Parsad

Thank you Spek for the balanced and factual response! With members like you, I have less work! Cheers!

The difference for the big four banks and larger institutions is that they've offset potential outlier events using derivatives. Does anyone know how much of BAC's unrealized loss is offset by derivatives? Cheers!

+1! A dependable, secure banking system is necessary for any long-term development of an economy. What is the point of saving if you cannot be sure the fund's are safe when in low-risk/non-risk assets. Cheers!

Looked at Bank of Hawaii this morning. Most regional banks leverage increased in the last few years. There are only a handful operating at less than 10 times asset to equity leverage. Most have crept up to 13-18 times. Leverage is a killer for financial institutions during outlier events. I think there is more pain to come for the banking industry as rates haven't topped out and contagion fears spread. Cheers!

Like 14 other regional banks...five of which had their stock halted today. Risk management rarely prepares for outlier events. Cheers!

Mmmm...there's more here than we know. How did this all start? Who is holding what bag? Contagion among leveraged institutions is not easy to contain, especially when the Feds have no idea what bag will drop next. Fed had no idea about AIG while they were helping Lehman...and they had no idea about Lehman when they were watching Bear Stearns go down...and at the beginning, no one knew that derivatives could be so destructive where Bear Stearns would fail. So the Fed is slow to react (as we've seen with interest rates) in most cases. In this case, we had multiple mini bubbles, rather than one gigantic one. A couple of them have popped...we may have a couple to go! Cheers!

No, you aren't the only one. I often read it as well. Just to shake my head! Cheers!

That may be a good thing! Many of us remain too focused on investing. Personally, I read pretty much everyone...but follow no one! I once tried to follow Seth Klarman and learned my lesson pretty quickly. So I learned to take in information from everyone, but make decisions completely on my own. Cheers and thank you to everyone on here for all you contribute! Had coffee with Viking today for 3 hours...in person...what a wonderful guy! Cheers!

SEC Files Emergency Action Against BKCoin for Running $100M ‘Ponzi-Like’ Scheme https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-files-emergency-action-against-174334826.html I suspect there is a much bigger fish than FTX out there that at some point is going to get fried! Governments missed a huge group here by not regulating crypto! Cheers!

+1! Cheers!

This whole North America is broken position always makes me laugh! Broken perhaps in how much debt the governments are carrying and not balancing their books, but in terms of innovation and economic dominance in technology...the U.S. remains as relevant as ever. These things run in long-term cycles. But the U.S. free-market system always resets and powers back up. I remember how everyone thought the Japanese would dominate the U.S. when they were buying up all the golf courses in Hawaii. How did that turn out? Now it's China. I guarantee that the U.S. will reset again, and pour money into research and development in the next cycle. Cheers!

Advocates see no conflict between dei and academic excellence. “It’s hard to imagine being a good teacher if you don’t know how to actively engage all students,” says Sharon Inkelas, an associate vice-provost at Berkeley. Nor is it a matter of political belief. These statements “are descriptions of things that people have done that have enabled them to be successful in the classroom,” says Professor Inkelas. A referendum has already outlawed affirmative action in California, so state institutions cannot give preferential treatment on the basis of race or sex. A separate law bans employers from “controlling or directing” the political activities of their employees. “There is no litmus test attached to diversity statements. All that it’s asking is, ‘What are you going to be able to add to our campus? How are you going to deal with the diverse student body and faculty?’” says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley’s law school and a well-known First Amendment scholar. “The absence of lawsuits so far, despite threats, is an indication that the diversity statements are legal. They don’t violate the First Amendment.” They aren't dictating on how to hire...only that applicants have furthered diversity and inclusivity when dealing with the hiring process. In other words, give all candidates a fair shot regardless of race and gender! Cheers!

If you think about it, our neural network is exactly what AI needs...as they say, why reinvent the wheel? Nature has already created a near perfect brain. Cheers!

