Check out NYT DealBook Live-Blogging of the Meeting. Highly recommended. I’ve excerpted a few sections related to David Sokol that is important to read (with emphasis added),
“12:50 p.m. Buffett’s message on compliance: Trust me
DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asks: Given what’s happened, why doesn’t Berkshire institute stricter controls for employees’ trades?
Buffett’s answer hinges on trust. The company lays out what he says are clear rules about what is and isn’t permitted. Berkshire isn’t an investment advisory firm, and it isn’t a mutual fund, he says, suggesting that it’s not obligated to have a big compliance department.
He also cites the expansiveness of Berkshire — some 260,000 employees — and how subsidiaries handle most of the issues with their workers.
To Buffett, his view appears to boil down to this. People determined to break the rules will do so, regardless of compliance policies. How can the company stop someone from trading in his cousin’s name?
“If there’s anything we can do in the rules that will make it even more explicit that rules are not made to be danced around … we want to make sure we do it,” he says.
Munger adds that having a big compliance department doesn’t necessarily preclude problems. Wall Street banks have armies of compliance officers and still suffer huge numbers of scandals. (His exact words were “the most scandals.”) [note: True but this means another scandal can happen.] Read the rest of this entry »
What has happened to Canadian democracy? This is not the first time Tory supporters heckle reporters when they ask Stephen Harper questions. Are reporters NOT allowed to ask questions now? What the beep has happened to the Canada I love and Canadian democracy?
This kind of undemocratic behaviour of shouting down reporters has to stop. The sad thing is Stephen Harper plus his campaign team did nothing to tell the unruly “supporters” to stop the heckle! I hate to compare Canadian democracy to the extreme “democracy” in United States. Have Canadians become this extreme?
Have a watch of this Globe and Mail video where “Conservative supporters booed CBC journalist Terry Milewski at a GTA campaign stop Saturday after he challenged Stephen Harper on whether he would accept a decision by the Governor General to hand power to the opposition parties in the wake of the May 2 election.” Video shot by reporter Stephen Chase in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Buffett always keeps his list of potential advisers close to the vest, even after Sokol resigned. But earlier today, the billionaire mentioned that the he would lay money down on the current leading candidate’s being a real straight-arrow.
And a few minutes ago, Buffett has expressed yet more admiration for his reinsurance guru, Ajit Jain. Jain’s mind is a machine, and he puts Berkshire first and foremost, Buffett gushes.
10:33 A.M. The effect of this year’s natural disasters
Buffett says that it’s hard to estimate the cost of the Japanese earthquakes. Same with the antipodal flooding.
Here’s what he has to say about the tornados that tore through the South, killing more than 300 people: “Incidentally, the tornados in April, just at Geico, and all we’re talking about here is automobiles we estimate that 25,000 cars will get automobile claims. That’s a lot of automobiles. Our market share is about 9 percent. But it’s been an extraordinary tornado season. That doesn’t hit the reinsurance business, I don’t think.” [...] Read the rest of this entry »
On this very special day, have a watch of this Nov 2010 intimate and charming interview with Prince William and Catherine Middleton. ”On the day their engagement is announced, Prince William and Catherine Middleton answer questions from ITN’s Tom Bradby about their future together.“
“Once again in this election, candidates across Canada stand accused of dodging invitations to participate in all-candidates debates, forums and/or media panels.
To try to make sense of it all collectively, I’ve started a list.
So far, the examples available show mostly Conservatives. [...]
[note: Following are some info related to Calgary.]
The Globe and Mailnames the following Conservatives who had skipped all-candidates events:
Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East)
Diane Ablonczy (Calgary-Nose Hill)
[...] Michelle Rempel (Conservative, Calgary Centre-North) didn’t attend an all-candidates’ meeting at the University of Calgary but previously had attended other events. When she missed a second event, organizers replaced her with a potted plant. Read the rest of this entry »
At the same time, I am extremely disappointed that, after two long years, only Americans with American addresses can raise funds! Canadians can only pay to fund projects but NOT allowed to raise funds without a US address. At the moment, as a fan of the site, I am sadly thinking Kickstarter will launch in Canada after hill (sp?) freezes over! How can we change this?
