backtothebeach

Yeah, funny how they portrayed picking stocks by their perceived undervaluation as something old-fashioned and exotic.

John Rogers of Ariel Investments interview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd-lots/id1056200096 Sure sounds as if he or his staff are posting or reading here at COBF.

I would love for Buffett to find a way to use the cash to shrink the company by, say, 250 billion in a tax efficient way for shareholders. Maybe acquire something and then spin it out. Then shareholders can choose to hold the spinout or sell it, depending on their tax situation. A Berkshire with 750 billion market cap should be easier to grow for Greg than a 1 trillion market cap, at least for a while. Probably not gonna happen, doing a spin would be a bad precedent before handing over the reigns. But shrinking the company a bit would be nice.

In the EU all they can think about is more central planning. Kind of the opposite model of venture capital and creative destruction capitalism: Draghi Says EU Itself at Risk Without More Funds, Joint Debt https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/draghi-says-eu-itself-at-risk-without-more-funds-and-joint-debt/ar-AA1qfs5X "Draghi said that Europe will need to boost investment by about 5 percentage points of the bloc’s GDP — a level not seen in more than 50 years — in order to transform its economy so that it can remain competitive. He warned that EU economic growth was “persistently slower” than in the US, calling into question the bloc’s ability to digitalize and decarbonize the economy quickly enough to be able to rival its competitors to the east and west." "Draghi pitched a rewriting of the bloc’s competition policy rulebook so that more money can be pumped into Europe’s key industrial sectors, and pressed regulators to adopt a more creative approach to vetting mergers — which could lead to the approval of more high-profile deals. He called for the EU’s merger watchdogs to take into account the pro-innovative effects of certain deals, which could offset any negative risks to competition." "Draghi drew on the automotive sector for particular scorn, calling it a “key example of a lack of EU planning.”"

CIA to Zelensky: We need to tell you that you should not do this wink wink. Zelensky to Zaluzhniy: You should not do this. Zaluzhniy: What if I do it anyway? Zelensky: I’ll make you UK ambassador.

Finally sold SNOW as well. No big purchases.

Timely sale of MU, well done.

Couldn't you simply run a negative JPY balance at IB? Margin cost does not look too bad: JPY 0 ≤ 11,000,000 1.608% (BM + 1.5%) 11,000,000 ≤ 114,000,000 1.108% (BM + 1%) 114,000,000 ≤ 5,700,000,000 0.858% (BM + 0.75%) 5,700,000,000 ≤ 23,000,000,000 0.75% (BM + 0.5%)

I'm most impressed with how you top ticked FIH.U !

U.S. bond yields are down quite a bit since the end of Q2. Does anyone have a quick estimate of the effect on Fairfax' bond portfolio and book value? Treasury yields: Date 06/28/2024 08/06/2024 1 Mo 5.47 5.50 2 Mo 5.47 5.43 3 Mo 5.48 5.34 4 Mo 5.45 5.18 6 Mo 5.33 5.00 1 Yr 5.09 4.46 2 Yr 4.71 3.99 3 Yr 4.52 3.76 5 Yr 4.33 3.73 7 Yr 4.33 3.79 10 Yr 4.36 3.90 20 Yr 4.61 4.28 30 Yr 4.51 4.18

Sure does, current bid-ask 1045-1049, down 3%.

A few years ago I did a road trip in Portugal, just randomly driving inland with the intention to cross over to Spain. Entering Elvas through one of the arches of the aqueduct was a WOW moment, it was totally unexpected to see such architecture there.

Dang, $276.9 billion in cash and equivalents. He is either de-risking, and getting ahead of possible tax increases, or has an elephant in sight ... or all of the above.

Holy moly! Did not expect that.

Entertaining read: The untold story of the most chaotic Nato summit ever https://www.ft.com/content/8985b970-0015-479f-9585-7a9b234715a4 https://archive.is/HdjKG

Mostly in Kyoto I suppose? Luckily I already saw Kyoto in the mid 90s, tourism was still reasonable at the time.

