rjstc

TWACOWFCA. Caps because your answers are always great! Thanks!!!

Over the past 5 years: WFC, BNI, JNJ, USG, KFT, WMT, arguably even BAC at its lows. :) Vinod Yup, the surest way to have made money has been to have bought a company when Warren first bought a lot of their stock. :) For learning purposes, a few questions. What did he see that most didn't? What clues/signs? Or was he just willing to pull the trigger when most were afraid to but they saw the same thing he did? Did you see it but it wasn't in your comfort zone, or did you buy some of these at this same time? I really respect your investing philosophy so just curious. It seems you mainly stick to certain really certain picks (BRK,etc). Even though you know historically by buying when Buffett does you do good.

I really can't stand Cramer. But on the surface it doesn't sound like they handled It too bad. Elisabeth DeMarse, CEO of TheStreet, said the accounting irregularities happened in 2008 and 2009, and relate only to Promotions.com, which was sold in December 2009. She said the company discovered the accounting fraud itself, reported it to the SEC. The company has already restated its earnings. She said TheStreet has continued to cooperate with the SEC during the course of the investigation. What's more, under the terms of the settlement, TheStreet is not required to pay any monetary penalties. "We are pleased to put this matter behind us," says DeMarse. Fortune.com and its partner CNNMoney.com compete with TheStreet.com. Cramer, who is on the company's board of directors and is a regular contributor on its website, was not named in the suit. Shares of the company were down just 3% on the news to $1.60.

Was Cramer charged with anything?

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Happy holidays everyone

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StockpilesGun Numbers Civilian Guns CompareNumber of Privately Owned Firearms The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,0001 CompareRate of Civilian Firearm Possession per 100 Population The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.82 firearms per 100 people CompareNumber of Privately Owned Firearms - World Ranking In a comparison of the number of privately owned guns in 178 countries, the United States ranked at No. 1 CompareRate of Privately Owned Firearms per 100 Population - World Ranking In a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership in 179 countries, the United States ranked at No. 1 Canada was ranked 13 out of 179 country's with about 23% per 100 having a firearm. However homicides per 100 was 0.5 versus 3% per 100 in US and 10% in Mexico. Mexico had 15% per 100 population with guns The US sure has a lot of guns. These figures came from gunpolicy.org

You stated that they banned semi automatic rifles and it halted all mass shootings. Did the total number of homicides per year go down after they banned them? If not then taking away the rifles didn't matter that much. You didn't explain the net effect other than "mass shooting affect".

Yup. California.

Another wards with single shots the perp isn't accurate enough so potential victim can run away? Did total yearly average murders go down?

Yup. Don't have enough money for mentally ill, challenged, handicapped. I'll get ripped for this but we just can't do enough for illegal aliens in Ca. Free medical care "because you can't deny emergency care". Free schooling. Medicaid. But we don't have enough for our own citizens with mental problems because they are a vocal/voting minority.

Parsad; Have you read this about how this young man was described? Sounds to me like there were a lot of red flags. However in the U.S. you cannot profile people, you must respect their rights. Until they do something wrong,& then it's oftentimes too late. As an example an elderly person starting to have dementia.As long as that person can act normal for 5 minutes in front of a judge their rights always come first to control their own life. Even if a lot of people know they don't normally act rational and are potentially dangerous to themselves, or others. Now the argument about gun control is obviously a different subject. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/friends-of-gunmans-mother-his-first-victim-recall-her-as-generous.html?ref=todayspaper

Berkshiremystery; Have you invested with Quest Management?

Up here in Canada, if you kill someone even if proven that you did it in self defense or to protect your own life, you are subject to a sentence of 3 years in jail. I can't think of too many up here who go buy a gun to primarily protect themselves. It is mostly to go hunting. We are being raised with the idea that you can't do your own justice. It is a very different mentality That mentality works for normal people. Do you really think it will work on the nut cases or crooks or gang members?

And you know from living in Ca just how many people that need help are wandering the streets. And those are the ones who are obvious. Not to condemn him but I believe it was during Reagan's governorship that Ca really started cutting back on assistance for people with mental disabilities to help balance budgets. Fast forward to today ans many of those troubled youths are being diagnosed with things like autism. Before they went undiagnosed and were called "Troublemakers". I have a grandaughter who is high functioning autistic. Society is just now starting to help these kids. The ones who are not getting enough help are time bombs waiting to go off.

