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scorpioncapital

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Posts posted by scorpioncapital

  1. seems Berkshire is a total play on unexpected inflation. short of some unknown relatively cheap growth at a reasonable price business they can acquire , what else will cause outperformance but a sudden event where money becomes valuable again due to rising interest rates ?

  2. biotech is in a bubble just as big as ev and fuel cells..I've had some 300-800% gainers in less than 6 months which is obviously insane.

     

    "A lot of times, SPACs trade up on announcement of a merger not even the approval"

     

    even more than that , I've seen spacs trade to 11 or 12 from 10 IPO even before announcement of anything at all! (eg cmlf).

  3. As soon as it is offered to my age group. Death isn't the only possible bad outcome, this virus can cause damage through vasculitis in all kinds of organs including the brain. No thanks. I don't know why anyone would take that risk when a much much much less risky and highly effective vaccine is available.

     

    i had it, no problem, just 2 weeks of some bed rest, as i would do with any other cold/flu. your conclusion is way out of proportion to statistical reality.

     

  4. Well the governments of almost every country has been subsidizing real estate with a variety of programs and benefits for decades, it's time for stock investors to get some of that love too right? )

     

     

  5. Is it? How can we separate low rates by growth rate? Would tech growth rate be reduced by higher rates enough to make a difference, since higher rates also reduce value stock business prospects? The only explanation I can think of why Berkshire would outperform in higher rate environment is just cash which will be more valuable and some businesses like financials or utilities that may make more money in a counter-cyclical kind of way.

  6. The double taxation treaty does not reduce the tax to the correct amount. It just standardizes it to a flat say 15%. If your tax rate would have been lower , some may be recoverable on a tax return or maybe not. Usually you want a low withholding tax but I'm under no illusion that the treaty reduces the tax to the proper amount, just makes having to collect anything above a threshold much easier.

  7. Unfortunately Canada is one of the few countries in the world with an exit tax at all and of those that have it , it kicks in at a paltry 100k canadian. As such they have locked the doors while starting the fire. It is crucial if you have capital to move residency before you are rich or before you invest. Or..alternatively when there is a crash. 2020 was an excellent year to take up residency in Europe , for example if you have an EU passport or take advantage of one of their programs. 1/3 of the EU countries have zero or very low capital gains tax in one form or another. The key is to do it before. And I see a high chance Canada is going to be desperate and go for confiscation

  8. Quite a few 'aggregate' operations. the japanese stocks and pharma come to mind, and the airlines before that. It seems they do this when they think some area is interesting but are not 100% sure of the best name to own in concentrated form, yet think they know enough not to own a broad sector index.

     

     

  9. The United States is one of the few countries where you have to pay the full federal income taxes even if you do leave.

     

    Not if you renounce your permanent residency or citizenship. If you have permanent residency you 100% have a 2nd passport. If you renounce the citizenship you may have a 2nd one (e.g. European heritage).

    If your estate is under something like 2 million there is also no capital gains tax on unrealized gains.

     

  10. And how did Volker erase decades and years of mistrust? I mean in countries like Greece or Argentina you have serial default for their entire history, one after the other but far enough apart that old incidents are forgotten. I would say a short memory does more to clear distrust (temporarily) than any action by a harsh central banker. Even still you would expect average rates to be permanently higher the more such incidents exist.

  11. If many insurers own government bonds and the Fed promises to hold rates below inflation, the liabilities of these companies certainly don't have this guarantee. I see the risk of your 'run of the mill' insurer that they have escalating liabilities and declining investment income. This is why I see BRk and MKL outperform somewhat, they have far more equity like backup to pay their liabilities. There is also the issue of how fast you can release reserves that become part of your equity base and not depend on your 'credit card'.

  12. Excellent post. I would also say that for those parts of society/government that can go bankrupt or have no printing press there is a very real risk of reduced quality of life. Usually this creeps on through user fees, more aggressive 'penalties' for all kinds of daily transgressions you may not even know you had done. Sometimes higher direct taxation. In a crisis, how much can a government squeeze its residents before they start cheating? Actually you see a lot of black market and corruption in some countries because people have lost faith in the government. Not just lies or policy, but too high costs, low services, and insufficient incomes.

  13. I like these articles - https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/this_time_is_different_short.pdf ,

    https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/sovereign-bonds-waterloo

     

    Growth and innovation require investments (lately by governments because the state seems to have really taken over). Interest rates are low. These investments may reduce the need for full default.

     

    I feel it's unlikely some default to creditors of money won't happen as the debt is growing faster than the growth and innovations.

     

    Geography is often destiny. There are some real banana republics out there but they have great weather. They will always be desirable.

     

    Politicians and powerful people often tax labour, sales taxes, service fees first and at high rates and reserve privileges for themselves on business, corporate, and investment taxation. This philosophy may be changing but...

     

    In a global competitive world where capital is mobile and countries don't mind to perpetuate these anti-good for the human race economic structures (look at the regressive taxes and oligarchs in so many countries) what can one do? Capital controls, exit taxes, restrictions on travel or even living abroad (ahem, Covid )?

     

    Has debt helped more citizens of a country than in countries that don't spend so much on their people? Are some social goals for the vast majority (even if it doesn't affect you but costs you higher taxes actually) worth accepting? What is the right balance? Lots of interesting questions. I find it strange thought that governments have taken such a big role for debt and investment. Why is it individuals and private business aren't taking on the debt themselves? Or if they have, why is so much more public debt needed?

     

     

     

     

     

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