bookie71

don't forget that they have been buying distressed debt. Making bad debt into good is one of their specialties. I vote fairly stated.

I don't believe that the B's can be converted to A's. That is why the Gates foundation is only getting B"s.

My janitor is 85 or so. He has plenty of $, but he says he works for the exposure to people.

is it really possible to understand a bank balance sheet (including Wells Fargo,USB, etc.) ? . . That is why it is easier to evaluate "local" or "regional" banks. You are more familiar with the local economy and better able to evaluate the reserves. You can also check out management as to reputation, etc. You can do drive by's on the local projects that are in trouble and see who the lender is.

Once again Warren has lost his touch! ;D :D ;) :o

Hey , we have lots of massage parlors in Alaska. We even have a few legimate types. Get a copy of Johnny's Girl by Kim _____. Remember the "pipeline" with all the $$$ and young guys? ;) ;D :D ::)

It's easier to blame someone else, than to take responsibility for your own actions. ;D

Actually you get a tax credit on your US taxes equal to the amount paid to Canada so it really doesn't cost you anything. Kind of like the withholding on your paycheck.

It reminds me of the time (about a month before the tech bubble burst) that the Alaska Permanent Fund fired their last "value" investment advisor as he obviously did not understand the new stock market. i believe that before this last bust they went for a couple of hedge funds (but that is a rumor)

Is this a good contrarian indicator?? ;D

Does anyone know what happened in the great depression? i remember my folks talking about the "warrents" but not what happened after they got one..

I'll also point out that the fund business is about asset gathering. To be successful, it's helpful to be a good salesman. The asset gathering part is likely to take more time and effort than expected. . . Sad but true, I've e watched one company (locally) lose people's money, and they have gone back to it several times, because the owner is such a good salesman. He has almost been indited several times, but always dodges the bullet. Basically he practices the "momentum" style of investing. :(

It would be considered self dealing which is normally a no no. You might be able to get permission, but the legal costs would probably be prohibitive. Be sure before you do it, that you spend some time with one of the pension, profit sharing experts as it is an extremely complex area.

I always enjoy reading their 8-K's for the humor. In this one they compare legal fees with having to eat dead frogs. http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/746515/000119312509135706/d8k.htm Enjoy Chuck ;D

Don't forget that the shoe companies, newspapers et al, that he hung onto were producing lots of cash, especially since they weren't spending lots of cash on upgrading.

Folks in our profession are required to get so many hours of continuing education each year. You learn from the formal classwork. but you often learn more from discussions with your peers during the coffee breaks and lunches. Human interaction is very important and you don't get it with computers and books. jmho

Just think how much these bonds will be worth when taxes are raised to pay for health care, TARP, et al.

I believe that I read somewhere that there is a percentage that he doesn't dare exceed or he becomes a bank holding company and comes under a lot of regulations

The ads don't bother me, in fact I really hadn't paid attention to them. I often wonder if Parsad ever sleeps or has another life, he is constantly putting up excellent articles and sites. I would like to thank him for all his efforts. Chuck

It's been awhile sine I looked at one, but the Vickers report showed quite a bit of insider buying.

Another consideration is that IF you think tax rates will be raised, then the value of tax free municipal bonds will increase.

Since a state can't go bankrupt, it can become "insolvent". If that happens and California can't make the payments on its bills and debt, you will probably see a tremendous number of "second" and "third" generation bankruptcies. These are the smaller companies and individuals who do business with the state that can't pay their bills because California can't pay them. We saw this a lot in Alaska in the 1980's when we had our depression, a big company would fail and sometime later a bunch of smaller companies would also fail.

I believe it is a partial return (when it is to your advantage) of old fashioned conservative accounting from the 60's and 70's. Conservative accounting anticipated all losses and recognized no gains until actually realized. It is in the first few chapters of the Beginning accounting books of that era.

How much in taxes did they save by taking write down when they did?

I was an early on member but dropped out as it seemed that they were more interested in a good story than reasearch. If I want a good story, I'll call a broker. ;D CB