Sportgamma/Giofranchi. Thanks for a great discussion!. Sport what you roughly value Exor at? But I don’t look at the operating companies at all! I like LUK and LMCA, and a few other companies, because they are in the business of “buying $1 dollar bills for 50 cents”, without all the weaknesses inherently embedded in the mutual or hedge fund business model. And, among all the endeavours of mankind “to buy $1 dollar bills for 50 cents”, as far as I know, will be the safest way to accumulate wealth for a very long time to come. Because, to paraphrase Mr. Taleb, it is the most anti-fragile business I know of. From page 67 of “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder”: “Consider, as a thought experiment, the situation of an immortal organism, one that is built without an expiration date. To survive, it would need to be completely fit for all possible random events that can take place in the environment, all future random events. By some nasty property, a random event is, well, random. It does not advertise its arrival ahead of time, allowing the organism to prepare and make adjustments to sustain shocks. For an immortal organism, pre-adaptation for all such events would be a necessity. When a random event happens, it is already too late to react, so the organism should be prepared to withstand the shock, or say goodbye. We saw that our bodies overshoot a bit in response to stressors, but this remains highly insufficient; they still can’t see the future. They can prepare for the next war, but not win it. Post-event adaptation, no matter how fast, would always be a bit late. To satisfy the conditions for such immortality, the organisms need to predict the future with perfection – near perfection is not enough. But by letting the organism go one lifespan at a time, with modifications between successive generations, nature does not need to predict future conditions beyond the extremely vague idea of which direction things should be heading. Actually, even a vague direction is not necessary. Every random event will bring its own antidote in the form of ecological variation. It is as if nature changed itself at every step and modified its strategy every instant.” That’s exactly my idea: Coca-Cola, or any other business that has been very successful for a very long time, is striving to become the “immortal organism”, the business of “buying $1 dollar bills for 50 cents”, instead, is “nature”. Of course, even nature itself isn’t immortal, and it might come a time when no more bargains will be there to be found… but, sincerely, I think it will possibly be my grand-grand-nephew’s problem! It is kind of funny that, when I worry about how long Mr. Buffett will be at the helm of BRK, the most common response is the following: “we will deal with the succession problem 10 years from now!”. And Mr. Buffett is 82. Now, Mr. Malone, instead, is just 71… why should he leave Liberty Media anytime soon?! In the article I read yesterday I found this most amazing feat: “Liberty made more than a half billion dollars in loans to Sirius XM nearly four years ago. Taking advantage of Sirius XM's immediate need to refinance debt in a very tight credit market, Liberty was able to earn 15% interest on the loans. In addition to the high interest rate, Liberty was also able to buy a 40% equity stake in Sirius XM for $12,500. The investment also granted Liberty the authority to approve cash certain expenditures in excess of $10 million. That $12,500 investment is currently worth more than $7 billion at current Sirius XM share prices of $2.75-$2.80.” Some time ago I read “The Greatest Trade Ever” about Mr. John Paulson. Well, that book must certainly be rewritten, because no one ever created so much value as Mr. Malone has done with Sirius XM! If the numbers are true, and I have no way to ascertain that, Mr. Malone is in the business of “buying $1 bills for… 0.00018 cents”!! And that was just 4 years ago! My assumptions regarding Liberty Media: Mr. Malone will lead us for the next 10 years, and he is right now at the very top of his game. Of course, my assumptions could be proven wrong today, or tomorrow: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” Keynes. One last thought about Exor: their largest investment by far is FIAT. I don’t know how they operate, but I doubt they invested in FIAT opportunistically… They will surely be in FIAT as long as FIAT exists. FIAT right now might be a fantastic trading opportunity, but do you really think it is a good long-term holding? To jump into FIAT, when it is dramatically undervalued, and then get out, when its share price approaches fair value, might be a very rewarding use of capital. But that’s not what they are going to do. giofranchi

Parsad; Didn't we have a similar discussion when I brought up the interview on another thread a little while ago? If I remember correctly he said on the interview this was family money. I think that you correctly pointed out most of his current investment money is in his fund. But this was probably IRA type money. Some of it his childrens? So if that is correct he really doesn't have 90% invested in this stock. But for a long term investment that might take a while to work out it won't matter since they are not going to be pulling the money out for a while. Long term like Buffett/Munger might do? Like in BYD?

China. BYD.

