Parsad

Huge problems in China right now. But they are rich enough to hide them by keeping things afloat. It will show up over time. Cheers!

Article on MAE's move into Canadian power generation. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-26/buffett-s-midamerican-to-develop-canadian-power-projects.html?cmpid=yhoo

Article on Berkshire's recent $7.3B order from Bombardier. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-26/bombardier-in-fleet-sale-talks-after-buffett-s-netjets-order-1-.html?cmpid=yhoo

Article on Fairfax. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/fairfax-watsa-idUSL1E8LQ31K20121026?feedType=RSS&feedName=marketsNews&rpc=43

Are you guys preparing for the Frankenstorm? Probably a good idea...better safe than sorry. Cheers! http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/26/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html

By the way, the top bid is now at $3,750. http://www.ebay.com/itm/121001990415?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 Lunch With Mohnish is now at $8,800. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Lunch-with-Mohnish-Pabrai-/121002008088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2c481e18 Cheers!

Photo of Charlie with the bust...which is the real Charlie? ;D Cheers!

Hi Everyone, Just a reminder, as tickets are going fast: On Thursday, November 22nd, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of BC is holding their first annual ICE (Incredible Culinary Experience) Gala at the Marriott Pinnacle (1128 W. Hastings). They hold them in Toronto and Montreal all the time. We raise money for the CCFC from the Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner I organize each year in Toronto, and they asked us to help them with their BC Gala. Tickets are $200 and the proceeds go to the CCFC. Canadian band 54-40 is playing and they will have a number of silent auction and raffle prizes. Dinner is also going to be pretty amazing as well! It's a great networking event too, as we've sold a ton of corporate tables. There aren't a lot of tickets left, so let me know if you want to go ASAP. Also if you can't attend, but your company or you know of someone, who may be interested in donating a silent auction prize…please have them contact me at [email protected]. Thanks and hope to see some of you there! Cheers!

They are out. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fairfax-financial-holdings-limited-third-210200062.html

This year's auction for "Lunch With Mohnish Pabrai" has begun! All proceeds go to Dakshana. Cheers! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Lunch-with-Mohnish-Pabrai-/121002008088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2c481e18

The auction for the Charlie Munger bust Mohnish had commissioned is on! Rumor has it that one of these busts sits in Charlie's office, along with one at Berkshire HQ and another in Mohnish's home office. Anyone can bid and own it! Cheers! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charlie-Munger-Bronze-Bust-/121001990415?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2c47d90f

Article on farmland prices through the mid-west. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/49518471

John Paulson donates $100M to Central Park Conservancy. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-23/billionaire-paulson-donates-100-million-for-nyc-s-central-park.html

I'm not a lawyer, but I do manage a fund, and I am fairly certain your suggestion is illegal. If the partnership is formed by non-accredited investors with the sole purpose of investing in a hedge fund it is a violation. Even if it passes that test, it could also be subject to a "look through" in terms of investor count. Meaning if the partnership had ten people the fund would be using up ten slots. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here. Tim is correct. The partners within the partnership would have to be accredited themselves to invest in an accredited fund...regardless of how much capital they have in the partnership. That being said, there is no reason why a bunch of family members or friends could not start a partnership by pooling their resources, and then investing it themselves...if you are a decent investor, your group would beat the markets, reduce frictional costs, and no one would have to come up with huge sums of money to invest. Your partnership could even invest in real estate and other opportunistic investments. But you would not be able to invest in an accredited fund, hold yourself out as an exempt fund, or anything like that. You would be just be invested in a closely held family and friends partnership. Cheers!

Canada seems to be the outlier of most developed nations...most likely going to tighten monetary policy going forward. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-23/carney-strengthens-bias-to-raise-rates-as-household-debt-grows.html

If you have not bought, get'em while we've got them! 50 sold so far...and I expect them to start going much faster in November and December...if we have any left. :o Cheers!

Deflation is rearing it's ugly head in China. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-22/china-s-factories-losing-pricing-power-in-earnings-threat.html

With all of the positive things happening economically in India, the realities of the work ahead are made only too clear by this fantastic article in Bloomberg by Mehul Srivastava. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-22/hunger-stalks-my-father-s-india-long-after-starvation-banished.html

Nope, still restricted. Cheers!

This is the October Letter written by Ben Raybould, who runs Arlington's Ranger Fund. Ben wrote a pretty interesting letter discussing the performance of his partner, Allan Mecham, who started Arlington. I don't post alot of letters, other than a few close friends that I admire, but Allan deserves recognition in my opinion. He's one of the best managers I know out there, and he is an incredibly humble guy. Probably not too keen on this even being printed here, but I do have permission. He'll probably show up to our dinner again this year, so you guys may want to ask him then how his leveraged bet on Berkshire is doing...I'm guessing pretty good! Cheers! Arlington_Value_Oct_2012_Investor_letter.pdf

If you are interested, here are some photographs of the Martian soil and landscape. Cheers! http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/18/mars-rover-spots-shiny-objects/?hpt=hp_t3

Personally, when I post these things, it has hardly anything to do with say the "Indian" side, but instead the question of "Why is it that way?". Whether it is Coca-cola's moat, manufacturing in China, prevalence of Jews in media, obesity in North America, etc". There is some sort of trigger (possibly cultural, industry-related), or an event (coup, war, famine, excess wealth, consolidation) that leads to this type of asymmetry. For example, going back to the motel/hotel business...it's not all Indians were dominant in that area, but a very specific group...gujurati's. And they were persecuted in various adopted countries, eventually fleeing to the U.K. and North America. Not that dissimiliar to the Jewish experience immigrating to the United States. So from that article, the question that begs is "Why Silicon Valley? Why startups, and say not engineering positions for other companies or the government?" Cheers!

Hi Liberty, Yup, I've got it. You're good to go for the dinner. See you there! Cheers!

Dhandho moves from motel/hotel dominance to startups. Thanks to Shai for the article! Cheers! http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/15/how-indians-defied-gravity-and-achieved-success-in-silicon-valley/

Two people associated with Berkshire actually wrote letters asking for some leniency for Gupta! Whaaattt? ??? Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/rajat-gupta-s-friends-in-high-places.html?cmpid=yhoo.view