Parsad

All you need to know about the war on drugs not working is a quick visit to Vancouver's Main & Hastings area. It's a complete disgrace for this city. Even the police no longer enforce the law when someone is arrested with possession of a small amount of narcotic. Anything that can be deemed for personal use is now no longer even worth an arrest. This area used to be where the hustle and bustle of the city took place 20-30 years ago. The major center of the downtown core here in Vancouver. Today the area code is home to the most improverished, disease-stricken, mentally-ill populace per capita in all of North America...the highest incidence of HIV-infection is in this six-block radius...on par with infection rates in the worst parts of Africa! Several different municipal and provincial governments have done zilch to help the area. Each swinging axes at the other party's legs and blaming them for the sad situation. Truth is the entire city is culpable for what has happened here. Wait till the 2010 Olympics arrive and the media gets to see this area first hand! Every day I take the bus from my home to my office and it passes through this area. I can't believe this even exists here. In my visits to various large cities in North America, I have never seen such decrepit surroundings and people allowed to live in such squalor. An absolute abomination in God's eyes that as a society we cannot help these people. Yes, there are a few private organizations that help in the area, but it seems as though most of society blames these folks for their own condition. Much easier to raise funds for a new Children's Hospital than to increase funding and resources for a crack addict. Funny enough, raising $50M for a completely unnecessary pedestrian and cycling bridge into downtown has plenty of support. We have five existing bridges or viaducts that enter the city, but the cyclists and pedestrians would like their own. Nice! Cheers!

I would agree with that Ben. I think gold relative to supply and demand is elevated when compared to silver, or even oil for that matter. Cheers!

This interview on AOL's Politics Daily is a short but good interview with Patrick Byrne. I found his comments on Mark Cuban quite funny, and his stance with today's conservatives is dead-on. Cheers! http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/07/10/overstock-com-ceo-patrick-byrne-on-the-nations-ills-being-call/

In a response to Google's recent moves, Microsoft will be offering Office online for free in 2010. Who could have imagined that such a moat could be diminshed so quickly. We've witnessed many wide moats disappear over the last decade...how many more? Cheers! http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/07/13/microsoft-office-to-go-online-for-free/

Hi Kawikaho, The Siegel number was simply one of the first things that popped up on Google when I did a search for Gold versus S&P500. The main point was the illustration between real returns on stocks, bonds, treasuries and gold. Even if you examine data from the last century on, the numbers aren't entirely different. I think people buy gold because they are afraid of an economic shock, currency devaluation or just plain don't know what to do. Sometimes, it is better not to do anything, and the main point of my original post was that I see alot of value investors herding into gold at elevated prices. That is worriesome to me. A company like McDonalds generates over 60% of revenues outside of the United States. So does Coca-cola, Pfizer and a number of other companies. How would they be hurt by a depreciating U.S. dollar? Would they actually suffer? Funny thing is that due to foreign currency translation, these companies actually did better when the U.S. dollar depreciated, rather than when it appreciated. My point was that you could put 10-20% of your portfolio in gold, which cannot be valued, regardless of its utilitarian nature, or buy four or five global companies that were undervalued. Which would be the better investment long-term? A business that generates a growing revenue stream, pays a dividend and generates much of its income outside of the U.S. would easily be the far better idea...Jeremy Siegel be damned...plus he's annoying during interviews! ;D Cheers!

Article from the WSJ. Cheers! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124744026506929743.html

Geez, and I thought I stayed up late. That's not late. If you see me post at 4:30 in the morning, then you'll know that is late! ;D I'm a nightowl...I do my best reading from about 10pm on. Cheers!

Gold, unlike most currencies, has intrinsic value. It has utility in many industrial applications. I wouldn't right it off. And it has been a store of value, compounding along side inflation for the past 100 years. From the 2005 Berkshire Annual Meeting. On gold, both Buffett and Munger made their dislike for the yellow metal very clear. “We are not enthused about gold,” Buffett said. He prefers an asset that is “useful.” He said gold has very little economic utility and prefers commodities that have an economic effect - like oil. “Gold is a dumb investment,” Munger cut in. Another statistic: In case you're one of those folks, here is some food for thought: Even though gold has spiked sharply in value recently, it hasn't been a long-term winner for most investors. According to University of Pennsylvania finance professor Jeremy Siegel in his seminal book Stocks for the Long Run, here's what a dollar invested in various things would have grown to, from 1802 to 2001. (Amounts have been adjusted for inflation.) Stocks: $599,605 Bonds: $952 Bills: $304 Gold: $0.98 Did you catch that? Over 200 years, you would have lost two cents of your dollar if you had invested in gold. OK, so if your personal investing timeline is less than 200 years, here are some compound average annual returns to consider: Period Gold S&P 500 1982-2007 (25 years) 3% 11% 1987-2007 (20 years) 2% 8% 1992-2007 (15 years) 5% 9% 1997-2007 (10 years) 8% 5% 2002-2007 (5 years) 18% 13% Sources: Yahoo! Finance, MeasuringWorth.com Gold as a hedge against an economic shock may work, but as an investment...you're better off buying T-bills in various currencies. Cheers!

