JAllen

Maybe there is hope(at least for the timber industry, not paper)? http://www.greencirclebio.com/index.php I am trying to figure out the ratios of cost/energy in relation to hydrocarbons. These pellets are 17.2 GJ/Metric Ton.

The long term, widespread impact of expectations of inflation will have very positive effects on our economy. It is the expectation of lower prices which is so disastrous.

I haven't been able to distinguish greatly between UP and BNI either. BNI has the least captive traffic out of the top four railroads. The one thing that I haven't been able to quantify/verify is how much of BNI's coal traffic is truly "below market rates" or being renegotiated in the next few years. I believe that I looked into a revenue per coal ton/mile for UP and BNI and there wasn't a glaring difference that would indicate BNI has been charging below market rates. UP and BNI both have track in and out of the PRB and I believe they both have traffic in and out of LA. The rail being able to charge 180% of variable costs to captive traffic was interesting to read about and promising but BNI has the least. I was thinking that BNI might have the most captive traffic making it more attractive than others but I found disconfirming info. The one cool thing about (somewhat/previously) regulated industries is that there is a plethora of information from reliable sources. You know it's a good industry when your customers are taking you to court over your prices! Only 3 cases since deregulation (1980) that have resulted in refunds to customers (but all in the last few years). That is a strong case against re-regulation.

I think that they talked about why he granted an interview now as opposed to never before. That because of the extraordinary times and large intervention by the FED that the interview was an effort in transparency for the "American People". They even talked about how the interview was requested at least a year ago and the person that was asked, laughed when he heard the request.

Believing that a stock is going to keep growing at its past growth rate. Especially at the end of an economic boom! :o

Remember that if they are still paying interest and you purchased them for less than the annual interest then returns could get interesting.

This is cool stuff. Can I not just post this on here? It is 5.8MB.

The $72M cost RMBS have a par value of $708M and yield anywhere from 20%-461% to maturity.

I'm taking a look also but this is the first time perusing these very detailed statements. The Abitibi Bonds are marked at 11 cents.

I think the bet(s) are circular. If Berkshire has to pay out significantly or enough to jeopardize its financial health than the chances are that Berkshire is already doing horrible because the rest of the economy/world is already doing absolutely horrible (like G.D*3). The picture that one must paint to see stock markets half as high as they are now in 15-20 years is one that hasn't existed I don't believe. So, really if Berkshire has to pay out nothing else will matter anyways and dollars probably won't have purchasing power. The purchase of Equit index puts from Berkshire implies that Berkshire will be the last one standing. Who knows, maybe that will be the case? :o

I have found that if you select "keep me logged in forever" and come back, even if my sign in info isn't in the blanks and I click log-in it lets me log-in.

The article about the original (September/Involuntary/first round of the original TARP) TARP injections that I read in the WSJ is too old so now it is archived. The funds were involuntary injections of capital though. The 9 largest banks were forced to take the funds. The article detailed quotes from the meeting about how Stumpf ( or is it Kovacevich) didn't want to take the money and Paulson told them that they had to. Again, this is all predicated upon what was said in the article, and other articles I have read on being true.

Yeah, That's 49.6% compounded!

The 9 (I believe) largest were forced to take the original TARP money. WFC and BBT didn't want or need it but they got it. This is true unless everything in the papers is bologna. ;)

The original TARP money in September was involuntary. They didn't need to sell stock until contracting to purchase Merrill. I'm not saying BAC is perfect but it is a mis-characterization to lump them in with Citi. I would sell stock too if I was buying an over-leveraged cowboy I-bank. I definitely wouldn't argue with the ML deal being an impulsive mistake. At least it wasn't for cash though.

This is why we own MCF. "Kenneth R. Peak, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “At June 2001, after we listed on the American Stock Exchange, we had no debt, 11.4 Bcfe in reserves, and 16.0 million fully diluted shares. Today, some 8 ½ years later, we still have no debt, have grown reserves by 350 Bcfe, yet we have only increased our fully diluted share count by some 815,000 shares.” http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090303006326&newsLang=en He and his geologists are an intangible asset not listed on any balance sheet. $1.67/MCF is pretty cheap just on an NAV basis.

The original TARP money was involuntary. BB&T didn't need the TARP, either did BAC at the time. And now they have it.

Are you moving to a new job Shah? I've always wondered exactly what you do/did and whom you work(ed) for. Your inside industry comments and insights are always greatly appreciated.

In Merrill Deal, U.S. Played Hardball http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123379687205650255.html?mod=testMod

In fact, BAC is probably way more fine than its $20B market cap would suggest ( or whatever it is now, it's rather difficult to determine the number of shares outstanding sometimes). Any draconian prediction of losses from Merrill has been totally absolved by the government. Soros' theory of reflexivity is truly at work here.

BAC would be totally fine if they had never contracted to purchase and subsequently forced to buy Merrill. North Carolina isn't Wall Street.

The funniest thing about everyone freaking out about GE and GE Capital is that the division was profitable last year.

One could sure make the case that many (at least the commenters on this Bill Gross link) believe that stocks are in fact dead. The comments are the most pessimistic I have ever read. I invite others to read some of the comments at the end of this article. To be fair, I think many of the comments are from retirees and that there are some posters who have somewhat optimistic attitudes. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/02/26/bill-gross-the-747-billion-bond-man-declares-the-death-of-equ/2#comments "I have been saying this for the past year. This depression will never end no matter what anyone says. Obomma and his people can not heal this thing..EVER..the whole world should face the facts and start to build toward some kind of NEW money system and Trading System, that will take decades to do. There still is one thing that is worth its weight when you hold it in the palm of your hand, Gold and Silver coins and can be traded, sold ,cashed in anywhere in the world." "Perhaps it's just not stocks that are dead but the whole financial system...paper has never been worth so much as it is now...maybe we should switch to shells or beads." "I tend to agree with Bill Gross's view that stocks will perform poorly for a very long time, now that our biggest banks are insolvent & dependent on government aid. Gross's views have historical evidence given that Japan's Nikkei average peaked at 39,000 in December, 1989. Now 19 years later, it is trading below 8,000, which is down more than 70% from the peak. A buy-and-hold stock investor in the world's 2nd biggest stock market is down 70% over the past 19 yrs. What makes us think the US market will do better over the next 19 yrs. We are in debt-deflation mode now, just like Japan has been for 19 yrs. The game has changed and it will take a long time for deflationary forces to unwind all the bad debts accumulated during the past 30 yrs." "It's cash all the way from now on for me. Lesson should have been learned from the depression years. " "The stock market and equity capitalism have been dying a slow death thanks to the CEO's and Board of Directors that have put their interest above that of the shareholders. A person would have to be both blind and deaf to invest in the stock market. The greed that exists in both Washington and Wall Street have led to this downfall. Now all the greedy people can either go to Washington with their hands out or get in the food line at the soup kitchen.........HOPE THEY ARE SERVING YOUR FLAVOR!"

I asked myself this question with all of the involuntary TARP capital that yields 5%. It could have the effect of weighing on the NIM (maybe only slightly though depending on the percent that TARP is of their capital) of all of the TARP banks and especially the ones with the 9% preferred. The cost of funding for non-TARP funds should be down in the 2% range now it seems.

He told her to use the un-flattering view if there were two version of the same story and his was more flattering. I can't imagine him getting hugely bent out of shape unless she didn't follow some specific request or misconstrued something. He just doesn't get bent out of shape very often it seems. Didn't I read somewhere that it was out of her portrayal of Susie?