John Hjorth

I'm the least of a macro person one can think of, however I'll try to pursue Vikings post here a bit, on a more specific level. I have several times posted here on CoBF, that with regard to Europe, I think one need to see and understand the shades and nuances of the economic development in Europe/EU. It's not just "a mess" in general. That, however, does not imply that there aren't problems, because there are. European Commision: Autumn 2017 Economic Forecast. If you really try to work with that page by clicking around on the map way down on that particular page and read just parts of the data contained in the map [click on the country you need data for] and the documents attached for each country, there is actually a ton of information and data about the reasonable current European economic situation. Some observations: 1. The Scandinavian countries are doing fairly well. 2. Several of the Eastern European countries actually have strong growth right now. 3. The economic situation has materially changed in Spain and Portugal to the better, compared to a couple of years ago - the pendulum is on its swing on the right trajectory. 4. Even Greece is in growth mode now. Over the last two years or so, the picture has changed from being "South [in general] is a mess" to that we now have an axis NW-SE orientation through Europe as an indicator of weakness: UK, France & Italy. No need here to elaborate on UK, I haven't studied the French situation either yet, and then we have Italy: Italy hasen't really fixed its banks yet, so they are [in general] not able to support a ramp up of growth by lending. I speculate, that's the real problem here for ECB, and I speculate that is the direction ECB is looking nervously - trying not to push Italy back in the hole again. [Like contrary to FED looking at the here on CoBF well covered Detroit economic situation to set interest rates.]

DooDiligence, I'm happy that you like it! I'll naturally translate the song text to English for you [-otherwise you'll most likely kill me if I listen to your work! lol] The Lady of the House accually has a combined economics & language education [languages english & german], so I'll ask her to provide some fine tuning of my best shot translation. - - - o 0 o - - - I'll still elaborate some more later! - And please, by all means, just take your time! - I have no intention to die tomorrow. [That may be subject to change though - I'm considering to load up on the Big Four US banks ...] - - - o 0 o - - - How about chords, DooDiligence? -I mean, can you read such things? They make absolutely no sense to me ...

Here we go, DooDiligence, I really hope that this does not overshoot, and that it - somehow - fits your style and taste. Personally, I think that ie. Dolly Parton would really like it and perhaps even try to pick it up, if she was still active. Song: . [Actually two songs in that clip, it's the second one, which starts at 0:33.] Chords: Here Text [in Danish]: Here.[<- The name of the website translates to "The Library Guard"] The music instrument is here an accordion, I imagine it would be awesome with a guitar as instrument, too. - - - o 0 o - - - I'll elaborate some more later!

WneverLOSE, Your question is actually so fascinating, because if one tries to answer it, the answer will basically have no end. [: - ) ] The Wikipedia article about Money is a good place to start. The concept of money is also closely related the very fascinating history of and the existense of banks, that popped up all over the world in the mid/late 1800s.

Your ignore buttons here on CoBF are your friends. It's that plain simple, cardboard. Don't let anything nag you, that is nagging to you. The only situation I can think of where this does not apply, is if your wife is nagging you. Then you just have a real challenge to handle.

At least for my part, you're both excused and forgiven, Dazel. I speculate that covers all CoBF fellow board members reading your posts. I got a bit confused during the day about it, though. Absolutely no harm done. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Fairfax here on CoBF. Please keep your posts coming. At least I learn a lot from them, I have a feeling of other CoBF board members doing the same thing. - - - o 0 o - - - For my part, now back to keeping my mouth shut on Fairfax & reading on CoBF & learning about Fairfax.

lol. Sanjeev, personally, I just feel that your chest and your back is covered with a thick layer of some weird & impenetrable compound of asbetos and cryptonite! [<- sounds good, right? -Did you [the reader, not Sanjeev!] get it? - in the context?] [ ;-) ] In short: Thank you for keeping us all connected to each other via CoBF! For me personally, it has been life changing! - And life condition changing! - in a positive way!

I just saw this. Thanks John! What's your favorite song? I'll work out an arrangement & dedicate it to you. (Disclaimer: may take up to a year as I'm friggin' swamped right now, but it will be done.) After a lot of thinking - during several days: Are you serious about this, DooDiligence? [Edit: Somehow, I suppose DooDiligence is used to this question - as a [retired] sailor - so, it's all about me, and my own safety ...] And No!, this is not the place to laugh! Yes, I've found something very special to&for you. Willing to proceed? It's a song about love.

