Zorrofan

thanks for posting! Prem continues to build a solid presence in India and one day it may become a "crown jewel " for FFH. India has a lot of potential and under Modi may one day give China a run for its money..... cheers Zorro

thanks for posting this!! cheers Zorro

Here are my $0.02...... When Buffett is gone his shares go to the Gates Foundation. With BRK paying a small dividend, the Gates Foundation will be able to hold on to BRK shares instead of slowly having to sell them off to raise funds to disburse. I would prefer the Gates Foundation to hold the shares indefinitely and use their holdings to preserve the BRK culture that WEB has fostered rather than see it eventually broken up and sold off. cheers Zorro

Ross, Thanks for your response! You have given me a great deal to think about (and another 10K to read!!) as I can't really find a flaw in your analysis. :D cheers Zorro

Ross, Been thinking about LH - I love the industry. Question though, why LH over Quest? jwfm, The short answer is management at LH is better than DGX. Quest and LH both grow through acquisition but Quest has proven again and again to destroy value when they acquire. Quest seems to take 1-2 years to fully digest a new lab (they have nothing to show for a couple big acquisitions) where LH does the same in 1-2 quarters. I think both companies are in a fantastic business. Together, they have the same kind of moat UPS, MSFT, or even KO possess. Long term, I think North American demographics and universal health care are going to provide a nice tail wind for both companies. Ross, Not that I think you are wrong, but I always look for the possible mistake in my thinking before investing. So let me go all Charlie Munger on you for a moment. What if a company like Opko Health actually manages to come up with a diagnostic test that can be done in your doctor's office (something they are working on) based on a simple blood test? What about the impact of government payment reductions? LH stated that this cost them over $100 million in 2013 alone? Looking forward to your comments as the idea does look interesting..... cheers Zorro

I would note that they "shook Osama's hand" right in the middle of Pakistan, where the prior administration feared to tread. Wake me when the Russians put nukes in Cuba again or invade Mexico. I'm more interested in completing the evisceration of the terrorists in waziristan. If the Euros have a problem with what Putin is doing in Ukraine, we have lots of natural resources and arms we can sell to support our allies. Then unfortunately you are missing the big picture. Ukraine is a litmus test for the US & Europe. The US, Europe and Russia signed a treaty guaranteeing Ukraine's borders. If nothing is done then friends and foes alike will look on US treaties as meaningless. If you are Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea etc etc. you have to feel a lot less safer if the US just stands around doing nothing. How safe will Latvia, Estonia or even Poland be if Putin gets away with seizing Ukraine? How about China? Are they calculating the cost of invading Taiwan or of seizing oil rich areas in the South China Sea? In 1938 the West cut a deal with Hitler to avoid war, in the long run the cost was much higher than if they had acted sooner. The US may avoid short-term pain now, but the longer term implications may prove to have farther reaching implications than people realize. Just my $0.02 cheers Zorro

After spending the last six years promoting the benefits of the "wealth effect" it is hard to believe that the FED would sit idly watching the market collapse 50%..... I am not saying markets are not over-valued but isn't the FED trapped? At this point central bankers around the world can not afford to allow the markets to collapse. cheers Zorro

thanks very much!! cheers Zorro

Forgive an old fool for being non-technical but here goes my question.... Some of the threads are getting quite long - the Altius thread for example is 225 pages on my little computer - and it is a bit cumbersome going back and forth on the various pages. Is there an easy way to down load the entire thread into word, a PDF file or some other format so that it can be read more easily offline? thanks Zorro

Putin has already threaten to seize "Western" assets if sanctions are imposed. So on top of everything else you have to add increased political risk......remember the quote about the return OF your money being more important than the return ON your money! cheers Zorro