Sure. I thought these polls of Palestinians by a Palestinian think tank were interesting, once you read the pdfs. Hard to interpret them without injecting bias. --- Perplexity.ai summary: Summary of the key findings from the PSR polls 91 (March 5-10, 2024) and 92 (May 26 and June 1, 2024): There has been a significant increase in support for Hamas and armed struggle, especially in the West Bank, accompanied by declining support for the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution. Support for Hamas rose sharply in the West Bank from 12% in September 2023 to 44% in the latest poll, driven by disillusionment with the peace process. An overwhelming majority of around 70% of Palestinians support Hamas' decision to launch the major attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the ongoing Gaza war. 93% of Palestinians say Hamas did not intentionally kill civilians on October 7th, despite over 1,200 Israeli deaths. Around 85% claim they have not seen videos showing atrocities by Hamas fighters during the October 7th attack. Those who did watch the videos were 15 times more likely to believe Hamas committed atrocities. Most Palestinians (66%) expect Hamas to win the Gaza war, though expectations are more divided among Gazans themselves (51% expect Hamas win, 25% expect Israel win). The polls reflect a significant shift in Palestinian public opinion away from diplomacy and non-violence towards favoring Hamas' armed resistance against Israeli occupation, especially after the October 7th attack. In summary, the polls capture growing Palestinian frustration and a major swing in support towards Hamas' violent struggle against Israel, abandoning hopes in the Palestinian Authority and negotiations.

Haven't read this whole thread, but I have not seen this site mentioned here, with some interesting and differentiated polls of Palestinians: https://www.pcpsr.org/ Looks legit, they work with Germany's Konrad Adentauer Stiftung, which is the non-profit foundation of Germany's CDU party.

Thank you for your insight, @Maverick47.

It appears cooking at high temperature is best done with Avocado oil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Smoke_point_of_cooking_oils Fat Quality Smoke point[caution 1] Avocado oil Refined 271 °C 520 °F[2][3] Safflower oil Refined 266 °C 510 °F[3] Sunflower oil Neutralized, dewaxed, bleached & deodorized 252–254 °C[21] 486–489 °F Avocado oil Unrefined 250 °C 482 °F[4] Butter Clarified 250 °C 482 °F[6] Beef tallow 250 °C 480 °F Mustard oil 250 °C 480 °F[11] Pecan oil 243 °C[16] 470 °F Palm oil Fractionated 235 °C[14] 455 °F Soybean oil 234 °C[20] 453 °F Peanut oil Refined 232 °C[3] 450 °F Rice bran oil Refined 232 °C[19] 450 °F Sesame oil Semirefined 232 °C 450 °F[3] Sunflower oil Semirefined 232 °C[3] 450 °F Sunflower oil, high oleic Refined 232 °C 450 °F[3] Corn oil 230–238 °C[9] 446–460 °F Peanut oil 227–229 °C[3][15] 441–445 °F Sunflower oil 227 °C[3] 441 °F Almond oil 221 °C 430 °F[1] Cottonseed oil Refined, bleached, deodorized 220–230 °C[10] 428–446 °F Rapeseed oil (Canola) 220–230 °C[17] 428–446 °F Vegetable oil blend Refined 220 °C[13] 428 °F Grape seed oil 216 °C 421 °F Olive oil Virgin 210 °C 410 °F Olive oil Extra virgin, low acidity, high quality 207 °C 405 °F[3][13] Coconut oil Refined, dry 204 °C 400 °F[8] Rapeseed oil (Canola) Refined 204 °C 400 °F Castor oil Refined 200 °C[7] 392 °F Olive oil Refined 199–243 °C 390–470 °F[12] Rapeseed oil (Canola) Expeller press 190–232 °C 375–450 °F[18] Lard 190 °C 374 °F[5] Olive oil Extra virgin 190 °C 374 °F[13] Corn oil Unrefined 178 °C[7] 352 °F Coconut oil Unrefined, dry expeller pressed, virgin 177 °C 350 °F[8] Sesame oil Unrefined 177 °C 350 °F[3] Peanut oil Unrefined 160 °C[3] 320 °F Safflower oil Semirefined 160 °C 320 °F[3] Sunflower oil, high oleic Unrefined 160 °C 320 °F[3] Butter 150 °C 302 °F[5] Flaxseed oil Unrefined 107 °C 225 °F[3] Rapeseed oil (Canola) Unrefined 107 °C 225 °F Safflower oil Unrefined 107 °C 225 °F[3] Sunflower oil Unrefined, first cold-pressed, raw 107 °C[22] 225 °F

Without doing the math, but I don’t think that’s true. Buybacks above book value actually slightly lower book value.

Not particularly large historically as a % of market cap. Personally I think Warren wants to be ready for an elephant, maybe even has one in sight. The answer to the question why he sold some AAPL was obviously BS, rambling on for 5 minutes before coming up with a half-way coherent reason (tax rates possibly going higher).

What a class act, Warren! Makes me want to become a Berkshire shareholder again…