CGJB

Mind sharing what your average cost is?

It's not easy at all for China to go after Taiwan militarily. But Biden has been playing footsie with the third rail (Taiwan sovereignty), and that's a casus belli for China. Nothing else is. Keep the status quo in Taiwan, and China will take no risks. Taiwan is not defensible with America's current navy. We can't shoot down hypersonic missiles, for example.

I'm so glad to see you posted this. I have some Russian ADRs myself. The action the US took on this doesn't "stick it to Putin" or whatever, it just screws over American citizens. What a mess.

Respectfully disagree that war with China would be more likely if Trump wins. Trump would be very aggressive toward China with things like trade restrictions and tariffs, but he has never shown any inclination to getting into a kinetic war with them.

Spot on. I think this is the bigger threat and has been for the last couple of years.

Happy New Year. Wishing everyone peace, prosperity and health in 2024 and beyond.

That section about Munger from the Snowball is fantastic. Thanks for posting it. For those who have access to Barron's, they have a wonderful article interviewing the lady who was Munger's personal assistant for the last 31 years of his life: https://www.barrons.com/articles/charlie-munger-close-up-warren-buffett-berkshire-bff539ca?mod=hp_LEADSUPP_2

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Ha! We'll just have to agree to disagree. But I'd much, much rather be holding Putin's hand right now than Zelensky's. And I don't think that will change. Time will tell.

I could be wrong, but I doubt the Russians would negotiate with Zelensky. They tried that in Istanbul last year and the talks were making great progress only to be scuttled by the US/UK. That telegraphed to the Russians that Ukraine is a puppet state. So they will likely only negotiate with the US (with maybe a sprinkling of some European countries at the table for decoration). But Biden would have to eat a lot of crow to reach any peace deal that could realistically be achieved. Think about it. Biden went to Warsaw last year and gave an angry speech that he ended by invoking God and calling for regime change in Russia. He was going to do whatever it took to give Ukraine whatever it needed to drive the Russians out of the Donbas and out of Crimea. No way does he want to shake hands with the Russian leadership he wanted toppled, and acknowledge that Crimea and the Donbas are now part of Russia. What does Biden want? Right now, he just wants to keep this thing going past the elections in November 2024. He doesn't care how many Ukrainians and Russians needlessly die in the meantime.

Some people are around so long that, without realizing it, you think they're going to be around forever. And then the day comes when they're not. Rest in peace, Mr. Munger.

Right, Schloss started his limited partnership in 1955. The book "Supermoney" came out in the early 1970s I think. I've always thought that Schloss probably just wanted a low profile for a long time, and after a while didn't mind doing interviews.

I've heard that "Herbert" was Walter Schloss. Don't know if that's true or not.

Cash/US Treasury Bills 42.0% Gold Bullion 14.1% -- iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU) Everything Else: Hess Corp. (HES) 7.7% Bayer ADRs (BAYRY) 5.2% CNOOC Ltd. (883 HK) 4.6% B.P. Marsh & Partners (BPM UK) 3.3% Energy Resources of Australia (ERA AU) 2.9% COSCO Shipping International (517 HK) 2.7% IGB Bhd. (5606 MY) 2.4% CK Hutchison ADRs (CKHUY) 2.3% New Hope Corp. (NHC AU) 1.8% Scorpio Tankers (STNG) 1.8% Whitehaven Coal (WHC AU) 1.4% Alina Holdings (ALNA UK) 1.4% Swire Pacific Class B ADRs (SWRBY) 1.3% Dolphin Capital Investors (DCI UK) 1.3% Alibaba (9988 HK) 1.1% Cenkos Securities (CNKS UK) 1.0% Holdings Under 1% Each: Anemoi International (AMOI UK) Berkeley Energia (BKY AU) Polymetal Interational ADRs (AUCOY) Thalassa Holdings (THAL UK)

Yes, I hope Russian stocks trade again. Just like I hope Russia is successful with its Special Military Operation. Z

I agree with you! I hope it's not the case, but my hopes and what I think will happen are two different things.

I hope you're right. And I hope that's true for the ADRs as well.

For years the media reported on the Nazis in the Ukraine. Though they would like for everyone to forget that fact. See: https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/azovreplist.html

German tanks supporting Nazis in the Ukraine. We've seen this before.

Here's a link listing 50 headlines of media outlets pushing the idea of Putin being in poor health. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/50-sick-headlines-about-vladimir-putins-health.html#more

I agree that Soros ranks as a great investor, one of the greatest of all time. But I don't think he is a force for good in the world. Putin, for whatever faults he may have, kicked Soros out of Russia some years ago. And for that he should be saluted and emulated by other world leaders, imho.

I agree with this take. Well said.

I'm no military strategist, but I always felt the end game in this would be the Donbas becoming independent, maybe joining Russia at some point, with Russia establishing a land bridge to Crimea. Now I suspect Russia will eventually take Odessa. In the end, what's left of Ukraine will be a landlocked country. Every bit as corrupt as it has been, but much poorer as well.

End game? At a minimum, the two breakaway Donbass Republics will provide Russia with a land bridge to Crimea. They may even become part of Russia at some point. No way is Ukraine ever getting them or Crimea back.

Merry Christmas to everyone everywhere