Parsad

OMG! I didn't realize it was that bad! A little payback for American hockey teams winning the Stanley Cup for the last 17 years! ;D Incidentally, on the subject of the United States and Canada, and similiar credit ratings: Canada had to balance their budget and pay down their debt through the nineties and early part of the new millenium...we didn't suffer, univeral healthcare survived, old age security and Canada pension plan checks were paid, teachers didn't commit hari-kari due to increased class sizes, and the world didn't come to an end. Our economy is far better off for it, as are the generations to come. One aspect of what helped Canada get through that period was the influx of wealthy, entrepreneurial immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan. With all the worry and discomfort in other parts of the world, especially Europe and Japan, the U.S. may have to consider opening up the flood gates to immigration. In particular, immigrants of the business-class type visas that would invest capital and start small businesses. They would need homes, automobiles, food, clothing, education, etc, and increase tax revenues. Maybe even open up such visas to regions that have greatly suffered economic hardships such as Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Southern California, Michigan, etc. Food for thought. Cheers!

I agree too...S&P is actually doing their job for once. But I also agree with Buffett that this is almost meaningless in the grand scape of things. Credit rating agencies work in hindsight and provide no indication whatsoever what will happen in the future. Shouldn't the U.S. have been downgraded before the whole debt ceiling debate? Same political parties...same debt load...same GDP...same tax revenues. Fairfax is still rated A- for Pete's sake! The U.S. now has the same rating as Canada and France...big deal! The market may react, or they may not...do we really care? If they go down, we buy some more. The main thing is as many have said, politicans need to start working on the problems, and that means creating the right incentives, proper stimulii, equitable opportunity and confidence. Cheers!

I'm not a shareholder of BH or CAW, but if I was, I would view this as a good development. Depends on whether you are happy with just creation of economic value or you also want to be treated like an owner. You'll probably get the former, but not the latter. In other news, BH's special AGM was started then postponed to September 5th today...looks like not enough votes for a quorum or something. Are shareholders feeling disenfranchised? Also, someone indicated to me that the leveraging of SNS was suggested in ISS's report, and that Biglari could use the funds to buy back shares and get more control. Did anyone read the report? Cheers! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/93859/000092189511001561/defa14a07428_08052011.htm

I definitely wouldn't buy the market as a whole. But there are many individual companies that are dirt cheap right now.. Yup! There are actually quite a few companies that are now trading lower than they did during the worst parts of 2008/2009, and their income and balance sheet statements are far, far better. Cheers!

It doesn't matter who is in Congress when the economy suffers, asset prices collapse and panic sets in. Both Democrats and Republicans will do anything they can to stem the blood-letting...damn any future consequences if they see their own IRA's diminishing. They will print when push comes to shove...print all the way and maintain a zero rate policy. Will it do what they want long-term? Probably not. But they will print once they start to panic...just human nature! Cheers!

I think you'll have a clearer picture tomorrow. If the jobs report is good, you probably won't see QE3 anytime soon. If the jobs report is bad, and markets react anywhere near how they did today, then I think you'll see some coordinated action over the weekend and into next week. You've got a frickin' election year coming up, and the President is not going to go without trying everything to get the economy going and win a re-election. Cheers!

I for one am really hoping for a correction. Like, others here, I am heavily invested in Fairfax, and until there is a correction Fairfax won't have an opportunity to unhedge and aggressively go after capital gains. Also, like others on this board, I have bought long-term puts on salesforce.com. I think we'll need a market shakeout to see that stock go down to where it belongs. There is as much risk in Fairfax's strategy as those buying on significant downturns. For example, Fairfax missed much of the rebound through 2009 and 2010, as they invested very little in equities. Fairfax's strategy is far more essential to their success as a leveraged insurance company than the effect it would have for the average investor...thus the comparison is not a practical one by any means for the average unleveraged individual investor. Corporations, including financial institutions, are in remarkable shape, because they passed their risk on to government. Balance sheets are impeccable, earnings are terrific considering the weak global economy, and cash hoardes await deployment. When the S&P500 fell below 700 in 2009, there was a very signficant probability that many businesses, especially financial institutions, could go under. The circumstances are night and day now. Earnings have grown for many of these businesses in the ensuing three years, while their valuations are on par or less than they were during 2008/2009. This may be the early part of the correction, or it may be all there is...who knows? As long as you aren't leveraged and you are buying below intrinsic value, you will do fine long-term. Cheers!

