Marco Van Basten

Sure, top tier managers will do well - if you provide 20% actual annual returns, and not the bullshit way they measure it, sure.

You and I both know the answer that it is deliberate not being solved. I am all for bringing in doctors and nurses on special visas on the condition that they work in rural areas.

I didn't know that Latino men built my parents house in 1927 or my apartment in 1910. On a more serious note, if you did not have immigrants depressing wages, and propaganda telling every high school kid to go to college rather than trade school, you'd see Americans building houses. Using your logic, let's bring in 5MM Eastern European, Chinese and Indian immigrants, and drive all Americans out of computer science and medicine!

Spek, more immigration = higher housing costs, more environmental degradation and lower wages. It also allows us to ignore the problems with our educational system.

I think the biggest problem is that private equity is a negative alpha asset class once you adjust returns for leverage. I saw an increasing statistic that claimed private equity returned 12% per annum over the last forty years while S&P returned 10% per annum. Given the much higher leverage in private equity vs public markets, the returns are very, very low. I think LPs are beginning to wake up to that. Similarly, early in private credits, returns were incredible, now they are pedestrian.

For whatever it is worth, I have noticed a massive increase in insider buying.

It is a PFIC.

Hasn't consumer sentiment been awful for like 5 years?

Spek, you should not quote incompetent morons who don't know history like Warren or spend their time watching gay porn. Theodore Roosevelt led Rough Riders. Like Freud stated, sometimes a horse is just a horse.

@Xerxes, didn't Chuck retire and now it is just his name on the door?

Wrong mon ami... Carl Hestie stated that he will be happy to pass tax increases on high earners, so did Andrew Stewart Cousins. There was an article on Bloomberg this morning, stating that Hochul is planning a massive increase in corporate tax rate to pay for Mamdani's agenda. She doesn't want to pass an individual tax increase before the election in 2026, but after that, you will get a tax increase.

If you are a US taxpayer, keep in mind that this is most likely a PFIC for tax purposes, and hence a major pain in the neck.

The opening of China and the Eastern bloc

Only for those who know neither history nor economics. There is no single country that is prospering and does not have billionaires.

Look, Dassault can build the airplane, and Safran will supply the engine. The problem is that the French don't have the money. The Germans have the money, but have not built a military plane since World War II? The French are trying to re-cut the deal, and the Germans who have to pay for the project are understandably not happy. Interestingly, the Gripen uses a GE engine.

France has the technology, Germany does not. Now teaming up with Sweden - SAAB makes sense. Spain has nothing to offer. Not sure about the UK.

You stated that NYC's popularity ebbs and flows and that it has always come back. My point was that you are clearly wrong. NYC's share of the country's population has declined sharply. The only reason that NYC has been able to maintain its population is due to immigration - rickshaw drivers from Senegal for instance. So clearly it has become a much less attractive place for Americans to live. The moment immigration to the US stops, NYC"s population starts to decline sharply, which is not an indicator of thriving city. If a city only appeals to people coming from third world countries - Russia, Senegal, Yemen, Pakistan, etc..., that is not a thriving city, that is a collapsing city.

Again, not true. If you look at the population of NYC as a % of national population, it has been in a major downward trend. As a matter of fact, without immigration, NYC's population would have collapsed - 37-38% of NYC population is foreign born.

That's not true. Look at NYC in the 1970s and 1980s vs 1990s and 2000s under Giuliani and Bloomberg. 10% of the population left in 1970s. Mayors matter.

Does anyone know what is the long-term say 10, 15, 20 and 25 year track record of Fairfax's equity investments? (Them not blowing up on the fixed income side in 2022 like most insurance and bank companies did is clearly incredible. Similarly underwriting is great.)

You are laughing, but I know a quite a few people in Manhattan who have decided to move post primary/election. Some people are going to wait two years while the kids finish school, others are not waiting. A significant percentage of these folks, probably a third to a half will be impacted by Mamdani's taxes, but everyone will be impacted by his proposals on crime, $30 minimum wage and turning busses into homeless shelters on wheels. By the way, the post is NOT accurate and actually is misleading. In 2008, 14% of all of the US's people with annual income in excess of one million dollars per year lived in NYC, today it is less than 9%. So wealthy people have clearly left NYC.

I hope not. Banking tends to be a bad business, as Warren stated, there are more banks than good bankers. Historically, shipping has not been a great business either. Food is not growing.

I see. With all due respect, it does not seem as if they are very aggressive. They seem to be trading at 7-8x net income, which is probably understated since it does not account for appreciation in equity positions such as Eurobank or BIAL. So given a very small dividend, if they are so bullish, why not be buying shares at a 10% annual rate and not at 5%? Chubb is buying more than 5% for instance, ACGL & RNR are buying aggressively.

I listened to the call, but missed it - at what price they are interested to pick up the pace on repurchases? Thank you.

Do they always report on a Friday afternoon?