Parsad

Thanks. Going mostly to Spain. Guess that's the bargain-hunter in me ;) Then taking a trans-Atlantic ship and landing back in Florida. Nice! Enjoy yourself and don't tell any Spaniards to "get a job!" ;D Cheers!

Was it this one? http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/shipping-stocks/msg22507/#msg22507 If not, just click "Home" and then go to the "search" box on the top right hand side. Type in some words you are certain would have been in that thread. It should find a few and one of them will probably be the correct thread. Cheers!

Thanks for letting us know Liberty! Have a nice vacation. Where are you going anyway? Cheers!

Yup! At least in main city centers where the Bay and Nordstroms would dominate. In suburban and rural areas, they are still going to get hit by Walmart and now Target. Cheers!

For my Canadian compatriots familiar with the company. They are doing a fantastic renovation of the downtown store before Nordstrom's comes in across the street. About time they gave this old brand some new life! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-17/hudson-s-bay-files-documents-for-ipo.html?cmpid=yhoo

Yeah, it's pretty impressive. The markets barely reacted, but they've made enormous progress over the last two years. This was a bank on the verge of collapse four years ago, and still choking on Countrywide two years ago. - Now, excluding legacy issue costs (most of which they've reserved for), they are one of the best-capitalized banks in the U.S., as well as the rest of the world. - They've paid down a ton of long-term debt and reduced interest costs. - They've settled many of the larger legacy issues. - Their main segments of growth are finally stabilized and starting to turn around. - They will pass their stress test with flying colors, and finally return more capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. - They've gotten lean and mean, cutting as much fat as they can and focusing their core businesses. - They've maintained the value of their deposit base, as well as many core relationships in other segments. - The culture of the company has completely shifted...we don't want to be big, we want to be a great bank and help our customers! One of the great turnarounds in the last two decades. Clear some more legacy issues in 2013 and start to produce clean quarters from 2014 on. Cheers!

Thanks for the details, Sanjeev. Is the Corner Capital AGM only for investors in Corner Capital, or is it open to everybody? No, it is open to everyone. We had close to 40 people last year, and the rooms hold about 50. Cheers!

A bit of an under count :-) There's also the pre-dinner event, the Corner Capital annual meeting afterwards, and perhaps a Ben Graham Center conference ($$$) before hand. Yes, I forgot about George's conference. It was sold out last year, and it is from about 9am to 5pm the day before the AGM...so it works great for Norm's gathering and our dinner. I'll find out from George if he is doing it next year, but I can't see why he wouldn't. Cheers!

elltel,... actually it's very easy,... you just show up, on Thursday morning, April 11, 2013 at 9:30 a.m., Toronto time at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There is NO need for a ticket. But it's better to come 1 hour earlier. In the lobby of the Roy Thomson Hall are for the Fairfax AGM some registration desks where you show them some ID card or passport,... nothing more. Or you might want to show them your proxy letter,... but that isn't necessary. You get at the desk some badge for your shirt with the name "Fairfax Financial AGM for shareholders" and that's it. How long does the official AGM the next day usually last and what is it like? Does all the fun stuff happen at the dinner the day before and the AGM is more of the 'dry procedural business' stuff, or is the official AGM also full of goodness with presentations, Q&As, and guests making speeches and such? The dinner is less formal and we do have a whole bunch of great stuff...first you get to mingle with other investors and boardmembers...we have a great dinner...a terrific silent auction and raffle...and finally Prem comes with about 10-12 people who answer questions for the next hour and a bit. Then usually Francis sticks around answering questions until I help him escape the throng of shareholders around him! ;D The AGM is more formal. Prem runs through the AGM procedures in five-seven minutes like at Berkshire. He then introduces the team of managers and executives. Finally he gives shareholders a presentation for about 30-40 minutes. After that he answers questions for an hour and a half. Then everyone goes into the lobby area of Roy Thomson Hall for cocktails and hor d'oeurves, and you can mingle with all of the executives and managers asking questions...including Prem. They usually have a number of booths from various associated companies/charities, and there are a bunch of freebies. Last year they gave away to each shareholder a $25 gift card for their restaurants and $50 gift cards for the Sport Life stores! We also hold our AGM immediately after Fairfax's at Roy Thomson Hall. Just follow the hallway to the stairs and go down to the Pickering/Green rooms. We have food and beverages as well. We were pretty packed last year. Also NormR does his pre-dinner party nearby before our dinner. Last year Francis, Andy Bernard and Sam Chan popped by for a little while. Cheers! Cheers!

Wow, 25 tickets sold in the first 24 hours. That's a new record! Cheers!

Hi guys, didn't notice anything this morning, but in the last week there has been a couple of short outages of about 2 minutes and ten minutes. Alpha23, are you doing any upgrades to your network (he's our server host provider)? Cheers!

