Parsad

That's pretty low interest, so the short demand is not that high. I remember seeing offers of 15-18% for OSTK shares when they were being shorted intensely. I'm pretty sure when the hedgies were attacking Fairfax back in 2003, brokers were offering double digit interest then too. Cheers!

What??!!! If you have offshore assets, the biggest tax collector is your own government. Risk is risk...doesn't matter whether if it is economic, political or anything else...nor who instigates the catalyst for that risk. Caveat emptor! Cheers!

Yeah, I have no problem with that. If you want to take the risk of investing in a foreign country fine. But if at the same time, that country invades another sovereign nation, and the world decides they are going to sanction that country by confiscating global assets, that is the political risk you are exposed to. Suck it up! You accepted that risk as well. Cheers!

But Hong Kong was handed back to China...not invaded. They could do whatever they want with it after that and they did. Russia invaded Ukraine. I don't understand how you can't see the difference. Cheers!

Because Russia was invaded! If anyone should know better, it should be Russia. Cheers!

Interestingly enough, his fair value estimate after Q1 2023 was $730 CDN. For a no moat company that is a bit overvalued, his target price has risen 33% in less than one year. This is just another example of what is so wrong with how institutional capital is allocated and how misguided the industry is. Cheers!

Big difference between drugs flooding other countries and a dictator invading another sovereign nation. Yes, deaths are deaths, but I would imagine more people die every year from poor air quality...who are you going to blame for that and stopping it is as difficult as stopping the drug trade? Also, it was a handover by the British government, not China invading Hong Kong. Cheers!

I agree! Will Trump keep the status quo? Other than the Middle East and North Korea, he essentially indicated that the U.S. reach will decrease during his previous term. If Trump wins, I suspect we will see considerable pullback of U.S. interests abroad, which subsequently will have an effect on the behavior of other nation states...China included. Cheers!

+1! Cheers!

That's exactly why China would probably be more inclined to go after Taiwan, as they know that Trump would do nothing to protect Taiwan. Cheers!

I agree with you. They just have to go through the pain. And they aren't the only ones...I think most of the world is going to share a similar experience to some degree. Cheers!

Communism has nothing to do with their struggles. They acquired a lot of debt and overbuilt their cities. Transparency in their accounting is another issue. Monetary controls that restrict liquidity has damaged trust in their global payment services. Then finally you have the lack of respect for property and contract law. If they simply did what they originally set out to do...communist state control of productivity and assets...but maintained their pseudo-capitalist machinations through their businesses...and managed their debt/growth properly...they would be golden! Cheers!

I believe you said: Do you need growth for below 10x earnings? That would 7% a year or 100% every 10 years. That would not be enough unless I was a leveraged. I aim for 15% annualized with no leverage. Cheers!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nearly-50-000-companies-face-181828021.html Cheers!

+1! Cheers!

War, U.S. issues, Taiwan invasion...these seem like remote problems...unless Trump wins. My biggest issue is that China has always had two sets of books for their companies and the government. One that they show to the world and one that is the true balance sheet. I'm wondering if the fire power to manage credit issues/loan losses on the true balance sheet is just not there. After such a stock market rout, they are pulling money from state-owned companies with foreign accounts and in total only about $600B total in stabilization funds. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-weighs-stock-market-rescue-015731696.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-premier-calls-better-measures-131418550.html Are they biding their time, trying to spread the massive real estate losses over a decade or two? Are they on the cusp of having no other way to deal with these bad loans? And the economy is clearly contracting, so what levers can they really pull? Cheers!

If it is going to take 10 years to double my money...then yes. Cheers!

Opportunity or deflationary/stagnant market?! Cheers!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-stock-selloff-worsens-hong-050429499.html Cheers!

You mean ex-wife, huh!! Cheers!

+1! Cheers!

You sure it was an authentic Rolex? Generally, they will fix any issues related to losing time...even older watches. Also, are you around MRI's a lot or where there were magnetic fields. Rolex guarantees that their watches will keep time to within 2 seconds per day...they recommend you service the watch every 10 years. Cheers!

I think that's just Munger's personality. He wasn't miserable...just it seemed that way. The poor man could barely see through one eye and hear from one ear. Most people I've heard from that knew him said he was a very happy man considering the tragedies he went through. But he didn't suffer fools lightly, thus the belief he was miserable and disgusted all of the time...which wasn't the case. Cheers!

When I was in Hawaii, I was in the hot tub of my hotel and ran into a couple who owned a cottage there and were neighbors with the Mungers. Cheers!

Not so much of a status symbol for me...just the craftsmanship is beautiful. I've always loved watches from when I got my first one (a Mickey Mouse watch)...to my 21st birthday (my parents bought me a Gucci)...to my first trip to Omaha (a beautiful Seiko with Berkshire Hathaway logo - an absolute collectible compared to the cheap watches with the logo they've put out since)...to a Longines Legend Diver sport watch I bought on the cruise around the UK in October. I tend to buy them on special trips or occasions, so maybe I will still buy that Rolex...my 55th birthday is coming up this year, so maybe I will splurge! What the heck else am I going to do with all this money...I buy my clothes at Walmart, Winners or H&M! Cheers!