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I had no idea you could do that. Almost as easy as an illegal immigrant can vote in a US election.

Haha -- not bagging elephants, but... lions, then!

I'm confused. I've always thought Mr. Buffett always has been 'fishing', but - mind you -, I have always thought he was 'fishing elephants', not whales or tuna! [j/k]

Another timely and entertaining one by Patrick Boyle. He's a former fund manager who worked for Niederhoffer and now teaches finance and makes videos about finance with a very dry Irish wit.

Well the past is the past but from here going forward, there is a whole lot more upside from PCC than downside. I do think they need to do some thing about management. I thought the left or were replaced afterthought purchase and I am surprised to hear that the same folks are still in charge.

Can one order the long-form birth certificate? Asking for my pal Barack:)

this is a really great point actually ... 'One great thing about the PCC deal is that Berkshire actually succeeded in buying it. Companies like that are very hard to buy for Berkshire because Berkshire doesn't like to pay up.'

I've always thought PCP had its issues - but yea, I agree ... it's worth a lot more then Berkshire paid for it. Also dont forget the CEO Mark Donegan fits perfectly into the Berkshire culture. I think he reports directly to Greg.

The bigger problem is that it seems to have left Buffett gunshy about larger acquisitions; I think PCC worked out poorly and maybe it's the case (I kind of think it is!) that needle-moving acquisitions are not unlikely to happen any more because large enough targets are going to attract people more willing to overpay than Berkshire, but the combination of the bad outcomes at PCC, Heinz, and Pilot plus climate- and Trump-related difficulties at Mid-American/BHE seem to have really pushed the company away from trying to land... not whales, but tuna... at all (with BHE GT&S being a welcome exception and OxyChem not really counting in my mind). Things may change somewhat with Abel at the helm!

Not only that, you can order a copy of ANYONE'S birth certificate. When they have no argument they make up excuses.

Holy crap! Wait until I tell Evelyne - she is not going believe this. She lived in Epinal for 3 years, but grew up on the Moselle in Charmes, which I believe is 20 miles?? Moved to Rockford at 20 with her first husband - talk about culture shock. Small world indeed GFP.

I'm increasingly looking for places to park cash while also focused on real yield and after-tax returns because my home state (Minnesota) has a high income tax. Just noticed that iShares rolled out a 0-1 year TIPS ETF (ICPI) late last year. Real yield on the portfolio is over 3% presently. I wouldn't be at all surprised if CPI averaged out 3.5-4% this year so you're talking a high nominal yield on treasuries. Main problem is the fund is still tiny. Only $13M in AUM so it's hard to buy anything material without moving the price. iShares also has a 0-5 year (STIP) option but real yield is a bit lower and there is some duration risk albeit limited.

Not accurate. As explained, a citizen can get a copy of their birth certificate, usually for $10-35, give them the County name & City name, parent's name, and your full name. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/index.htm Some states may require a photo with signature or notarized. It's amazingly easy. You're getting ridiculous again.

Could IDBI be the buyer of the $1.3b in IIFL Finance with its excess capital? Taken with FIH’s stake, it’s pretty close to 50% depending how it’s priced. Also, it’s unclear to me, my apologies, but are you saying IIFL Finance has a stake in Digit? This whole post is really great. It shows how much optionality there is in FIH that is available for more than free.

Dang @cubsfan ! I lived in Epinal France when I was 12 years old! It started as one of those 3 week exchange programs but I stayed for a few months longer and the family I lived with was extremely wealthy. I learned a lot about the finer things in life that stuck with me. Later when the kid from Epinal came to Illinois and Indiana to see our family farm his verdict was that it was pretty shitty

Thank you for that story GFP. We have gone through hell with the State of Illinois DOT trying to renew my wife's drivers license. During COVID - her driver's license expired. She tried to renew a couple months later. DOT told us to bring in her birth certificate. We contacted Epinal, France and they faxed/emailed us a copy - perfect! We take her copy of foreign birth certificate in - NOPE - we will not accept that. After 3 visits, I gave up. This for a renewal of an expired driver's license. But you want to vote in ILL?? No proof of citizenship required - just say you are a citizen! Why would the State of ILL make it a snap to register to vote - with no proof of citizenship - but make it IMPOSSIBLE for a resident to renew their expired driver's license. The answers are obvious.

