Parsad

No, I was asked several times to join by submitting an idea. I declined each time. Cheers!

I was invited several times to join, but humbly declined. Other than this board and occasionally the Motley Fool BRK Board, I don't go anywhere else...otherwise too much group think. Even here, I encourage everyone to think for themselves and don't let member's content influence your decision making. Cheers!

Perennial bull Abbey Joseph Cohen has come out from wherever she was hiding, and now calls for the S&P500 to hit 1050 by year-end. Wow, what a call now that the market is near 900 after climbing from 670! How the hell does she manage to even get a spot on television? Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/30701403

I think what he is saying is that debt-fuelled growth is usually not sustainable. A large percentage of GDP over the last decade was precipitated from the liberal use of debt and leverage. Eventually, you can only tap into your equity for so long until much of it has depleted and the whole economy falls apart. The statistic is the same one that Prem stated...80% of the economy was supported by consumer debt, and now growth is trying to be stimulated by the remaining 20%. Cheers!

Thanks very much Marlin! I forgot that Mohnish used to have so much hair! ;D Cheers!

The statements can be transformed into a broader form: It's ok to buy at a high price, because you can always sell to a price even higher (you intend to sell to a greater fool). It's ok to sell at a low price, because you can always buy to a price even lower (you intend to buy from a greater fool). This is actually incorrect. The assumption is that the odds are identical and that the inherent risks are the same. Historically, sentence one (high price) is the norm...inherent risk is higher while odds of success are lower. Sentence two (low price) is the outlier...inherent risk is significantly lower than the median while odds of success increase. Buffett used to make some very interesting comments when he was younger about the markets. It is not like most pari-mutuel forms of betting...you don't have to play every hand and the odds aren't calculated before you bet. You CAN CHOOSE to play only when the odds are enormously in your favor. I didn't completely think about that earlier in my investing life. The last year has made it perfectly clear to me how to invest for the worst case scenario and to protect investor capital...and it works like a charm! Cheers!

Interesting little article on Beryl Raff who is the new CEO of Helzberg Diamonds. Cheers! http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall/stories/DN-hall_06bus.ART.State.Edition1.3ab16c8.html

I will second the market action comment about financials today. BAC needs to raise $35B, WFC needs to raise $15B and they both are off to the races.... what??? I might be jaded since I was fighting with folks in a lot of places at $20, $15, and $10 about why Wells was a great choice, and now it seems that no one is fighting it anymore. Well, we thought Well's was a complete no-brainer at around $10 or less, and I let you guys know that at the time. So in all fairness, since yesterday morning we own no Wells Fargo in any of our funds or corporate accounts...options have all been sold as well. Had no idea about the $15B stress test shortfall till this morning, but we think Well's will do fine long-term. Just that we have exposure to other financials which remain undervalued and Well's has gotten significantly more expensive relative to them. The cash hoard is growing nicely in every account till the next big idea! Cheers!

Yeah, it seems to be working that way, so I'm going to turn the feature off. I want only something that would recommend a single post. They have regular update packages, so over time someone will probably add that function at which point I will update the software and incorporate it. Cheers!

So the feature is activated. On the left hand side of user posts, it will say "applaud" or "smite". I'm not sure exactly what it will look like until people have started recommending. If you don't see it, check your settings on your personal profile to activate "karma". Cheers!

Votes have been tallied, and it looks like people want some sort of recommendation system. I will activate the "karma" feature that the board has. Then I'll do a vote a month from now and see if people want it to stay or not. Cheers!

Ok Miguel, The votes have been tallied, and I'm sorry to say that it looks like more people would prefer that those Nightly Value Investing links not be posted here. Cheers!

In an article today, SEC Chief Mary Schapiro says that they are determined to creat new short-selling legislation. There are arguments being made on both sides regarding the need for or relegation of short-selling. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SEC-chief-says-new-apf-15135872.html?sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode= This is now driving me absolutely crazy. Six years after the original attack on Fairfax and all this publicity on short-selling, and the government is thinking about all sorts of rules for short-selling which will do nothing regarding the real problem...naked short-selling. I don't want to see the government enact certain rules they are thinking about instituting, such as banning all short-selling in an issuer if the price falls 10% in a day. There are some companies where the price will deserve to fall, and perhaps all the way to zero because of fraud, bankruptcy, etc. What they need to do is enact some sort of requirement so that fail to delivers are eliminated. Or at least the lag between the short sale and delivery of certificates is minimized as much as possible. Be it through penalties against the broker dealers or legislated into law. Cheers!

Sorry Barry! I've got so many online nicknames and their respective names in my head. Cheers!

Mandeep, I think Munger speaks a little slowly partly because his words are very, very carefully measured. Listen to anything he has to say...he's actually been more accurate than Buffett since I've listened to both over the years. If he had gone out on his own instead of hiding away at Berkshire, I think more people would have recognized him as one of the greatest intellects of the 20th, and now 21st century. Cheers!

Thanks very much for the additional comments Jim! I really liked the format of the questions asked this year. Much improved from the last few years. Cheers!

Hi Scott, Welcome to the board. Just a note of caution, as a new investor, if you run into any blunt comments by our boardmembers, take them in stride. They are ardent students of Benjamin Graham and don't take kindly to modern portfolio theory (MPT)... so please forgive their trespasses! ;D In terms of beta, that is a metric that has little value for those outside of MPT. Seth Klarman did a terrific webcast for the Richard Ivey School of Business, and that link is in the General Discussions section. Seth lays it out in plain terms how he feels about beta...which is commonly used as a yardstick for volatility and risk. For example, the markets have been extremely volatile over the last year, yet has risk actually increased or decreased? The answer is that MPT would argue using beta that risk is high, yet the values of businesses relative to their intrinsic value have plummeted...risk in the markets has significantly decreased in actuality. So looking for a chart or graph for Fairfax's beta won't do you much good long-term. Cheers!

Wow, this one is dead even. I'll let it run a while and then we'll see. Cheers!

I received a request to add a "recommendation" feature. The board has one that isn't activated, but it operates more in line with how the Yahoo recommendation feature works. If you like a post then you click it, and if you dislike it you can click it and it subtracts from the recommendations. This poll just checks to see if there is demand for the feature. Cheers!

Hi Miguel, I'll leave it up to the board to decide what they prefer. Personally, I don't mind. If you were saying, "Hey, why don't you come over to this board" or "Here is an alternative board...", I might be a little offended. If you are taking the time to actually post the links here as a service then that doesn't really bother me. If members can get more quality information, then that's great. I'll put a poll up and let the members vote. Cheers!

Wow- "if Buffett could have invested his whole net worth, it would have been in Wells Fargo when they ticked below at 9.00/share" Hey, I got that one dead on! Now if he only said the same thing about GE under $9 per share! ;D Cheers!

That comment of Munger's on credit derivatives is just about the most perfect sound bite you will ever hear! Cheers!

Fairfax bought $65M of a $125M debenture offering by Mullen. Cheers! http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2009/01/c7501.html

Susie Gharib interviewed Munger: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/gharib/charlie_munger_of_berkshire_hathaway_090501/ Cheers!

I think that's primarily because Prem qualified the quarter with the improvements in the 2nd quarter. Otherwise you know that the papers would have come out with those headlines...since they usually don't read past the first three sentences of any press release! ;D Cheers!