rogermunibond

Isn't the job of the chief merchandiser to make sure that the stuff Sears buys is the stuff that their customers want to buy? Not really the guy who will steer the ship.

Apple University hired Yale's School of Business Dean to put together a way to teach Jobs decision making as case studies. Siri is a protean first step at artificial intelligence. It seems obvious that a few years from now, deep in the heart of Cupertino inside Apple's spaceship HQ, Jobsi will be making decisions for the company. ;D

Thanks to both of you for posting the meeting notes. Alex, you make mention in your notes about Pabrai's investment in alternative energy. Anything further on that one? It is the first time I have heard that he invested in that sector.

You can pay $6 to view the issue. Or pay $2-0.50 to buy Complications, the anthology of Gawande's essays, on Amazon. The New Yorker has pretty rock solid DRM.

I have used Nationsbank and now BofA for past 18 years. They have great online bill paying software. I have never paid a checking fee as a I have direct deposit. I don't have any CDs, savings, money market, brokerage, credit cards, helocs, or mortgage through them. They are not very good at cross-selling and I'm not sure that they will get good at it. It's very hard to do.

How can you see the LL Partners fund holdings? Just curious.

Pretty much the only large financial trading at a discount. You can see FINRA data at investingbonds.com 08/22/2011 17:59:56 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XVU4 5.300 09/15/2030 82.650 6.949 15K 08/22/2011 17:59:02 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XDP5 6.700 12/15/2026 97.450 6.972 9K A 08/22/2011 17:57:28 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XRA3 6.250 06/15/2029 92.500 6.987 10K A 08/22/2011 17:48:14 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XUA9 5.250 03/15/2020 91.800 6.514 5K A 08/22/2011 17:48:14 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XQJ5 6.000 05/15/2024 94.050 6.700 5K A 08/22/2011 17:47:19 BANK AMER CORP SUB INTERNOTES BOOK ENTRY 06050XWU3 6.000 05/15/2021 95.400 6.645 5K A

I don't know anyone who consistently does that, because even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while. But collectively, I know someone named Mr. Market who makes a blind squirrel seem like an oracle of Delphi.

Congrats to Sanjeev, Paul and his team, on the migration. The new site looks great!

SXC Suncoke Energy owns met coal mines and operates petroleum coking plants. It was recently partially spun off from Sunoco and got very cheap at $12 and lower.

Thanks for your thoughts BXD! Lots of insights which take a while to digest.

I would take a short sweaty stuttering nebbish of a CEO (think Martin Short's Nathan Thurm character) if he could figure out a capital plan that took the BAC share price back to TBV.

Let's save the back patting on market timing to the "amateurs." Pros buy early and sell early in increments over a period of time. Isn't that what Wilbur said.

Denninger is an idiot if he wrote that. And I feel like I wasted 10 minutes of my life reading this thread.

They keep adding to their Mueller Industries (MLI) holding. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/89439/000090951811000272/mm08-0311mueller_sc13da1.htm

As well as executive compensation. Munger says always look at incentives.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/28/pfizer-jeff-kindler-shakeup/

How does anyone know whether Moynihan is changing the culture of BAC? This is a 100,000+ person organization. Perhaps he is changing the incentive structure for most/all of the company. But that does change the culture. IMO, that change takes years and years not months.

Because the Republicans are deeply complicit in running up the Federal debt during the years of Reagan and Bush 2. With the brief exception of Bush 1. Remember there were 2 strains of Republicans - Rockefeller Republicans were establishment. Reagan Republicans were talking about govt getting out of the way. Reagan won that battle. Bush 1 was more of the Rockefeller Repub. than Reagan and he was pilloried by the rank and file for going back on his tax pledge. By 1990s the Reagan Repubs are the establishment. Old Rockefeller Repubs. (like Munger) are barely a factor. The Tea Party comes along and sees the record of both the Dems and the Reagan Repubs. and they want blood. So that is the position that the establishment Repubs are dealing with.

SEB is very interesting - hog producer, pork processing, grain trading and milling, shipping, and 1/2 owner of turkey brand Butterball. I'd also through in CKH Seacor as a Berkshire like company. Charles Fabrikant has done a great job for shareholders over the years.

Good luck going directly to the bank. Why should they deal with buyers directly? The agent or broker is a screener for them and prevents people from wasting their time. I would look for a RE lawyer or broker who specializes in foreclosures. They might be able to expedite and get better access to inventory.

http://www.fpafunds.com/news_07192011_precautionary_measures.pdf

Question for the movie fans/investors on this thread: Would movie theater antitrust (US vs Paramount Pictures) reversal make things better vis a vis lower ticket prices or lower concession prices? Vertical integration may actually make theaters more profitable and allow more variable ticket pricing. Say the new X-men movie playing at the Sony owned theater gets an exclusive mark up - $25 per seat.

https://www.sedi.ca/sedi/SVTWelcome?locale=en_ca&pageName=splashPage or http://canadianinsider.com/

I just saw him pounding a huge box of junior mints at Transformers 3 in 3D. I don't believe it. He would have snuck in his own box of See's peanut brittle. :)