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That is true. However a two-party system works because the pendulum rarely moves too far in either direction before it changes course. I don't agree that the US is moving toward socialism because its greatest support comes from the young and inexperienced who eventually grow older, more experienced and value their hard-earned savings. No different that any time in the recent past when welfare, government handouts and subsidies were always supported by the same groups who now support socialism. The main issue is immigration reform. Once we stop allowing anyone into this Country indefinitely, what many of us would now call "common sense" may well return.

The world and humanity has drastically changed over the past 239 years.

The problem is how campaigns are run and all the money requirements around advertising, debating, tv time etc. Tackling that problem would probably be one of the best things the US could do for long-term survival and to change course from the current Highway to Hell the two party system is paving. There is simple no incentive for anyone in either of those parties to do so. The appetite has always been there from the populace, but it has always lacked any assurance of success which keeps individuals from shifting that direction. I've voted third party the last two elections. In the Western World there seems to be a trend of new parties taking up the torch and actually beginning to carve out some small wins here and there. I cannot and will not speak to the views of said parties, but in the UK I saw the "Restore Britain" party has had some minor success. perhaps it's simply the sign of the times...

It has worked well for 239 years, but the US Constitution does not prohibit a third party. It is the democrats and republicans that make it difficult for a third party.

Morocco is a joy to watch. I hope they go deep.

I no way do I support taking Canada or any aggression towards Canada. You guys have been great allies and more than carried your weight in the Middle East and countless other wars (necessary or not). So purely hypothetical....And I get it, you're a proud Canadian who's been fired up since Trump made those distasteful comments. But the idea that the US would struggle to "take" Canada is laughable at best. There is like 70k active duty and 30k reserves. Generally about 1/2 to 3/5 of an overall force would be support roles and not even combat related. The US has 3,500 active duty 75th Regiment Rangers and another 7,000 Tabbed Rangers. There is another 7,000 Green Berets, 2,900 Navy SEALs, and about 1,000 Special Tactics Operators in the Airforce. So looking at just forces focused on tactical missions or capture of strategic assets you're close to half of what Canada could even field. Then you have the real land forces with 171,000 Marines and 458,000 active duty Army Soldiers and another 500,000 in Reserve. This doesn't include any equipment like Battle Tanks US 4,000 vs CAN 100 and Combat Aircraft US 3,000 vs CAN 90. Then you have the general populace! The US has like 5 guns per citizen in private ownership. "Rifle behind every blade of grass." Canada has strict gun laws and pretty low ownership outside of hunting rifles. IF the US went to war with Canada, it would be a training exercise....

I don't know, people, particularly non-US residents have been selling us short for our entire existence. When have they ever been right? With all its faults, our political system encourages freedom and success better than anywhere else. Most people cannot even agree on the definition of "common sense" so where would it get us?

I agree even if the third party is much smaller it would probably force compromises to get anything passed. It could be a party in the middle and called the Common Sense party.

drowning in taxes in the future. That is, if it's true that money doesn't grow on trees. Blake, thanks for posting that. As a resident of one of the two best states to do business, "invest local" is and has been a very good theme. To the person/company, everyone I do business with is highly optimistic about the future. A friendly suggestion for you: Move to a business-friendly State; it might just change your outlook.

I've owned A. Midsize position in Fairfax India for a few years and recently bought A starter position in Constellation. Dino Polska is kind of interesting . Kind of like early Walmart. Probably deserves its own topic post. I looked at it a while back but I hate retail. And that's retail in a developing country that is next to country at war

I bought BWIN for the two trusts I'm messing with and stuck with it. Up 33 percent but bought very little so it is not meaningful. I had bought AJG a couple years ago in both at $185 and now I'm game for a bit more of the brokers in these trusts. Decisions.

It was a bad day for public shareholders when Hub went private, the "pop" was typically celebrated but sorely disappointing. Back it comes.