Talk about collaboration over the Internet! That's actually awesome, gents!

lol. Sanjeev, I'm not the right person to ask, because I can't do the work. I was trying to get DooDiligence to pick up the glove. -And I certainly hope the site goes nowhere, btw! [: - ) ] -Always nice with new stuff on the site, though!

++ simple fix! How about to grab this JPEG file named "cropped-cropped-Handover-Corner-Of-Berkshire-Fairfax-JPG-e1516151433460" from the site, fix it and send it to Sanjeev for a reinstall on the CoBF webserver installation? [ ; - ) ] -I have forgotten how to do [read: manipulate] this in i.e. Photoshop, and nobody has asked me to document my investment returns here on CoBF so far, so I've had no need to refresh my memory!

Have you noticed the new CoBF logo here on the site? Personally, I like it a lot! To me, it's a symbolic logo, about Wold Wide coverage, - and growth: Economic ... -but also personal & knowledge growth!

The eternal Berkshire investing dilemma & paradox!, longinvestor. -Next time the big US banks lie crushed in a big pile, - and that will happen again - Berkshire is likely to become cheap [relatively] again. Good to have at least some cash ready for that. It's personal, how much, though. Some less, some more. On the other hand, if one doesn't actually own BRK anywhere near what one actually want to own, just start buying, and time combined with Berkshire will do one good.

Are the techs tanking today, Valuehalla? [ : - ) ] - - - o 0 o - - - I could't help it. ...

This discussion to me actually proves how valueable this Books Forum here on CoBF actually is. The last time Max's work was discussed here on CoBF, he mentioned that he was working on a compilation of the Buffett Partnership Letters, too, at that time. What here is important to take into consideration, is that Max actually has access to Mr. Buffett. In short, we need to keep him going. [ ; - ) ] Personally, I have today found his twitter accounts [they are in his member profile & signature [boardmember maxprogram]] and have given his book releases a spin by retweeting them.

I just saw today, that Max has made a 2016 Kindle Edition available on Amazon. Max, I'm in need of this as hardcover from Lulu! - Please! [ : - ) ]

This is - to me - just so awesome. A fellow board member [absolutely hell bent], pursuing own dreams, for life fullfillment. I wish you all the best, DooDiligence.

So far, we have here on CoBF discussed the accounting effects to Berkshire from the US Tax Reform, as I read things, only from the perspective the cut of the US corporation tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Yesterday evening, I read the JPM 2017Q4 reporting, and to be absolutely honest here, it was the first time, that I paid some attention to BEAT. Berkshire is shifting from being subject to a global income taxation system, to a territorial taxation system. From the JPM 2017Q4 presentation, p.2 : From the Berkshire 2016 10-K, p. 94: - - - o 0 o - - - - So, what are your thoughts and insights on this matter?

If you have a less than $500 in liquid assets then basically anything is a potential financial catastrophe. lol. I simply love reading posts like this one from rb! It's all about getting out of the financial swamp / quicksand, and to stay there [stay out], by not swimming naked. Some prefer more frothy waters than others, though. [ : - ) ]

There is a personal and/or private reason for that. Please just accept and respect it.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, longinvestor. To me, you're really good at picking up the important details in interviews. Somehow, the oversight of Berkshire from an operational point of view must have been daunting for many years now. This is to me the right decision, to lift off some workload on Mr. Buffett. [i have no idea to which extent Mr. Munger has been involved in that part of Berkshire operations.]

Time for some banking humor: A Pet Piggybank Really Hams up in Santander Bank's Adorable New Ad. Then please scroll down a bit, and enjoy the new Santander video ads: "You've got the shaft" "You've been fleeced" "You've been hosed" "You've got Jack A**"

There is a 98.98% probability that I'll repeat this morbid excersise here on CoBF in a year, StubbleJumper! Charlie, I couldn't find statistics for billionaires only! Furthermore, I think will live on forever.

StubbleJumper, Here is my morbid-bid on your ask: [and no, I don't think I'm stuttering] Probability of 87 years old man to die this year ~ 12.48% Probability of 93 years old man to die this year ~ 22.49% Thus, probability of both Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger being a live at 2018 year end = [100% - 12.48%] * [100% - 22.49%] = 67.8% Life expectancy of Mr. Buffett: 5 years Life expectancy of Mr. Munger: 3.2 years. Source: For Mr. Buffett.For Mr. Munger.

I suppose that you are referring to Svenska Handelsbanken AB here, rb. [sHB A.STO & SHB B.STO] There is written a book about it by Niels Kroner. CoBF topic here.