zippy1

I guess that is the reason why some people are leaving NY and CA and moving to places like TX. People do have some control about which state they live in order to minimize their state tax. However, I used to work in a major semiconductor company in north TX. We always try to recruit from silicon valley. However, my understanding is that it was very hard to recruit people from CA to TX even with the much lower tax rate and much lower cost of living. CA probably will keep charging people current level of high tax rate so long as it can continue to attract enough poeple to come or to stay.

I lived 16 years in both Austin and Dallas, Texas and if I remember correctly, the sales tax rate is above 8% and the property tax rate is the 2.5-3.0% of house value. However, there is no state income tax. What are the sales tax rate and property tax rate in CA? Isn't CA has a very low property tax rate for house? I wonder if CA should abondon income tax and start tax houses at 2.5%-3% of the house value like Texas?!

Sanjeev, Are you out for lunch? Wonder why Fairfax is flying. Happy New Year and thank you for this wonderful board. Zippy1

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. Would like to thank Sanjeev and all board memebers for such an excellent board.

I was a foreign graduate student studying in US back in 1990 and saw a book called "1985 Bill James Abstract" in the university library. It really opened my eyes. I did not know at the time that basedball can be analyzed in a structured way. I would not have guessed that it will become accepted by the pro baseball teams. I think reading about Bill James' work prepared me for accepting value investing later. If you can find some of those early Bill James' abstracts, it is definitely wrothing reading for its way of thinking.

Ha! Ha! I shall vow to one-up you by tracking the investment performance hour-by-hour and maybe if I can do it, minute-by-minute. ;D

Buffett & Munger are holding BYD like they are with The Washington Post - forever. The naysayers will always have thier day, but in the long term evolution the value investors win. Watch this video and you will understand why BYD is held by Berkshire Hathaway. From the Cloud to the BYD Car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrlivwAiOU&feature=related I watched the video and I am wondering that is this thing even safe? That must be a whhole lot of distractions during dirving?!

Ha! Ha! That is a good one! :D

This must be in the sarcasm mode. :D

Claphands, It can be find in this thread. http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=175.0 Sanjeev explained how to use this archive in it. Good luck. best regards, Zippy

Claphands, About Hempton, I think you may still be able to find the post in the archive of the old MSN Berkshire board that Sanjeev put up. Hempton got on the old MSN board and started to engage the old board member. If I remember correctly, there were quite a few exchanges between him on one side and Sanjeev and another member "Bsilly" on the other. You probably would have to judge yourself. best regards, Zippy

If you are willing and able to read Chinese, Muddy Water did provide additional material other than the report as supporting evidence. One Chinese material (A5) appeared to be about complains from local governments about TRE not honoring the agreements. I wonder whether this is just a running dispute with a local government or not. One Chinese material shows lots of transcations that are related-party. I actually wonder why TRE did not respond to these other issues. I don't have a position in this but I think the company's respond appear to be weak.

Harry, Good to see you back. Your ideas are always interesting and thought provoking. Zippy.

I am neither long nor short in TRE, but I remember in the previous incarnation of this board, the MSN board, there was quite some discussion on this company. I never did hold a position, but I am wondering whether any board members who invested in it and are more knowledgable about this company will be willing to discuss about it. It seems that this is a situation where to invest in it, one needs to have confidence in the management. Without access to the company's book, it seems that confidence can be gained by 1) having invested in it for a long time and thus observed in great depth how the management actually performed or 2) having some sorts detailed background checks on the members in management. Any old members care to share their thought?

Options are cheap when people are not fearful, and expensive when they panic. When KO was $40 the 20 month calls cost $8 at-the-money. But at the same time the $30 strike KO put was $3. So people would pay 10% premium for an option 25% out of the money. A repeat crisis would put the $60 strike JNJ call at about $6 or maybe more if stock dropped to $53, and the $50 strike call would probably be about $12. Eric, Is there a way to get historical price for options? It would seem to me that if JNJ fall to $54 due to general correction, it would be the time to load up. But it sounds like the call prices actually would not change much just because the volatility would be way up.

Parsad, Your lunch today saved me lots of money in FFH. Zippy.

I was bit surprised by the $20 drop shortly after the open. I thought: Wow, that's a bit of an over reaction. But, didn't think much more than that. Back almost to even now . . . quite an odd morning. Someone is out having lunch in Vancouver?

Harry, Do want to thank you for SURW. I don't know much about insurance companies. Thank you for sharing the points about how to chose insurance companies to invest. They do make senses. Please keep posting. Whether you share specific ideas or not.

I guess it will depend on what alternatives that one compares to "giving to goverment." Is inheritance tax earmarked for social engineering only, really? Can't revenue collected from inheritance tax be spent in positive things such as education, research or SEC enforcement division? If one does not want to pay inheritance tax, one can always set up a charity foundation and have children run the business adventure via the foundation. Just do as Buffett does then one will pay very little inheritance tax. ;)

Harry, I don't have a position in NFLX, but it is good to see that your NFLX call is right. So is this another 1% position in your portfolio?

Yes, the rumors on the street have it that the sith lords issuing non-interest bearing no-maturity bond to Fairfax. Cheers!

Is this real? Or is this April Fool's day a day too early?

Janus capital group used to be a ~50% owner back in 2002-2003 time frame, I believe. I remember doing valuation on JNS and had to include DST in the valuation.

I was poking around the reuters site and noticed that companies like Jardine Matheson is trading at a PE~3 accoding to Morningstar. Isn't this a very major company in Southeast Asia?

Wow! I put in a bid at $340 and did not get it! Lucky you!