gfp

Pretty surprised there was a $9.5 million block trade crossed this morning on FIH.U at exactly $13/share. That is not a usual occurrence in this little guy.

Look at those rates! Berkshire gonna get paid on that cash. (I'm sure this is related to fears of possible delay in getting your money if the government defaults for a few days... 57-day bill went at 5.5%)

Sounds like your 4.7% is actually better than the current "I bond deal."

" The finalized information will be presented in the Company’s 2023 first quarter unaudited financial results, which will be released after the close of markets on Thursday, May 11."

try this https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/opinion/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-social-governance.html?unlocked_article_code=5vGDBfsq9Vo3g_jC16KqZr0QmRBtklIhg934ukWxDXF2BSFSxnxt-dbcC2O4EK41bB2B3Q5gauMTKTz4D3EAZbViDmq04kWYAtn-5avem8cRr3K3epHklXVI5uxSOw0hxyaSR5ZxJmiuYabBuqwoqSuR35jp5KocKSf1zEELs0AoajaJnPAi9PnY0IH3a4K2SL0TiwEeIVGG6UUU2dtm0IS2pG2tB7kDVnySb0Rr7l-j7YNRvWFtZYtM4Bm8iJWfXMbZ_go1_7FSofkLmkh4hIzCA6Mp_l0UTDlwwr4YpJCgakSX-jYRly4T3eiZrrwYLk8jgTr5X20_xLEIm7V441T-J5Lu-WS5NqOU6ixYfRUslEXL6Y9-2AgFWvgbzQ&smid=url-share

I wasn't talking about interest transferring from one pocket in the economy to another, I was describing the increased interest payments flowing directly from the governments pocket to the private sector's pocket as increased deficit spending. Conventional thinking is wrong on this. Money is spent into existence by the government. That is the only place new money can come from.

what tool are you using to produce those pie charts?

You look at that pie chart and worry about the concentrated positions and I look at that pie chart and wonder what the point is of having so many of those tiny positions at all? If you don't like which positions became the big ones, by all means trim them if you are uncomfortable. But having a lot of money in your very best ideas is not a bad position to be in.

Progressive is finally starting to feel all those customers GEICO "shed" to them. I was worried about PGR underwriting results for the near future when I heard so many stories of people switching to PGR instead of accepting price increases at their incumbent carrier. " On the other hand, our first quarter 2023 CR was a 99.0, with March posting a CR of 106.2." Q1 report https://s24.q4cdn.com/447218525/files/doc_financials/2023/q1/Progressive-2023-Q1.pdf There was also a conference call today, the transcripts are out there. Not sure if any are free to link to.

I would like to see more consolidation between and among these ECIP (and MDI) recipient banks. BFCC has started with a couple. They shouldn't be bought by or be buying banks that didn't benefit from these programs. Hopefully the better managements would survive the consolidations.

I guess if we are talking about these banks on this forum now, we should link to a few articles https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Y8eEOMa6gVScvqQ-E86IqagHdo5UIUM/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/12pcz5FR4chXArz28rGYkqmqeV8Ra9T8S/view From https://twitter.com/dirtcheapstocks I believe Solitron Devices made an investment in CZBS and MFBP Alluvial Fund has a little basket of these also. Maybe BFCC, UBAB, CBOBA - I forget if they are disclosed or not

I recommend this guy. He is an occasional poster on this board. Publishes his investor letters publicly so you can follow along. Deals in very very small companies that won't overlap with stuff most people are investing in for themselves. Also runs Solitron Devices, a tiny but promising operation - ticker SODI. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea6570a0ba57d406203e048/t/644872509e61401b01f36b78/1682469456611/Q1+2023+Results+for+Cedar+Creek+Partners.pdf https://www.eriksencapitalmgmt.com

Charlie did an interview for the Financial Times - https://www.ft.com/content/da9f8230-2eb1-49c5-b63a-f1507936d01b Charlie Munger has warned of a brewing storm in the US commercial….pdf

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/talc-supplier-to-cosmetics-firms-files-bankruptcy-after-lawsuits-1.1913164

Hey, so I got the Fairfax India transcript off of TIKR, but they don't appear to have the transcript for the Fairfax Financial meeting - at least not yet. Maybe another service will have it or someone else here will have it. Good luck!

I was able to watch the Fairfax Financial annual meeting on the web but had to leave before the Fairfax India annual meeting. In case there are others in my boat, here is the transcript of the Q&A from this year's Fairfax India annual meeting. Fairfax India 2023 Annual Meeting.pdf

My wife still reminds me (and others) of the year I bought her a 210ES Highboy for her Birthday... Pretty funny stuff. That bad boy is still going strong all these years later.

Hooray https://s1.q4cdn.com/579586326/files/doc_news/2023/PRFFH-April-19-2023-Fairfax-to-Acquire-Additional-46-32-Interest-in-Gulf-Insurance-Group-from-KIPCO.pdf

Is it correct that 'all else being equal' this would reduce return on equity? Higher equity, lower future earning power from reserve releases, same assets..

You may be correct that he's not the best person to lead the company, but I think the damage was done by Tony Nicely and Todd was brought in to fix what seemed like a real miscalculation with telematics where Ajit realized there was some major adverse selection going on. It is going to take a while to fix this. Luckily they have a rich parent and a patient shareholder base. Incidentally, I had two more neighbors this week ask me what the hell was going on with GEICO after seeing their new premiums. I told both to get a quote at PGR and I expect both to switch.

Here is the full release - https://s1.q4cdn.com/579586326/files/doc_news/2023/PRFFH-April-18-2023-Preliminary-Report-on-Effect-of-IFRS-17-on-Common-Shareholders-Equity.pdf

You may be right about it being Japanese buying that is pushing up the A-shares the last couple of days, but I don't think those companies are going to come up with the cash to buy 7.4% of Berkshire any time soon. They range in market cap from like $25 Billion USD to like $55 Billion (Mitsubishi Corp.)

Yen bond sale results - https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/warren-buffett-s-berkshire-sells-1-2-billion-of-yen-debt-after-big-japan-bets-1.1907592

I took that line item on page 52, table 11 - the one referenced in footnote 2 - as being a loss on hedging not a gain. Is that not correct?