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Thanks for posting that site, I hadn't seen it before either. Digitide came out of Quess so this is all in the family.

I was doing some work on Precision Castparts after looking at the recent Doncasters IPO and the booming share price of PCC-peer Howmet. It's interesting that Buffett overpaid for PCC in 2016, paying around 14x pretax earnings for earning power that just today is finally increasing past its peak. They wrote down almost $10B of goodwill, got scammed on a German acquisition that was outright fraud, and had a recent major fire that destroyed an aircraft fastener plant. For goodwill impairment tests, they value PCC at around $34 Billion currently - still below the $37 Billion Berkshire paid a decade ago. But if you apply the valuations Howmet trades at in today's buoyant market for all things turbine-related and adjust for the acquisition-related D&A, an independent PCC that traded on the NYSE would trade around $115 Billion. PCC inside Berkshire is essentially debt-free but I doubt a public PCC would find that to be the optimal structure. PCC also basically stopped buying bolt-on companies after their German pipe fitting scam (they won $700m in arbitration after they discovered the sellers had committed outright fraud). This year they bought a tiny company in the UK that does the wax patterns and ceramic core assemblies that are upstream to their castings but it was only 22m GBP in revenue / 6m GBP ebitda. They did shell out $500m on that titanium melt facility in West Virginia in partnership with BHE Renewables, which created a 100% solar + battery microgrid for the project. Anyway - it was just interesting to see that, much like the railroad, the public comps for PCC suggest it would not be available at the multiples Berkshire paid and since the $10 Billion impairment can never be "un-done" its another example of how even assets he "over-paid" for are meaningfully under-marked in book value vs. "fair value in today's environment." Also - don't buy Doncasters stock! Yikes that one is very richly valued and has an awful lot of stock coming out of lock-up at the end of September. Howmet is also very fully valued but they seem very well run with margins above PCC.

While I am familiar with Fairfax Digital Services I came across this site for Fairfax GCC that I never heard of before. The site mentions that they have worked with the Fairfax subs for many years. Is this accurate? https://fairfaxgcc.com

So this is where this might go in terms of AI regulation:

And yes, it is hard for a non-US citizen to prove US citizenship - that is precisely the point. When foreigners apply for and become US citizens they receive a Certificate of Naturalization. Otherwise, everyone born in the US receives a birth certificate. Every State has a Department of Vital Statistics from which a certified copy of one's birth certificate can easily be obtained.

Within the last week or so, I've added to : DANSKE.CPH - Danske Bank A/S [CofB&F topic], SJF.CPH - SJF Bank A/S [ CofB&F topic], & JYSK.CPH - Jyske Bank A/S.

Nonsense. if you can't prove your identity you shouldn't be allowed to vote. There are a myriad of ways to prove one's identity - voter ID card, birth certificate, social security card, passport, driver's license, etc... This would not even be a material issue but for the open border policy we were stuck with.

I posted this before, but it’s quite hard in the US to get an ID that proves you are US citizen. That‘s why many Americans don’t have a passport. If you can’t produce your birth certificate, it’s quite a problem. A driving license which most people have doesn’t prove anything. It has nothing to do with being an US citizen or US person for that matter. A reform of the voting system would need to start with a program to provide an ID card to anyone.

@rajpgokul Thanks for sharing this. You had mentioned that IIFL Finance would be raising $1.3 US through issuing of shares. When I reviewed the BSE notice, I only see reference to 10,000 Crore being raised through new shares. I believe this is the equivalent of $100M US unless I am not calculating it correctly. Could you confirm where you saw the $1.3B US figure or are you including the additional $1B US in medium term notes. https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/817e6eb4-7e92-426a-9490-e60f741fe609.pdf

This thread is entirely void of logic. Cubs has demonstrated repeatedly that both parties have questioned and challenged election results on various occasions. You all don't want to address the issue because your arguments make no sense and you play to your own narratives.

I personally think about this the same way as you do, @Sweet, I personally feel blessed to live in one of the Nordic countries [Denmark] today. It for sure hasen't always been so. I remember from time in my late 20's and early 30's working really hard, and basicaly getting nowhere, primarily because of income taxes, high interest rates and inflation. It was really depressing back then to think about. I still think it's important to note, that living conditions in different parts of Europe by now vary vildly within quite large margins, also depending on personal setup and situation, country by country. - - - o 0 o - - - Like @Loss Horizon I fail to see - at large - the connection between the actual content of this topic and its topic title. Everyone here on CofB&F must be aware of the successful 'European' [meaning headquartered in Europe] large cap and mid cap companies are multinationals, especially if we talk perhaps not so large countries [Denmark is a striking example here, btw.] I know this topic has caused some frustration at Sanjeev [ @Parsad ], too. He has posted it. Perhaps the solution is as simple as just to rename this topic to "European Politics'? [<- Simply because that is what it is!]. I mean then there would a barbell balance i.e. between 'POTUS bashing Ørsted, hindering it to move forward with what has already been US approved' and '[US] Big tech can't get its will with the EU'.

