LC

My condolences, mrholty. That is tragic. There was a person in an old neighborhood of mine who worked in a horse stable. There were always shady characters in and out of her apartment. My guess was she was supplying people with horse tranqs, probably for the same reason you mention.

+44.9% USD pre-tax 3M, Philip Morris, Snap-on were all sold mid-year for nice gains which did much of the lifting Cash was redeployed into Berk, Compass Minerals, Citi, Altria, DaVita, which have all increased between 10% (Altria) and 25%(DaVita) since purchases in Q3.

Happy New Year, COBF! My wife and I got some good news: our offer was accepted on a house here in Denver. So my New Year's Eve has been spent fixing up the townhouse to sell - but no complaints! May 2018 be a prosperous one for everyone!

Agreed - I was not aware of the generic vs. brand name distinction!

https://newrepublic.com/article/62975/the-temptation-st-warren Written in 1992 by Michael Lewis, criticizing Warren Buffett. It was an interesting read - I thought he made some decent points and other of his points he was making illogical jumps. But I'm curious - to the board members who have accumulated more wisdom than I, what are your thoughts looking back on this article, now 15 years later?

There is an incentive mismatch. Drug companies are incentivized to sell as much as possible. To do so they suggest/pay/coerce doctors to over-subscribe. But this is a product where from the user's POV, you would want to use as little as possible. Perhaps if there was a buyback program where you are reimbursed if you are prescribed 50 pills but only use 5.

All my rereads have been outside investing. I'm partial to Vonnegut and Hemingway myself.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I guess manager is the better descriptor here. I choose Sanjeev because I think he has the upmost ethics to go along with skill set. The others may also have this as well, but I have never met them so I don't know for sure. #teamsanjeev

http://www.gldpartners.com/chasing-efficiencies-blockchain-is-coming-to-the-logistics-world/

LC, you're a fairly young man, it's just too early for you to get into the "repair-age" with something like that. All the best to you with it. Thanks for the kind words!

Out to Colorado. Getting older and replacing the tougher activities (basketball, weightlifting) with camping/hiking and skiing.

Ah man, I wish I was still in NY. Although my back squat is a bit messed up due to a slipped disk...can still front squat over a plate though. Good luck with the search!

A Good Question for a Berkshire annual meeting would be: IF they were to institute a dividend, what amount would they choose? It would give us insight into what warren thinks is excess capital and what amount of cash is necessary.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/jim-simons-the-numbers-king

OK but are you an analyst by profession? If not, why do you care? Here's a question: how do you define "competence"? Does it mean to have a conversation with the CEO and talk on par? What defined it

I am just saying 20 seems a reasonable PE (compared to S&P500's current pe) Ah ok I misunderstood you. I generally agree- I don't know if 20 is the right multiple but I think in today's environment that 9.5x is probably too low

Why would you apply UNP's multiple to the entirety of Berkshire's operating earnings? My guess it that UNP's multiple would only be applicable to BNSF's operating earnings.

Tough question: my circles of competence (confidence?) are mostly in areas I have worked in, or have a passion for. I don't think I can gain competence just by studying an industry or business from the outside looking in.

Examine.com is a good resource. You can search a compound and it provides a table which summarizes various studies and their conclusions.

SYAC (saved you a click): they mention Jain or Abel.

I also use rocketfinancial. Whoever made that website deserves a beer.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/29/16717416/us-coinbase-irs-records

Fair enough ;D

Do you have any idea if what the Panama paper whistleblower did was illegal or not? I'm no expert in Panamanian law, but it sounds a bit presumptive to blindly accuse someone of theft.