Zorrofan, Do you really think the US wants to get involved fighting Russia in their backyard? What makes you think they can win on the ground in Putin's backyard? Do you think Putin would cave to US pressure? Look, I'm no expert but if the US doesn't back down, let Europe negotiate with Putin, this can spin out of control. OM Does the US WANT to get involved? Of course not, but I am saying that all of our allies are watching to see what happens. How does Taiwan feel given the US is supposed to protect them from China? South Korea from North Korea? Israel vs Iran. What message will doing nothing send to countries such as China and Iran? The longer term costs (in foreign policy) will be huge if nothing is done. I don't want a war, and i don't think there will be one. What I am saying is that Europe (NATO) and the US have to do something. I don't imagine Putin wants a war either but he is counting on the US to talk, talk, talk some more and do nothing. Putin put 15,000 troops in Crimea because he is not expecting a fight. If NATO/US puts a few hundred troops into Ukraine as part of a "training exercise" Putin will get the message. Restart the missile defense shield along the Polish border with Russia as well. Putin doesn't give a rat's A@@ about being kicked out of the G8. He will care about the missile defense shield, about sanctions that hurt economically, and of course he will understand force. A few troops in Ukraine sends him a message and he will back down. Doing nothing costs more in the long run. cheers Zorro

Personally I hope the media does slam BRK, that some money manager comes out and says WEB just doesn't get it anymore etc, etc.....hopefully makes for a good buying opportunity :D cheers Zorro

Russia deploying troops is very bad.....and if the US and Europe do nothing there will be even wider implications than Russia "just" taking over Ukraine. Europe, the US and Russia signed a treaty agreeing to the borders of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine giving up their nukes. If the US and Europe do nothing to help Ukraine against Russian aggression then other US allies around the world will see the US as both weak and unwilling to live up to their commitments. Think Asia and the various countries in the region counting on US support against China. They would see this as a sign that the US can not be counted on in times of crisis and would start seeking other alliances. This could be one of those pivitol moments in US foreign policy. Lets hope Obama gets it right!! cheers Zorro

I think the point Prevalou was trying to make was that much of the growth in book value has been the result of increasing property valuations, and that property values may or may not be in a bubble. Not that Henderson was in any way being less than forthright..... cheers Zorro

thanks for posting cheers Zorro

Basicly you are talking about adding another layer of management between WEB and the BRK operating companies? In a sense, WEB has already started the process with Tracy Britt Cool. cheers Zorro

Cardboard, it is more like.... Mr. Obama, When are you going to stop pandering to enviromentalists in a bid for votes in 2014? Do people really think oilsands are worse than getting oil from developing countries with little or no environmental standards compared to Canada? If the oil dosen't come from Canada it will get imported from elsewhere. cheers Zorro

Sorry if this was posted already...... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-hathaway-acquire-flow-improver-220000919.html Interesting to note WEB paid with stock, implying WEB feels Philips 66 share price over-valued? cheers Zorro

this should be fun!! amzn bbby lnkd lulu mnst nflx tlt tmf tsla twtr cheers Zorro

China is placing more emphasis in their latest 5 year plan on building consumer demand, less emphasis on infrastructure and more emphasis on cleaning up the environment. Many interpret this as less demand for commodities, thus lower prices. I'm not so sure but time will tell...... my $0.02 Cheers zorro

Let me start off by saying that I have been a FFH shareholder for a very long time, and as Sanj will attest, I have stood by Prem through the famous seven lean years. I am not happy with FFH investing in BBRY but I don't view what Prem did as some sort of betrayal of his value and ethics. I do want FFH to invest more like MKL and BRK. I want Prem to buy high quality companies like MKL is, as I realize they can't buy the elephants BRK can. But I do like the fact the FFH is not afraid to hedge and the current losses on the hedges don't bother me. To me the hedges are what makes FFH different - the willingness to swim against the tide. I do think FFH needs to evolve.....maybe not the BRK/MKLmodel totally but not what they are now. They need to move towards the BRK model but still keep what makes FFH...FFH. Not sure if this makes much sense to everyone, just the ramblings of an old fool, but perhaps if we want change at FFH this is the time to let Prem know our thoughts? cheers Zorro

transcript of the whole call.... http://seekingalpha.com/article/1797812-fairfax-financial-holdings-limited-management-discusses-q3-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single cheers Zorro

I believe they are big fans of Chueng Kong, not sure about the second one.... cheers Zorro

Two words - Canary Wharf cheers, Zorro

abundans cautela non nocet +1 :) cheers Zorro