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A treaty is just a piece of paper - Kaiser Wilhelm II

Yeah and I only point out that Europe has 44 independent countries... you really cannot make that many generalized comments about it. It would be like me saying you're all red necks because I met a couple of Texans. And Texas is 22 times the size of Belgium by the way. I'm also not anti-US. I despise some of our own policies and see the US doing so much better, especially regarding innovation and immigration. However I am satisfied with our freedom of speech and I believe our system where we tax higher incomes more to provide better social security to the lower ones, is better... even though we might have taken it a bit too far.

Yes. You’re welcome for that. I only pointed out the largest economy in the EU and also the country where the President of the EU Ursula hails from (and spent 15 years in German government prior to that)…

Well, now let's see... "How long have you been a member here..." What has that got to do with anything? I believe you joined about ten years ago. Des that gives you some sort of entitled or superior status where you can take personal shots a various other board members and call them childish names and insult anyone who dares to disagree with you? Your constant arrogance and childish name calling towards other board members is an embarrassment to many other board members. And by the way, I have been on this board and its predecessor since 2006, twice as long as you. "... have a nice day little boy." This sort of remark is childish and petty, but unfortunately typical. "... does anyone care about or value ANYTHING you have to say?" That is amusing because obviously you do. But just FYI, I am probably old enough to be your father. However, if I were your father I would certainly have brought you up better and taught you some manners and shown you that arrogance is not a becoming personality trait. As far as the rest of your rant is concerned, as Shakespeare would have described it "...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Gotta go have a nice day.

You realize Europe is not one country right? Belgium is not Germany (thanks to you guys :))

Yes, I know you love criticizing Americans like most Europeans. Too bad you can’t read though: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-could-scrap-law-banning-insults-against-politicians/a-77630055 Man, you are so confident and yet so wrong!

You are not allowed to call politicians “idiots” or Pinocchio and you say that is fair? Insane… LOL. These folks criticize America and its politicians all day everyday. If it were illegal to criticize U.S. politicians like it is in Germany, they’d all be in prison and have some hefty fines to pay.

Man you really confirm the stereotype of an American living in his own little world. I can easily insult politicians and government policies here. I am free to call all politicians idiots for instance. What I cannot do is call them "faggy nazis that need to get burned at the stake"... because that is homophobic and inciting violence.

May have been posted already: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0gp88q4l4o

You misspelled "american advertisement".

Should be a great F1 race this Sunday at Silverstone…

You don't get to make those calls. It's a total cop out. ANYONE should be able to criticize OR insult their government. Many times, politicians EARN the scorn of their citizens. It's far better to be able to say negative things about your leaders when they do a piss poor job or do not follow the will of the people.

You haven't really noticed Blake. Greg ain't much of a Trump fan, although seems to approve of some of his policies, which have mostly worked out. Me on the other hand.... Happy 4th!

The payment recipient is you, and you are very glad to have it. Somebody freezes your accounts, sends their thugs after you, and puts up border restrictions to seize and detain. As a well informed lad .... you escape in a small plane, but have to leave your wealth behind. Sometime later, in a different country, you access your BTC account, and liquidate. Proceeds laundered though the newly opened bank account of a recent dead person, in a 3rd country. You have paid yourself, and lived to fight another day. The oppositons jaws snap on thin air. Different strokes. SD

Sold my URW.PA (Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE) and GPW.WA (Gielda Papierów Wartosciowych w Warszawie S.A. - the stock exchange provider in Poland) positions

Eh, less now, but as recently as 2022/3 there was a huge chorus of people whom regularly espoused that all you had to do to make money was “follow the Fed”.

Irrationality abounds. And Donald Trump and Kevin Warsh are our gods. Their actions and beliefs will hold immense sway over the futures of many. It's amazing to me how little attention is paid to our national bank. Trump absolutely dominates the minds and conversations of everyone, but so few people pay any heed to the great Fed chairman. Many don't understand how a national bank works or why it's important. But they still go to work 40 hours a week in exchange for dollars.

You are deeply mistaken to equate insulting and criticizing. You can criticize without insulting, and you can insult without criticizing. There are no laws against criticizing, there are laws against insulting.

Trump dominates your thoughts just like the rest of us. You don't have to be a dick.

I think they claimed 6+ by this summer/fall, not 9. I forget when we had 9. They must’ve too As I’ve said all along 3-4% is nothing warranting any material portfolio adjusting, and generally speaking, probably the sweet spot for a lot of businesses and the economy

You still haven't answered a simple question(?)

Lmfao sorry I had some spare time and out of boredom responded rather than ignoring you like usual. But anyway, what percentage of your posts involve Trump, me or cubs? I’d probably take the over at 90%. How long have you been a member here and outside of an occasional pity engagement from @John Hjorth, does anyone care about or value ANYTHING you have to say? What would you say you contribute here? You offer nothing of value on anything, and only like a child, bitch about the exact same things that really have nothing to do with why one would participate on an investment board. How do we know what you’re referring to? Because that’s the only thing you do lmfao. So maybe I’ll ask you, based off the above, at best you resemble a forum gnat. Do you deserve anything other than to be ignored or mocked? Anyway, have a nice day little boy.

....yes. Gold came out of the ground backing currencies and that's what gives it value. Or biblical societies were directed by God to mine it and that is what gives it value in 2026. /Sarcasm I'm not even certain its correct to characterize this as a "second order question", but obviously the above is ridiculous and you haven't stopped to ask yourself why gold had value, why biblical societies used it, how the world collectively landed on it's use independently of one another and how it ended up backing the USD to begin with. But that's ok. You don't care about stores of value or economic theory or why it's important to have a stable money - so probably not worth your time to ask those questions.

They have mentioned it but definitely less than BRK and FFH. The Q1 2010 earnings calls has specific commentary in the Q&A on float growth, leverage, and equity allocation and its worth reading. Generally they have prioritised a higher allocation of equities in the book than higher investment leverage. They will do better than Fairfax in a zero interest rate environment all else equal but Fairfax is much better positioned in the current environment. Here are some of the instances using AI re their mention of float: 1. Status update presentation — "More float, more earnings power" Andrew Crowley (President of Markel Ventures) explicitly tied float growth to earnings power compounding: > "During the same timeframe, operating cash flows exceeded operating income by $5 billion, mostly due to the power of increasing insurance float. More float, more earnings power." The accompanying investor presentation slide also frames growth in float as one of several distinct levers for increasing earnings per share over time, alongside Markel Ventures, public equities, and share repurchases. 2. Q3 2023 earnings call — maximising investment return on float Jeremy Noble (President of Insurance): > "The insurance engine also continues to generate significant operating cash flows, and we have been intentional about taking the cash and maximizing the investment return on the float generated by our underwriting operations and attractive market yields." 3. Q1 2022 earnings call — the float spread as the core economic model Richie Whitt (Co-CEO) articulated the fundamental spread model clearly: > "We're making a spread of return between the positive yields on the bond portfolio and the negative cost of float that we get through underwriting profitability. And as long as we keep that spread a positive number, things add up to the good over time."

Shit, we don't have a 9% inflation print like we did under the Biden shit show. What else is there to say?