346800+ entries in 0.086s
mircea_popescu: apparently a smaller amt of phone number isn't better after all!
mircea_popescu: sence in the picture will accentuate erratic price swings unrelated to underlying business developments.
mircea_popescu: split or in anticipation of one would definitely downgrade the quality of our present shareholder group. (Could we really improve our shareholder group by trading some of our present clear-thinking members for impressionable new ones who, preferring paper to value, feel wealthier with nine $10 bills than with one $100 bill?) People who buy for non-value reasons are likely to sell for non-value reasons. Their pre
mircea_popescu: Were we to split the stock or take other actions focusing on stock price rather than business value, we would attract an entering class of buyers inferior to the exiting class of sellers. At $1300, there are very few investors who can’t afford a Berkshire share. Would a potential one-share purchaser be better off if we split 100 for 1 so he could buy 100 shares? Those who think so and who would buy the stoc
mircea_popescu: with at least several thousand public shareholders and more than $1 billion of market value, we are almost certainly the leader in the degree to which our shareholders think and act like owners. Upgrading a shareholder group that possesses these characteristics is not easy.
mircea_popescu: Investors possessing those characteristics are in a small minority, but we have an exceptional collection of them. I believe well over 90% - probably over 95% - of our shares are held by those who were shareholders of Berkshire or Blue Chip five years ago. And I would guess that over 95% of our shares are held by investors for whom the holding is at least double the size of their next largest. Among companies
mircea_popescu: Through our policies and communications - our “advertisements” - we try to attract investors who will understand our operations, attitudes and expectations. (And, fully as important, we try to dissuade those who won’t.) We want those who think of themselves as business owners and invest in companies with the intention of staying a long time. And, we want those who keep their eyes focused on business resul
mircea_popescu: In large part, however, we feel that high quality ownership can be attracted and maintained if we consistently communicate our business and ownership philosophy - along with no other conflicting messages - and then let self selection follow its course. For example, self selection will draw a far different crowd to a musical event advertised as an opera than one advertised as a rock concert even though anyon
mircea_popescu: acceptable dress. Shareholder eugenics, therefore, might appear
mircea_popescu: intellectual capacity, emotional stability, moral sensitivity or
mircea_popescu: Entering members of a shareholder “club” cannot be screened for
mircea_popescu: Astor could select her 400, but anyone can buy any stock.
mircea_popescu: To obtain only high quality shareholders is no cinch. Mrs.
mircea_popescu: it is in both your interest and ours to minimize their occurrence
mircea_popescu: buying and selling the stocks of other companies. But we think
mircea_popescu: manic-depressive valuations. Such aberrations may help us in
mircea_popescu: appear periodically. Manic-depressive personalities produce
mircea_popescu: based decisions, some pretty silly stock prices are going to
mircea_popescu: buyers attracted to it are prone to make irrational or emotion-
mircea_popescu: If the holders of a company’s stock and/or the prospective
mircea_popescu: a rational stock price is rational shareholders, both current and
mircea_popescu: from value, Berkshire might well be priced similarly.) The key to
mircea_popescu: companies are generally selling in the market at large discounts
mircea_popescu: note “rationally related”, not “identical”: if well-regarded
mircea_popescu: a price rationally related to its intrinsic business value. (But
mircea_popescu: One of our goals is to have Berkshire Hathaway stock sell at
mircea_popescu: split would be a pro-shareholder action. We disagree. Let me
mircea_popescu: The assumption behind this question usually appears to be that a
mircea_popescu: We often are asked why Berkshire does not split its stock.
mircea_popescu: it's unlikely to buck the us emigration trend, but who knows.
mircea_popescu: people who like it can move to ny, people who don't like it can move out of ny.
mircea_popescu: but that's at least part of why the "someone will actually manage to spring up somewhere to allow us to trade in confidence" part is in the last mpoe statement.
mircea_popescu: that's why they'll gladly give you "401k" in exchange for your paycheck.
mircea_popescu: the system is desperate to acquire as much as possible of the real portion of the monetary base.
mircea_popescu: for the directly obvious reason that the trilion in question doesn't really exist.
mircea_popescu: a trillion dollars is not much loss for usg ineptitude. a hundred grand is too much gain for real world people,
mircea_popescu: mike_c put that in perspective. the bezzle is the bezzle. people who are authorised to handle the imaginary portion of the monetary base may do X Y Z types of things. people who are not, however, may not.
mircea_popescu: anyway, no, we're not there yet. currently the sec is trying to get its shit together to be able to cooperate with mp.
mircea_popescu: mike_c yeah, they weren't on the list of people who are allowed to make moneyz.
mircea_popescu: that's what an investigative finacial journo that's looking to jump out of a window would pursue.
mircea_popescu: so you know, where's the list of washington, dc people who bought tsla pre-release.
mircea_popescu: here are the companies the government supports, here are the people it doesn't support, "rule of law" stuff.
mircea_popescu: basically we're seeing the 1990s of the russian republic all over again.
mircea_popescu: if they have the time to freeze 100k worth of options.
mircea_popescu: so what i want to know is, how many accounts that traded on the pre-gaap release were frozen by the sexc
mircea_popescu: meanwhile, tesla creates random info disparities, nobody cares.
mircea_popescu: but look here : some people bought options, in switzerland. they had their accounts frozen and they were required to... prove!!! they didn't trade on insider info.
mircea_popescu: cause they were too busy confiscating the money of traders who had bought options on berkshire
mircea_popescu: the20year2 i'll bet you you'll be giving up on the gaap style within 12 reporting periods
mircea_popescu: you can reverse all you want, it;s not really helping much
mircea_popescu: not what i meant. what i meant was, fraudster sells the merchandise to ignorant buyer, gets irreversible payment from him
mircea_popescu: the fact you can reverse it doesn't mean it didn't fail thjo
mircea_popescu: didja see the thing where they tried to hijack the dns via social engineering ?