cwericb

Good one!

Couple of short videos on Prince Edward Island if anyone is interested............

Yeah, its been a rough year after one tends to get used to recurring good returns. I have been fortunate enough to have averaged gains a bit over 30% yearly for the past five years. But this year there have been very few days where I have been in positive territory - fortunately some of those good days have been in the past week or so. Like Thowed, two of my biggest holdings have been FFH (Fairfax - 50% of portfolio) and TVK (Terravest - under investigation for inside trading) and both have been beaten up so far this year. Fortunately holdings like ARE (Acon), ALS (Altius Resources) and RY (Royal Bank) have pretty well offset losses on FFH and TVK. But if one has a reasonable amount of confidence in the quality of one's investments, it just takes patience. Right now I am up about 6%, but have been down as much as 8% so far this year.

Well, now let's see... "How long have you been a member here..." What has that got to do with anything? I believe you joined about ten years ago. Des that gives you some sort of entitled or superior status where you can take personal shots a various other board members and call them childish names and insult anyone who dares to disagree with you? Your constant arrogance and childish name calling towards other board members is an embarrassment to many other board members. And by the way, I have been on this board and its predecessor since 2006, twice as long as you. "... have a nice day little boy." This sort of remark is childish and petty, but unfortunately typical. "... does anyone care about or value ANYTHING you have to say?" That is amusing because obviously you do. But just FYI, I am probably old enough to be your father. However, if I were your father I would certainly have brought you up better and taught you some manners and shown you that arrogance is not a becoming personality trait. As far as the rest of your rant is concerned, as Shakespeare would have described it "...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Gotta go have a nice day.

Sheesh! 1. Who said I was referring to you? 2. On a quiet board, you jump on to accuse me of stalking you within 20 minutes of my posting. Who is stalking who? 3. You also seem to have some sort of gay thing going on, what is that all about? You repeatedly refer to gay people by derogatory names so it seems to be a touchy subject with you. Self reflection? For the record I am straight, since you seem to be interested. Sorry dude. 4. "posts about Trump nonstop on an investment board" ?? There have been 26,600 posts on this subject and I would suggest that the majority of posts refer to Trump and you are likely one of the top posters. 5. Your obsession with justifying Trump and his cronies must be frustrating you to the point of distraction from reality. 6. Are you having trouble raising grocery money or something? Obviously I must have hit a nerve.

Where did our regular poster go that was so adamant that there would be no inflation this year under Trump and mocked anyone who disagreed? Haven't seen him posting much lately. Guess he doesn't buy groceries. Course Trump supporters seem to have a different definition of "groceries". Trump: "GROCERIES" "Who uses the word?" "I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost, you know, who uses the word. I started using the word. The groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time." December 8, 2024 ... and Trumpers don't think the man is out of touch with reality? As I have said several times here, It is irrational to think that having a bunch of billionaires running the country will have the average tax payer's best interests at heart.

Took the words out of my mouth. When was the last time the US won a war? Iran? Sure the US destroyed Iran's navy, air force, etc. But So far Iran still has its nuclear abilities, still has caves full of missiles, and now, now it seems to have gained control of the SOH, not to mention potentially being awarded billions of dollars from the US. Even Trump hasn't got the balls to actually attempt to invade the country. And Canada is 6 times larger than Iran, and 15 times the size of Afghanistan. And size does matter when it comes to controlling or invading territory Winning a war takes more than the best weapons. Look at the French resistance in WWII and the problems a small group of people caused the mighty German war machine. Look at the failure of Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and the futility of the hardships the US has imposed on the Cuban people for nearly 70 years. Look at the embarrassment when the US was forced to flee Saigon. Look at the fiasco that took place when the US fled Afghanistan. And one more thing. There are a lot of Americans that would rather join Canada than fight us.

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks" Strains credibility when a Trump supporter complains about corruption elsewhere. I know you think Trump can do no wrong but some might view the present level of corruption in the 'first family" will likely be found to have been unprecedented.

The world and humanity has drastically changed over the past 239 years.

If you thought Biden was far left, buckle up. If the US can't adapt to some sort of three, or multi party system, the future looks pretty dark. It seems everything now is extreme left or extreme right. Is there no one left in the middle? I think there is, but they have no power because the right and left have moved to the extreme, especially the right under Trump. And all those changes that Trump has made towards dictatorship may very well come back to haunt the right if the left ever comes back into power.

Hopefully not, but that pendulum has swung so far to the right with Trump's grab for presidential power it has changed the rules of the game, so watch out when it swings to the left.

Yeah, but most of them are friendlies.

Baloney, you would all freeze to death come February.

I would like to see a similar comparison between the US and Vietnam mid 1960's.

Reminds me of the old saying, "A months travel is worth a year in university." "There is no substitute for the real-world education, adaptability, and personal growth that comes from immersing yourself in new cultures, navigating unfamiliar cities, and stepping completely outside your comfort zone." But those who go to a foreign resort and never leave the grounds are not included.