Thanks. Found it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scuttleslops-openai-valuation-ryan-specialty/id1786912203?i=1000774614060

I’m having trouble posting the link, but the never sell podcast with MBI and Scuttleblurb recently talked about Ryan.

Prem spoke at a Washington area forum yesterday, after receiving a US-India Leadership Award. https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/india-tariff-reforms-open-unlimited-opportunity-fairfax-financial-ceo/132086440

FWIW, I reduced RYAN. The stock has recovered some but I did not like their last few earnings. Lost a small a out of money on that one (bought in too early and don’t add enough when it went lower).

I wonder what Chris Mayer‘s (the 100 bagger guy) managed accounts performance looks like. Looks like he has a lot of 0.5x baggers:

The country has moved left over time. The old democrats no longer exist - that party of Bill Clinton and Joe Liberman disappeared completely with the radicalism of Barrack Obama. And this new socialist democrat party has taken over. MAGA basically represents the values of Ronald Reagan - traditional conservative values. I would love you to define Trump's move toward dictatorship because it's silly. Separation of powers in the USA are working just fine. Congress and the Courts are a big check on Trump's executive powers.

Hub International files for IPO. Top 10 brokerage firm globally. When there is more info available, will do more of a deep dive. 1 of many articles below: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/hub-international-files-for-ipo--whats-it-worth-580619.aspx

They might have sold the position. We know they sold some earlier in the quarter to go under 5%.

"The arithmetic mean of all picks is up under 3%, well behind US indexes" Interesting

Blackberry stock price has jumped up by around 41.5% in the last one week closing at USD $12.48 yesterday! This stock price appreciation has come after reporting strong fiscal Q1 earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, fueled by a 26% year-over-year revenue jump. The partnership with Nvidia to integrate it's QNX operating system into Nvidia's Thor development kit is paying off. Great news for FFH stock holders.

and let´s not talk about the goal you stole us.... The only pleasure of this is that now you can play against France. Bon voyage!

Aumann AG AAG tender offer @ EUR 17.80 (initially EUR 16.50); offer period to end on 3 July; odd lot ≤ 100 shares in the last tender offer, their largest shareholder accepted the offer so I think they will do so too @ a higher price making proration likely nevertheless, I think that odd lots will get full allocation making for a profit of about 15% (EUR 17.80/EUR 15.50) within a few days also, I am going to use multiple odd lot accounts as I assume that only the account number will be checked but not the beneficial owner

Here you have to make a clean distinction between UK and the rest of Europe. In the UK, Keir Starmer has been sentencing people based on X posts which is a blatant attack on freedom of speech, the guy is an absolute disgrace of a human being. You cannot generalize this for Europe as a whole. You can make your statement in Belgium without any legal issues. Same for countries like Italy, Spain, every eastern European country,... many people currently do. Not sure about all Scandinavian ones but if I am not mistaken even a minister in Norway recently made your exact comment. And let's not pretend U.S. citizens take criticizing Jesus all that well... feel free to go to a small town in the south or mid-west and drive around with a car stating "Jesus is a fag", how long until you get your ass shot? Not trying to provoke here but... let's be fair when making these comparisons. You don't really have freedom to spend your money if you are forced to spend all of it on high rent prices and medical care. I have the freedom to spend the money after taxes because thanks to free health care and cheap higher education, I don't have to save up for a surgery or a kids college fund. If you compare these two systems overall on their financial merit, I think @Spekulatius summarized it well. The high earners (without too much bad luck) are better off in US, the rest is better off in Europe. And while I agree with @Kizion that this has distorted our society too far to take advantage of, I still prefer to live in a place where the people around me are generally doing OK and not struggling financially, independent of their income bracket. And just to be clear, I would fall under 'high earner' so I am not stating this out of self interest, nor am I a socialist because I've voted for the same right-wing party since I'm 18. Europe has gone too far in letting people take advantage of the social security system though, we are gradually seeing counter measurements being taken, as the recent Belgian government has plans to do so as well.