Eldad

I mean cynically the Fed has an election to win so it doesn’t really matter what inflation is doing. Look at the crazy rise in the gold price. Gold market is saying inflation will stay elevated but they will cut anyway.

Definitely an outsider. IMO more Adam Neumann than WB but we will see.

They have to be a little strange to be like Buffett, Munger, Leonard. Truly an outsider. The level of decentralization those three embrace is counterintuitive and probably impossible for most high functioning business executives. Then there is the commitment to never sell a wholly owned business. ROP is very good at the decentralization part but they sell too many businesses for them to become elite like the BRK and CSU (and probably lack the price discipline) Like Munger says, it’s a tough ask for your great operator to also be a philosopher King. Look for the philosopher king that outsources the operations to the subs. I like Terravest too but I think they probably have too much Clarke in them to build it for a lifetime.

WSO, MCD, HSY, EPD, SBUX better off starting with a 2.5% steady divi grower IMO than reaching. EPD is as solid as they come though.

Gold bugs are saying it’s all Central Bank buying as well (gold bugs have to be taken with a grain of salt) But the disconnect between the gold price and the miners does support their point. I had to buy some NEM as much as I hate commodity producers as a longterm holding.

It’s a little bit more complex than that. Stealing 450M for something that happened in an amicable business dealing in which neither party brought suit will hurt American financial markets and specifically New York as Cubfan originally said.

NY is claiming he hurt the integrity of NY business generally as the standing. Very abstract and far-fetched when the lender testifies on behalf of the defense. Combine that with the over the top fine and it’s just a complete joke. Anyway, sorry to derail the thread. As BRK shareholder I want no part of it for BRK.

Haha he is an ex-president of the US being actively hunted by the political opposition on every front. Not saying Trump hasn’t done his part, but all of this is definitely completely new for the US.

Exactly, this judgement is a bill of attainder for all of Trumps past sins and has nothing to do with the facts of the case. Plus an extremely excessive and unconstitutional fine. If NY starts seizing assets, I think Trump wins. And then its payback time and the “American tailwind” may be over for BRK holders.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-lawsuit-trial-new-york-53313f64d57b0aa99f756c2c791d29ab The banker in question saying no fraud, no harm.

Enron’s lenders and investors had no issue with AAs financial statements after the fact? Trump’s lenders have no issue presently. As in after the alleged fraud. The bankers basically say no fraud. The loans have already been paid off. They took his unaudited PFS and did their own DD as to the subjective values. Like all bankers should. They testified that they had no issue with his values in this trial and the state of NY still did what they did. Standing: a case cannot be brought by an unharmed party. Sorry but your point makes no sense and is in no way analogous.

Legal concept of Standing disagrees with you. His lenders said they did not materially disagree with his personal financial statements and would make the loans again. The decision was horrible, whatever you think of Trump.

Agree. These guys start as capitalists: decentralization and markets are the best at solving problems. Then they become billionaires and start going to Davos and think they are smart and the world is dumb and top down central planning is the only way. It is especially troubling when most of his wealth likely comes from fees from his fund. His clients likely would have been better off indexing. Which makes him more of a con-artist than a smart guy. This change in mindset from most billionaires makes Warren Buffett an even more impressive individual IMO as he has resisted it.

Grantham also says things like “Maybe with the power of AI we have an outside chance to solve the coming climate Armageddon before it is too late.” Not really a person to be taken seriously IMO. Old rich man that has moved on from making money being his sole focus to focusing on his climate obsession. Nibe industrier is almost never cheap, but is relatively cheap now. If you like the space.

I don’t get the constant comparisons between gold and Bitcoin. Have you ever seen a Holocaust movie? You are rushing to grab a few things and fleeing your home with your family. You grab a couple thousand bucks worth of gold coins to hopefully bribe your way to safety. That is what gold can offer when nothing else can. I know the tangible argument is a very tired one for the Bitcoin enthusiasts, but it feels like you are arguing with somebody about the existence of gravity sometimes.

I certainly don’t know what will happen, but what you have listed there strikes me as a very tough ask for the US economy. Gold up to 2,128

Ha Kenny Bania

Gold! The favored investment of tinfoil hat nutjobs. Gold got close to its all time high today in USD. It is sort of interesting to think about persistent inflation, ever larger US deficits, and a Fed that may cut anyway very soon. Also, with gold at an all time high, gold miners have never been more hated (for good reason). Most of them also have a pretty solid side copper business. I currently have all of 0.5% allocated to WPM and FNV. The 1970s did happen. Just wanted to see what you all thought about it.

And Wendy’s already gave up on it. Haha

Original poster thinks FRFHF is going to be BRK like in the future. To me the insurance float combined with buying stocks and companies is/was a beautiful investing innovation. To me it is CSU that has the most beautiful business model I have seen since BRK. And Mark Leonard doing massive volume reading and research projects all the time reminds me of WB and Charlie. In my mind there is a chance AI makes software a commodity. In which case everything flips and hard assets or something like a railroad becomes king again. CSU guys scoffed at this idea last year but it lingers in my head. Anyway that’s all to say I think CSU will be the “why didn’t I buy that?” stock going forward.

Good stuff. Thank you

I bought first shares in 2018 and then bought a bunch during covid. I have done well mostly because of the huge amount I got in the darkest days of 2020. I have learned everything from WB and Charlie and have an emotional attachment to stock. I also realize that it can no longer be 14-15% of my portfolio if I hope to have 15% + a year returns. So I am currently trying to figure out how to size it. As far as missing it. People love flash and hate slow and steady. Many people actively root for WB to fail because his timeless wisdom actually irrationally irritates them. Like your dad telling you to finish all your homework right when you get home from school and don’t procrastinate.

Geez what a run through Covid! But it actually looks like something happened around 2018 margin and return wise. Going to have to look into SSD.

Did anyone think he was maybe taking a dig at BNSF management or at least kind of second guessing/being grumpy about their assumptions that maybe he begrudgingly agreed to? No PSR, higher capex, etc. We have the highest capex and worst returns of any railroad but “our margin comparisons can and should improve.”

I mean you all know as well as I do. The code word is “niche”. Basically what Idex, Ametek and all the industrial acquirers scour the globe for. I mean even CSU is based on this. They are basically getting a tiny monopoly with most purchases, but the TAM is so small no one cares to get mad about it.