One great thing about the PCC deal is that Berkshire actually succeeded in buying it. Companies like that are very hard to buy for Berkshire because Berkshire doesn't like to pay up. But you only have to buy a market leading business once and even if it was sub-optimal they will own it forever which is still better than never owning it at all. And some of those disruptions at Boeing and then covid were probably hard to predict ahead of time but I'm sure someone will say they were totally aware of the Boeing culture and saw it coming a mile away... Donegan still runs PCC and he was the architect of the whole merger driven roll up that created it. Berkshire didn't install management, they left the supposed hot-shot in charge of his company. Still seems like there is a lot of room for improvement but overall I'm happy Berkshire overpaid for it vs. never owning it at all. That's my kind of fuck up!

You would be surprised how many people have trouble proving that are US citizen. Some lose their birth cert or don’t know where they stored it. I deal with this quite often because we need to classify each visitor or contractor in my facility and the driving license alone doesn’t suffice. Then comes the passport passport which many don’t have and then comes the birth certificate. In quite cases the visit had to be delayed because the proof doesn’t come in time and after I received proof, I need to get electronic approval. In theory it’s easy but there is a difference a difference between theory and practice. If we had ICE comb some MAGA towns and round up and deport everyone who can’t produce a birth certificate/ passport or proof of citizenship within 48h, we could depopulate vast stretches of this country.

That's what the Orange slices, and pain killers are for .... administered by a pretty nurse, and promises, promises. Lots of bruises and broken bones that need tender loving care SD

PCC is great example of suboptimal execution. I think in those cases , Abel can make a huge difference. Berkshire paid a full price for PCC but tht want the biggest problem 1) They bought a Cyclical high in the business (turbines) 2) Management that they put in place wasn’t good. The scams and Factory fires that @gfp reported are evidence of this. They failed to pivot the business to stronger market like aerospace components. its seems like Buffett lost interested this and the business remained undermanaged. I agree PCC should be worth a pretty penny now provided they can take advantage of the buoyant market and increase the earnings power.

Reasonably fair assessment, from Fortune. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-may-choose-between-endless-080700006.html "The options are to escalate or cut a deal. And I think the [Trump] administration is likely to do the first, see it fail, and end up with the second," Brew said. In the meantime, "We're going to see more fireworks in the next two or three weeks before we see any kind of progress towards de-escalation or accommodation." You might also want to keep in mind that o/g producers will be reporting Q2-26 numbers in about 4 weeks; Q2 commodity prices were high, FCF numbers will be high, and many will also be reporting significant repurchase of outstanding shares. Higher share prices, likely to stay higher for a while. The Q4 mystery is how the US deals with midterm results/disruption ..... Orange Boy loses the senate, but refuses to accept the outcome ... claiming widespread fraud. Hedging via long oil/gas, and a straddle on his sudden demise, makes a great deal of pragmatic sense. SD

yes, I realized that connection after I posted. I am surprised this relationship was never previously mentioned in a report or conference call. Digitide's MFX unit has been the technology backbone of Fairfax P&C carriers since 2002.

thanks. I must not be converting to US dollars correctly.

My son is in his mid 20s. I am not sure if an 11 years would appreciate it.

Oh man I have PTSD from my years of arguing with the Social Security administration trying to get my adopted kid a social security number at 19 years old. I had already secured a US passport from the state department but those idiots at Social Security refused to accept that a US passport was de-facto proof of US citizenship. Finally they just got tired of me showing up everyday to the office and taking all the supervisor's time and gave the kid the f'ing SSN... Don't these new "Real IDs" require a birth certificate? I forget what is required but remember it being a pain.