mountboney

Very interesting thanks. I was at the meeting and have been wondering who the 200% guy might be. Another tidbit I thought I heard was that the 4 on the list now are not necessarily the original 4. I think the idea that Seth Klarman is om the list is a non-starter. Why would he want it? He has his own very successful firm and is a value investing "icon" in his own right. I suppose he could do both, but I think the amount of money involved would be tough to fit into his investment style.

"Personally, I do not begrudge their pensions in the broader context of their total remuneration package." To me, the really offensive thing, and the really expensive thing, is that public employees are allowed to retire in their 50's with full pensions on taxpayer dollars. The annuity values of these packages at that age are very often worth millions. Increase the retirement age to 65-67 for all public employees and most of my objections go away.

"Corp earns $100, owner gets $37, government gets $63. This is an outrage." I wholeheartedly agree.

Save me a spot in Vancouver. I may take you up one day I get so pissed at the US gov't. Gotta be near the mountains though.

What makes someone worth 1.8 billion steal 20 million and ruin his life? Perfect example of one of Munger's favorite examples of foolishness - those that risk everything for something they couldn't possibly need.

Concentrated on "rule #1" * Lucky to have lots of cash in '08 - down 8% * Put cash to work and diversified big time after the meltdown late '08 (bonds, MLP's, CEF's, equities, gold, cash) - up 40% in '09 * Still diversified but planning to go back to more concentrated portfolio (big cap internationals, maybe BRK at these levels, special situation small caps) after one year long term capital gain period I kinda like rule #1

NFJ a "clean" closed-end fund (no debt, relatively low fees) trading at 20% discount to NAV. Holds 70% equities and 30% convertible preferred and debt. Also sells out of the money calls - this may be the reason for the discount, but not a bad strategy right now if you think the market will settle down here. The NAV has tracked the SP500 pretty closely over time. 20% discount is too high and likely will close to less than 10%, when? who knows.

Success in onshore shale reservoirs has dramatically increased the gas reserves in N America. These reserves can be developed and produced for much less than $7/mcf so I wouldn't count on a long term price above $4 or $5. That said, the decline rates are very high and with seasonable demand variations the price should be volatile. But there is no self discipline among the producers and I can't see how it will average more than the marginal cost to produce and develop over the next decade or so. Chesapeake usually provides some good insight in their presentation material. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzQ2NTMwfENoaWxkSUQ9MzM2MTYyfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1 See pages 21 and 22