John Hjorth

I'm aware of that, @73 Reds, I can personally add and deduct, combine and sort information. I have never been in doubt about @ourkid8s personal integrity who has been around here on CofB&F since June 2009, ~16 1/2 years, give or take. A person of few words and posts. I don't put people in one booth because of the use of one word, but try to stay open minded and really try to grasp what that person has on his/her mind. Here @ourkid8 has provided information, that I've never seen before about Iranian internal living conditions, that I did not know before. And I do trust, believe that information is valid and accurate. Disclosure : I'm personally an 'ordinary' Christan, member of official Danish Christian-Protestantic Church, paying churh taxes.

@Spekulatius, As far as I have understood you're an engineer with a Ph.D. degree. So not posted here to patronize you, but anyway. Mathematical approach to Hegseth's statement works great here. No problems at all, I would say. You'll get to the conclusion that the difference is equal.

@ourkid8, I here just want to express that I personally consider your chiming in here in this topic at this point extremely valuable. Thank you.

Out of curtesy the bosses of BP and SHELL will meet in as called, listen to Mr. Starmer, say really nothing, then go back in their corner offices, nose down in the already given track, set by their boards.

By the way : New York Times [March 13th 2026] : Judge Quashes Justice Dept.’s Subpoenas of Fed, Crippling Its Pursuit of Trump’s Rivals Subtitle : Judge James E. Boasberg derided the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington for pursuing a case against Jerome H. Powell that appeared to be motivated by President Trump’s desire for vengeance.

This is my primary concern with this, too. Otherwise POTUS for me should be welcome to carry on. It's just so terrible to think about.

Crazy stories you share with us, @Loss Horizon, Thank you. Please keep them coming.

Isen't it about time, that you take the initiave to set up and form a SPAC called SPECTRE? It would be awesome! Count me in! -We will all get filthy rich, I'm sure!

Sure, think about Ørsted investing billions of dollars in US offshore wind. POTUS : 'Mind the whales - they have no oversize Apple earbeefs, available from Apple!' - after all approvals for construction beginning in place!

- 'Why is it, that you don't just send 'da money to me, Jeff? - What is it with you? '

@Dalal.Holdings, Thank you for pointing me in that particular direction. I haven't heard about this before here, thank you. What the hell has some dumb boneheaded Danish reporter making suggestions to do with this? It's hilarious, ridiculous! The assets of NBIM are by Norwegian law earmarked for the future generations of Norwegians, not for lending out to anyone else! Nicolai Tangen is by no measure dumb. Nor are the norwegians in general. He would loose his job by doing this. Everyone in Europe know that Ukraine is near broke [ @Spekulatius would call it 'plaite'] - all the time. Ukraine simply isen't creditworthy, simple as that. The lending to Ukraine by now is based on not expecting to get the money back. Not a job for NBIM to get involved in. Every time someone is short of liquidity in a political sphere, the 'entrepreneurship', fantasy and 'inginuity' related to a 'solution' has no end, just moving the problem around from the unfortunate to the dumb, if possible.

Thanks Mike [ @cubsfan ], Yes, It's true. And I'm truly grateful for that. The Lady of the House, too, I know.

This is just awesome humor, @whatstheofficerproblem! HaHa! - Christ what a funny Friday here on CofB&F, all while nearly all stocks tank and goes belly up! [Not!]

What has Dutch lawmakers' decisions about crypto taxation to do with investment in Norwegian Equinor? That said, Norway has a wealth tax, in effect. Personally I live with a taxation of 15.3 per cent of dividends, realized and unrealized gains on stocks in tax deferred accounts. That tax is called PAL-tax, mind you. In up years, it's the largest expense in my household, by horselengths. Live with it, or check out, and move your butt, if you can. I could decide to flag out tomorrow with my better half, the cat that rules everything and move my butt. There is no way, I'm going to check out of the Danish health care system, despite I and the Lady of the House also have 'the blue card', providing free healthcare everywhere in inside EU -our Danish system far from perfect, but fairly good. Blue card : The Danish Parliament long ago decided in state budgets not to include expected PAL-tax income in the state budget [for obvious reasons, right?] Every year, for the Danish politicians, it comes as a surprise in january, if there is something extra to spend on something. In good years it's an enormous amount of money! Welcome to my 15.3 percent sleeping partner, that requires credit on share of losses in total if so : The Danish society. In the early years, I found it almost unbearly to sell stocks to pay taxes. Not now. Because of our healthcare system, and what's going on in Europe, that requires lots money. It has been multicoloured and a bit the last four years for my part. I remember reading about an aquaintance to a CofB&F member on the strip in Las Vegas, that - perhaps after one drink too much at a Casino - walked out on the street in front of a car, which caused a bill of USD 50 K for patching a broken leg. To the best of my recollection, this must have been about ten years ago. Good luck with that in USA, if you have no personal insurance. Personally, I haven't seen an invoice in the mail from the Danish Healtcare system, ever! And no, I'm not a socialist.

