Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street

by Janet M. Tavakoli

26 Stephen Labaton, “Paulson, at Talks on Regulation, Suggests Pendulum Has Swung Too Far,” NewYork Times, 13 March 2007.

  27 Laurel Brubaker Calkins, “Enron’s Skilling Asks Appeals Court for Reversals,” Bloomberg News, April 2, 2008.

  28 Bob Ivy, “John Rigas’s ‘Taj Mahal’ Sold to Illinois Firm for $3.5 Million,” Bloomberg News, 7 April 2008.

  29 Christopher Bowe,“Kozlowski’s Wife Begins Divorce Action,” Financial Times, 16 August 2006.

  30 Warren Buffett to Liz Clayman, CNBC interview at Georgetown, March 13, 2007.

  31 Lucian Kim, “Rosneft Profit Rises Fivefold on Yukos Acquisitions,” Blomberg .com, 8 April 2008.

  32 Deborah Solomon, “A Summit on U.S. Rules: ‘Too Gosh-Darn Complex,’” Wall Street Journal, 14 March 2007.

  33 Wall Street Journal Research, “Subpar Earnings: Companies Blame Housing, Credit Problems for Weakness,” Wall Street Journal, 5 October 2007.

  34 Warren Buffett to Liz Clayman.

  35 Janet Tavakoli, “Subprime Lending Excesses Have Damaged US’s Standing as Global Leader in Finance,” Financial Times, 19 March 2007.

  36 Francesco Guerrera, “Citigroup Takes $9bn Assets in Old Lane Move,” Financial Times, 13 June 2008.

  37 Paul J. Davies and Jennifer Hughes, “US Banks Fear Being Forced to Take $5,000bn Back on Balance Sheets,” Financial Times, 4 June 2008.

  38 U.S. Department of Treasury, The Department of the Treasury Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure, March 2008, http://treas.gov/press/releases/reports/Blueprint.pdf.

  39 Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), 101.

  40 Benjamin Graham. 100.

  Chapter 13: The Fogs of War, Religion and Politics

  1 Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,”Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire Iscar Metalworking Companies,” Business Wire, 5 May 2006. Text of ISCAR Ltd. Joint News Release.

  2 Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Annual Report, 5.

  3 Amy Teibel, “Buffett’s Israeli Acquisition Born in Shed,” Washington Post, 8 May 2008.

  4 Steven F. Hayward, Churchill on Leadership, Forum (an imprint of Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA 1997, 1998. 129.

  5 Neil Sandler, “Buffett Tours Plant in War-scarred Tefen,” BusinessWeek, 18 September 2006.

  6 “Oklahoma Mourns Those Lost in Bombing,” United Press International, 20 April 2008. McVeigh was executed in 2001.

  7 Gideon Rachman, “Death, Double Standards and the Battle for the Moral High Ground,” Financial Times, 8 August 2008.

  8 The Iraq Study Group, James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton co-chairs, The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward—A New Approach, Washington D.C., December 6, 2006.

  9 Jay Newton-Small, “Waxman Probes Iraq Contracting, Missing $12 Billion,” Bloomberg News, 6 February 2007.

  10 John J. Sheehan,‘Why I Declined to Serve,” Washingtonpost.com, 16 April 2007.

  11 Ibid.

  Chapter 14: Finding Value

  1 Warren Buffett to Janet Tavakoli, inscription note, 18 February 2006.

  2 Janet Tavakoli to Warren Buffett, e-mail correspondence, 16 August 2007.

  3 Warren Buffett to Janet Tavakoli, handwritten note, 30 May 2006.

  4 Warren Buffett to Janet Tavakoli, telephone conversation, mid June 2006.

  5 Janet Tavakoli to Warren Buffett, letter, 20 June 2006.

  6 Warren Buffett to Janet Tavakoli, letter, 22 June 2006.

  7 Janet Tavakoli to Warren Buffett, letter, 26 June 2006.

  8 Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), 96.

  9 Warren Buffett to Janet Tavakoli, letter, 22 June 2006.

  10 Chris Isidore, “Buffett: My Fix for the Economy,” CNNMoney.com, 2 October 2008. Warren proposed private investors put up 20 percent cash for asset purchases. The Treasury would finance the other 80 percent in exchange for getting paid principal back first, interest payments, and a share of the upside.This would force the use of market prices.

  11 Christine Harper, “Goldman Raises $10 Billion From Bullet, Public Sale.” Bloomberg News, 24 September 2008. Buffett’s preferred shares have a 10 percent redemption premium.Warrants allow Berkshire to buy $5 billion worth of common shares at $115 any time in five years. Goldman raised $5 billion more in the market and the Treasury injected another $10 billion in capital.

  12 Warren E. Buffett,“Buy American. I Am.” NewYork Times, 17 October 2008.

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