John Hjorth

Long time, no see ... Pretty mind boggling to read my own last post here Related to Denmark : The Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities [December 5th 2024] : No bids for offshore wind farms: Clarification work has been initiated. So, no takers, because nobody can make the calculations for a satisfactory risk adjusted return on the investments. The two Danish mirages of Energy Islands [North Sea, and at Bornhold also dropped [/ mothballed?]. My understanding is that the offer for bids was based on a payment to the state ['English model', practised by The Crown Estate] for lease of the seabed on which to build and rise the offshore windmill power plants. I'm a huge fan of responsible energy minister Lars Aaagaard, but this one he got totally wrong, he basically dropped the whole thing on the floor. Huge dent in his personal image and reputation, and total fiasco, getting nowhere with this, after spending tons of KJoules on it. - - - o 0 o - - - Then there is this 'Power-to-X' thingy in Jutland about a hydrogen pipeline to Germany, that has basically gone south, too. - - - o 0 o - - - Then today : Better Energy A/S [December 19th 2024] : Better Energy enters restructuring to rebuild capital base and stabilise business. Link to Annual Report 2023 here, then press '+' at 'Regnskaber' , and grab the IXBRL here [the file is too big for attachment here.] It actually looks like an Enron to me. And I have personally money allocated to this thing, via my work life long contributions to by law required supplementary labor markets pension [In Danish called ATP]. The guy running the show about stocks at ATP is on the board of this thingy! - - - o 0 o - - - It has to me 'Brookfield' or 'Apollo' painted in bold script painted all over it! - - - o 0 o - - - If this alreday is not enough, then take a look at the Danish companies Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Ørsted A/S and their recent quarterly reportings. - - - o 0 o - - - What a mess it all is! - I've started to think about oil again, - a playing ground, I'm really dumb at. - - - o 0 o - - - Edit : Bloomberg - Industries - Energy [December 19th 2024] : Solar Firm Collapse Shakes Denmark’s Financial System

Thank you for the elaboration, @Spekulatius .

Welcome to CofB&F, @MadeItSquare ! -Please don't be a stranger!

Certainly food for thoughts, - nowadays. Please, take care.

Why don't you post in the approriate books forum and topic about it? In stead of here?

@Milu & @Cod Liver Oil, It's true, and it complicates things related to investing here in Denmark, more or less, a lot - - - o 0 o - - - All realized stock capital gains here in Denmark are taxed at 42 percent, except the first DKK 61 K taxed at 27 percent in a given year. Furthermore, all tax deferred acounts here are subject to a MtM taxation of 15.3 percent on dividends, realized and unrealized gains, with credit for withheld foreign dividend taxes. - - - o 0 o - - - In short, it has become 'just' a life condition, to which our household contribute willingly and gladly. With my personal health issues, without the Danish health care system in place, I would likely personally already have been dead, broke, or both. Thank you. - - - o 0 o - - - Here is a photo of my recent ride, made available to me, for free, by the municipality / City:

Sanjeev [ @Parsad ], Thank you, and respectfully and duly noted, going forward. In fact, you proposals for mentions to spread the gospel has already triggered some ideas at me

Thank you, @73 Reds, Based on your elaboration, it makes a lot of sense, to me, personally. It's somewhat all related to ones personality. Are you a very social creature [one end of a scale], or a lonely rider [the other end of the same scale], or something in between?

Correct, @wescobrk, It's in the book. Thank you.

You might be right, or you may wrong, here, @73 Reds, I personally think the key to understanding here, is actually not about money, but more about tolerance, towards variant perceptions. Please just present your argumentation, by logic, and it'll get a go. - - - o 0 o - - - Then there is 'the element of hardship' related to this. You would have to read Sanjeevs [ @Parsad ]s posts for at least the last decade, actually , more than a decade, here on CoBF. It is about that 'nothing comes from nothing, except pocket wool', when 'plus something' is added to that, the piano starts playing. - - - o 0 o - - - The concept of an 'investment club' here in Denmark causes an immediate 'brain crash' for me, as a retired Danish CPA, by profession. An 'investment club', can take several forms, based on the will of the founders. - - - o 0 o - - - I personally don't invest the same way as Sanjeev [ @Parsad ][It's about differencies in national tax regimes], but I certainly appreciate the ongoing discussions here on CoBF anyway. - - - o 0 o - - - This is all about keeping us all connected. -Thank you.

@dwy000, Please, take it easy.

Please don't worry too much. Things will 'settle' - nice and easy, over time. Like for Volkswagen. Stay cool.