Hey we bought both today! Both are really cheap and completely undervalued. Cheers!

If you don t mind me asking, are you scaling in 1-2 % at a time or are you buying 5-10%? We were scaling smaller than 1-2% for the last couple of days, and then today we started scaling in through the day in 1-2% shots! We went in big today! If things continue to fall, then we go in with what cash we have left. If they fall further like in 2008 (I don't think we'll get anywhere close...maybe 1000 on the S&P at best) then we sell some stalwarts and continue to buy cheaper stuff. If we see anything worse, we do what Buffett did and sell things at 5 times earnings to buy stuff at 3 times earnings. Cheers!

Days like these are why I started a fund! We were buying like crazy. I think our partners will be happy within the year...I hope! ;D Cheers!

Institutional guys are the first to pull their money. So much for being professionals! Cheers!

Yes, ValueInv that is correct. My bad! Cheers!

Hi Folks, Don't bid yet. Actually, Mohnish got in touch with me and we both thought it was a better idea to put it on Ebay. That way people can see the bids easier. He's going to be doing a lunch auction on Ebay as well. So hold on to the bids until we get it up on Ebay. Thanks! Cheers!

Hi Folks, Don't bid yet. Actually, Mohnish got in touch with me and we both thought it was a better idea to put it on Ebay. That way people can see the bids easier. He's going to be doing a lunch auction on Ebay as well. So hold on to the bids until we get it up on Ebay. Thanks! Cheers!

Hi Folks, After the Fairfax dinner this year, we had no one claim the autographed books by Prem. Rather than have them just sit around till next year's dinner, I thought I would auction one of them off on the board and we'll auction the other one at next year's dinner. The proceeds from the book at next year's dinner will obviously go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Prem's executive assistant, and my friend, JoAnn Butler. The proceeds from the one I'm auctioning off now will go to the Dakshana Foundation which was started by Mohnish Pabrai and his wife Harina. Prem is on the Advisory Board for Dakshana, and the Watsa Family has made a $5M pledge donating $1M a year for the next five years. You can read about Dakshana, including Prem's pledge, here: http://www.dakshana.org/AR10.pdf I had no idea that Prem had made such a pledge. I came up with the idea for the auction last week, and got in touch with his executive assistant Pat Hios. Prem was delighted with the idea, and I emailed Mohnish this morning to confirm it was ok to do so. He then sent me the link and said I may be interested in reading page 3 of Dakshana's annual report. Lo' and behold, there was the donation by Prem! Corner Market Capital will also donate $500 to Dakshana for 2011. The auction begins at $200 U.S. for the autographed copy of "25 Years of Fairfax". For any die-hard shareholder of Fairfax, or any interested value investor, it is a must for your bookshelf. I don't believe there will be any more of these published, and getting a signed copy is even harder, so here is your chance. If you want to bid, please email me at cornermarketcapital@gmail.com. I will post each high bid as I receive them, but with no names or personal information. The winning bidder will be directed to send the proceeds to Dakshana, so that they can send you a tax receipt, and I will courier the book to you no charge. Cheers!

Hi Folks, After the Fairfax dinner this year, we had no one claim the autographed books by Prem. Rather than have them just sit around till next year's dinner, I thought I would auction one of them off on the board and we'll auction the other one at next year's dinner. The proceeds from the book at next year's dinner will obviously go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Prem's executive assistant, and my friend, JoAnn Butler. The proceeds from the one I'm auctioning off now will go to the Dakshana Foundation which was started by Mohnish Pabrai and his wife Harina. Prem is on the Advisory Board for Dakshana, and the Watsa Family has made a $5M pledge donating $1M a year for the next five years. You can read about Dakshana, including Prem's pledge, here: http://www.dakshana.org/AR10.pdf I had no idea that Prem had made such a pledge. I came up with the idea for the auction last week, and got in touch with his executive assistant Pat Hios. Prem was delighted with the idea, and I emailed Mohnish this morning to confirm it was ok to do so. He then sent me the link and said I may be interested in reading page 3 of Dakshana's annual report. Lo' and behold, there was the donation by Prem! Corner Market Capital will also donate $500 to Dakshana for 2011. The auction begins at $200 U.S. for the autographed copy of "25 Years of Fairfax". For any die-hard shareholder of Fairfax, or any interested value investor, it is a must for your bookshelf. I don't believe there will be any more of these published, and getting a signed copy is even harder, so here is your chance. If you want to bid, please email me at cornermarketcapital@gmail.com. I will post each high bid as I receive them, but with no names or personal information. The winning bidder will be directed to send the proceeds to Dakshana, so that they can send you a tax receipt, and I will courier the book to you no charge. Cheers!

