dates of the posts you are looking for as your guide for the archive below: http://msnbrkboardarchive.multiply.com/ Archived files are in the first five pages of the blog, and at the bottom of the fifth page is where all the archived posts start. Cheers!

Yup, and they've thrown the book at this thing to stimulate the hell out of it. Japanese corporations are flush with cash. The consumer has been saving for the last twenty years. The psychology had changed significantly with the consumer and corporate balance sheet strengthening, while the national balance sheet plummeted. Finally, they used to be the cheapest source of production 50 years ago, and then the most efficient 25 years ago, but the world has changed. The cheapest source now is China, and the most efficient is South Korea. Japan peaked twenty years ago, and is slowly finding out what it feels like to fall from the top of the food chain. The U.S. is next unless it can continue to innovate. That's what kept it on top against all these hungry competitors and it has to do so again. Cheers!

Naturally since I'm coming to Chicago, I've been staring at the SNS website trying to figure out what I'm going to eat! ;D I expect to hit two Steak'n Shakes. I'll try one of the four under $4 meals at one location with a coke, and I'll try 3 of the shooters plus a shake on another day. But what's pretty damn amazing is the $2.89 snack pack meal I spotted on the website on the bottom left-hand side of the third slide. You get a steakburger, fries and a small drink for $2.89! No wonder they're getting so much traffic coming in. Those prices are as cheap as McDonalds hamburger meals, and instead you get a Steakburger with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles. Cheers!

I think I'm actually looking more forward to getting my hands around some Steak'n Shake than anything else! ;D I've been so damn anxious to try the food, but there is nothing within 1500+ miles of us. Especially since they started putting those huge pictures of the burger on their website. Cheers!

It sounds so bizarre, but JP Morgan is financing California's $1.5B in IOU's. The interest rate is lower and there are no fees. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/32584157

Yes, the connation of the comments seem a bit harsh, rather than being objective. Cheers!

The Chicago Meeting is on the 12th of September. We'll probably meet around 1:30-2:00pm, and then anyone going to the Pabrai Funds AGM can go at 4:00pm. Cheers!

Charles De Vaulx, protege of Jean Marie-Evillard, has set a record for the most amount of capital raised by a new mutual fund. What's interesting is the little tid-bit in this article about Garrett Van Wagoner, whose fund raised $710M in 1995, shut down when assets fell to $17.5M last year! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azA3L83L_WGQ

Hi Folks, I can't make the Pabrai Funds California AGM this year, but after speaking to Mohnish, I'll be attending the Chicago meet instead. Joe Koster and Matt Miller of Chanticleer Holdings tentatively have a small gathering before the AGM. I'll speak to them, get the details on exactly where and when everyone is meeting, and then I'll put out a post. Hope to see some of you there. Cheers!

This was mentioned on the Motley Fool BRK Board, but in the recent BYD release, they noted that David Sokol is Chairman of Mid-American, Netjets & Johns Manville. I'm pretty sure this is our guy who will take over on the operations side. Cheers! http://www.bydit.com/upfiles/2009082015585070192.pdf

Partner, that is probably the best approach. Often doing just the simple things is more efficient and usually the results are just as good. Cheers!

Well, I don't think there is any reason to assume "Hmmm" or "to hell with him". Perhaps, we can view the event somewhere down the middle. - First, we don't know what the reason is. It could be something personal, thus the resignation. - Second, it's not like Sardar can't run this thing himself. He turned it around when it was running like shi*! - Third, exactly how easy is it to find someone to run something, and how hard is it to find the perfect guy? Buffett went through this often during his partnership days and early Berkshire days. Just a couple of weeks ago, Rich Santulli suddenly resigned, and he was one of the guys many people predicted may run the entire company one day. Theories and speculation never lead to good investment decisions or analysis. Cheers!

I always wait to see what Francis writes, because it gives me some idea of what the guys at Hamblin-Watsa may also be thinking about. Francis' 2009 Semi-Annual report is out, and in there he discusses interest rate swaps to protect against inflation. He's also the only mutual fund manager I know of that refunds management fees if he's unhappy with his performance. Cheers! http://www.choufunds.com/pdf/SeAR%2009%20printing.pdf

Thanks very much for the article! Cheers!

A bank fraud charge for one guy, and near the end of the article another ponzi scheme that was caught back in May. Geez! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aRJzVy_8GrIM

Actually here it is. It was on the 14th, and there was also another one in May. I didn't see that one, but the 14th one is terrific. Cheers! http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/3411

...else we don't have enough resources on earth to support so many people. Eventually yes...perhaps several hundred years out. But I think science will continue to allow us to produce more food and heartier versions. I remember watching old episodes of "All in the Family", and Mike the son-in-law used to say that the world would run out of food by the next century. That was in the 70's! Yet here we are today, producing twice as much food with half as much land set aside for agriculture in North America. Crops are sturdier, require less water and grow in diverse conditions. We continue to produce enough meat or protein substitutes without little difficulty. Yes, we are eliminating many types of fish and game in the wild, but farming practices are allowing us to increase their numbers in captivity. The other aspect of farming which hasn't taken hold yet, but will as land becomes more valuable, is vertically-integrated urban farms. Massive concrete structures, where using advanced hydroponics, we will be able to grow crops in urban settings. What may look like an office building, will actually hold massive floors of crops, with water being utilized by the plants at each floor with greater efficiency as it trickles from one level to the next. There are so many reasons to be optimistic about the future. There is a terrific interview on Charlie Rose with physicist Freeman Dyson. I believe it was around the 16th of August. You can probably find it in the archives at Charlie Rose. Fantastic interview and a very real prognosis of our future existence. Cheers!

I agree Zorro. I have never read, seen, nor heard about any sort of deleveraging process of this magnitude, without it taking a significant amount of time. Be it one year, two years, five years or ten years. You can use various methods to prop it up, but the system will not function smoothly until it is completely cleansed. Think of it as the worst hangover in 70 years. It doesn't matter how much gravol, home remedies, eggs & toast, or coffee you consume. Until it works its way through your liver and out of your system, you can be sure you will continue to get headaches, nausea and a ringing ear for some time! Cheers!

My aunt was in town here for my cousin's wedding. She works for a hospital in Sacramento. She said that her private hospital also was seeing significantly lower numbers of patients. That hospital staff were having their hours cut from 5 days a week to 4 days. I said in BC, hospital staff are offered more overtime shifts than they can handle! This is a pretty significant aspect of the unemployment numbers that are missing from the statistics we are provided every month. There are numerous industries where workers have had their hours cut by 10, 20, 30 percent, yet are still regarded as employed by the economists. For example, public service sector employees in California will have three rotating days off per month going forward to help balance the budget. This is not unique, and I would expect many states and municipalities to be doing this, as tax revenues will be significantly lower for the next few years. Cheers!

Small commentary on Fairfax and the last quarter. Cheers! http://www.morningstar.ca/globalhome/industry/news.asp?articleid=305156

Here we go, I'm sure we'll see more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/finkelstein-thompson-llp-announces-investigation-of-western-sizzlin-corporation-merger-2009-08-21 Cheers!

"My hobby: Whenever anyone calls something an adjective-ass noun, I mentally move the hyphen one word to the right" --Randall Munroe, "Hyphen" Well, I guess that works as well, because while I was dreaming about eating that Steakburger, I was dreaming about J-Lo and Kim Kardashian both grinding me on the dance floor...literally a human Sanjwich! ;D Cheers!