About a month ago, or so, I asked the Lady of the House to remind me not to forget one - for me, important thing, up to the coming Christmas. Yesterday, I got that particular verbal reminder from her, not to forget it. [At this time of the year, if it's been a good year so far, I'm usually stressing a lot about taxes for the year, imagine me with spiky hair [the hair, that's left on top, the rest has wandered south bound, subject to gravitation]. This year I got our tax planning fixed in July, so no sweat. So I got it done today. - Then she said : 'Please do same thing for me, on behalf of me, too!'. *Double bubble*! - - - o 0 o - - - If you percieve your CoBF membership like I do : 'The best investment classroom' out there! <on the Internet>, you should perhaps also consider to do, what I [we] did today, at your own personal discretion. - - - - o 0 o - - - 'The Shop' option on the main CoBF page does not - as far as I've experienced today - work for such activity. [It only works for new memberships.] But sending CAD to cornerofberkshireandfairfax <dot> com via Paypal works like a breeze. I would personally guess that what your personal comment on a funds transfer may end up being in the commentary field matter more to Sanjeev than the money transferred by it self. Personally I've made a note of that if CoBF is not in need of cost coverage, Sanjeev is free to personally allocate the funds how he personally prefer [food bank, Crohn Collitis, a gift to a family member, whatever!] - - - o 0 o - - - To all my fellow CoBF board members, and especially Sanjeev [ @Parsad ] : Thank you for being you!

Please don't worry too much about it, Charlie [ @dealraker ]. All you Americans' President Elect already have your sixs covered, because it's just a matter of fixing the issue with automation : Just move the right foot from the throttle to the brake, and everything will be fine! : https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113642120976193077

@Munger_Disciple, One can also explain it by being the cheapest margin available to anyone, and add to that, it's non-callable for the margin provider. The only margin requirement as collateral is patience - a lot of it! - the more, the merrier! - It simply works great.

YouTube : Anders Puck Nielsen [December 12th 2024] : What is Russia's plan for victory? I have to admit, that Anders Puck Nielsen is a Danish talking head, but somehow, his thoughts and talks, based on his military education and experience, at least to me personally, provides some valuable insights. Military logic and reason isen't, to me, personally, really like 'normal logic and reason'.

@SafetyinNumbers, No, I did not. I did only look at the results from General Re consolidated to Berkshire, consolidated back then. The person to ask about what General Re contributions to Berkshire Hathaway Group equity over time would be Berkshire CFO Marc Hamburg. Unfortunately it makes no sense asking him, because he is providing information to us as investors as the Berkshire CFO, while he is not in the business of answering investor questions.

I agree, @73 Reds, The 'problem'/'issue' with this kind of float is, that we don't receive an account statement of its status at each year end. Out of sight, out of mind. Every year, I perform a 'household consolidation', where calculated deferred taxes are provided for as a liability, to get to our household net worth. By doing that, one never forget it. It's deferred, but it's there, and it's real, because it exists. And it's also up and to the right! -So, I changed the spreadsheet, so latest year is to the left!

Some years back, I actually did the exercise proposed by @Munger_Disciple above. On the Berkshire insurance business for those years, one can quite easily follow the results for General Re post acquisition. After finishing the excercise, and adding up the numbers for the period it took to get General Re back on track, my reaction was : Holy Moly! - Many billions of dollar! Already back then, Berkshire was able to shoulder such size losses, because of it's size already back then, but it was certainly not good. And the man was totally candid and upright about it for years in the shareholder letters, untill the ship was tight again. Since then, Buffett has been reluctant to talk about this acquisition, for obvious reasons. About his mistakes he has always said he has made several, and that he'll likely continue make them.

Yes, @73 Reds, Deferred taxes are our float, with cost of float at zero, unless there in certain years are changes in the local / national tax regime.

Bloomberg - Markets - Deals [December 11th 2024] : Apollo CEO Rowan Sees Even Bigger Private Mega-Deals Coming Soon. I personally think, Marc Rowan is likely here talking 'his book', here meaning, based on what's on his desk, as 'work in progress', indicates so. If '2 in 5' [double up up in activity during the next five years] has to be based on and in reality, somebody really has to play, and somebody really has to dance, now.

That's a friggin' crazy past 5 years return, Sanjeev [ @Parsad ]! - Congratulations!

To me personally, this very unlikely to ever happen, at least with the existing tax regime in the US for withholding dividend taxes on dividends from shares held by owners not resident in the US. Lots of UK pensioners and pension savers are relying on tax free BP dividends. And then again, Rama's cries have happened before, and for a reason.

I would guess the New York Times article linked to above by Blake [ @Blake Hampton ], might contain the deeper background information and thereby also the explanation of what this tragic event actually was about.

This topic has become so creepy to read lately for a Northern European guy like me. That said, please do not think that it is that much different up here in tiny Denmark, up in the Northern Europe. So much meaningsless and absolutely crazy stuff going on in Copenhagen nowadays, where the Police has been caught flatfooted, without the means and resources to keep up with crime. It has been both with regards to the content of the toolbox of the Police, and legislation lagging behind.