“For 30 days, Kimberly Richards donned postwar fashions and came to school. [...]
Her research project arose because she noticed a market interest in the post-war period, and was concerned about the gender ramifications of the retro revival. “If we are consciously donning these clothes as costumes, are we also taking on a role, and is that a role we want to perform? If women are re-fashioning themselves in these costumes, what reaction will they receive?” she asked. With the help of the university’s Drama Costume Shop, Richards decided she would test her hypothesis.
“I tried not to tell my friends about my project, as I needed to scrutinize their reactions,” said Richards. Preparation was time-consuming. Every day she put up her hair, and ensured that every detail of her outfit mirrored the time period. And people noticed her outfits. On one memorable trip on the C-Train, a man serenaded her with Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable”. At the end of her project, she concluded that she elicited more of a class response than a gender-based reaction. She is now revisiting cultural theory about the performance of gender.“
I would love to find Kimberly’s research report to have a quick read but I was unable to find it online.
Four funny comedians: Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, and Chris Rock in a room talking about the business of being funny. I enjoy the show very much even it has some serious discussions about being a comedian and being funny. The four men definitely had lots of fun. And I think there are a few things worth thinking over, enough that I mentioned the show to a comedian friend and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.
“The tone of their armchair summit is informative, but it’s clear the comics’ main agenda is to crack each other up, and the material is decidedly blue.
Among their gleanings: Mr. Seinfeld used the F-word in one bit—a decade ago—before expunging it from his act. Mr. Rock believes jokes often fail simply because the audience doesn’t get the premise, hence his trademark repetition. (“You can be married and bored, or single and lonely. Married and bored, single and lonely.”) Mr. C.K. forced himself to write newer, stronger material by replacing his opening joke with his closer. And Mr. Gervais got into stand-up because he needed to prove himself to other comedians after his instant success with “The Office.”
Mr. Gervais assembled the group. “It was an easy pitch,” Mr. C.K. says. The one-hour show was edited down from nearly five hours of conversation.“
“Mr. Sokol’s answer to Berkshire Hathaway’s CFO, Mr. Hamburg, concerning the investment bankers similarly fell short of the degree of candor required of a corporate fiduciary, and suggests his answer to Mr. Buffett’s earlier inquiry noted above was intended to deceive.“
“However, upon several readings of this release, there do not appear to be *any* new significant facts that were unknown to Berkshire on March 30th when its initial press release was issued. These facts are only *new* to those of us who are reading the audit committee report ”
“The problem isn’t the about-face. It is the missing explanation for why Berkshire went so easy on Sokol in the first place. Whatever the detailed reasons, ultimately it boils down to Berkshire’s reliance on Buffett’s personal judgment about his managers and his ability to delegate to them to the point of abdication. When this one-man infrastructure makes a mistake, it’s hard to admit that Buffett is at fault. Changes in the way the company is managed are personal, not corporate. Under the circumstances, the temptation is high to blame everything on a single rogue employee. That doesn’t excuse Sokol’s behavior, but the failure of oversight needs to be acknowledged and corrected. [...]Read the rest of this entry »
“The upcoming 700 MHZ auction will continue to shape the future of wireless competition in Canada. Every stakeholder wants to influence how the auction will be held and on Monday, all parties were invited to file submissions with Industry Canada outlining how they felt the spectrum should be divided.
In our case, we argued that all of the 700MHZ spectrum should be set aside for only new entrants to bid on (like last time). Why? Because the Big Three don’t need it, and we do, and they will do anything, and pay anything, to keep us from getting it. The Big Three are among the most spectrum-rich operators in the entire world and are already sitting on vast amounts of unused spectrum (we call it warehousing). The Big Three acquiring and sitting on all this spectrum doesn’t do you, the consumers, any good. In fact, it hurts because it is yet another way they seek to limit competition.
The spectrum they are sitting on, by the way, includes all of the spectrum they bought in the 2008 auction. Good thing there was spectrum set aside in that auction and good for the Government for resisting the Big Three’s arguments (they are making the same arguments this time around, of course).
