Parsad

I think you are being overly simplistic. If Apple is selling products for the twice the price of similar offerings why do they only have 40% gross margins. It is mathematically impossible. They must be selling something better. The XOM comparison is really irrelevant - totally different industry with different economics. Sure their margins are better than a Dell of HP but they are not as high as Microsoft. Apple's laptops are very overpriced. You can get computers that do far more for half the price...it was all marketing...not unlike a Louis Vuitton suitcase, or a Ferrari! With the iPhone and iPad it's completely different. The user interface they use, and the software running the phone, is superior to the competition...so far! That won't last. When the iPhone first came out, I tried this thing and couldn't believe someone actually made something like this back then. It was light years ahead of the competition. That gap has slowly contracted while Steve Jobs was around, and now it will accelerate without him there. Take a look at what the competition's phones can do today, compared to the iPhone four years ago. That technological gap is shrinking. You've already got Acer laptops that now have instant on. Touch screens on other phones are as good. Cameras, screen quality, etc all markedly better and comparable to Apple. The only thing that still isn't quite there, and will take some more time is getting the user interface to be more intuitive and useable like Apple's. But Apple's competition over the next five years will catch up quite a bit. Cheers!

Here is a series of ABC interviews with Bill Gates. Obviously it was probably one interview, but these turkeys cut it up, so they could put ads in between. Anyway, a terrifc discussion with Bill Gates about all sorts of things. Cheers! http://news.yahoo.com/video/newsmakers-26771768/a-typical-saturday-night-at-bill-gates-house-27974671.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fnewsmakers-26771768%252Fa-typical-saturday-night-at-bill-gates-house-27974671.html

JC Penny's is changing their whole pricing structure. No more sales and regular everyday pricing discounts on merchandise. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/j-c-penney-gets-rid-151954852.html

Yup! Exactly correct. At some point, the competition will start to eat away at their market share...always happens. Cheers!

Reuters article on Prem: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Prem-Watsa-brings-hope-RIM-rb-1429523596.html?x=0 Cheers!

Never liked the guy! Smart, but the fact that he's never spoken about New Century while sitting on the board, and constantly criticizing others in the financial industry was a stickler for me. Second largest mortgage bankruptcy in the United States, and this guy never utters a word about what happened there, what he knew, and if there was anything he should have done. Cheers!

Those are actually really great interviews with Dimon! Too bad you can't just cut out the banter with the journalists after the interview and assemble it back to the original whole interview. Really great stuff, and I agree with almost everything he said...including politics, Basel III, etc. Cheers!

Yeah, I still don't know what really went down. Larry Pitkowsky and Keith Trauner left because of Fernandez, right? But did Fernandez leave because of a personal riff between him and Bruce? Or was the whole blowup about BB's lack of portfolio "diversification"? I think Fernandez felt the ship was going down, and he wasn't the captain. Either that, or he tripped and fell out of the "Fairholme" boat as it ran aground. ;D Cheers!

Reagan would get run out of office faster than Obama today! Cheers!

Hey, I said a long time ago that Fernandez will regret leaving Fairholme, and that Berkowitz will be proven right. Cheers!

Well I could write that "my views have nothing to do with parties, political affiliation, etc, etc" like Tim Thomas when he refused to visit the White House. But the fact that I support Buffett's view would give me away pretty quickly...just like Thomas' desire to have dinner with Glenn Beck. If didn't hate Boston already, boy do I have a hate on for Thomas now! ;D If you want my real views...the less tax for everyone, the better! In the mean time, let's make it equitable. Cheers!

I kid, I kid! But they either need to distribute cash or find someone to manage it...about $100B in cash and marketable securities after this quarter. Just a killer quarter! It will be interesting to see how they do from here on out. Cheers! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312512021833/d287503dex991.htm

After the Lubrizol deal, Berkshire's employee count is now over 270,000! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/berkshire-employee-count-climbs-to-about-270-000-with-lubrizol.html?cmpid=yhoo

You know what they say: Those that can, do, and those that can't, teach! Cheers!

I think the prof is nuts! If he listens to the board, then why would the board get rid of him? All I've seen is improvements at the bank since he was handed this piece of crap. They should give him a friggin' medal for saving it! Cheers!