Agreed. So be it. It naturally has to be so. US politics is a matter for US citizens, only, with regard to votes.

Haha! - Great post, @Mephistopheles!

@roundball100, Thank you for the cultural fill-in [I'm a Northern European] and an in all other aspects awesome post. - - - o 0 o - - - Perhaps I should elaborate a bit here on what I like to see at the Canadian banks. Basically all of it will be bought in tax deferred accounts in individual names of my gang. Being a Danish citizen implies, according to the bilateral double taxation treaty [<- that's how it's called, but it's actually a treaty to avoid double taxation countrywise] between Denmark and Canada, the right to tax dividends belongs to the country of dividend origin [i.e. here, Canada], by 15 per cent. In Danish tax deferred accounts, dividends, realized and unrealized gain and losses, are subject to the socalled PAL-tax of 15.3 per cent, with credit for dividend taxes paid abroad, with carry-forward indefinitely of negative PAL-tax for a given year.

Which reminds me how lucky I am being a Dane.

@roundball100, lol! That's why we own banks, right? - - - o 0 o - - - Off topic : Is a ball a ball if it isen't round? - I think I'll spend the weekend thinking about this question. [ j/k]

Thank you for the input, @Jaygo & @longlake95, Duly noted. I'm all ears. That does not stop me from acting next week. It's not exactly about pocket money or change here for me, bigger than tracker positions. But I need to get going here in this space, after years of lingering. Better start get going to learn something and starting small, than staying on the sideline. I have learned during the early years to start small [dents and scars], and staying openminded, also ready to abort anytime. The trigger here now for me was concerns about the US economy going forward, but this is off-topic here.

It's true, Sanjeev [ @Parsad ], Grow up, or go grow a brain! Either way, here you have it! - The choice is yours! Edit : In high school I had an absolutely terrible class teacher and teacher in Danish, that I hated wholeheartedly. She many times insulted many of my classmates [but not me!] by talking about 'Rich peoples dumb kids'. I got angry every time, and diden't really understand it by then. Now I do. Meet thy next in eye height - both high and low. There is an element of quality in every person, always give it chance, openminded.

This is funny! Been there, tried that! The daugther of of Lady of House was married to a completely idiotic guy - likely good in the hay <noo, John, you diden't say that!>, that when she finally told him that she wanted a divorse, he wen't totally beserk, took all her shoes and her three LVMH bags, and other stuff! -Bahh-buhh, bahh-buhh, emergency, GFC-like cash injections to daugther to keep her standing up on fer feet with her beautiful kiddo in a new setup for themselves. Next thing happening, she informs us about what her insurance claim got her. The insurance company even had a private detective on the guy, to no avail, so it gave up and paid out. I was so surprised : Full replacement costs for the LVMH bags! The taxator had said to her, that they were likely worth more used than new, but she had to settle with new ones. Then I said to her : 'Now you have to pay - partly - your debt to your mom with the funds, forget the difference in your favour, for us all to get this over with, so we can move on.' Reply : 'No, these funds are mine'. She used them to pay a consumer loan of hers instead. I got so stinking furious, that it ended with a judge teaching her the concept of 'mine' applies to both assets and debt. I call it full consolidation, Brookfield style! Then loosened up a lot, made a for her reasonable agreement about installment over some years, with interest. Instead of further dipping her in tar and rolling her in feathers. She is paying exactly timely, every month. Not much left. Honestly, I was a mentally like a flossy, worn out carpet in a period after this, that I had to demonstrate how I am, when it comes to that, so far out, and the Lady of the House was heartbroken. I was starting to think 'How do we recover from this?' Then it came to me : 'Get up standing again on your feet by the tree where you have fallen.' I started buying LVMH, naturally!

Thank you for having patience with me, Greg [ @Gregmal ]. I have no knowledge about US weapon or ammo inventories, so I can't contribute on the matter.

I wanted to give you a good laugh, @Sweet! I sat here, and then suddenly a notification popped in, and I thought : "Anybody on Substack wanting to get in contact with me? - Great! ', then logged in to Substack to read the message, next, me thinking : 'WT*??!!' Me, next after some seconds : 'Forget it, John, - absolutely not worth your time!' - - - o 0 o - - - Friday 13th - Let's rock'n roll!

I hope you forgive me that harsh, not so nice comment, @Sweet. I simply coulden't help it. On a more serious note I have experimented with such paid subscriptions, too. I have dropped each and everyone of them by now. The worst I have tried was one guy simply disapearing with no notice, but at least stopping payments for all. Likely some unemployed guy, who finally got employed in the money management space. An other one contacting me in an appalled tone after my cancelling lol! The finance and investment part of Substack is still a funny place, though, like Seeking Alpha is. - - - o 0 o - - - But nothing beats CofB&F! It's said it almost free [nominal registration fee first time the exemption]. That's a big lie! -Lot's of good folks spending tons of Joules on adding useful and valuable content and creating dynamics every day, all around the clock! So it's not free. It's more M$ style WYGIWYG.