Of old forgeys and froggies...

We grow olde, everyone of us, older by one year with every passing 365 days

And when past 50years, sometimes people call ye old forgey

That's alright, half a century means the next finishing line is 50years away

Desi's an optimist

But if thou a politician be

Grow older and ***wiser

But not an Ibrahim Ali

A froggie

Or Zahrain (oops, I can't even remember his fool name!:(

Another froggie

Or Tan Tee Beng

Is he a doctor or a quek/quack?

(I know his P was ex-Gerakan chif Penang, so what do you
xxpect of sonny turning reformist?)

I know for sure he's de latest froggie

But he won't be the last

Lustily Zul No Din aims to be the BIgest of damn Awe

An empty vessel makes the most noise, some wiseman did say

But in Desi's experience

Half empty vessels make the most dangerous noise

They wanna jump and try to rachet up their market value

Malaysians will always remember such froggies, "Bapak malu, Emak pun malu!"


DESIDERATA: On being older and wiser, let's hear it from the second richest man in the world -- I don't mind being an olde forgey like Warren, then I can have daily buffet at Nikko Hotel Jalan Ampang 24/7!:)

Buffett goofed on Geico credit card!

From Reuters:), via Economic Times:):), via Google:):):)

Topics:

* Credit card
* Warren Buffett
* Geico Corp

NEW YORK: Warren Buffett is considered expert in many things in the financial
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Warren Buffett
Top secrets of Buffett's success
Buffett’s good & bad bets
Buffett on succession, acquisitions
Berkshire Hathaway at a glance
Buffett at a glance
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world.

Credit cards apparently are not among them. The world's second-richest person often admits when he gets things wrong. He did so on Saturday in his annual letter to shareholders of his Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Buffett had a brainstorm: create a credit card for customers of Geico Corp, the third-largest US car insurer, which Berkshire has owned since 1996.

Though Geico underwriting profit fell 29 per cent last year as loss claims increased, premiums earned grew 9 per cent as it won new business in part through $800 million of advertising, many featuring a talking gecko.


Thanks to Geico chief Tony Nicely's leadership, Buffett said he is "more excited" about Geico now than he was when he first visited the company in 1951, as a 20-year-old student.

He's probably referring to the car insurance. "For many years," Buffett wrote, "I had struggled to think of side products that we could offer our millions of loyal Geico customers. Unfortunately, I finally succeeded, coming up with a brilliant insight that we should market our own credit card. I reasoned that Geico policyholders were likely to be good credit risks and, assuming we offered an attractive card, would likely favor us with their business."

And they did – but as at many traditional credit card lenders, it was the wrong type of business.

Buffett said Geico lost $6.3 million pretax on cards before he "finally woke up." It lost $44 million more when it sold a $98 million portfolio of card receivables, at 55 cents on the dollar.

"Your chairman closed the book on a very expensive business fiasco entirely of his own making," Buffett wrote.

"Geico's managers, it should be emphasized, were never enthusiastic about my idea," he went on. "They warned me that instead of getting the cream of Geico's customers we would get the – well, let's call it the non-cream. I subtly indicated that I was older and wiser."

Buffett said he was half-right. "I was just older." Buffett is 79.