Hektor

All of you Berkshire Hathaway shareholders should be very concerned now. They have no clue about what they own and what they don’t

Opportunities on the way! https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-01/schwab-phoned-thousands-nearing-margin-calls-as-volatility-rose Schwab Warned Thousands at Risk of Margin Calls as Volatility Soared on Trade War Charles Schwab Corp. telephoned thousands of its retail-investing customers who were close to margin calls last month as US President Donald Trump’s trade war sent stocks sinking, Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster said. It’s a “pre-margin-call call,” Wurster said Thursday at a Reuters event. Schwab reaches out to clients if they’re nearing a margin call — triggered when money is needed in a margin account to meet minimum capital requirements — because some clients opt to add funds rather than being automatically pulled out of a position, he said. “We absolutely have had to do a lot more of those.”

+1 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/world/europe/ukraine-minerals-deal-trump.html Ukraine and U.S. Sign Economic and Reconstruction Deal The deal is intended to give the U.S. access to proceeds from Ukraine’s reserves of rare earth minerals. The United States and Ukraine announced on Wednesday the creation of a new reconstruction and investment fund, formalizing an economic agreement between the two countries that is intended to give the U.S. access to proceeds from Ukraine’s reserves of rare earth minerals. The agreement concludes months of fraught negotiations over whether the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with economic and military support as it tries to broker an end to its war with Russia. The economic agreement is intended to provide Ukraine with an implicit security arrangement while addressing President Trump’s concerns that the U.S. has provided Kyiv with a blank check. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.” He added: “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

Found this one on Washington Post today I find this remarkable for a party that controls all 3 levers of political power.

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-us-president-pope-francis-catholic-church/

I asked AI for fun. One of the things that AI thinks is: Geopolitical Ramifications: Other nations, particularly the UK and Commonwealth countries, might object, and global alliances could shift. Another potential hurdle it noted is related to Indigenous groups of Canada: Treaty Rights: Many Indigenous groups in Canada have treaties with the Canadian government (e.g., Numbered Treaties, modern land claims agreements) that guarantee rights to land, self-governance, and resources. These treaties are constitutionally protected under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Self-Governance: Some Indigenous communities operate under self-government agreements, managing their own education, health, and justice systems.

Trump met with The Atlantic. Here is some interesting commentary from the interview about Canada. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/04/donald-trump-oval-office-interview-excerpts/682623/ Trump: ..........And I think maybe one of the things I’ve been most successful with is foreign relations. Goldberg: I think the Canadians would disagree. Trump: Well, the Canadians. Here’s the problem I have with Canada: We’re subsidizing them to the tune of $200 billion a year. And we don’t need their gasoline; we don’t need their oil; we don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy of any type. We don’t need anything they have. I say it would make a great 51st state. I love other nations. I love Canada. I have great friends. Wayne Gretzky’s a friend of mine. I mean, I have great friends. I said to Wayne, “I’m gonna give you a pass, Wayne.” I don’t want to ruin his reputation in Canada. I said, “Just pretend you don’t know me.” But they’re great people. You know, they do 95 percent of their business with us. Remember, if they’re a state, there’s no tariffs. They have lower taxes. We have to guard them militarily. Goldberg: You seriously want them to become a state? Trump: I think it would be great. Goldberg: A hell of a big Democratic state. Trump: A lot of people say that, but I’m okay with it if it has to be, because I think, you know, actually, until I came along— Goldberg: I’m no political genius, but I know which way they’re going to vote. They have socialized medicine. Trump: You know, until I came along, remember that the conservative was leading by 25 points. Parker: It’s true. Trump: Then I was disliked by enough of the Canadians that I’ve thrown the election into a close call, right? I don’t even know if it’s a close call. But the conservative, they didn’t like Governor Trudeau too much, and I would call him Governor Trudeau, but he wasn’t fond of that.

I don't know the "how" either, so I left it out. I know many Canadians, Europeans and Americans are concerned about this talk. I've no idea how it can be accomplished and if it ever can be accomplished, will it be a Canada-US affair, so I thought I might post here and ask

By "the King", I meant the real King of UK

So its not just a Canada-UK-US affair, its a Canada-UK-Other NATO members-US affair

Irrespective of how, can this be a US-Canada only matter? Would it not be a Canada-UK-US matter?

Would the monarchy/govt/people of UK sit on their hands IF this ever came to pass?

Thanks Xerxes. Hypothetically, IF Canada ever opts in on this, how will the UK Monarchy, the UK Govt. and the UK people react?

Thanks John

I wonder how and how much of this "51st state" thing is covered in UK, and what do people there think. After all, this will affect the King too.

I am not sure it's that straight forward. It's pretty easy to delay/block/overturn a exec order. If an exec order were to upend the boat, I doubt Congress will be found sitting on its hands.

If Hosur gets an airport, there will not be another viable airport in Bangalore, in my opinion. Hosur is about 25 or 30 miles away from Bangalore.

Elon looks pretty smart now! https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/elon-musk-x-twitter-debt-sale-a1ef2b5a Wall Street Banks Sell Final Slug of Elon Musk’s X Debt The loans sat on banks’ books for 2½ years until Donald Trump’s election rapidly changed company’s fortunes A group of Wall Street’s biggest banks have finally dug themselves out of a $13 billion quagmire that Elon Musk created. On Monday, banks sold the final slug of the debt they lent for Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. The $1.2 billion of loans sold at 98 cents on the dollar. In the end, banks found a graceful exit from the $13 billion in financing that weighed on them for some two-and-a-half years. Though they incurred losses, the banks collected hefty interest payments and maintained their relationships with Musk in hopes of winning fees from his next big deals. Then, when the window of opportunity was open, they unloaded billions of debt at only slight discounts. “For those who say never bet against Elon, they seem to be right this time,” said Steven Kaplan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago.

Based on news reports, expectations seems to be that the Government of India must strike, since they did so after a similar incident in 2019. The government seems to be conducting diplomatic outreach for building sufficient support internationally. However, India does not seem to have sufficient evidence to pin the incident on Pakistan. Further, the results from the previous encounter seems to weigh on the government, according to this report. Nevertheless, some saber rattling in the Arabian Sea. Could be for domestic consumption too.

But, it's not the POTUS's place to decide to default. That's with US Congress, if I am not wrong.

Thanks @John Hjorth. I understand this. I thought Dubai restructured debt of some of the entities they controlled, not necessarily the sovereign debt. I could be wrong. And there are countries that do everything they can to avoid a default (e.g. India and the 1991 economic crisis). It's hard to believe USA will take the default route. Hilarious. I guess that's the consequence of playing loose with reputation. I am sure any creditor worth their name would think twice about lending to the Dubai entities. I wonder if there were any real consequence for those entities.

The professor on the call was making claims without any backing information, I felt. At best the maturity extension and all the other topics he mentioned felt like a broad stretch of imagination extending to something that occurred long ago in a different world. He definitely got his 30 seconds of limelight is how I felt, but I have no knowledge on the feasibility of these matters. I’ll track here to learn more. “It might blow up the banking system though” And insurance, and businesses that need those insurance, and the jobs that goes with them and so on, I guess

On the flip side, blinking or rolling over might cost this US administration at max a few seats in the next election. What will even a perception of blinking or rolling over cost this Chinese administration?