John or Oliver; You could take an educated guess. As I remember he wouldn't give you a direct answer. He said in a couple of years. So I for one would be interested in your "Wild Ass Guess". Also I really enjoyed your European and Japan Seminars. I got a lot of good ideas. Ron

FACTBOX-U.S. companies announcing special, early dividends 6:38 PM ET, 12/07/2012 - Reuters Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. companies are rushing to boost dividends before the end of the year due to uncertainty about whether lawmakers in Washington can reach a budget deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." The $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of next year could include higher rates for dividends, prompting some companies to either move up planned payments or declare special dividends. More than 50 U.S. companies have made these types of dividend announcements since Nov. 6. Among the latest, Campbell Soup Co said on Tuesday it would move up its January dividend payment to December and pay an additional dividend in December, in lieu of an April dividend. Below is a list of U.S. companies that have announced special dividends or brought dividends forward since Nov. 6. Not all companies announcing these types of dividends have been included in the list. COMPANY DIV/SHAR TYPE PAYOUT* PAYOUT DATE The Buckle $4.50 + Special/Moved $225.3 Dec. 21 $0.20 mln Hot Topic $0.08 Moved $3.4 mln Dec. 28 Carnival Corp $0.50 Special $297.2 Dec. 28 mln Franklin $3.00 Special $636.9 Dec. 20 Resources mln Westlake $3.75 Special $250.1 Nov. 26 Chemical mln Lancaster $5.00 Special $136.5 Dec. 28 Colony mln Sturm, Ruger & $4.50 Special $86.2 mln Dec. 21 Co Gerodyne $38.30 Special $56.8 mln Dec. 14 Wal-Mart $0.3975 Moved $1.34 bln Dec. 27 Bolt Technology $0.50 Special $4.3 mln Dec. 18 Arden Group $20 Special 61.4 mln Dec. 18 Access National $0.70 Special $7.7 mln Dec. 17 Tredegar Corp $0.75 Special $24.1 mln Dec. 14 National $1.50-$3 Special $69.5 mln TBD Beverage 00 - $138.9 mln Dillard's $5.00 Special $ 235.7 Dec. 21 mln Las Vegas Sands $2.75 Special $3.7 bln Dec. 18 Weight Watchers $0.175 Moved $9.7 mln Dec. 14 Drew Ind. $2.00 Special $44.6 mln Dec. 20 Ethan Allen $0.41 + Special + $14.4 mln Dec. 20 $0.09 moved Insperity $1.00 Special $25.7 mln Dec. 21 Heico Corp $1.14 + Special + $49 mln Dec.21 $0.06 moved Supertex $1.00 Special $25.7 mln Dec. 27 Marten $0.75 + Special + $17.1 mln Dec. 26 Transport $0.025 quarterly Costco $7.00 Special $3.0 bln Dec. 18 Trans World $0.47 Special $14.8 mln Dec. 26 Movado $0.75 Special $18.9 mln Dec. 21 Fluor $0.16 Moved $26.6 mln Dec. 26 Village Super $1.00 Special $15 mln Dec. 27 Market per class A share, $0.65 per class B share KBW $2.00 Special $69 mln Dec. 17 Stein Mart $1.00 Special $43.7 mln Dec. 24 Whole Foods $2.00 Special $371 mln Dec. 21 Market Tellabs $1.00 Special $367.5 Dec. 21 mln Mastech $2.00 Special $6.4 mln Dec. 21 Holdings Enzon $2.00 Special $88.8 mln Dec. 21 Pharmaceuticals Oracle $0.18 Accelerated $867.4 Dec. 21 mln PetMed Express $1.00 Special $20.01 Dec. 24 mln Dish Network $1.00 Special $451.43 Dec. 28 mln National Penn $0.10 Accelerated $14.96 Dec. 28 Bancshares mln Electro $2.00 Special $58.8 mln Dec. 27 Scientific Sun Hydraulics $1.00 Special $26.09 Dec. 28 mln CDI $0.13 Accelerated $2.5 mln Dec. 26 Coach $0.30 Moved $85.11 Dec. 27 mln Campbell Soup $0.29 Moved two $181.8 Dec. 28 +$0.29 mln Cognex $1.00 Special $43 mln Dec. 24 Intrepid Potash $0.75 Special $56.5 mln Dec. 27 Eaton Vance $1.00 Special $115.2 Dec. 20 mln American Eagle $0.11 Accelerated $21.8 mln Dec. 28 Outfitters Dick's Sporting $2.00 Special $245.3 Dec. 28 Goods mln General $0.51 Accelerated $180.1 Dec. 26 Dynamics mln Best Buy $0.17 Moved $57.2 mln Dec. 31 McGraw-Hill $2.50 Special $694.3 Dec. 27 mln Marcus Group $1.00 + Special + $33.6 mln Dec. 28 $0.17 Accelerated T. Rowe Price $1.00 Special $254.9 Dec. 28 mln The Geo Group $5.68 Special $350 mln Dec. 31 Expedia $0.52 Special $70 mln Dec. 28 The Washington $9.80 Accelerated $72.3 mln Dec. 27

Oddball, is that ALNEX on Paris or Frankfurt?

NICE.

Giofranchi, that was great. Grazie Mille.

Can't really argue except I'm not sure in my case I'd put 100% in just BAC. Maybe 40-70% but that's just me.