turar

No, I don't think so.

Well, communism turned Russia from a capitalist dull backwater country with mostly poor illiterate population into a world superpower with almost 100% literacy rate, good free healthcare, modern living conditions, etc. And all that on top of a devastating WW2 which killed millions and destroyed most of the country's infrastructure. So there are always two sides to any story.

I find myself holding quite a bit of cash in CAD, given the lack of bargains in the market, as well as the fact that I usually hold "non-investable" cash cushion as well. I do have a portion of it in USD as well, but majority is CAD, mostly due to higher interest. I'm starting to get nervous about holding so much cash in one currency, especially after articles like this: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/meet-the-hedge-fund-founder-whos-betting-against-canadas-economy/article11585150/ So I'm wondering what strategies Canadians here employ, do you diversify much into other currencies?

I thought it was the consensus that WW2 benefited the US economically, and advanced US economic interests significantly abroad.

Hmm, it does make sense when you think about it. I guess it depends on the situation. I did live through hyperinflation once as a kid, and cash was trash basically, but that situation was somewhat different.

I'm confused, why would you want to be in "near cash assets" when (hyper)inflation hits?

Not sure which group was saying that, IEA is International Energy Agency.

My understanding is that shale/tight oil production will also be peaking around 2020, and then decline rapidly. http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/crustgroup/21152339/136207/136207_600.png

RE: Bin Laden, I was surprised to find out he was never indicted or charged in connection with 9/11. Formally, he was still wanted mostly for the bombings of embassies in Africa in 1998. I'm no conspiracy theorist, and this was probably due to procedural or bureaucratic reasons, just an interesting piece of trivia. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden

It's up: part 1: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100408431 part 2: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000143591

There's a company operating with a similar model in Canada, except they add an additional twist. They contract with big local employers to provide "drop-in" daycare service for employees as a benefit. Also, employees of contracted companies are automatically put on at the top of a waiting list, etc. So they have corporate revenue stream, and also charge a premium rate compared to other daycares in the surrounding area. It's pretty successful and is running locations in several cities across Canada: https://www.kidsandcompany.ca/

You can look into this as well: https://www.torproject.org/

Nice flip flops. I know it's Miami, but come on, most of the audience was dressed pretty formally.

AIMCo's white paper on timber: http://www.aimco.alberta.ca/pdf/AIMCo%20White%20Paper%20-%20Timberland%20Investment.pdf

I wouldn't call it "cooking the books" though. More like preparing for fiscal cliff by putting all their orders in before it hits their budgets.

The "hotel/motel" mention reminded me of a pretty good article from 1999: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-cartel.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm It's worth a read.

There was an intermittent issue for me that I get redirected to the home page of the site (the blog with announcements) whenever I try to access the Board's home page (the actual forum). Several times throughout last week and this week.

Saw this on Reddit shortly after reading this board, and thought some here might like it:

OMG, this thread has just turned golden.

Ya'll might enjoy this one. What an unnatural abomination!

You might like this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09babies-t.html?pagewanted=all

You're missing out on the Eastwood speech then!

I was actually playing with an idea of blindly selecting a basket of stocks discussed heavily on this forum, as well as various value investor blogs. Sort of like an index. Would be nice to have a software program for that. :)

Actually, US and even Canada have it pretty good compared to "the world" when it comes to national postal service.

Here are a couple of relevant articles. http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/05/dialectic-capital-short-cast-hlf-bam-china-and-canadian-housing/ http://seekingalpha.com/article/697261-the-way-to-play-canadian-housing-market-bust They both mention BAM as a short candidate, while BAM is probably in portfolios of a few value investors.