biaggio

Where do you buy that?

FWIW agree with thinking here. Allowing BAC to earn its way over time the most likely scenerio as it seems to be the least painful + good for confidence for the economy, financial markets etc. CW scenerio unlikely --can you imagine the financial armegedon. I can t see government allowing that to happen. I dont think CW has any special insight here- he is suppose to be an expert but is it really possible for anyone to know. What you guys are saying makes more sense to me. Time will tell.

Or East L.A... Or Detroit... More than anything I believe the family determines the child's future success. Do they stress education at home? Etc... His father was already fabulously wealthy when he brought the family to Miami. Reason why he left his native land? His father discovered that his son was on a kidnapping list (the kind where they take your child and hold him for ransom). He is now a grown up... is the protection of the US still necessary? Anyhow, the US will be taxing the Facebook corporate profits. I personally believe that a corporation should be taxed wherever it does business and an individual should pay tax wherever he is resident. He "gives back" to the US through his pro-rata share of Facebook corporate tax, and he "gives back" to his country of residence through his income tax (if any, but that's their choice). Agree + Makes sense. If you re born in Detroit or East LA at least you have the opportunity to do what these guys did- unlike the 3rd world living that occurs outside the U.S. Great point on corporate vs personal tax.

I am currently reading an article that I thought you might find interesting and informative- see attachment. I found it on Mevsemt's blog site http://www.mevsemt.blogspot.ca/ UU_investing.pdf

Hawk + others above, I get where you re coming from. I used to feel the same way. But just think of what his chances of inventing Facebook if he was born in ethiopia or some other 3rd world country and never having a chance to immigrate to the U.S. Personally I would want to stay put (sure would be nice to be in that position though)

I think WEB was asked what he would do differently if he was 20 something today. He said that he would do exactly what he did except he would do more promotion and marketing so that he could accumulate AUM faster, so that the more satisfying part of his life -investing + acquiring business in total- would come sooner. For the rest of us it is hard to invest + live well if you don t have the capital---the average person has to do some kind of regular job, work your but off, save, at least at the beginning. I think buying a private business at a discount but on a very small scale because you don t have a lot of capital (+ a lot of experience) is a great thing to do for a young person at the beginning of their career. At the minimum a lot will be learned. I think this would be more realistic as well for most.

from WEB this weekend when commenting on investing in gold, to paraphrase, its an investment if it produces something. I think a home provides a "utility value" but is mostly a money pit. Would recommend home ownership as perhaps a safety net (at least you will have somewhere to live if your other investments go in the tank)- just don t go crazy. Real estate agent will tell you it is an investment. I don t think WEB thinks his home as much of an investment. What impressed me was how modest his house and office is. As with all other things re investing I think he provides a good model. Agree with Uccmal.

There really is not enough time to view them, they are all so long. Any chance you guys good post any pearls learned.

Ravi, I received postcard + proxy about 2 weeks ago, sent in card, but have not received pass. Hope passes available at investor kiosk, as I have already purchased plane, hotel, etc. BRK should really think of a better way to get meeting passes to their shareholders. Maybe they should just attach it to proxy if they don t want to use high tech method ala airline ticket

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/e-l-financials-stock-price-discount-a-tempting-value-play/article2419539/ Corner of B & F's own NormR quoted in article.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/david-parkinson/meet-the-man-the-shale-gas-industry-hates/article2405737/ Meet the man the shale gas industry hates "Mr. Berman’s analyses of drilling and financial data tell him there’s less economically recoverable gas in the shale deposits than others have been saying, that production rates decline more rapidly than anticipated, and that natural gas prices would need to more than triple to make most shale production profitable."

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morning_call/2012/04/general-growth-to-purchase-11-sears.html?ana=yfcpc General Growth Properties, the majority owner of the Saint Louis Galleria and Plaza Frontenac, has acquired 11 stores from Sears Holdings Corp. for $270 million, the Chicago Tribune reports

"Wow! On his call just now, Jeff Gundlach just unveiled his favorite investment idea: Buying up natural gas assets." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-gundlach-buying-natural-gas-2012-4#ixzz1sLHC5kzr

I like your post. I am trying to work on #2 though I worry that selling will be a mistake. Its funny though because I don t expect anyone to be perfect, especially myself. It s not always obvious that you re right or wrong- I think these situations should be avoided (i.e in the too hard pile)-should they be sold once you realize they are in the too hard pile? Should it be held for better price + then sold? Have experienced being whipsawed in both directions. I find that time (allowing for fundamentals of underlying business to show themselves) makes realizing that you have screwed up more obvious

How about situation where you have held for long period of time say 3 years, stock has not moved a whole lot and: i. fundamentals have improved, and still selling at a significant discount to IV...my thinking is to keep holding +/- add to position ii fundamentals have not changed, stock has appreciated modestly (less than what I originally hoped) but only selling at a 25% discount....I have several of these..I am thinking that this should be traded for a better or equal business selling at a bigger discount if it is available i.e trade 70 cent dollar for 50 cent dollar iii fundamentals have deteriorated but selling at a discount to your reassessed IV...I am thinking this should be sold i.e I made a mistake

