Xerxes

a (4) would be a marketable security like investment like Markel, which was perhaps done by the Two Fellows Down the Hall I found it funny that in various podcast with the Markel chief, the podcast host makes a big deal about BRK investment in Markel.

buying as a bolt-up for the float, maybe but it is not for sale. buying as an non-controlling investment, I doubt it. what cross section of operating non-insurance investment does FFH that Berkshire does not already own.

Awesome right spell with the “accent” on “e” thank you

@Luca can you pls “like” this for me.

In regards to the Japanese trading companies, the key statement he had said was that, “they are very similar to Berkshire” I think that says a lot in terms of how he thinks about them. Therefore unlike the previous sectorial bets: U.S. airlines, pharmaceutical or U.S. banking services.

nothing new here. Jet engines are hugely complex. It will sort itself out. (At a cost) The real concern however is the optics, of this coming out weeks after the Investor Day in Paris. So bad optics, and given that they didn’t disclose cash impact in 2024 TBD (only for 2023), and given that with bull market roaring I bet GE pulls in more of investor money riding momentum. so perhaps there is room for it to go down further. So I ll wait a few weeks before adding if at all. if you like A&D, I recommend the weekly Sunday A&D business podcast. The same podcast has Monday episode on war in Europe.

It might be that this person is a person that knows you (someone you know), but is too coward to tell you whatever is trying to say in your face. it is very odd, for a random person, to be turned off by a subscription fee, which nowadays we see everywhere. This is like sending an anonymous angry and insulting note to Reed Hastings for cracking down on password sharing. This person is either a teenager or someone that is jealous of your success.

Hi John mine only uses charcoal. (No gas connection). So I always go with charcoal the one quibble I have is that it’s stands rusted after a few years of being exposed to Canadian winters and the elements. But looks like surface rust only, in any case when I contacted them, they sent me new stands. Which I have not bothered to install as it is heavy.

I use the Vision Grill BBQ now for about 7-8 years or so. Similar to he Green Egg. I made this on it last night after a 15 Km run. Grilled chicken marinated in saffron. I do lobsters in it in June, which is lobster season, steak etc. the salmon is delicious as well. the one thing that needs to be done for all the Eggs, is to ensure clear ventilation so that air flows, otherwise it won’t heat up in a fast manner with all the charcoal

@SafetyinNumbers thanks for taking the time in making the episode. I ll be listening to it soon. @Jaygo lol … BB is doing way more than me connecting the investment community. So I ll give him that.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-business-brew/id1540847053?i=1000621753971

Cheers officer !

Building relationships based on common values can go a long way

Here are the highlights of AW article on the back of large commercial airliner orders from IndiGo and Air India. It is a good article. - Air India confirm earlier commitments for 470 aircrafts (400 narrow bodies and 70 wide bodies). About equal mix between Boeing and Airbus. - IndiGo has orders for a 500 large Airbus only narrow bodies. - Air travel penetration is 0.1 trip per capita. Compared with 0.5 for PRC, 1.4 for France and 2.1 for US - India’ GDP less than half of China and its airline capacity less than a third. - Infrastructure is key in the next 10 years. 80 new fields need to be built. - Airbus not keen on build final line in India. But rather work packages upstream to it. - Air India model is that of hub-and-spoke. They need a major hub in the south. In the running are: Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. - Not mentioned in the article, but I will say it, while there are huge tailwind on domestic routes (and therefore narrow bodies), when it comes to international travel, most of that Indian passenger-kilometres market was picked up by Gulf airlines in the past decades. And now with the rise of Turkey and potentially Saudi, there is even more competition to clawback those passenger-kilometres that are from India. It is a zero sum game in the wide body market.

To be fair, the struggle in the Korean Peninsula was between state actors. The struggle in Afghanistan was between a an internal foe that had a free hand in most of Afghanistan (outside the two big cities)

I do agree with @cubsfan and his comment about Trump. Like it or not, hate him or not, Trump was a game changer. For better or worse. That said, I also agree that Biden did stood up to Putin. Eventhough in hindsight he should not have said some of the thing he said on the eve of the invasion. Biden (much like McCain, or Bush Senior) was a children of the Cold War. And he saw Putin for what he was. Therefore, that historical bias that he had did help shape his foreign policy toward Ukraine & Russia, eventhough it was clumsy at times in hindsight in some occasions. On the other hand Bush Junior and largely Obama did not see that. Well Obama just pretended Putin was not there and gave the dossier to Vice President Biden. And lastly Trump had a different way of handling things (i.e transactional).

Somewhere very deep in my long term memory there is a trace of Rashomon. It does ring a bell.

I prefer the original from Akira Kurosawa

I think your “end state” is correct. I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying. The good professor however got a bit too excited in that interview podcast about “full annexation”. It is even entirely possible that a very pro-Kremlin Kiev government (say Orange never happens) in the 2010s would have somehow granted special control over Crimea to Russia. Keeping it in the grey zone. As they already had joint control over Sevastopol. A full and proper annexation of Crimea while already having control/influence of Kiev could have “awaken the giant that is Ukrainian nationalism”. A bridge too far. Land grabbing Crimea came only after Orange revolution toppled its influence in Kiev.

I agree with his comment that Feb 2022 was meant to be essentially a military backed coup. toppling the old government and installing a new one that is pro-Kremlin. But not his subsequent comment about its full annexation to Russian Federation. Frankly it is a bit silly that he even thinks that. Eastern provinces for sure but for the whole country … ehehe Even Belorussian that is already pro-Kremlin sits as buffer state on the fringe of Russian Federation between it and NATO.

my man ! you are welcome

Oh God. Give me one more bear market, and I promise to buy the dip.

I agree with the idea of exploring “what if” scenarios, all I am saying is that it cannot be linear. As in we change only one parameter and all else remains the same. The case of Booking and Priceline is interesting. The former did not suffocate under the latter. Perhaps because one was not disrupting the other. Whereas the incumbent (say Blockbuster) would have crushed the newly acquired disrupter (say Netflix) in that “what if” scenario of Blockbuster buying up Netflix on Amazon in a non-founder “what if” scenario say after it’s 10th year after IPO (say Bezos was gone in 2006), my guess is AWS would not even be conceived.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/focused-compounding/id1352422076?i=1000620161011