rogermunibond

Has Klarman just given up on trying to restrict access to his letter? Or maybe this one is a fake. :) Did find it interesting he mentioned Steinhoff International debt.

Map tracking the spread and cases/deaths. https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Your building and the landlord should have a smoking policy, which may protect you from the issue of secondhand smoke. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/smoke/smoking-sample-policy-residential.pdf

Have there been any good books or long-form accounts of the entire Steinhoff International story? Seems like for such a large multi-national fraud that it gets very little attention.

Cassius - when Carrefour was selling its 10% (?) stake in Costco back in the 1990s, Berkshire had the opportunity and passed due to Buffett's aversion to retail, despite Charlie's support for it. File that in the errors of omission stack.

31 counties 1/3 of GDP is kind of a meaningless stat. There's lots of GDP tied in the wholesale value chain. For example, Boeing 737 sale gets booked in King County. But the bill of materials includes parts and services scattered all over the US.

Lech Walesa interview by NHK - had some interesting comments w/r/t the European project. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/directtalk/20191225/2058586/

Or Denmark ;)

TRUMPF Group - the kind of business that would be great for Berkshire to acquire. Also an area where Iscar is under threat from laser cutting tools for industry. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/business/global/12german.html Another such private company - formerly Swiss now domiciled in Liechtenstein - Hilti Group - construction tools/systems, fire prevention systems, construction services https://www.hilti.group/content/dam/documents/Media-Release/2019/march/Hilti_Company-Report_2018_en.pdf

Man sticks to his investing principles, no story here. Move along, move along.

I find this quite surprising. Combs was at Progressive for how long? Maybe 3-6 years before going to get this MBA? That's there is no internal GEICO candidate who knows the business and has the confidence of Buffett and Jain is surprising.

Different types of nicotine/smoking addiction. For some it's more psychological and others it is neurochemical. Those that have a really hard time are more wired - genetically - in their brain receptors to grab hold of nicotine. They suffer the worst withdrawal symptoms.

My guess is that in the end Buffett and Munger want no part of PCG. The raisins and turds story sums up the situation nicely.

Newsom wants BRK to bid on PCG. But he doesn't know that WEB doesn't do auctions. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-governor-wants-berkshire-bid-235301474.html

If I share my data, then I want a cut of the value add that FB, Google, etc provide when they aggregate it. Either collected by the states or feds, would be fine.

RoW won't start carrying into a reserve currrency alternative to the USD steps into the limelight.

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/central-bankers-in-jackson-hole-should-admit-impotence-by-lawrence-h-summers-and-anna-stansbury-2-2019-08 Larry Summers arguing for Functional Finance/MMT-lite for the next recession. Timed for the Jackson Hole conference.

Seems most podcasters are stacking their ads at the beginning or end. But eventually they'll probably stick them in randomly like Youtube and other streaming services do to make them harder to skip.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/blackrock-s-ex-central-bankers-have-bold-vision-to-beat-recession-1.1302285 50 ways to do helicopter money. https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/literature/whitepaper/bii-macro-perspectives-august-2019.pdf

Curious on how podcast advertising is resonating or not.

It's the 70s Jimmy Carter mindset of conservation. There are a growing segment of populations that try to recycle, reuse, and actively consume less. This plays out demographically as well as among younger set. But I think the onus is on the writer to prove that investors in general and institutional investors in particular can accept negative rates - or that that's a natural outcome of demographics.

PIMCO commentary on the secular forces driving yields negative. https://blog.pimco.com/en/2019/08/interest-rates-naturally-negative

I'll take a stab here. Howmet Aerospace by Precision Cast when it gets spun out of Arconic.

Some interesting comments from Munger on WFC's past leadership. https://www.wsj.com/articles/charlie-munger-doesnt-want-wall-street-making-the-damn-decisions-at-wells-fargo-11556810465

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/berkshire-hathaway-is-not-buying-pge-warren-buffett-says.html WEB calls in to say no