I don’t think all evidence points against it. Living in Europe, I think most are still ok with the status quo. But there is growing discontent, with over regulation and too much friggin immigration. I’m probably not your typical European, I’m super pro-America (married to one, kids are American citizens), dead against the over regulation, angered by the lax border control. Europe is a bit of a joke but I feel the tide is turning. I don’t care if the politicians remain the same, I want the politics to change, I couldn’t give a crap who ushers that change in.

Seeing The Odyssey today with my son. Also, Fairfax continues to buy Indian Bonds. https://m.economictimes.com/markets/bonds/fairfax-picks-up-half-of-3-year-government-bonds-at-auction/amp_articleshow/132473875.cms

Yeh but the changes being sought, such as voter ID, much less mail in voting, it’s not a big issue to implement really. Let’s agree to disagree. There was no real talk of fraud in UK elections, but voter id was implemented to bolster public confidence in results and to prevent voter impersonation. No fuss about it because it wasn’t a partisan issue, and it just made sense.

LOL! Saw that last week! Just saw The Odyssey today. Cheers!

John, I know the value of a beautiful patina on antiques that showcases its history, but that value drops dramatically with large cracks in the patina! Cheers!

Haha! There's a good number in the U.S. that don't trust science and vaccines! Few questioned the authenticity of U.S. election results over the last 50 years until Al Gore...but even he accepted the results and did not utter the words conspiracy or rigged. The only other fellow to question results, just like he questions the media, people, countries, allies, staff, etc is Trump. And not only did he doubt the results, he created a full-blown conspiracy theme around them with zero proof. The only time elections, media, people, countries, allies, staff, etc aren't rigged is when they are on his side. You could have the tightest security regulations around elections, identical in every state, and Ms. Piggy would yell fire at every voting location! Cheers!

Yesterday, I just lost a quite long draft here on CofB&F to Cloudflare! - I hope it [Cloudflare, not my drafts!] may go to hell! Mike [ @cubsfan ] & @dwy000, I'll get back to you both here - It's too hot here, it's Saturday, it's vacation time, and, and, and ... ! - - - o 0 o - - - Funny - and very informative! - to post a basic question about voting in the USA, and then see the reactions, explanations of elaborations coming in here, in a steady stream! - I'm learning a lot from reading it all.

Trump knows winning the mid-terms is a long shot. 39 of the last 41 mid-terms have gone to the out of power party. He wants election reform in place for 2028 just like 85% of American citizens are demanding: 1 - Voter ID 2- Proof of Citizenship

He knows there are elections are coming up that he may well lose so he is setting up the stage to question the legitimacy of the elections if he does indeed loses.

Wow what an absolute reversal this morning from Nasdaq futures 28408 MU looked like it was being flushed down the toilet straight to $600 but maybe it'll just dick around sideways for a bit Meanwhile I'll read for entertainment Reddit posts from funboys who bought $1000+ strike calls haha

I don’t dispute that investigators believed crimes may have occurred involving fraudulent voter registration applications. That’s different from saying there was election fraud that affected votes or that a political cover-up occurred. An internal FBI memo recommending further investigation or prosecution shows one investigator’s view, not the government’s final legal conclusion. The publicly reported facts are still that the fraudulent registration applications were caught by local election officials before the election, rejected, and investigators have not publicly presented evidence that fraudulent ballots were cast or counted because of them. Whether DOJ should have pursued charges against individuals responsible for submitting fraudulent registrations is a separate question from whether the 2020 election was affected. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Yep! Just started watching it myself!

Since I'm watching on Prime, astrophage?

Ok WB - forget it - I found the answer in the filings. The Trump FBI was called in by the local Muskegon police due to the fraudulent documents. The Muskegon City Clerk blocked the fraudulent registrations. The firm had submitted around 12,000 registrations in total. Many of them were deemed to be fraudulent - which is a Federal Crime to submit phony data them, with intent, for Voter registration. The investigation languished for 1 year, when the Biden FBI decided not to purse the case in spite of a mountain of evidence. Here is the email between the FBI officials - one saying we need to keep pursue this - the other saying to shut down the investigation. In this email string - the FBI official discusses the federal crimes, urging referral to the DOJ. https://electionrecords.netlify.app/documents/michigan/fbimichigan-2021-dont-want-to-close-memo-release-marked.pdf