Does Buffett really believe that the rich should pay for the retirement (social Security and Medicare) of the middle class? Yup. And so do I. Not saying that the middle class should not pay their fair share, but the rich are rich because of the system, not because of some intellectual capacity they possess that others don't. How do you equate a teacher working 12 hours a day, five days a week getting paid $50K a year, and a hedge fund manager working the same amount making $1.5M a year? The system is not perfect. As Buffett says, the system will benefit certain people because of the way they are wired. The right wing want to equate equitable taxation with the rich paying for everyone else. Often it gets characterized as paying for those that don't want to work as hard as others. I'm guessing Debbie Bosanek works as hard, if not harder, than Buffett. She's not asking for more pay...she's not even asking for Buffett to pay more in tax...she's just saying that she would like her overall rate to be more comparable to Buffett's...be it short-term or long-term capital gains, ordinary income, or anything else. The combined rate should be equitable. Cheers!

Yeah, combine that with the fact the trainer Beristain got Marquez was the fellow indicted alongside that doctor who supplied Barry Bonds et al with 'roids. Not sure the ethics were all there with the manager and training staff. Marquez himself seems like a very decent guy though. Cheers!

I thought Oddball was funny...this was pretty good too! At first I thought the number was high, and it probably is because it's extrapolated out, but after thinking about it, I realized I had four devices myself...two laptops, smartphone and tablet! So while 50B is more than just a stretch, 20B may be realistic. Cheers!

So that means that in eight years every man woman and child on the planet will have 6.6 devices that require streaming for that stat to hold true. I'm calling BS on that. Let's revise this and consider that in eight years it's unlikely that the entire world population will be out of poverty and will be able to afford 6 $100+ devices with their associated data contracts. So let's say that 50% of the world will be able to afford them, so that means 12 devices per person. This stat shows how meaningless linear projections are. Twelve devices...give me a break, I'd need a murse to carry all that crap... That was pretty awesome! I especially liked the "murse" touch...very funny. Cheers!

The thing is what will people say? How can you make an argument that Bosanek pays "X" amount, which is significantly higher than Romney's 13.9%, and that is ok for the system and people in general. There is no argument that can be made if you are touting a progressive tax system and not a regressive one. Cheers!

Article on Hussman and Krugman. Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/markets-blog/bears-gone-wild/article2311859/

Russell Jr has some really quick hands. Too bad they're brittle, but yes, he could be a real force with his skills. I'm looking forward to the Nonito Donaire vs Vasquez Jr fight in a couple weeks. Also, Berto vs Ortiz. I ordered the Ortiz-Mayweather fight, and watched all of the 24/7's running up to it. I like Ortiz...incredibly nice kid! But he was way overmatched with Mayweather. The almost suckerpunch by Mayweather wasn't the way I would have liked to see that fight end, but Ortiz was losing all the rounds until that punch anyway. I actually thought the best fight I've seen in the last year was the Pacquaio-Marquez tilt. Alot of people didn't like it, but I thought it was a great technical fight. Marquez is probably one of the best counterpunchers in the last decade. I thought it was a draw or Marquez barely won. I didn't think Pacquaio won that fight. Haven't seen that fight between Corrales and Castillo. Cheers!

As far as Prem sitting on RIMMs board since it is one or FFH's largest investments a board position can not be construed as taking him away from FFH's interest ,more good than bad can flow to FFH and its shareholders because of this IMO. Yeah Ubuy2won, that's what I don't understand. RIMM is a Fairfax position. He's joining the board of an investee company. It's not like he's giving them free advice while neglecting Fairfax. Fairfax's insurance business now runs somewhat independent of Prem, because Andy Barnard oversees all of them. So, Prem can spend more time on the Hamblin-Watsa side working with the team there, on their existing investments and future acquisitions. Would people here rather Prem spend his time twittling his thumbs, or work on finding new acquisitions, investments and maximizing the value of existing positions? Naturally the latter. Cheers!

The CEO's comments strike me as someone who is trying to bring confidence back into the business. With the change in the CEO position and board, I would not be surprised if the board is working on garnering attention for a takeover. There has been plenty of talk regarding a takeover, but nothing materialized. Perhaps, these changes are there to make the market aware that the company is sincere about change and alternatives. Cheers!

The deal with various banks goes to the states now for approval. Cheers! http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2012/01/23/big-banks-closing-in-on-25-billion-mortgage-settlement/?mod=yahoobarrons