Comments on: TDI Episode 84: A Bad Buffett with Corn on the Side

By: Richard Ralph

Richard Ralph — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:32:23 +0000

Did WB really make a blanket assertion along the lines of “…all stocks are undervalued…”? The quotes that I read were more along the lines of “…I am buying [certain] stocks and I would encourage others to do so too…”. Having read some of WB’s letters/articles, I would be surprised if he would ever advise anyone to buy any stock. This would be very out of character. WB’s strategy in the past has always been to buy fundamentally strong businesses when they appear to have been mispriced (undervalued) by the market. Can you fault him for encouraging others to do the same?

By: Andrew Horowitz

Andrew Horowitz — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:19:45 +0000

Richard:

I realize that WB is the man…BUT, something is not quite right with some positions he owns in BH. No, am not comparing, that would be silly. Subsidiaries are reflected by value of portfolio. May not show directly, but show in value. The concern is that he should not be making blanket statement to get in or out of market. Very self serving… No ?

By: Richard Ralph

Richard Ralph — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:53:21 +0000

Andrew,
Re: Warren Buffet’s performance
From listening to this podcast I get the impression that you have looked at the equity holdings of Berkshire Hathaway in isolation. Berkshire Hathaway (BH) also includes several wholly owned subsidiaries covering a range of industries. How have you determined market prices for these? Can you counter Warren Buffets arguements that the companies in which he has invested have produced high-quality cash flow which have allowed reinvestments and thus ongoing net asset growth for the BH shareholders?
I suspect that you are comparing BH to your own portfolio. Do you think that this is a fair comparison?
I look forward to your reply.

By: Awperator

Awperator — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:39:55 +0000

If you can, can you please interview Peter Schiff? While he was being interviewed by CNBC and Fox business last year, people just laughed at him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

By: Jonathan Lawson

Jonathan Lawson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:25:13 +0000

I enjoyed the podcast, and found a few points to be of significant interest.

Warren Buffett – Without question I have always been impressed with his savvy moves in the market. But the Homespun image is absolute BS. Berkshire is one of the largest option players in the world, and has been for sometime.

The media spins him as a deep value player. Maybe so, but one can not tell me KO has such a great play without some savvy use of options strategies, namely collars. And completely proprietary trades. I.e. Perpetual preferred GS and GE.

His action of late reminds me the Jesse Livermore acct in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. In which US Govt officials came to him and asked for his and other Wall St “support.”

Nothing against him, other than he is trying to be a “independent” mouth for the market. Unfortunately the market is bigger than anyone person.

We have so much coming down the pike. Credit Cards, Auto Loans, Forced ERISA withdrawls (401K, IRAs), continued de-levering, ease of manipulating markets to the downside via ETFs, and the most powerful force – Trends.