Hi Liberty! Strathcona is a very good choice for budget-conscious attendees who just need a nice, clean place to sleep, and is really close to both the Fairmont and Roy Thomson Hall where the AGM is. The Strathcona is a boutique style hotel and I recommend it to people who don't want to stay at the Fairmont, but want something very close to all venues. Cheers!

Sorry Jack...someone else was first already...Brian. Cheers!

Hi Everyone, Our 2013 Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner is coming around the corner. Unfortunately, the beautiful "Imperial Ballroom" was booked for 2013, so we have the Tudor Rooms, one floor above on the Mezzanine Floor. The dinner menu will be tweaked to make it a bit better...details to follow. Book your tickets early, as we are limited to only 170 people this year. We had 143 last year, so I expect this thing to be sold out pretty fast! 2013 Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner April 10th, 2013 Fairmont Royal York Tudor Rooms 7 & 8 - Main Mezzanine Floor 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)368-2511 All proceeds, including profits from tickets sales, corporate sponsorships, advertising, auctions and donations, go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of JoAnn Butler, who was Prem Watsa's assistant for many years! Buffet Dinner Tickets $150 No Buffet Tickets $75 Cash Bar Buy tickets at www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca (top of right hand column) Reception: 6:00-7:00pm Dinner: 7:00pm-8:30pm Speakers and Q&A: Approximately 8:30pm on

Watch out fellow Canadians...you're getting yourself into a real pickle! Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/household-debt-surpasses-levels-foreshadowing-us-housing-bust/article4613321/

Transcript of his speech to the Atlanta Rotary Club. Cheers! http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/op-ed/remarks-atlanta-rotary-club-annual-prayer-breakfast-moynihan

Hi Folks, For all new members, please remember that we have new registration requirments that went into effect October 1st, including a one-time fee of $10: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/terms-of-use/terms-of-use/ In terms of spam registrations, so far so good...the one-time fee has eliminated about 70% of the fake registrations so far and made my life a heck of a lot easier. Cheers!

Canada...Like America, just better! ;D Cheers!

Bloomberg article on foreclosures. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/california-leading-u-s-out-of-housing-bust-mortgages.html

It is held the morning after the Berkshire meeting and includes a very nice breakfast. This year it expanded to the Omaha Hilton across the street from the CenturyLink Center where the Berkshire meeting is held. Tom Gayner and Steve Markel make some opening remarks and then open it up for Q&A. The audience includes a lot of informed investors and large value investors such at Tom Russo, David Winters, Mohnish Pabrai, etc. The discussion is useful and questions are typically informed and intelligent. I have found that attending gives me an opportunity to both follow the investment and take the measure of management, whom I've found to be first class people. Thanks Val. Do you have to be a MKL shareholder? No. Cheers!

It is held the morning after the Berkshire meeting and includes a very nice breakfast. This year it expanded to the Omaha Hilton across the street from the CenturyLink Center where the Berkshire meeting is held. Tom Gayner and Steve Markel make some opening remarks and then open it up for Q&A. The audience includes a lot of informed investors and large value investors such at Tom Russo, David Winters, Mohnish Pabrai, etc. The discussion is useful and questions are typically informed and intelligent. I have found that attending gives me an opportunity to both follow the investment and take the measure of management, whom I've found to be first class people. They are most definitely first-rate management at Markel. A more trusted bunch would be hard to find. Cheers!

Parsad I don't think you understood me. What I meant by my comment was that we live in very very dangerous times when a large part of the electorate, specifically the younger generation think that people like Jon Stewart are so brilliant and then they demonstrate that they are just actors. If Stewart doesn't get the severity of our debts I can assure you his viewers have no clue. Same answer as before. Basically this is the same old inter-generational debate that we have every so often..."you young whipper snapper"..."you old guys are out of touch"...etc, etc. You do realize that the same arguments were made against the misunderstood, naive, belligerent, sophmoric youth of the 70's, and they ended up being some of the greatest capitalists in history. I don't see how this proportion of the electorate will be any different. Am I the only old guy here who isn't turning a shade of "old geezer"? Geez...I feel like Neil Young..."Old man, look at my life, I'm alot like you were!" ;D Cheers!

I need to hire myself a financial assistant too! ;D Cheers!

Well, of course I like hearing this from that article: Not all of Klarman's bets have paid off, or not as large as he would have hoped. Earlier this year, Baupost dropped its objection to a $8.5 billion settlement Bank of America (BAC) made with bond investors. Baupost had been pushing B of A for more. But with the AG suit, legal experts say it's more likely Klarman will get JPMorgan to pay up. "The Martin Act gives the NY AG superior subpena power than any private plaintiff has," says Issac Gradman, a lawyer who specializes in securities claims. "So Schneiderman could get much more than anything Baupost has unearthed so far." Cheers!

Definitely not Buffett, but I think he's as good as Weschler and Combs who will be running things. He's also got a hell of lot more runway than them. Hamblin-Watsa is as good if not better than Gaynor, and the leverage there should help. If I had to choose one, it would be Fairfax hands down...but investors will do better than the markets with any of them. Cheers!