73 Reds

I'd defer to Viking, who has not been wrong since he first began posting about Fairfax. As an aside, simply watching the 2 COBF namesakes one would not know anything at all is going on in the World. Don't know about anyone else but when I started buying both stocks (decades apart) times like this were a key reason. No worries whatsoever.

Well, if fun includes any of the following, its already begun: Not telling me what to say, do or think. Not telling me who to hire outside of long-established definitions of "discrimination". Not promoting, funding and turning a blind eye to endless wars. Removing dangerous illegals and deterring future illegals from entering this country. Promoting merit-based anything rather than quotas. Strengthening a military whose numbers were diminishing. Making public statements you may not like but at least you can understand. Spending my tax dollars more wisely and eliminating a lot of spending I don't support. Recognizing people for who they are, not what they want to be in some misguided, alternate universe. Endorsing equal justice for everyone, including those with whom you disagree and have differences. Promoting family values that got us here.

The short answer to your question is special interests rule the day.

John, your feeling is quite understandable. But kicking the can down the road on certain issues is not an option. Nor was the directional status quo on a number of other issues. Of course sudden change looks like chaos; it is. But the notion that all such changes are reckless is a description of convenience unless you are certain of the ultimate outcome. Most folks who make such a claim have an agenda. This specifically includes "the sky is falling in" crowd and those judging results after a mere two months. Personally I avoid the opinions of anyone with an agenda and rather, let the facts speak for, and play out for themselves.

That's just it - I don't estimate or project. Just call 'em like I see 'em. And we've seen this all before.

Nah, the majority of Americans voted for one form of chaos over another. How easy is it to forget, or ignore the reasons why.

Perhaps (never say never), but it will have nothing to do with making (or losing) money or silly words uttered by politicians that are often taken out of context. In fact my bias toward Trump personally is probably a lot more like yours than you may think but I can appreciate the positives and potential he brings which many folks (never-trumpers and the like) are incapable of doing. That's emotion, not reality.

OK, but my view about everything investment-related is completely emotionally detached. There are important issues on which to spend emotional capital and investing is nowhere near the top. For that matter neither is politics.

Agreed. In fact unless you're Elon or a TSLA shareholder, who cares? Once DOGE is (hopefully) done next year people will forget all about the "political" Elon. Making mountains out of mole hills is never ending.

Debatable, yes, but danger is all relative. How dangerous is it to vote for policies you believe are unsuitable? Personally the last election was easy for me from a policy standpoint. And as an aside I don't usually care about congressional hearings because they are typically more grandstanding than anything useful. However, I have always found Supreme Court nomination hearings utterly fascinating. The democratic candidate's performance at Justice Kavanaugh's judicial hearing was one of the most embarrassing, offensive displays by a public official I have ever seen. I would call it, and her "dangerous" and thank the Democrats for hiding Biden's mental deficiencies until it was too late for him to be replaced.

I really think you may be confusing the apparent divide in Congress with that of the general population. Remember, everything you hear and see in Congress is mostly for show. Many members actually get along and work together. But politics requires each of them to take a side in every issue and the political system here as it is, tends to exaggerate even the smallest of differences. To me one problem stems from extremists on both sides. On the left, the extremists have become far more outspoken and have attracted what I consider like-minded extremists in the general population, who are equally as outspoken. This is a relatively new phenomena as to the degree of leftist extremism. But it is easy to mistake extremism and outspokenness with popularity. I tend to believe that the majority of the US population is not far from center on most issues, perhaps more folks even a little center-right due to overall increasing prosperity and less young people. Often the ways that you and I would address some of the current issues and problems of our time are far different than proposed responses by either political party, particularly if such problems were local and not national and international. Trump attracted a more nationalistic, pro-US audience because he correctly pointed out that we spend a lot of taxpayer money in unpopular places and on unpopular causes at the expense of the average US citizen. This is hardly a comment worth debating. Likewise, few would argue against eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, removing illegal criminals, and simply re-establishing the former standards and values on which the US has always existed. We can argue over the definition of what is "fraud", "waste" or even an "illegal" but when the former status quo was doing entirely nothing to address these issues, Trump's election was hardly a surprise, especially when you consider his opponent. For the record, it is easy to understand international dismay at issues like tariffs or even his apparent position on Greenland. Yet it would be difficult to envision any proposed or enacted tariffs will remain in place once our leader(s) believe that any resulting compromise is better than before. Some may argue the point, but Trump does have some very intelligent people around him. His VP's life-story is nothing short astonishing. He crosses party lines to bring in what he believes are the best people for their jobs. Controversial? Of course, but rarely does anything of significance get accomplished without fresh ideas and a little controversy.

John, let me help you. But let's focus on the issues rather than the person.

