wescobrk

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505268_162-57612947/warren-buffett-talks-all-time-record-highs-on-wall-street-stock-prices-in-the-future/ For interview

"Look at a 1 yr chart -- it was right about now a year ago that it took off. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BAC+Basic+Chart So, been there and done/doing that." I know! I posted that I would buy more and you responded it was at tbv. That was a few days ago. My point is I'm ready to do it again! As mike said in rounders, "I can bust you up all day long" (to KGB at the end of the movie) I can bust up the S&P all day if it keeps doing that with bac:)

"He could have bought a lot more, and he still can. Can't he buy until he gets up to a 10% total ownership stake?" I believe he can but I think it's virtually zero probability he will. The only financial he adds to is wells. I guess anything is possible if it drops below tbv but my guess he won't ever buy common and he will defer the exercise to 2021 unless there is a large dividend as he said recently in an interview. If he is still alive he might exercise just the amount that he doesn't have to put any up front cash if he follows his GE and Goldman plays. That will probably go to his successor unless he can live past his early 90's. On a selfish note, I hope bac drops back to tbv before ccar so I can load up again for the annual pop. I realize it seems unlikely as the market should discount that in and not drop but mr market tends to do things like that.

When bac hits 20 a share his massive 9 billion profit is a measly 3 percent of the current market cap.

In the partnership days and even into the 80's he bought everything half off or more, now it seems the best he can do is buy dollar bills for 90 cents. It's been pointed out his universe is so small now with a near 300 billion market cap. A nice problem to have but obviously returns will be pretty pedestrian in the future (as he has warned) especially since he thinks its reasonable float has probably peaked and may start to decline slightly.

11. "Tell her you are very interested in getting married because you're running out of clean socks and underwear and that fridges don't stock themselves. " Hilarious!

Instead of putting our focus into growing the economy we are spending 10 years suing companies. Maybe the value investing community has a friend in Obama because if we had some leadership like Clinton and less focus on suing companies for a decade and there was leadership with a focus on the economy the market would probably be 30 percent higher and then we definitely wouldn't be able to find anything to buy. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-06/wells-fargo-said-to-face-u-s-mortgage-bond-probe.html

"There was every possibility that they were too late once they got to Steak'n Shake...it was closer, very close to going under. The tax reassessment gave them a lifeline and some time. Sardar had to work incredibly quickly at that time to save the company...I gave him credit then, and I will still give him credit now for doing that. Why do you think the compensation structure changed? Because he was the one who would have lost everything and had nothing left to show. He wasn't the only one responsible for the turnaround...there were two other people that played a big part. But going back to the original decision to put everything into SNS, or now into CBRL...these are not good decisions from a risk management point of view. Hey I'm friends with Allan Mecham, and I would not have done that either with Berkshire, nor the correlated risks in Mohnish's portfolio before the credit crisis. Mohnish learned from that...Prem learned from C&F & TIG. Let's see if Biglari does? Cheers!" I think munger would disagree with you. He said multiple times at annual meetings he put more than 100 percent of his net worth in a single stock on more than one occasion. We know Buffett did it a few times with the partnership at 40 percent and he bought a huge amount of geico in 76 when it was probably 50-50 it would avoid bk. Buffett can't concentrate anymore because brk is so damn big. I don't think sardar has exhibited poor risk management with cbrl. Berkshire is the result of about 15 decisions munger said. There was risk of a huge market decline but I don't think there was much risk with insolvency for cbrl and since sardar has permanent capital, he can wait it out. His lion find limited partners are very loyal and that is akin to permanent capital. I think only one partner left after the severe drop with sns. I think there are different views on this subject and it has more to do with the comfort level around market volatility since the definition of risk is permanent loss of capital which there really wasn't any with cbrl, maybe there was a decent amount with sns but even with hindsight I don't think it was a bad decision to put the amount he did if the upside was to get control of the company. That is huge upside! I do think it was a mistake to pay the high price for sns that he did but he has acknowledged that.

with his son and grandson

"BH has $100m in cash? I just checked their latest 10-q (July 2013) and it says $22.358m in cash and equivalents. Have I been looking in the wrong place all this time?" They raised 75.7 million in a rights offering. The company received the funds 7-10 days after sept 16. Special div info is in proxy filings for cracker barrell.

"What is Biglari's angle here? He owns ~6.3% or has ~$1.5m invested in CAW. BH has $23m in cash and equivalents and $131m in investments. How will a double, triple or even a quadruple in CAW move the needle at BH? This doesn't really seem like a good use of time for Biglari." Actually they have 100 million in cash, They will have 195 if the special dividend is approved. The investment is down in value about 45%. Not sure why he went after something so small.

I don't have a link but Buffett said on cnbc on wed that sage obtained his money in a terrible way but his charity has done some great things.

Except for a special situation, I can't find any bargains. I have a full time job so won't be twiddling my thumbs, but when it comes to investments my time looks like it will be better spent watching movies, breaking bad, and some reading for the next few weeks/months until we get another buying opportunity. Anyone else finding anything to buy?

Sorry, meant I wouldn't mind

I wouldn't a pop up in the morning and lighten up then let Washington scare the market for 24 hours and buy on the cheap. The next 24 hours should be interesting.

Very good read, thanks

I agree that Obama is seeing this as useful. I think he is extrapolating from 95-96 when it helped Clinton. I agree default chance is zero as well. I know Lew is exaggerating with the Oct 17th deadline, maybe i'm naive, but I think there will be a deal regarding the debt ceiling by Oct 18th. They can pass the debt ceiling but the government can continue to be shut down, right? They can pass the debt ceiling but not the CR. I see that as a more likely situation.

Anyone want to guess when debt ceiling is resolved? Oct 16th at 11p?

So the government asks Jpm to buy bear and wamu and then they turn around and sue them. There is an 11 billion number in the news to settle. We are almost 6 years and still litigating. Anyone have an idea how much longer this can last?

This may have already been posted but does anyone know the day in October they come out? Thanks!

Not sure if this has been posted. I enjoyed reading it. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/berkshire-billionaire-found-with-more-shares-than-gates.html

I like Bruce but the mini Berkshire statement doesn't make any sense to me. From 65-75 Buffett bought some insurance companies and made a fortune buying marketable securities for Berkshire in its first 10 years. Eddie has had 10 years and he hasn't bought companies he has divested, furthermore he has lost money for shareholders buying marketable securities.

Does anyone know when BH will receive the 75.7 million? It expires on the 16th. Do they receive the funds at that point? Thanks!

Hilarious! I still think of that test scene to this day (broken cast). Brilliant!

Jeez, apparently Harvard doesnt require it's grad students to take a basic logic course. Embarrassing the guy graduated the top 5% of his class. Either that or his brain has turned to mush. If he wants to speculate and short term trade that's fine but he sounds like an ass quoting Buffett the next paragraph.