We want to see this spectrum benefit consumers. Spectrum in the hands of new entrants like WIND Mobile will help take Canada (finally!) out of the dark ages of wireless. Competition is the #1 key to better wireless choice and value in Canada, but new entrants like us need spectrum. Oh, and we’ll use it!
Industry Canada is expected to set the auction rules later this year so we will keep you posted.”
“Rogers and other major phone companies are concerned the 700 MHz spectrum will be reserved for new entrants in the market as part of the federal government’s efforts to open the market to greater competition.
“It would be a shame if our nine million wireless customers were denied the benefit of this low-band spectrum,” Mr. Mohamed told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting. “Put simply, we need rules that apply equally to everyone.””
Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B-T35.260.521.50%) will launch the next generation of wireless technology in four major Canadian cities by the end of the year, promising high-speed Internet access on mobile devices will be as fast as is currently available on home and office computers. Read the rest of this entry »
I am excited of this news and I am wishing/hoping for record voter turnout. Our democracy is stronger when more eligible voters care enough to vote. Vote on May 2nd if you haven’t voted in the advance polls already.
“More than two million Canadians turned out to cast ballots in advance polls over the holiday weekend, according to Elections Canada’s preliminary estimate, a 34 per cent increase from 2008.
Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand said 2,056,001 ballots were cast during the three days of advance polls in a “higher than expected turnout,” compared to 1,528,780 advance ballots cast three years ago.
More than 676,000 Canadians voted on Friday and more than 823,000 on Monday — the two busiest days of advance voting ever, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
And the final tally could be even higher. Mayrand said the overall figure is a preliminary estimate, and some polls may not have reported yet.”
“The Canucks were the best team in the National Hockey League’s regular season, winning the Presidents’ Trophy by 10 points. But after bolting to three straight wins against the Blackhawks, they looked like they’d be just the fourth team in Stanley Cup history to lose a seven-game playoff series with four straight losses.
Jonathan Toews, a Team Canada Olympic hero in this building just 14 months ago, tied it for Chicago on a shorthanded rebound with 1:56 remaining in regulation time and the Blackhawks had a chance to win in overtime when Burrows took a holding penalty 24 seconds into the extra period.
But Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, often criticized but seldom at fault in this series, made a season-saving stop on Patrick Sharp during the Blackhawk power play, and four minutes later Burrows was the hero.
The Canucks winger, who scored Vancouver’s first goal, had been stopped by Crawford on a third-period penalty shot and later shot high on a breakaway.”
And the Chicago Blackhawks played a great game 7 too and they could have won the game instead of Canucks. ESPN “Hawks left with sickening feeling“
“Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was at a near loss for words standing at his locker stall after an exhausting 2-1 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 on Tuesday.
Tired and saddened, Toews was asked to sum up the incredible 13 days. He paused.
“We’ve had some good series in the past, but I have to say that’s been the best one,” he said. “We never gave up. You have to feel like it’s meant to be when you get to that point. You have to think it’s going to go your way and when it doesn’t … I can’t believe what just happened. There was no doubt in my mind we were going to win this game coming into it.” “
“The new Pentagon report suggests Canada could pay up to $24 billion over 30 years to maintain 65 planes.
That’s even more than an estimate from Kevin Page, the parliamentary budget officer, who has said it would cost $19.5 billion to maintain the high-tech planes. [...]
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Harper simply isn’t telling the truth when it comes to the costs of the fighter jets.
“And the thing that is so mendacious about what the government is doing is that they say to the Canadian people we can get you the plane at the right price. Let me tell you folks. Not even President Obama knows what the planes are going to cost. This thing is out of control.”“
“Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is the largest shareholder in Montreal-based Canadian National Railway, according to disclosures released ahead of the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday.
The world’s second-richest man owned or control 10.04 per cent of its shares, worth $3.2 billion as of Feb. 25.
That’s based on CN’s closing share price of $70.16 Monday.
Gates has been building a position in Canada’s largest rail company since 2006.
A company proxy circular says he holds the 46.07 million shares through Cascade Investment and as co-trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.”
Posted by kempton 
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