John Hjorth

Yeah, models aren't perfect, but I don't really see an alternative. Is there one? Make decisions based on the most pertinent observations? E.g., the fact that COVID-19 has significantly higher death rates in older people. In general, scientists should inform decision-makers primarily based on observations/experiments, not prediction models. Easy to say, when the matter at hand is basically unknown from the beginning of the situation.

One of our neighbors, last night got delivered 3 tonnes [in two huge plastic bags] of enriched soil. Her garden area is about 400 m2. There is always interesting scenarios to watch how they evolve.

Thank you for sharing, Doc, Pretty striking read [at least to me].

I think the facts are, that major mistakes were made in the early innings in just about every country around the world. The mistakes may vary from country to country. I just hope that when we are finally done with SARS-CoV-2, that there will be a World-Wide conclusion, to avoid that this - to the best of all nations - won't happen again.

- - - o 0 o - - - Why is Mr. Tilson even worth the time talking about? I think most people are here cos of quarantine and need a good laugh. That's to me certainly OK, randomep.

Wikipedia : Whitney Tilson. - - - o 0 o - - - Why is Mr. Tilson even worth the time talking about?

Presidential--with a capital 'P'. Somebody jelly of President Cuomo, wants to capture the political upside of Cuomo's stellar management (but "takes no responsibility" for any of the downside--Mr. 'Zero skin in the game' Trump!). Somehow, this reminds me about americans saying the EU and Euro being built with inherent flaws.

You're killing us, LC!, Please keep them coming! [ : - D ]

Agreed, but I think he'll try to rewrite and/or update it, and publish what's on his mind before the digital AGM. The February 22nd letter is pretty much obsolete as of now. He'll need to take some of the steam off the AGM questions, and inform shareholders in more detail about how Berkshire is doing now under these circumstances. -Wouldn't you expect that of him? ["Inform as our roles were reversed" and all that.]

Personally, I think Mr. Buffett has been busy rewriting his shareholder letter, scrapping the draft "as was", perhaps before Christmas, trying to do a total rewrite to give it another angle, but likely he'll have a hard keeping up with Mr. Dimon this year.

France24.com [March 23rd 2020] : German state to take in Italian virus patients, Berlin Spectator [March 24th 2020] : Germany Treats Italian and French Coronavirus Patients, Deutsche Welle [March 27th 2020] : Coronavirus: Treating European patients in Germany, I Am Expat [March 31st 2020] : Germany flies in more coronavirus patients from France and Italy, & EFE [April 3rd 2020] : Berlin sends ventilators to Spain, taking in patients from Italy, France. - - - o 0 o - - - Jyllandsposten [April 8th 2020] : Denmark sends respirators to corona hit Italy. - - - o 0 o - - - I speculate we will see much more of such activity within Europe along the way as certain European countries get the situation better under control, so all kinds of capacity is getting freed up, and will get reallocated within Europe. - - - o 0 o - - - Edit : Fixed spelling of "reallocated".

LC, Huh?

Politico - David M. Herszenhorn & Sarah Wheaton [April 7th & 8th 2020] : How Europe failed the coronavirus test. Devastating criticism ... - plain and simple. - - - o 0 o - - - In Denmark, we're trying to improve : Rokokoposten [April 8th 2020] : Yearly clamydia epidemic in the media industry avoided after cancellelation of the People's Meeting (from the future archive, august 2020).

Definitely positive. Our President (Cuomo), who has already accomplished the highest volume of testing per capita (even though NY is among the most populated states), is now talking about antibody testing -- those with proven immunity to be let out first. Seems like a decent strategy, but the concern is that may be too small a number to celebrate "reopening". Nice to have a cautious, reasoned leader though. Just elaborating a bit about what's going on here about Denmark [Perhaps Per [CoBF member perulv] will elaborate a bit about what's going on in Norway] : Schools class 0 - 5 will open just after Easter [will create an enormous productivity gain for the parents still working from home! [ : - ) ]]. Pupils in the highest classes will start in school, too, to prepare for exit exams. The intent is to gradually & carefully build herd immunity, in a controlled & closely monitored way [& roll-back, if things start to escalate again]. It reads right to me - We will eventually end in the Stone Age, if this continues - an extreme hard lock-down on March 12th 2020. More oxygen to zombie businesses hit by this under discussion. Better than nothing, & just for starters. - - - o 0 o - - - As a #metooCOVID-19? without access to testing [as of now] to get clarity, I have today found a short-cut : I'm an inactive Danish blood donor [have been a donor since I turned 18]. About 15 years ago I deactivated my account, because I was running on/off on pain killers for a bit less than a couple years because of a bad back. Tomorrow I'll activate my account again. The Danish blood banks use the taps for COVID testing, providing data to get a handle on the dark COVID numbers.

Some positive European news : Austria, Denmark & Norway have now introduced plans for gradually, slowly & carefully reopenings of societies.

Has anybody been reading about people going into China, and the tests and interim conclusions/findings about that?

LOL Thank you for sharing, Mike, [here, you're my kind of guy!] Pretty much the same here - space for improvement. [We really need to look at the bright side in this situation.]

Exactly, Dalal.Holdings, This is key to understanding. I think it applies to many European countries right now [, meaning we're "not there" yet.]

Who says we can’t drink? You gents are killing me! Our household right now - short version - consists of [2 x #metooCOVID-19?] - we bottomed out on Saturday March 14th 2020, both ill. Forced to switching to digital retailing [we chose nemlig.com] because of no access to testing as of now. She makes lists of what to order - I type them. At every order - if it's not already on the list - I add wine. Now she has started asking me : "Why are you ordering all that wine?" -I guess it's an unconscious mechanism. [ : - ) ]

Somebody working somewhere without using the inside of the head. Good that we have an active press worldwide, so absurdities like this get coverage, and thereby likely will be corrected swiftly.

The question by you certainly qualify, Greg, Observing [later] what you hypothetically stated, would not cause any reaction from me. Mr. Buffett has earlier stated, that the first priority [with regard to capital allocation] is the needs for capital of the subs already owned [wholly]. We have both read posts here on CoBF about the "Big Four" [also the Berkshire "Black Box" : Precision Castparts Corp., Lubrizol, IMC, Marmon Holdings] and their prospects, which aren't exactly spring green on overall basis.

Dalal.Holdings, Enjoy!

Thanks Eli & Paul.

muscleman, Do you have a source for this statement? -And what are the practical implications of this?- Thank you.

Pretty striking, that the CoBF Politics Forum is almost totally inactive within the last month or so. Nobody mentioned - nobody forgotten.