Parsad

Now they are fighting for their survival...energy and input costs are killing French bakeries. Cheers! https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/03/business/french-bakeries-cnnphotos/

At the very first Value Investing Conference held in New York, I watched Einhorn talk about a stock he was shorting for 45 minutes with like 150 slides. While he was talking, I could see tens of hedge fund managers in the audience dialing their Blackberries and putting in orders to short the stock he was talking about. At the same meeting, Herb Greenberg and Jim Chanos talked about what a crook Prem Watsa was and how Fairfax was a fraud. They each went on for at least half an hour. After his talk, I cornered Herb Greenberg and asked him about his research on Fairfax...if he had even read an annual report. He said, "no, but that he had two guys tell him all about it and he believes them." I then asked again, so you've never actually done any of your own research on Fairfax. He once again said, "no." I have nothing against short-selling, but I have big problem when people call out a person or company as fraud, but do zero research. As we know now, there was a lot of coordinated shorting of Fairfax, with unethical/illegal distribution of analyst reports before release to various hedge funds. I'm sure there are shenanigans on both sides...long or short. But Einhorn's moral high ground on shorting and naming Fairfax, Biovail and Overstock is kind of bullshit! He never talks about New Century...never...and he was head of the audit committee! Talk about "Fooling Some of the People, All of the Time!" Cheers!

Investor's yanked more money from banks and put it elsewhere including a significant amount into money market funds. Remember when no one thought money market unit values could drop below par...well 2008 changed that! Investor's have a lack of knowledge when it comes to how underlying securities work and what outlier events could cause to happen to security classes. Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/depositors-yank-another-126-billion-from-us-banks-210851940.html

Yup...if there is no "cheers" then it is either a discipline post or somebody died. Otherwise the "cheers" have been ending my posts since February 20, 2002 when the COBF first started! Cheers!

Yes, and SHOP 2025 $35 Calls. See you didn't even need me to post them! Cheers!

I think everyone on this thread owns way more stocks than me...I've never owned more than 10 stocks at any one time in my life...currently 6. They make up 60% of the portfolio...40% cash makes up the rest. My belief is if you can't put at least 5% of the portfolio in it because of valuation...don't bother putting anything in it. Cheers!

23 Year Old Canadian Crypto Prodigy Files Bankruptcy https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11905531/I-dont-know-live-Victim-slams-crypto-prodigy-lost-36k.html Was a crook! Cheers!

And the hits keep coming. Not sure why the SEC only steps up when the shit has already hit the fan! Cheers! https://www.yahoo.com/news/lindsay-lohan-jake-paul-among-212045827.html

Good forethought by your father...and good on you not selling any! Cheers!

So 20% is all those other stocks...many must make up less than 1% positions. You might want to sell some and consolidate into the ones you have more conviction on long-term. Cheers!

Shit that's a lot of stocks! I would lose my mind managing that portfolio. Cheers!

The combination of the debt with the asset to equity leverage...it's not built like Berkshire to survive a 500-year event and be around for 100 years. We barely survived Hugo and Andrew...I want Fairfax to be around 100 years plus like Berkshire. Cut the debt in half and keep another billion in the holdco. Cheers!

Class-action suit against 8 media influencers who promoted FTX: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance-youtubers-promoted-ftx-now-161015315.html Cheers!

It's a matter of practicality versus real world application. Old bulletin, but still applicable...especially considering what has happened in the last month: https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/january-1994/making-sense-of-mark-to-market Cheers!

Not necessarily the debt. I think under the wrong managers, too much leverage (asset to equity or debt) can kill Fairfax. Berkshire is built...literally...to be here 100 years from now. While Fairfax wants to be around 100 years from now, it isn't built for that. It's the Fairfax managers who've turned around the crappy insurance businesses to make them great insurers, and managed the bond portfolio and equities to prevent a crisis. Too much leverage under different managers is going to set up a scenario where Fairfax will face its greatest crisis one day. Cheers!

About friggin' time! Not sure why this wasn't implemented after 2008/2009. Clawback compensation and ban executives/directors from the industry if a bank fails! Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-asks-congress-to-give-regulators-authority-to-claw-back-executive-compensation-171255897.html

Great pickup by him! Cheers!

Insurance is different than banking. Really no other industry uses as much leverage as banking. When depositors start to demand their money, there is little a bank can do but sell their fixed income portfolio and meet redemptions. Insurance on the other hand has two significant advantages over banking...less leverage and reinsurance to protect a sudden large claim loss. People don't understand how vulnerable banks actually are and there aren't more run on banks! That being said, Fairfax operates with more leverage than many other insurers, which makes it more vulnerable than other insurers (something I wish they would reduce over time). It's just fortunate they have great portfolio managers that usually position themselves well compared to macro events. Really, does Fairfax even need to operate with half the debt that they carry? They have plenty of asset to equity leverage to hit their ROE target. They don't need at least half their present debt load...if any! If Fairfax would reduce leverage, I think the markets would be more comfortable maintaining a price above book. As long as they continue to operate with significant leverage, they will have more problems maintaining the same level in market price stability as Markel or Berkshire. Cheers!

Yes, even dumber than Tucker Carlson! What type of incentives would this create? Can you imagine it being duplicated by others?! Cheers! https://www.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-air-black-reparations-133030821.html

The one thing I've realized between 2008 and now is that banking needs a hard-assed regulator to stand guard. Politicians on both sides of the aisle should just stay the fuck out of the banking business and have zero say in its regulation! A well-capitalized and regulated banking industry is essential to a functioning and growing economy and embodies the trust of its customers. Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gop-senators-pushed-to-keep-banking-rules-loose-one-week-before-svb-collapse-152706948.html

Expect more failures: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silicon-valley-bank-failure-going-183638370.html Cheers!

+1! Mini bubbles popping everywhere. The government has been busy and will remain busy for another year or two. Cheers!

I think that's why the government had to step in and backstop the banks. Contagion and fear go hand and hand, and when you start to have a run on the banks, it is a very scary and delicate thing! Anyone who remembers 2008-2009 knows exactly what I'm talking about. A lack of liquidity is what exacerbated The Great Depression when the market collapsed and the run on banks began. While I'm not a fan of government bailouts, they are a necessary evil to prevent a greater systemic failure. Cheers!

Yup. FDIC fees should increase. I disagree on the bank not being a Joe Six Pack bank. Since corporations provide jobs...if the corporations suffer, jobs suffer, pension income suffers, health insurance disappears, etc...the repercussions make it a lot more than the wealthy learning a tough lesson. Cheers!

I agree! But you also want to create the right incentives. The bank executives should have their bonuses and options scrapped. Maybe even a partial clawback of the last year's salaries for the top executives, risk officers, etc. Directors should have all their director's fees for the last year clawed back. And probably tighter scrutiny of regional banks, brokerages, insurers, pensions on the same level as too big to fail institutions. We've seen this movie too many times in the last 15 years! Cheers!