Libs

I'd like to think most Republicans (I'm one) would be fine with a 'fighter' sans all the vulgarity and coarseness. "Suck it" is just beyond the pale. Ugh. As an aside, I recall the moment it became clear that Republican voters were getting fed up with the genteel Romney / McCain approach. Gingrich also ran in 2012 and in a debate was asked a silly, gotcha personal question ( I think it was about his divorce). Well, he just LIT UP that moderator, as only Gingrich could. It was great. And guess what - he immediately shot to the top of the GOP polls. He had been floundering up to that point (and of course, he epically screwed it up from there, lol). That was what GOP voters were really looking looking for; I didn't fully realize it at that moment. But instead of an eloquent fighter we got Trump and his vulgar crew. So be it. Hopefully the next GOP crop has some class while still fighting for what amounts to mostly common sense stuff IMO. (And yes, I voted for Trump and still think, warts and all, he's better than Kamala by a mile). Blake: You are indeed young to have such a brutal, binary take on all Trump voters. I spouted off that kind of nonsense at your age also. But it was aimed at Clinton; who in retrospect was a decent President. Hopefully you start to see some nuance over time. I know a lot of Trump voters and your characterization of them is cartoonish.

Blake Ok, I watched that segment, I'm assuming your point relates to the woman's comments, her hopes and dreams. So what is your point?

Switching subjects: Mexico. As a stereotypical free market right-winger, I assumed AMLO's socialist tenure would be an economic disaster. But his successor and party are massively popular. Any one with 75% approval ratings in today's world must be doing something right. I dunno. I need to dig deeper to figure out what happened. Maybe the lesson is- "there's a lot of ruin in an economy." Or maybe I need to re-assess some long - held convictions. Like about the minimum wage. Anyway, a long read, but fascinating: https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/what-democrats-can-learn-from-morena

It's astonishing the lengths some people will go to, rather than recognize some cultures and religions are superior (or at least less harmful) than others. It blows my mind. It's as if reality offends them.

Give me a break. Obamacare was an abomination. If the goal was to make sure people didn't lose their homes / go BK if they had a catastrophic illness, it could have been accomplished without turning the whole insurance system upside down. Just create a pool of $ for such cases. Clean simple, and worthy. I would have supported that. But that's not what they did. They created a Rube Goldberg scheme which caused millions to lose coverage, and / or have their premiums go up 3X. Then, once the drug was in place, to remove it becomes cruel. And politically impossible. This is the nature of all social programs, which are driving us off a fiscal cliff.

I've been fully invested going into every crash / bear market and have done just fine. During the selloff, you just sell .75 cent dollars and scoop up .40 cent dollars. I think I was down 40% in 2008 and up 150% in 2009. IMO this is a far better approach than trying to build up cash waiting for the decline that never comes. Honestly to pass on a bargain stock today because you fear a bear market tomorrow is a fool's game.

Oh that is just so perfect.

Pason, PSI.TO. 6% dividend, no debt, around 8-10 X FCF, selling instrumentation and data management for O & G drilling.

Pupil raises good points as usual. One of them is the risk of BTC getting hacked / diluted. Munger said it was inevitable. What do you guys think?

Anyone who is anti- BTC is not going to change his mind because it's $300,000 in 5 years. If going from basically zero to $90,000 in 16 years, with adoption going mainstream, and (IMO) a reasonable bull case in place, if those things haven't done the trick, nothing will. It's like Buffett said - you either grasp value investing in 30 minutes or you never will. That's not to say the bull case is a lock; or that you can't make money outside of value investing. Just that BTC isn't for everyone.

CASH, our beloved bank. Should be relatively unaffected by the tariff tantrum. Hitting on all cylinders and back down to 9X earnings.

20 BP's into GUSH April 17 calls. 2X oil bull ETF. Gambling that this is meaningful: https://news.sky.com/story/us-appears-to-be-significantly-increasing-its-military-presence-in-the-middle-east-13336089

Something big is brewing. The pressure on Iran looks to be going up, and I don't see it in oil prices yet. https://news.sky.com/story/us-appears-to-be-significantly-increasing-its-military-presence-in-the-middle-east-13336089

I first bought in 1998, at the ripe old age of 36. Everything I was reading about Buffett just clicked with me. I've been up to 90% BRK at various times over the years. It's never been less than a 5% position. The funny thing is, I've made even more money from implementing his teachings than from owning the stock.

Thanks for sharing. If I may ask, how early did you start buying BTC? And at what price?

They even had the stones to use OMAH as the symbol.

I loved this guy's work. He was a tough guy off the screen, too. I recall him going after a wayward driver with a golf club back in the day! https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjm9ndw9xeeo

Ha, that was me. Surprised any one remembered! It was March 9, 2009 as I recall. The bottom. Buffett had been on CNBC that morning, at 4 AM PST, coming as close to endorsing a stock as I'd ever heard. It was WFC. He said, "Wells is interesting at 3X (or whatever it was) pre-provision income. " Words to that effect. I'd been studying the stock and that was all I needed to hear. Cleared it with the wife and went all-in at $10. Sold it at $50 a few years later. I'd say Buffett is 80% responsible for my net worth, for reasons Parsad cited. Wabuffo is probably 10%, LOL.

1.7 MM is the latest 2025 estimate from the most accurate analyst I follow (Troy Teslike). And that number has been dropping.

For those of us paying over 40% on every marginal dollar we make (over 50% when you include CA taxes), let us know when it's enough. The deficit is not because the rich don't pay enough.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/02/europe-checkmate/ A sobering assessment of Europe's position. Would be interested in others' opinions on this article. Too dour?

Yes sir, still running my RIA and loving it. Why would I retire.....

I have also beaten the S & P over a very long period, 25 years now. By about 3% a year. Otherwise, I suppose my wife could logically insist we go the index route, and I'd have to go along. BTW, every so often beating the S & P is a cakewalk, if you care about valuations. 2000-20003, for example. And I suspect we are entering a similar period now.

< I think even if some Genie could guarantee some high annual compound return by going 100% index fund but the only caveat is you can never research companies or make another investment again I'm not sure I would take it.> Holy cow, you just read my soul there....I just realized I feel the same way. There's no way I can ever give up 'the game.'