claphands22

PPD...trying to rationalize my morality to buy it.

A few people here suggested to write options for income....Derek Foster are you here? Writing options might be a good idea if you are extremely comfortable with your valuation, but for some people, this could be dynamite. Derek foster is an interesting guy, thanks for the link. I wonder what kind of jobs he did between pre-retirement.

You can watch the full episode of The Daily Show with Jim Cramer here. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533 It was an absolutely beautiful show. I cringed when Jon Stewart played the video of Cramer explaining how to short a company by spreading rumors. Cramer said it was a great way to make money since the FCC wasn't fast enough to catch on. What a weasel. The staff at The Daily Show deserve crowns in heaven.

You need to register first. http://www.gmo.com/America/MyHome/ On the left column click "My Registration."

Found this from tooskinneejs on the old board. http://groups.msn.com/berkshirehathawayshareholders/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=50595&LastModified=4675700029697786471 They have a book called: Life and Health Insurance Entities — AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide http://www.cpa2biz.com/AST/Main/CPA2BIZ_Primary/AuditAttest/IndustryspecificGuidance/Insurance/PRD~PC-012635/PC-012635.jsp?cm_sp=RHN-_-XSELL-_-CWPTPAB Hope this can help!

Here is a Charlie Rose interview with Malcolm Gladwell about his book Outliers. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9855 After I read this book, I saw Warren Buffett success less of a product of innate genius and more of a product of luck. First Buffett had to be born in a country with a capital market. Second Buffett needed to be born in a country with stability, ie not affected by WWII. Third, like Canadian hockey players born in January, Buffett needed a head start on his value investing colleagues to be nurtured by the best coach in security analysis – Benjamin Graham. So where did Buffett get this head start? He got it by luck. His father happened to be a stock broker that was still doing business after the crash of 1929. He also needed a family that would support his desire for money. Buffett also got his head start by reading all the business books at the Omaha public library. What if he didn’t live in a city with a big enough library to house business books? What if he didn’t read The Intelligent Investor and gotten to know Benjamin Graham? What if he got accepted into Harvard Business School? What if he never found out Graham was on the faculty at Columbia or that he couldn’t get accepted because he applied too late? In Outliers there is the idea of 10,000 hours; in which 10,000 hours is needed to become an expert in any given field. Think of how many hours of investment and business practice Warren Buffett had before he started Graham’s class. He probably already had close if not all of the 10,000 hours needed before he started the class. It is no wonder Buffett was the only student to get an A+ in Graham’s Security Analysis class. I am in no way trying to belittle Warren Buffett. He still required the right intelligence, diligence and temperament to be a great investor but luck seemed to play an astronomical role. There was also the idea of “meaningful work.” This requires three things; complexity, autonomy, and effort that is clearly rewarded. I think it is interesting that not many careers but money management have those qualities is truck loads. Then again, I don’t manage money so I am probably wrong about this. Did anyone think about Buffett’s success in terms of Outliers? What other careers offer the three requirements of meaningful work like money management?

Where do you get the data for total market capitalization? OTC+Nadaq+NYSE+AMEX ? How do you get the 70-80% number range? Is this including low interest rates and above average ROE(12%+)? How can this translate into a valuation for American Inc? I guess these are questions for Buffett but does anyone here understand this number range?

1. What good books have you read lately. 2. How decentral are your obligations to Western'. Are you sending monthly reports, updating on major investments, sending money back to the main hold co weekly? 3. What did you see in Biglari that made you feel comfortable trading your Mustang shares for Western shares. 4. What lead you to your investment in O.I. Corporation (thought process) Thanks for working the interview Sanjeev.