Grenville

works now for me, didn't before!

44% Cash/Govt Bonds 14% ORH-A 13% FFH 9% BRK-B 5% TAVFX 4% LLPFX 4% TAREX 2% ORH 1% SHLD mutual funds are from the days before finding this message board and its broad range of information and insight

Jamie Dimon, the great Statesman! I always enjoy his speeches, ethics and straight forward leadership. I only wish more corporate CEO's were like him, it would make life a lot simpler and more enjoyable.

Very nice speech! Shared it with my friends. 8)

Knowing what you know, are you guys comfortable with the large compensation packages and the inherent incentives they reinforce in the employees going forward?

Hey guys, I wanted to get people's thoughts on the huge compensation numbers set aside for employees of Goldman Sachs. In the recent quarter compensation and benefits expenses (including salaries, estimated year-end discretionary compensation, amortization of equity awards and other items such as payroll taxes, severance costs and benefits) were 6.65 billion. In Q1 this number was 4.71 billion. The total for 2009 so far is 11.36 billion with two quarters left in the year! I understand Goldman's franchise has gotten much stronger with the weakening of many competitors but in light of the substantial amount of government support both indirect and direct, the compensation numbers don't sit well with my gut. This all is more of a concern for me through my ownership of Goldman through Berkshire. I know high compensation numbers mean good results at Goldman that benefit Berkshire's investment. Although, in my limited understanding it seems like Goldman was on the brink of failure much the same way other firms were and they were saved by the AIG bailout and all the government support. Given the substantial risks the employees put Goldman Sachs franchise in, the compensation numbers seem like the wrong incentive. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

For what it's worth Hoisington is still sticking to deflation. There new commentary for Q2 is out: http://www.hoisingtonmgt.com/pdf/HIM2009Q2NP.pdf

It might be from a lack of understanding on my part, but doesn't the fact that he has material insider knowledge prevent him from trading in the shares? Book value can move substantially given the assets and significant trading activity in their portfolio. One way around the insider knowledge would be an automatic stock purchase plan of some sort. Just curious!

Thank you for posting the report!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31128840 Interesting comment "If I were clairvoyant and knew we were going to have a sell-off of this magnitude, I would've been all in cash, but I'm not," said Van Hoisington, whose flagship Wasatch-Hoisington U.S. Treasury Fund is down more than 20 percent.

Awesome, thanks for posting! Quite in depth!

Always a unique perspective! Thanks!

From TariqAli's site and the FOX news interview, Munger recommended Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Hi guys, I had the good fortune of attending the Berkshire meeting this year for the very first time! The new question format and the responses from Warren and Charlie were awesome. I know some of you were not able to attend, and I wanted to make sure I took good notes to share with board members. I am immensely grateful to the board for all that I have learned from your insights and shared information. Also, its hard to quantify the impact a humble individual like Sanjeev P. plays in making this site what it is. Thank you! I have attached my notes in .pdf format!

Awesome link! Thanks for posting!

The Hoisington Investment Management Quarterly Review and Outlook for Q1 2009 has been posted. The report paints the picture for deflation as the velocity of money outpaces helicopter Ben's work. The shadow banking system's failure continues to pressure velocity. They continue to favor bonds. Good read. Added a poll as well. http://www.hoisingtonmgt.com/pdf/HIM2009Q1NP.pdf

Hey guys, There was a really in depth interview done with Bruce Berkowitz in the latest issue of Outstanding Investor Digest. In the interview he talks about his investment thesis in Pfizer, Sears, Leucadia and a couple of other holdings. Pfizer is a large holding within Fairfax's portfolio. A link to the OID interview can be found on the Fairholme Funds main page on the bottom left. The interview is 36 pages of the digest. http://www.fairholmefunds.com/ -Grenville

what Grantham aptly describes as career risk!

Buffett will invest in the new partnership as well. http://www.cnbc.com/id/29958495

Looks like Odyssey Re is forming OdysseyRe Capital Trust I. From my limited understanding, it looks like they are setting up a trust to go out and purchase their debt. I don't know why you would set up something like this unless it allows for better tax treatment. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated! Here is an excerpt from the beginning and the link is below to the SEC listing. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1137048/000090956709000251/0000909567-09-000251-index.htm Description of the trust: We formed OdysseyRe Capital Trust I, a Delaware statutory trust, to raise capital for us by: • issuing trust preferred securities under this prospectus; and • investing the proceeds from the sale of the trust preferred securities in our junior subordinated notes. The trust will use the payments it receives on the junior subordinated notes to make cash payments to the holders of the trust preferred securities. We will own all of the common securities of the trust. Such common securities will represent an aggregate liquidation amount equal to at least 3% of the trust’s total capitalization. Such common securities will have terms substantially identical to, and generally will rank equal in priority of payment with, the trust preferred securities. If we default on the corresponding junior subordinated notes, then distributions on such common securities will be subordinate to the trust preferred securities in priority of payment. As holders of the common securities, we (except in certain circumstances) will have the power to: • appoint the trustees of the trust; • replace or remove any of the trustees; and • increase or decrease the number of trustees.

I am also curious to hear the answer to your question. I did find this in the ORH annual report: "During the year ended December 31, 2008, Odyssey America purchased 128,000 shares of our Series B preferred stock, with a liquidation preference of $3.1 million, for $1.7 million. As a result of the purchase of the Series B preferred shares, we recorded a gain of $1.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2008, which was recorded in retained earnings and included in net income available to common shareholders."

Impressive interview between Cramer and Stewart. Kudos to Jon Stewart! http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=221516&title=jim-cramer-interview-outtake

The current board format works perfectly well! Why mess with a good thing?

" Now, our book value far understates Berkshire’s intrinsic value, a point true because many of the businesses we control are worth much more than their carrying value." -That line is nothing new. It can be found in last year's annual report as well on page 73 at the very bottom!

"The underlying business, our insurance and reinsurance business, excluding these exceptional items and in a very challenging insurance environment, had a combined ratio of 96.2%. Accident year combined ratios for all our companies are close to 100% in all cases with good reserving." - From the conference call. I hope everyone has listened to the conference call. They address the fx issue, and the underwriting pretty well. Based on my limited understanding of underwriting, they did a pretty good job overall. I agree if you were trying to go for perfect and nit pick, the underwriting is the worst performing area relatively. I think if you zoom out they are doing a fine job with their underwriting and they would tell you up front if they weren't. One question I have, does the CR ratio take into account how they are reserving? If they are super conservative and over reserving will that mean that the CR ratio looks artificially high or does the effect of over reserving average itself out over time?