Well, its interesting; my wife (who is well right of me) and I have mostly younger, left-leaning friends (unfortunately my older friends are dying off far too quickly). They are all bright, well educated and successful. I ignore just about all social media but she follows our friends and their posts on social media. A few of them rage daily about Trump in ways that I could hardly imagine these people speaking about anyone, let alone communicating directly with us. Its almost become a nightly ritual at dinner that she reads me some of the more outlandish posts (we just laugh). Yet they never talk about these issues with us, even though we've spent long periods together, often traveling with some of them and their kids over the years and we remain good friends. I truly wonder how much social media helps breed irrational feelings in otherwise intelligent people. It can't be healthy and there have to be so many more worthwhile matters to focus on.

John, the "Buffetts" of the World are still here. They understand history and have a moral compass. They also pick their battles. They don't resort to calling POTUS childish names and fixating on every word or action. They see all sides of an issue and a person, not merely the side they want to see. Like everyone, Trump has his faults. But he also successfully became US President twice, overcame an unwinnable lawfare campaign, long ago developed a successful brand name, had a successful television and marketing career, wrote multiple best-selling books, raised intelligent, well-spoken children, and is perhaps the most energetic individual of his age that I have ever witnessed. Outspoken critics ought to ask themselves whether they have accomplished even a small fraction of the above.

Yes, voters rejected some of the extremist policies of the last administration. Ironically, voters were also perhaps more informed about the views and future actions of both candidates in the last election than any other election in my lifetime. Which is why I remain so surprised at the alarmist reactions of many today.

And me yours!

Respectfully (again), your lifetime master's in counseling may have missed the mark. In any event, I look at, and vote for policies, not people/tenants. Few would argue we had poor choices last POTUS election and several prior to that. Nonetheless, policy, direction, and moral values are what withstand elections and those are what matter most.

Fox would probably not appreciate the views of a politically non affiliated libertarian with a conscience.

@Dealraker You seem to have far too much confidence in the power of one individual who rents space for 4 years and no confidence whatsoever in a thriving experiment that has prospered for nearly 250 years and counting. Respectfully, if and when one such individual dominates one's mindset, perhaps it is time to reassess.

OK, without boring anyone here with a long story, I was never a good academic (student) but usually good at reading people. My goal when starting was to meet successful people who I could get to know and hopefully convince to do business with me. It took some time but ultimately I met the retired CFO of a Fortune 500 company doing private equity and he entrusted me to find and manage deals that we could partner on (he initially put up most of the money). He introduced me to some of his business partners and professionals who they used - people who were highly competent in their roles as CPAs, realtors, mortgage brokers, business brokers, etc... These people led me to other connections in the community where I have done business for many years. The game-changer came during the GFC when we were highly liquid and few others were.

Well, my advice would be to focus on your strengths and interests. Mine was never stock selection - I don't have the time, patience or accounting background necessary to do what Buffett and other successful stock pickers do every day poring over 10Qs and 10Ks with a fine tooth comb; in fact I'd be immediately bored. As a very long term investor, I care more about the need by the public for the products/services being sold, monopolistic tendencies of the company, management integrity, capital allocation skills, a solid balance sheet with no unneeded debt, and a history of profitability. If/when the price is sensible and as capital becomes available, I'll buy shares of such companies. The goal is to retain these stocks as long as the company continues to perform well and the reason for buying shares in the first place still exists. Valuation almost never matters once I own a stock because besides taxes as Buffett has said, selling requires not one but two decisions and for my skills, I'd be hard pressed to find a better stock than the one being sold.

When I began investing in stocks they made up all my net worth, even more since I used margin back then. It probably wasn't until some of my business ventures became successful that stocks were not nearly all of my net worth. Today the RE businesses have surpassed stocks in terms of net worth but only because for the last 20 years and until very recently when I decided to slow down, most of my time, efforts and capital went into these businesses, which have become very reliable in terms of growth and yield.

Multiple ventures all real estate related: Investing, title co. and hard money lending.

Yes, learning from mistakes is important for success in almost anything. Charlie's life story was also very influential; when I left my paid position to venture out on my own his was the model I strived to emulate.

Yes, definitely. Outside of MO and then BRK, I owned mutual funds, story stocks promoted by investment newsletters, stock pumped on CNBC, etc... You name it, I tried them all. Ironically, some of the stocks I still own today came by way of silly happenstance: I learned about BRK when talking with a Rabbi from Omaha who had become a millionaire through having met and invested with Buffett. WMT came about after reading an article in a magazine about Sam Walton and the old pickup truck he drove. MSFT was the result of a college friend who got to know Bill Gates (I didn't know the first thing about computers or software when I first bought shares). I invested in HD after realizing that I spent more time and money there than almost anywhere else (being in the RE business).