Xerxes

Hopefully some humour to help break tension in this thread.

lol omg

There we go. That is all I needed. report of monkeypox in Kerala

opps

I think Sanjeev floated that some years ago around the time Atlas’ privatization was taking place. Perhaps there is a merit to that idea

Thank you both for the correction i agree that YTD is a function of how badly it was depressed in 2022. Asset-light return YTD: Carlyle 8% BAM 20% BX 22% Owl 29% Ares 35% Asset-heavy return YTD BN 34% Apollo 37% KKR 63%

Asset-light return YTD: BAM 20% BX 22% Asset-heavy return YTD Carlyle 8% (not sure if it is asset light ?) BN 34% Ares 35% Apollo 37% KKR 63%

something like that

thank you. I did read a review of this Apple show on the “previously great” The Economist.

I think the big difference is 30-year (US) vs max 5 year in Canada for the term. So that means a change in the interest rate regime transmits in the Canadian economy more efficiently than the U.S., where the consumer is somewhat more insulated. In Canada, we can get variable or fixed up to five years. Variable is correlated by the fed rate, adjusted by a premium/discount that the bank offers as they compete for market share. Fixed rate has a complex formulae, but it is correlated with the 5-year mortgage rate which in turn is influenced by the 5-year treasury. I still have 1.7 fixed rate on half of my mortgage that is due Dec 2025/Jan 2026. The other half I got nailed by Vladimir Putin, as it came due in March 2022 and had to swallow 5% for the renewal. I am thinking of taking a third tranche in 2026, and use the proceeds to lump-sum the 5% to my maximum contractual capacity. Effectively buying back and re-pricing my debt.

share count is up substantially over the period, so market cap has gone up as well, just that “per share” value got nuked.

he is wrong about 1 thing. Fed fund rate (and not the bond market) has 100% correlation with variable mortgage rate.

Bought IAC figured the total laggard ought to have at least some of its assets revalued to the upside with the rate reduction regime … and even perhaps, I dare say, closing that discount.

hahaha I don’t think there was big cliffhanger after the castle

Understood. of note: Baku and TelAviv already exchange notes, given that the Jewish state is a close ally of Muslim state of Azerbaijan.

While re-reading Chris Mayer’ 100x book, came across his recommending of two books by Barton Biggs, which I missed in my first read some years ago. 1 - hedgehogging 2 - wealth, war and wisdom. Bought both books but started with the wrong one. Hedgehogging is a bore to read. But there is a hidden gem in it : Chapter XI of “Hedgehogging” covers wealth transfer from one generation to another. And in it there are two case studies, the Yale Endowment and that of the Iron Chancellor ! These are the excerpt from Barton Biggs’ book. Where he references the book that is the genesis of this thread. Long story short, Bismarck was a fan of timberland to preserve wealth. If you need more you can buy the actual book on the topic. I was able to find an obscure copy. But haven’t read the actual book.

Robert Massie is just amazing. He wrote the Romanov series. In this two-volume book called Dreadnought and Castle Of Steels, he covers the decades leading to the Great War. Each about 1,000 page long. We know about the Age of Bismarck, the Halls of Versailles, elevation of King of Prussia to Kaiser, and rivalry that ignited into total war. This book describe in details, the political machination in London and Berlin, the change in the cast of characters working behind the scenes. Great Britain emergence from the “splendid isolation” where it stayed totally away from any European alliance. Of interest, is Bismarck himself. You might think of him as an expansionist. Far from it. His only desire and goal was the unification of German people. But he was overruled by Moltke. Thus, French territory were seized, Paris humiliated and the rest is history. The French would do the same to Germans in 1920. Another is the internal debate on the elevation of the first Wilhelm to the imperial throne. Wilhelm was not interested. He felt that Prussian spartan way of life will be diluted by the “south Germans”. Ultimately the title of emperor was more like a “Federal President” than a royal title. It was Wilhelm II that really embraced it. Here are some excerpt from the book. It is a great read. I am reading now how von Tirpitz pushed through bills to build up the German fleet.

Having a blast watching Allied with Brad Pitt. Spy movie set in WW2. Loved the Casablanca scenes with sexy French accents.

Great movie, Bale is amazing. That said, I cannot stand Cheney.

https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/learn-about-genocide-and-other-mass-atrocities/what-is-genocide Assad cannot do much. He didn’t even have operational control over the S-300 that Russians “sold” to them. That said, would you say the plan that you propose that needs to happen to Lebanese and Palestinian as a permanent fix constitute as genocide as define in the link above ? I get the argument of “do it to them before they do it to you”. But I think you should classify it what it really is, if you agree that it meets the definition.

I wonder what stocks does Zelenskyy has in his retirement portfolio. All-in Rheinemetall

Maybe Ajit is pissed that Buffett sold half of Apple. So he is getting back by selling half of Berkshire and re-deploying to Apple.

No one is jealous here. This is just reacting to what I call “twitter cult behaviour” of posters. Probably yearnings to count how many “reposts” and “like” there is by the X acolytes. The so called influencer economy …. When you exhibit cult like behaviour, than you leave yourself open. And it is not just The Economist. He flames Microstrategy when Bitcoin is in the gutters, but fails to follow up when his narrative doesn’t unfold. Maybe do a follow up tweet …. I have been reading The Economist for almost 15 years now. Week after week. And it probably made me less stupid than otherwise. So I am bias. Yes. But regardless, of my bias, I found it utterly silly to see someone blow a fuse on an article …. If anything his post is a “Bloomstran clickbait” … calling it “formerly great magazine” in the same tweet several times, is no different than Trump’ name-calling. like I said, typical “twitter cult” behaviour ….