tshk1221

Berkshire Hathaway Stock Holdings and Investment Ideas

I think it will be better for small investors to choose some of the right ones among the stocks owned by BRK. There are a lot of companies in the list that we do not know well about or that we don't need to own at all. I would go with the following only: AXP, GE, WFC, PG, JNJ, KO, GSK, KFT and WMT

American Express Buying Out Cardholders: Bad for the Economy?

It is not a good strategy as a lender.

It is driving out valuable future customers who will contribute to AXP's income when the market comes back.

A credit card lender that does not appreciate customers with good customer service skills can't last that long.

On Feb 25 02:27 PM KSK wrote:

> looks like AXP is preparing itself for the worst ... by reducing
> the risks ... paying off to reduce the risks...
>
> one of my friend has the AmEx Blue Cash card and had been using it
> as his primary card... in Dec of 2008 Amex reduced the credit limit
> from 13K to 2K just because he had other debt....
>
> Paying off to let the risky customers go ... good strategy....

American Express Buying Out Cardholders: Bad for the Economy?

Let's save as much as we could and not use American Express credit card and have all the credit card companies including banks starve to death. American Express does know how to appreciate its customers. American Express even criticizes and scolds its customers of their use of its credit through repeated letters. Its credit department assessing and reviewing personal credit must learn customer service skills first before sending out rude letters to its customers.

Is American Express worthy to be listed in Dow Index??

Should You Follow Warren Buffett’s Latest Moves?

The Oracle must be more interested in lending than stock investing these days since cowardly banks are cutting down on lending when lending has to be more and more aggressive. What can banks do? They just burnt all their capital into ashes when the collateral real estate was the hottest in US history.

Further Deterioration of U.S. Finance Companies Expected - S&P

You're very correct. The biggest black holes in US history punctured in the US financial systems created through the unprecedented credit defaults are devouring all the dollars now, drying up dollars that should otherwise be circulating in the market. My guess is that until all the black holes are filled up with gold-backed US dollars, prices of goods will decelerate further and further. We might soon see a gallon of gas drop to fifty cents. We never know. If the US government depletes all the gold-backed US dollars to fill up these black holes and cannot find alternative resources to fill in the black holes (worthless paper dollars cannot be used, as you know), that's when the real problems kick in.

FDIC Commercial Paper Guarantee Could Crowd Out Fannie and Freddie

It is not the time of criticism. It is a time to try new methods over and over again to solve and break through this unprecedented financial crisis in US history and the world's. We are on the brink of the Greater Depression. We are on a very similar track like the Great Depression of 1930s. The biggest credit bubble in every lending area we can imagine got burst. Financial institutions have burst. Stock market has burst. Individuals have burst. In terms of sheer volume and the speed of the burst, it seems to be worse than the Great Depression of 1930s. If you don't like today's actions by Fed, can you come up with better solutions that can fix the situation in a month or two?

Is American Express Worth the Risk?

Well, the interesting point is that the Oracle has been keeping this company very long time. Probably, his long-term holding of this company is because he knows that this company has proven survival skills accumulated for the last 50 years or more. Even if this financial crisis is directly hitting this company right now, I don't see this company will die soon. Price is very ok. However, fundamentally, there is a big issue for this company. Retained earnings are shrinking every year from 2005 to 2007. It is depleting retained earnings due to hefty interest rate costs it relies on for credit card lending. A real bad sign..ExxonMobil and Chevron's retained earnings are growing 15% - 20% every year. One thing this company must achieve to attract strong attention from real, long-term value investors..Investment in this company now could be very risky in consideration of its risky business nature, uncertain future as bank holding company and shrinking retained earnings, but, as you know, greatest return comes from greatest uncertainty.