Marco Van Basten

GODIGIT had numbers the other day. Market liked them.

And I am desperate for a plumber and electrician. These "desperate" Americans don't seem too desperate to become skilled tradesmen. Which means that they are not desperate. My friend from college (Ivy undergrad, Oxford MBA) could not get a job in 2009, and he went and washed cars until he got a real job. That's desperate.

Gates is a hypocrite. He flies by private jet, so does his ex-wife and three kids but he cares about climate change! If you do, ride a bloody donkey! Jesus did it, so are you better, you little hypocrite?

Can you please lay out the math? Thank you.

I have not. I avoid Japanese companies due to corporate governance reasons. Why do you like this company? Thank you.

Have you looked at BRT? Has had very significant insider buying and seems to be in the Sunbelt? (I don't really know the company, but insider buying drew my attention.)

Any reason that you don't like EQR or AVB? Thank you.

In terms of Acadian timber, are you sure that your interests are aligned with the controlling shareholder? How will he treat you? If I recall correctly, when the interest was acquired, the sellers, a public company did not run an auction and sold to a son of one of their executives? Also, have you looked into Canadian taxes and shortages of lumber jacks in Maine?

@Viking, with all due respect, in my opinion, BRK's problems are not due to size. They are due to: a) mismanagement of GEICO & UNP b) Warren completely missing the great home-runs of the past decade or two: MSFT/META/GOOG/VMC/MLM/WM/RSG and GE in the past five years.

Carnegie Hall, opera and jazz clubs have a gravitational pull...

What are you talking about? Even if one takes your numbers as correct, (hard to believe that 2.5% of all adults in NYC between 21-64 are disabled), 25% of the population is 2.05MM. (0.55*45%). So there are 2.05MM adults between 18 and 65 in NYC who are not disabled on Medicaid. It is clear that none of these people actually has a full time job. Anyone who works full time in NYC ($16 minimum wage) at 40 hours per week, earns $33.3K per year, which makes the person not eligible for Medicaid. Working 3 hours a week, is NOT working.

Spek, 45% of NYC's population is on Medicaid. Public services are degrading because we are wasting our money on supporting those who refuse to work. When public contracts get awarded due to race/religion/sexual orientation - as is often the case, you don't expect degradation of public services? When government employees cannot be fired for bad performance, what do you expect?

Do you remember the bitter people clinging to guns and religion?

People with Cadillac and BMW SUVs should not be going to food banks. If they are, that means that they are truly horrible at running household budgets and taking bread out of the mouths of truly hungry people

How are you getting 3.4% 28 year mortgage? Are you assuming an existing one? Thank you.

With all due respect, what has he bought in March of 2020, fall of 2022, April of 2025?

Actually he did. I was able to buy a plan for $200 per month that would allow me to see any doctor or a hospital. Today, these plans are NOT available for individuals and families. For a business, this plan costs $15K for individual, and $40K for the family. How is that affordable? As for coverage for 20-25MM people, that was accomplished via a gigantic tax increase (additional 0.9% Medicare tax on wages, raising federal capital gains tax from 15% to 23.8%, individual tax rate from 35.0% to 39.6%, 3.8% tax on investment income.) You give me a tax increase big enough and I will cover 100 Million. By the way, what is good about some people paying $30 per month for the their health coverage because they choose to pursue their passion of doing nothing? A lot of things do not work in the US: why does NYC spend $44k per year on educating kids in public schools when only $10K reaches the school? May be Canada is more efficient and does not have 40% of the population on the dole like NYC? Singapore does a good job too. The point is he made a bad situation much worse.

Obama destroyed health insurance market place in the United States, so yes he did a lot of damage.

I should have phrased it more clearly, I mean 100% premium to today's stock price.

Look, if you get a 100% premium vs today's price in a year, you'd be happy. If you get 100% premium vs today's price in a decade, you'd be unhappy. My problem is many-fold: I am not sure that I like the assets (no particular insight into UMG), I do not trust Bollore and it is not clear to me that we are aligned with him (and there are tricks that can always be pulled - squeeze-out during a market collapse - March 2020, fall of 2022, fall 2008-spring 2009, and this is even before things like asset sales/purchases), and lastly French government is desperate for tax revenue. Let me ask you this: what happens to the stock price if Vincent or kids start making capital allocation mistakes whether by accident or on purpose? Generally, as you know, when you buy a holding company, you need to answer three questions: a) At what rate will the NAV compound? b) Will the management/controlling shareholders treat me fairly and are we aligned? c) What will close the discount? I have no answers to these three questions, hence I am not involved. However since you are, I think this calls for foie gras tasting trip to Paris to find out....

I would say that there are two free calls attached, except that you are short them. a) to the bollore family; b) to the French tax authorities

Given that the chairman bought $15MM worth of shares a few weeks ago, it seems unlikely to be a.)

Unfortunately, even if there is a deal, I think there is going to be another war, and much bloodier than this one in a few years, I'd say in a decade.

If you said that it should not be spent at all, I'd agree with you. It's the higher spending in other areas that I object to. Probably 20-40% of the federal spending is wasted.

Like higher Medicaid spending for the 44% of NYC residents who can't be bothered to work? Or HUD subsidies for people who live for generations in public housing in NYC? Or subsidies for people who major in sociology or women/gender/sexuality at Columbia University, and cannot find a job post graduation?