james22

A+

Even after being exposed, Poland still considers Russia a threat. To start with, it has placed orders for 1,000 K2 main battle tanks from South Korea, and 250 brand new M1A2 SEPv3 Abram tanks from the US. This will turn Poland into the owner of Europe’s biggest tank force, dwarfing the UK’s fleet of 227. Its artillery will be bolstered by the arrival of 600 K9s, 18 HIMARS launchers with 9,000 rockets, and 288 K239 Chunmoo MRL systems from South Korea. Over 1,000 Polish-made Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles will carry Polish troops into battle, while air cover will come from 96 AH-64E Apache helicopters bought from the US, and 48 FA-50 combat aircraft now on order from South Korea. “We are changing our equipment very, very quickly,” said Captain Adamiak. “It really is revolution, not evolution.” All of this will be underscored by plans to double the size of the Polish Army to 300,000, which would turn Poland into Europe’s biggest military power, in terms of manpower, west of Ukraine. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/11/revolution-polish-army-builds-europes-largest-land-force/

Collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank operated without a chief risk officer between April 2022 and January 2023 while the operation's United Kingdom-based CRO stands accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11848705/Woke-head-risk-assessment-Silicon-Valley-Bank-accused-prioritizing-diversity-issues.html https://news.sky.com/story/bank-of-london-weighs-rescue-bid-for-uk-arm-of-silicon-valley-bank-12830933

https://archive.ph/Rsbt2

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway added to its already large Occidental Petroleum stake over the past trading sessions, a regulatory filing revealed Tuesday evening. The Omaha-based conglomerate bought nearly 5.8 million shares of the oil company in a few separate trades on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, paying prices in the range from $59.8 to $61.9, the filing showed. The latest purchase, totaling more than $350 million, marked the first time the “Oracle of Omaha” hiked his bet since September. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/07/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-buys-more-occidental-petroleum-shares.html More interestingly: On Monday, Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub said in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan that she met with the 92-year-old investor “just a few days ago.” Hollub said they talked about the oil and gas industry and the technology involved in it.

Is Progressive the preferred alternative? My revised payment is +76%. LOL

"Morale is to material as three is to one," you know.

Sure, I did as well. But I also had factor, International, and sector funds available. Maybe I was just lucky.

Maybe I underestimated the fraction of portfolios here included savings plans with limited options. Just don't seem to remember S&P 500 or TSM funds showing up in the Portfolio thread.

How many here invest in a S&P 500 or TSM index fund? Anyone?

Who knew? They've nukes and acted as a tiger. And why do you believe European countries are now, after Russian weakness has been exposed, increasing their defense budgets? By your logic they'd think the threat diminished. LOL If we divide out the US defense budget to the threats it faces, Russia would perhaps be of the order of $100bn-150bn in spend-to-threat. https://cepa.org/article/its-costing-peanuts-for-the-us-to-defeat-russia/

Seriously?

US defense budget $715B. Probably $100-150B is devoted to the Russian threat. At a one-time cost of only $40B so far (another $38B planned 2023) aid to Ukraine is fantastically inexpensive to significantly degrade that threat for a meaningful time. (The real cost is far less than $40B, most systems provided being older generations pulled from storage.) For perspective, the US spent $115B/year for 20 years ($2.3T total) in Afghanistan (all for naught). All without putting American lives at risk, there's no reason for the US to end this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj0YrYVUimY

Perhaps the scariest takeaway from the Ukraine War is that it’s just beginning. https://zeihan.com/the-ukraine-war-just-getting-started/

Significantly invested in 3M (via a Trust), I'd love to see it.

4 (Quickly provide well being and efficient administration...)?? They can't provide that at home.

Thing is though, in so many fields the most commonly held information/accepted wisdom is wrong. This'll only perpetuate that.

An excuse to share a story: Back in the mid-90s, your humble correspondent was an aircrew member, assigned to an Air Force battle management squadron. We supported the NATO/U.N. mission in Bosnia from its earliest days; our job was to coordinate air support for peacekeeping troops on the ground. More often that not, it was an exercise in frustration. Local bad guys--Serb, Croats and Muslims--would sometimes open fire at allied troops on the ground. That would bring a call for air support. Here's how the system was supposed to work: the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) taking fire--or attached to the unit under attack--would radio a request for close air support to our aircraft. We would relay the request to NATO's Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Vicenza, Italy, which was in charge of the air campaign. At that point, the CAOC was supposed to approve the request, and we would direct available air assets to support the unit under fire. But remember, the U.N. had its thumb in the Bosnia mission as well. Beyond the CAOC, the support request was then routed to the senior United Nations official in Zagreb, Croatia, then on to New York. Once approved by some grandee at U.N. Headquarters, the request made its way back down the chain, through Zagreb, back to the CAOC, on to the airborne C2 element and finally to the A-10s, F-16s, Harriers, F/A-18s or whatever asset was assigned to support the folks on the ground. Originally, the U.N. approval was (supposedly) required for only the first CAS request; after that, the decision would be made within the military chain. Nice theory, but in practice, the U.N. didn't want to relinquish control. So, for much of the Bosnia mission, any request for air support still had to go through the United Nations chain. On multiple occasions, fighters orbited overhead for more than 30 minutes while the request for CAS was considered. By the time approval was granted, the shooting had stopped and the local thugs faded back into the countryside. One day, the bureaucratic nightmare became too much. The sector patrolled by troops from Denmark was around Tuzla, the same place where Hillary Clinton claimed she came under sniper fire. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, the Danes had been taking actual fire from the Serbs and were determined to neutralize the threat, once and for all. On October 25, 1994, the Danish TACP reported that elements of the Nordic battalion was moving into action against the Serbs. One of our controllers asked if they were requesting CAS. No, the Danes told us. We'll handle it. That got a lot of attention in the back end of our airplane. The Danish TACP couldn't clear NATO fighters onto the Serb position without approval up the chain. So, how did the plan to deal with the Serbs? We got the answer in short order. Our crew capsule was equipped with a crude e-mail system that allowed us to communicate without using the intercom. 'They're bring up tanks" the controller team told us. In the early days of the Bosnia mission, Denmark was the only country that sent tanks as part of its military contingent. Not light tanks or armored cars, but Leopard I main battle tanks. As I recall, the Danes sent three Leopards to deal with the problem. Along the way, they were engaged by a Russian-built T-55, operated by Serb forces. It was quickly knocked out, along with a recoilless rifle. Once in position, the Danish tanks pounded the Serbian position. Officially, the Leopards fired a total of 21 rounds from their 105 mm main guns. But a few years later, I heard a different version of events during a presentation from U.S. Navy Admiral Leighton "Snuffy" Smith, who was commander of NATO forces in Bosnia in 1994. According to Admiral Smith, one of the Leopards, commanded by a female tanker, expended all of its 105mm ammunition against the Serb position. Smith later met with the tank crews and asked the young officer why she had fired so many rounds during that engagement. "Because," she said, "that was all I had." http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-lawyers-war.html

Yup. Even though retired, I see no reason to hold bonds today.

Equally important, lifting (voluntary hardship) teaches something about life.

Ah.

Sure. That's the Dow 36,000 argument: once stocks are recognized as less risky than now thought, they'll correct upward.