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/04/11/natural-gas-producers-pin-hopes-on-asian-market-as-prices-sink/ “a new export market for liquefied gas from the British Columbia coast is so close they can smell it. A consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC seemed close Wednesday to a go-ahead decision on a $12.35-billion gas liquefaction terminal in Kitimat, while another proposed LNG project secured a federal export permit. The developments provide solid support for the takeoff of an LNG industry that promises richer prices for Canadian gas from Asian consumers... BC LNG Export Co-operative, a partnership of the Kitimat-based Haisla Nation and Houston-baed LNG Partners, received a 20-year export permit from the federal government. The group intends to ship 1.8 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year to markets in Asia starting late in 2013 or early in 2014... A third project, Kitimat LNG led by Apache Corp. with partners Encana Corp. and EOG Resources Inc., received an export permit last fall and expects to secure a major Asian customer before year-end. The project, estimated to cost $15-billion, is expected to start shipping gas in 2016 “

http://www.amazon.com/Keynes-Market-Economist-Overturned-Conventional/dp/047028496X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333168039&sr=8-3 I think you will like book.

I think this is the case that "it is better the devil you know instead of the one you don t" So, I think you only sell some of the ones you know + have for something else if investment i. is a better quality business ii. has a better margin of safety (cheaper) and I think iii. you know it as well as you know the one you have. Liberty-have you always been really concentrated? I am trying to be more focused and am trying to use the above in reverse- selling what I don t know as well for better quality + better MOS. Other thought I had was changing your holding perhaps if one holding would hedge the other (having read book on M Keynes as an investor- that is something he did)

yeah $1.99 on wed -I thought that was a great value

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/ackmans-influence-on-burger-kings-future/ "Here is one way to look at the deal. Justice Holdings, the vehicle promoted by the Ackman/Franklin/Bergruen Cabal, with less than a year before they blind pool would have to return the investors capital for failure to complete a deal, will pay over the $1.4b on cash to G3. G3 will have accomplished the following - get back virtually its entire equity investment in Burger King in less than 18 months, while keeping a 71% stake with control, by inducing Justice to buy into a value that implies a 3x return on G3's cost. Ackman and his cronies are getting played here," -Comment from reader

Thanks for posting. I was a fan of BK when I was a kid. Back then it seemed that BK was equivalent to Mcdonalds. It really deteriorated over the years. I have not been to a BK in many years. I heard that ACKman was buying 25% + that they may be going public so I thought I would do some field work + so I went to local BK...they were fairly busy. I tried their Whopper-I thought it was pretty good except that it seemed smaller than what I remember. I grew up with the slogan "it takes 2 hands to handle a whopper". I think they should go to larger version. Biggest negative on their food was their french fries were absolutely terrible-who ever was in charge of food obviously was more interested in short term profit then actually the quality of their product which could explain their deteriation over the years. Good to hear that they changed their fries though I have not tried them. Concerns: re valuation- 13-15 x EBITDA-capex ? Never seen this metric used. Makes me leary. Why not just use FCF/EV? Why are they selling shares to the public if it is so compelling? Mr Ackman is a way smarter + successful than I will ever be, but wonder what we can learn from presentation. I know he likes the royalty/franchise model where you just collect your 5 % (I like that too)

has anyone received annual report/proxy statement with postcard in order to order meeting credentials is there another way a shareholder could order meeting credentials?

I am in middle of reading Martin CApital letter to shareholders (from Mi investing notebookwebsite), he says: "Human beings (and most other living species for that matter) have lived under conditions of scarcity throughout virtually all of history and therefore are simply not hard-wired for abundance, real or imagined. Today’s neuroscientists say primal neural instincts take over that compel creatures to consume far more than they rationally know they should when presented with the opportunity. They overlook long-term consequences in favor of short-term rewards. " Makes sense to me. Lots of folks making healthy choices-except most of us are eating way too much. Other issues that food is just not what it used to be due to modern processing- decreased omega 3 in meats, increased fructose content in various "low fat" or "lite" products.

Anyone watch Mr Lampert on CNBC. Enjoyed listening to Bonderman. Interesting comments re Rainwater's investment philosophy, as well as some funny stories As far as SHLD-did not sound like Lampert planned on using SHLD ala BRK. He talked about SHLD reinventing itself. Sounds like they are intent on changing things, trying different things + see what works. He talked about working on the relationship between individual + retailer. Does not look like the market liked it- SHLD down 7 %. What do others think?

My understanding of Robert Lustig's research -- based only on an article I read in the NYT -- is that fructose consumed in high quantities and concentration is the danger he warns about, rather than the consumption of starches that break down primarily into glucose. Apparently, fructose is metabolized only in the liver and causes insulin resistance, or something like that. This is the article that I read a while back: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all Who knows, though? It will be interesting to see how the research unfolds. here is his lecture on subject http://uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=16717