twacowfca

Not so dumb from a value perspective. I nearly pulled the trigger on AOL in the early to mid 90's. Regretably, I passed because I didn't like the way they recognized revenue. Then saw it rise 20 fold. In retrospect that was the better choice for one who calls himself a value investor, regardless of Mr Market's manic phase. :)

Swizzed we need more guys like you on the board. I like the no style points comment, I may have to "borrow" that one. Speaking of stealing ideas, Twacowfca thanks again for LRE. Blessings. :)

It's not paranoia when they're really after you! ::)

The type of munis FFH bought have a default rate that is closer to zero than to 1%. They are far better long term holds at the prices FFH paid than US Treasuries of comparable duration that are priced at bubble values. However, their market prices will fluctuate as Mr. Market has his moods. :)

No criticism intended. We like to get ideas from other people too. This works better for us when we wait for the one in a thousand fat pitch. Good ideas may get better when we wait for a great price.

Or maybe rating agencies look at it this way: No new business, ergo. . . They may see some tail risk even though they're profitable. Maybe tail risk will be greater than the cost of their ongoing expenses less the cost of writing new business. Could there be reserving issues or are they just being cautious about writing new business? Could this company be put in runoff or might it be sold to a less creditworthy buyer? (parsing S&P's words indicates this is probably their chief concern) Let's find out more about what's going on. ??? Is Clearwater related to Clearwater Florida? Perhaps, they don't like the rates the state currently allows, and don't want to write new business until they get rate relief. Florida's new governor may not be as unreasonable as Crist has been.

Yup. Quite a few tag along buys and shorts.

Whitney is a journalist and teacher. This is where his motivated abilities lie. The profits from his events have carried the business in the past, although their funds management business may be more profitable now than in the early years. T2 did make a bundle bankrolling Mark S. before he took his accumulated rake-off and closed his fund.

Glen Tongue rather than Whitney runs their major funds. Whitney generally defers to him in the trading decisions, although he does have input. They're partners. Whitney is their "Mr. Outside".

Sport cards bubbles, like tulip bulbs, are self limiting because they are subject to increasing supply. The spread between the wholesale bid and the retail asked is very very very wide, generally no bid for all but the most sought cards. Rare exceptions such as a certified 1956 Mickey Mantle card are touted as examples to perpetuate the illusion of amazing gains. The markets for most memorabilia are illiquid and also subject to very wide spreads. :-[

Beanie Babies. Got a drawer full. Any bidders? ::)

The original tea party boys had their party because the Brits dumped so much tea on the market that, despite the British tarriff on tea, the glut destroyed the profit margin of the tea smugglers (oops, I mean patriots). So, in a sense you could say that a tarriff was instrumental for the success of the USA. :) The North American British colonies owed their success largely to free trade and other aspects of freedom. Like current day Bermuda, many energetic, productive people were attracted to a place where their gains would not be confiscated. At the time of the American Revolution, the British Colonies had per capita income that was at least double that of even the most productive countries of Europe. It's estimated that the colonies had only about two percent of the burden of direct taxation that residents of England endured. Trifling efforts to tax the colonies to pay even a small part of their fair share were greeted with riots. Customs duties gave rise to fleets of smugglers who were mostly unrestrained in free trade across the lengthy coastline of NA. In the late 19th century, the rally cry of the Progressives and the Democrat Party was "Free Trade and Free Silver" (meaning more expansive monetary policy).

Here's the latest update of the composite WSBase/S&P500 graph as promised. S&P500 data is through last Friday. Twacowfca

Here's one: Bermuda. Just got back from a week there. Per capita income: $107,000. Why? No income tax. Unemployment: no official stats, but apparently very low. Why? No dole is the explanation given to me by a working class Bermudan. No welfare moms either. Moral, family oriented culture for the most part. Corporate business climate: unencumbered. Excellent, mostly self regulation. High sense of ethics. Ordinary people not uncommonly travel frequently to the states for shopping, advanced education, etc. Cab driver showed me around his neighborhood. Nice cul de sac, three bedroom homes, well kept lawns. All the cab drivers own their own cabs, excellent, courteous drivers. College graduates come back to Bermuda to work after graduation because the pay is better there than in the US.

Thank you Fan for posting and for taking time to translate the touching lyrics. May The Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, bless the People of China.

The monetary base continues to creep downward slowly with this Friday's update from the St. Louis Fed. We'll post an updated graph Monday. All the QE2 is showing up in M2 and not in the monetary base. It's the monetary base that has the most dramatic effect on securities markets. M2 inflation is more correlated with commodity inflation. The current situation isn't alarming, but prudence once again leads us to hedge our recent large gains. Friday morning we bought a substantial cover of SPY puts that were very attractively priced with implied volatility in the low to mid teens. :)

Today, I spoke with S&P's Managing Director of Ratings Services at the Bermuda reinsurance conference. I asked if S&P and the other ratings agencies discounted equities held on the balance sheet when determining capital adequacy for P&C companies. His answer was yes. They discount equity holdings 40% to 50%, compared to investment grade debt when determining capital adequacy. My question was not about the ratings of any particular company. However, his answer may be relevant to the question many on the board have posed about FFH's surprisingly low ratings.

Looks very interesting. Thank you! Please tell us more about what you like about them.

Finally! I feel so safe now! I presume they are concerned more about down volatility than up volatility. Can we get government subsidized insurance to protect us from a market crash? :)

Can't say because I don't have intimate knowledge of all fee structures and long term results. Also, I might omit someone who might deserve to be mentioned. Sorry.

Very well said, Viking. :)

Frankly speaking, :) It's an acronym for three things, tough to crack, but not memorable. In order: LRE, MUV2:GR, MRH. Also, sometimes in and out of BRK and FFH. Now, mostly out because the tide now seems to be favoring the first three more than the last two. Boring! Why no more? I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them. Sam I am! -- Dr. T.S.G. :)

Excelent choices! However, the sad truth is that even the best managed funds as they get larger, find it difficult to outperform the market consistently by a significant margin after fees because of many institutional constraints and the unfortunate tendency of "investors" to chase returns and dump even well managed funds that underperform for a brief period. Thus, almost all fund managers are much more concerned about falling behind the herd than investing wisely for the long haul. Those who resist groupthink are, perversely, frequently punished with withdrawals and resultant forced sales when the market takes a turn away from value. There are a few excellent, smaller funds with loyal investors that are managed well, some by people who post on this board, that may be less exposed to these forces, but these may have minimum amounts for accepting funds for investments.

We're 130% long the better property insurers and reinsurers. Why? The same reason Willie Sutton said he robbed banks: " cause that's where the money is!"

Josh, MMPIQ looks very interesting. Would you be so kind to provide a very brief outline of what equity holders will get from each of the three plans of reorganization? Could you comment on the current value of the properties that are still available for post reorganization equity holders and their cash flows? Many thanks.