I imagine the U.S. reception of scientists, doctors, engineers and technology experts from every part of the world is what partly has lead to the exceptionality of the U.S. in the last 100 years...from Einstein and Oppenheimer to Elon Musk and Andy Grove. https://startalkmedia.com/20-immigrants-refugee-scientists-who-made-america-greater-part-1/ The Chinese are simply spending more money on research and development. Diversity and racial quotas have nothing to do with it. Higher wages, more funding for research, less red tape for development, and easier immigration would probably continue to attract more doctors, engineers, scientists and other experts. Cheers!

Amazing story of how a manhole cover during a nuclear test became the fastest man-made object ever created. Cheers! https://ca.news.yahoo.com/manhole-cover-launched-space-nuclear-010358106.html

China has stunning lead in most fields of study in critical or emerging technology: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-stunning-lead-over-us-052630482.html Cheers!

We've seen the idea in sci-fi books, movies and television. It may be here now! Cheers! https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/world/brain-computer-organoids-scn/index.html

No. WRB is missing that third leg of the stool...wholly-owned, non-insurance subsidiaries/businesses. But it is a great insurer and they do manage their portfolio well. WTM sort of fits in the same category...they have held outside businesses and investments...back in the day, Leucadia would have fit...Loews Corporation definitely fits with CNA and their non-insurance businesses. Wintaai/Stonetrust will fit that model...Francis Chou's vehicle. Biglari Holdings fits the model. Cheers!

Down goes Silvergate! Down goes Silvergate! Just like when Ali knocked out Frazier. Cheers! https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/business/silvergate-capital-crypto-ftx/index.html

Intact is more of a general insurer...not a big reinsurance business. Also it is more of a pure insurance company with no non-insurance businesses...it would be the Canadian version of Allstate. It's business is also not particularly diverse on a global basis. Great insurer and business...but again, a different animal than MKL, BRK or FFH. The fascination around BRK, MKL and FFH is because they do something quite different than most insurers when it comes to managing float. Most insurers put float and premiums into fixed income securities to match their future insurance losses. BRK, MKL and FFH not only buy equity securities with a significant amount of their float/premium portfolio but wholly-owned non-insurance businesses. That creates more stability in income and tempers years of severe cat losses. When done well, it also provides an outsized return compared to general insurance companies. Cheers!

The leverage and lack of a strong third leg on the stool (wholly-owned, cash flowing businesses). I have a lot of FFH...probably a much larger sizing than most...other than Prem! I've always bought it cheap when it was around 0.6-0.7 times book, so that's the margin that let's me sleep at night. What really lets me sleep at night...Prem and the team. As Munger says, you shouldn't plan on getting rich twice. That sentiment probably keeps FFH management from doing things where the leverage might put them in that position. No one wants to ever be broke again! As I got older, in non-taxable accounts, I've always reweighted it to a smaller, more reasonable position balanced by other stocks and plenty of cash when I can't find anything. But in my personal holding company, I just let the unrealized capital gains ride and it makes up 40% of it. But I do that with all my stocks in the holding company. I don't want to pay taxes on any of those gains for a long, long time. Again, I let the cash build in the holding company too, when I can't find something to buy. For the holding company, I'm looking at investments that I don't want to turnover...so it's a bit more selective. You want compounding machines. For the non-taxable accounts, I can put things like cigar butts in, because I don't care if I sell after it hits intrinsic value, since I don't pay any tax on the gains. So that's how I manage any risk from FFH and how I sleep at night. I buy cheap and lots of it, and then sell in non-taxable accounts to reasonable levels. Cheers!

There's no reason investors can't hold all three. I do. Over the last 20 years, FFH has been at great prices several times with the last one being in 2020. MKL and BRK don't get as cheap as often (probably due to the stable cash flows from the third leg of operating businesses), but there have been at least a couple reasonable opportunities in those same 20 years. If you bought at those opportune times and just held, you would have done quite well in a portfolio holding all three, with less volatility than just holding FFH and a cheaper overall portfolio based on valuation. You also spread out the succession risk after the primaries retire or pass away. Cheers!

I'll get right on it! Cheers!

You should go at least once. It's well worth it...at least one time! Cheers!

I think he was calling Trump that too, since debt/GDP grew dramatically under his watch as well. Cheers!