Very long post on Ben Graham and bank stocks, looking at what Jason Zweig wrote in the WSJ and what Tom Brown wrote at BankStocks.com. This post uses examples of what Graham (and Buffett) really did buy - going back to 1915 for Graham and 1958 for Buffett - and may be of interest to value investors for that reason.

Geoff Gannon writes a post on Ben Graham and Bank Stocks in response to Jason Zweig's most recent column: "Jason Zweig writes the Intelligent Investor column for The Wall Street Journal. I’m sorry to say this week’s column is especially unintelligent."

Geoff Gannon reviews Don Keough's new book: "The Ten Commandments for Business Failure". "It’s a business book – and a damn good one. The lessons within provide insights into businesses both good and bad and therefore they are as useful to the investor as they are to the executive."

A commentary on the Introduction to Benjamin Graham's Security Analysis. This is part of a weekly series on Security Analysis.

Geoff Gannon writes about "liquid courage" and the role it played in the housing bubble. Discusses credit and morality, cites articles by David Brooks and Jim Grant. "We drank a little too deeply of this newfangled liquidity. We did some things we aren't too proud of. And slowly, slowly, we’re beginning to remember just what those things were."

Rick Konrad of Value Discipline reviews Vahan Janjigian's "Even Buffett Isn't Perfect". "Dr. Janjigian's book gingerly attempts to criticize some of Buffett's mistaken investments and controversial points of view. I think the book is more successful with the latter than the former."

Gannon On Investing poses questions to the authors of four of the best investment blogs: Controlled Greed, Fat Pitch Financials, Bill Rempel, and Cheap Stocks. Topics include personal performance YTD, the stock market, the economy, oil, and their best ideas going forward. A few stock picks appear as well.

On Friday, July 11th, 2008 Federal regulators seized IndyMac. It is the second largest failure of a financial institution in United States history. A federal supervisor suggested the comments of Senator Schumer of New York may have contributed to the liquidity crisis and thus the bank's failure. However, IndyMac was in poor financial condition prior to the Senator's comments.

A post over at Seeking Alpha (now temporarily removed by request of author - not sure if the post will be put back up or not) states that Whitney Tilson is short shares of HanesBrands (HBI). Hanes was my favorite idea back when it was spun-off from Sara Lee (SLE). I don't think it's expensive at all under $25 a share.

Long post on Berkshire Hathaway's "business model" - how it grows and why the model works even if Buffett isn't at the helm.

Fitch cuts less than truck load carrier YRC Worldwide (YRCW) to junk. Fitch noted the U.S. less-than-truckload market has weakened significantly in the past year and a half, hurt by slumping demand, poor pricing and overcapacity...Fitch said it expects the company's earnings in the near future to come in below previous expectations.

Bloomberg article about Bill Miller's 2007 performance:"Miller beat the S&P 500 for 15 straight years through 2005, a record for mutual-fund managers. He lagged behind 99 percent of rivals in 2006 when his fund gained almost 6 percent, according to Chicago-based research firm Morningstar Inc. Last year, he ranked in the bottom 2 percent of peers, which averaged a 6.2 percent return."

YRCW shares look cheap to me. But, the business is certainly struggling. This article discusses the recent non-cash charges related to problems with acquired companies - and economic uncertainty.

CNBC article on Berkshire Hathaway's stock performance in 2007. The article includes a table that compares the performance of Berkshire's stock against the S&P 500 for each year from 1977-2007. Berkshire's stock has average a 30.4% return during that period versus 9.8% for the S&P 500.

The Economist discusses Berkshire's new bond insurance start-up: "his most intriguing investment, announced on December 28th, was his smallest: $105m to fund Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation (BHAC), a start-up that will insure bonds issued by American states, cities and counties to finance schools, roads, hospitals and other public projects."