Gurufocus has the Barron's article on Berkshire. Cheers! http://www.gurufocus.com/forum/read.php?2,59929,59933

I don't like the buying gold idea. How the heck do you value it? I think this idea always comes up in a crisis, yet the best protection for investors long-term is not to lose focus of the "long-term." Buying investments at a significant discount to intrinsic value is the best protection for any circumstance...in other words, sticking to what we know. Buying gold is speculative at best, completely misguided at worst. Does an investor put 5, 10, 15, 50, 70% of his net worth in gold? How do you calculate that? I see a small herd of value investors moving that way, and that tells me this probably isn't the right idea. Cheers!

Chanticleer Holdings has partnered with Shaw Food Pty to build 7 Hooter's restaurants in South Africa...four should be ready before the 2010 World Cup next summer. It's been tough at Chanticleer with the credit markets tightening up last year, but things are finally starting to come around. Cheers! http://sev.prnewswire.com/food-beverages/20090710/CL4473010072009-1.html

At one time, Buffett called this the best run bank in the U.S. Today the CFO resigned, and the stock trades at an eighth of where it was 2 years ago. Cheers! http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2009/07/06/daily48.html?ana=yfcpc

Tokyo takes top spot, followed by Osaka and Moscow. Cheers! http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/worlds-most-expensive-cities-to-live.html;_ylc=X3oDMTFiYzg2YzRtBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNleHBlbnNpdmUtd29ybGQ-

Hi Vinod, I just talked to Fairfax and you don't have to even send a letter to request an annual report. You can call reception (416) 367-4941, say that you would like to request a copy of the 2008 annual report because you didn't receive one from your broker, and they will happily mail one out to you after getting your mailing information. Hope that helps! Cheers!

Things are slow everywhere and Omaha Steaks was selling $5 steaks! Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/31850792

The son of one of our partners in the MPIC Funds has earned a full scholarship to UCLA. He's a terrific. intelligent, young man named Zach Kiefer. He's also a value investor, and he and his father Carl were my guests at the Pabrai Funds AGM last year. Wow, what a start this kid has to his life. The stuff he will know at his age, I can only wish I had known! The Kiefer's also have a wonderful daughter named Alexandra who is a competitive swimmer. Great kids! Congratulations to Zach and the whole Kiefer clan! Cheers! http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2009/0710/schools/041.html

Cereberus said that they still will not let investors out of their fund. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/31831437

Here was the old clip from his upcoming movie about his life. Phhhhhppphtttt! Cheers!

Commentary by Patrick Byrne on the Dendreon story. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Overstockcom-Comments-on-prnews-3022803841.html?x=0&.v=1

A $300M fund company from Canada won the lunch last week. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAN0838940520090708?rpc=44

John Meriwether, who ran LTCM into the ground, is closing his latest hedge fund due to losses. Wow, only 15-1 leverage this time and it didn't work as well! ::) Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5QBxVSIpVuA

I agree Packer. I think he's a very good researcher, but not so good when it comes to the practical application of his research. Cheers!

No, I'm not talking about Madoff. In Mark Mitchell's piece on Dendreon, there was a link to a 1985 WSJ article on short-selling, which throughly discusses some of Jim Chanos strategies back then. Nothing has changed! Here is just a sampling of what Chanos was doing back then...sound familiar to Fairfax shareholders? http://www.deepcapture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Market-Hardball-Aggressive-Methods-Of-Some-Short-Sellers.pdf In recent interviews with this newspaper, Mr. Chanos referred to Coleco Industries Inc.'s management as "liars," called a recent First Executive transaction "fraudulent" and stated matter-of-factly that Integrated Resources "won't be around in five years." Because such comments usually are spoken, shorts rarely are held accountable if their exaggerations don't materialize. You really should also read about his actions around First Executive and E.F. Hutton, which were abhorently unethical. Disgusting pig of a man! Perhaps he does have two horns and spreads syphilis. Cheers!

Wow, as I mentioned that Chapter 3 is where it starts to get interesting, Chapters 4 and 5 continue to illuminate the interconnections within the web of Wall Street's powerful hedge fund managers. While the writing needs work, the details are fascinating! A while ago, I tried to challenge Sam Antar, Gary Weiss and Tracey Conen regarding their bashing articles on Overstock.com. Out of the blue, I received a friendly warning by a well-known investment manager that I should be careful. This manager was very sincere and said that these guys are very well connected. I'm starting to find out exactly who they are connected to now! Cheers! Chapter 4: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-4-of-15/ Chapter 5: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-5-of-15/ Chapter 6: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-6-of-15/ Chapter 7: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-7-of-15/ Chapter 8: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-8-of-15/

Fortune article about economist Robert Schiller...some interesting points about Shiller in it. I have a lot of respect for his research. http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/06/real_estate/robert_shiller_housing_market.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009070710 I'm kind of flabbergasted by his comments on his company hedging all sorts of risk. Surprised that he believes he can do so, especially after how their original hedge against oil prices had to be shut down and examples we've seen of LTCM and other hedge funds. Cheers!