I don't use any social networking site except this message board...really! ;D So all of you who have ever forwarded me an invite to your Linkedin, Facebook page or any other networking site, I apologize, as I won't ever join. Cheers!

Hey, I was right! ;D Cheers!

No idea, but it may have something to do with the original four families that invested in the fund. Perhaps an amalgam or anagram of their names. Anyone else? Cheers!

Google+ has reached 25M users faster than any other social network: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-02/google-reaches-25-million-visitors-faster-than-any-other-social-network.html I also read earlier in the day that Android now has 50% of the phone market! Cheers!

U.S.! There's a back to school sale in certain parts of the U.S. stock market...50-70% off! ;D Cheers!

Parsad I find your optimism refreshing and its nice that you arent simple a bet on America perma optimist like Buffett. Same outcome, but I prefer your rationale. I always enjoy knowing that I am on the same side of the trade(s) as you! We back it up as well! We're the largest investor in our U.S. Fund and one of the larger investors in our Canadian Fund. We were buying tons of a net-net today, as well as adding to some of our other holdings. Still have dry powder and looking for more bargains! It's funny, because earlier in the year the market was at the same level, but everything was overpriced. Now you have certain areas that are very overpriced and some that are very underpriced. That's the way it works sometimes. Cheers!

Well, my personal opinion is that Bruce is completely right...and that's because we've pretty much made the same bet! ;D Although we've also bet heavily on discounted technology companies. No one thinks that things will improve right now...that the hole is so deep, we'll never get out. That's exactly the time to start looking for things no one wants to touch. What would have happened if the house and senate were both controlled by one party? We would have a big problem. I think what we all consider stupidity with the debt ceiling debate, actually makes the system work better, because no one gets exactly what they want and no special interest gets exactly what they want. The U.S. will do fine going forward because the system works. There is alot of work to do, but with no single party in control, they will have to work together. Things look messy right now, but that's the way things work! Cheers!

Parsad, That is why I like to stick to SIMPLE questions at first, so that you start out agreeing with each other. The simple question for you is this: When does the duly-elected President of the United States become responsible for his actions? Big problems don't get fixed overnight. Do you think that Clinton didn't benefit from the work of Regan & Bush Sr.? Or that Bush Jr. didn't benefit from the balanced budgets and initiatives under Clinton? This was a mess over ten years in the making and it isn't going to be fixed in 36 months by any President...living or dead! Another question which I need you to answer: Which conservative fiscal ideology tries to equalize disparity in income and wealth? Well, I certainly don't think disparities in income and wealth are going to be cured by hoardes of cash remaining stagnant and not distributed throughout the system. No increase in tax revenues is a non-starter. They have to be raised somewhere, and they should be raised from areas where the multiplier effect in the economy is benefitting the least. For example, I think estate taxes for very large estates ($100M+) is a great start...and not a small tax...10%! I think a temporary reduction in corporate tax rates for corporations with much of their assets offshore would also be a good idea. Allow them to repatriate their assets and growth in assets with a temporary reduction and reduced penalty. Those assets and their respective jobs should be here, not elsewhere! Programs need to be overhauled and cost efficiencies implemented...be it Welfare, Education, Defense or Government. Implement graduated tax rates on all citizens for income and property (including those on welfare), but reduce or eliminate regressive taxes such as sales...the luxury goods sales tax should remain in place and any environmental consumption taxes on gasoline, etc. I'm sure you can come up with many other ways, but the tax code needs to be changed and unfortunately people are going to have to pay to get the system in shape. Cheers!

Congratulations to the party leaders who acted like grown-ups and got this thing done! Now they can actually worry about all the real work that needs addressing. Cheers! http://www.cnn.com/