Cubs we don't often agree but I am with you 100% on this. Those in charge of Japan at the time were completely ruthless and life was relatively worthless. Death and torture by the Japanese was commonplace and quite acceptable. To end the war with an invasion would have taken as many as 1,000,000 lives. On the other hand the two A bombs killed approximately 200,000 people and ended the war. Further, and what many tend to forget, the nightly B-29 raids in 1945 were fire bombing Japanese cities and were burning to death as many as 100,000 Japanese people per NIGHT. Personally, I would much rather be vaporized than burned to death. But those critical of dropping the bombs seem to overlook the hard truths of the situation. I knew a guy who was in the Canadian army and posted in Singapore when the Japanese took the city in early 1942. He was captured and spent the balance of the war in prison camps. People today have no concept of the situation in 1940's Japan. And those who who like to apply present day morals to decisions made 80 years ago do a great disservice to those who fought and died for our present day lives and society. Here is a small example for those who don't know. The Sandakan Death Marches (1945) The Sandakan Death Marches directly involved Allied prisoners of war (POWs) who were captured during the fall of Singapore in 1942. The Background: Thousands of Australian and British POWs captured at Singapore were shipped to labor camps in Sandakan, North Borneo (now Malaysia). The Marches: As the war neared its end in 1945, Japanese forces, fearing an Allied rescue, forced emaciated and sick POWs to march hundreds of kilometers through the dense Bornean jungle into the interior. The Outcome: Of the roughly 2,500 Allied prisoners (1,787 Australians and 641 British) forced to march, only six Australians survived by escaping into the jungle. The rest died from starvation, disease, exhaustion, or execution The number of prisoners who died in Japanese POW camps was 7-8 times higher than those who failed to survive German POW camps in WWII.

Trump only believes in retaliation when he is doing the retaliation and if you mentioned Machiavelli to Trump, he would want to know where he was so he could call DHS to have him deported.

I can't see any way Trump would agree to anything even resembling that as it would be a total loss for the US.

The "great deal maker" couldn't properly order a taco at Taco Bell. I bet he couldn't tell you if a taco was $5.00 or $500. No concept of the real world the rest of us live in.

When will the US ever learn that you can have the biggest navy, the fastest air force and the most well equipped army in the world and still not be able to win a war? It truly takes a special group of media star idiots to start a war with a third world country and arrogantly believe they can win it in days and yet months later be in a worse position then before they started. The middle east has been sucked in to a conflict they didn't want, the price of oil, LNG, fertilizer, etc has pushed the inflation rate past 4% - and counting - all because these brainless twits started a war that they are now desperately trying to convince the world they won.

That is a great question, I just wish I had a great answer. I am now probably one of the oldest guys on this board now. As such, I have to factor that in. But short answer, I have faith in Fairfax and it's management. Fairfax is still a long term hold for me and over the last 20 years I have been rewarded for patiently holding. The company seems to be in a far better place than it was, say ten years ago and I also think the company is much more widely known and followed now than previously, which is a plus.

Had the exact conversation with my better half Saturday morning and she asked the exact same question. I also had no real answer other than to say these things tend to happen to Fairfax from time to time for no real reason. Kinda felt like a moron because I could not explain the situation, and yeah, there is the net worth roller coaster. I told her that I have every confidence that share price will get back on track, my only concern is when as I am not getting any younger. With Fairfax at around 50% of my portfolio I have not been adding, but I have no intention of selling either. There have been days that tend to make me reach for the Rolaids though. By the way Crip, I'm the guy that stumbled onto this board 20 years ago and paid close attention to every one of your posts at the time because you always seemed to ask or answer ask the same questions that I had and you were one of the posters that influenced me jump into Fairfax. I thank you for that. There has been a lot of ups and downs with Fairfax over those 20 years but I'm still here.

Right on! And you can see examples of their cultists on this board. The one thing those leaders all have in common is their ability to influence their followers to believe the hate and lies spewed by those leaders. And, their followers will attempt to justify those distorted ideas and 'facts' by quoting information indirectly provided by those same leaders. It is mind boggling how so many reasonably intelligent people can be susceptible to the propaganda spewed by these divisive leaders. Are they cultists? Well look at how some posters here will emulate Trump's arrogance in attacking dissenters personally when they have no facts to present. So they attack the poster when they have no facts to which to defer. Look at how some of those same posters will emulate Trump's habit by referring to others by childish names. "Pocahontas", "Crooked Joe", "Governor Carney", etc etc. Then look at how the cult tries to sell that Trump is winning his personal war with Iran. But.... 1) No regime change. 2) No recovery of enriched uranium. 3) No agreement on giving up nuclear ambitions. 4) No "obliteration" of nuclear Iran's nuclear facilities. 5) No reduction of Iran's thousands of missiles and drones and the ability to produce thousands more. 6) One success? Trump succeeded in raising the price of petroleum and all things affected by that increase.

The Cult has been pretty lately given the fiasco in the Middle East and with Comrade Trump kissing Xi's ass. Funny how the Trumpers were so critical of Biden's deal with Iran. Looking pretty good now. And what ever happened to that "No more foreign wars" from the cult. And now we have inflation and shortages - mostly due to Trumps disastrous war with Iran pushing up prices of......... Petroleum, price increases hitting everything from your car to jet fuel Fertilizer, pricing farmers out of business Aluminium, used in everything from aeroplanes to beer cans. Helium, critical for the medical field and in the manufacturing of semiconductors, fiber optics, pressurizing rockets, welding, specialized breathing, etc, etc. Who is a major exporter of Petroleum, Fertilizer, Aluminium and Helium?? Oh Canada! And the major customer as prices increase? God Bless America!

Thanks. I was aware you are a doctor WB and was wondering if you might comment (thanks). Surprised to find we have both had prostrate cancer and have recovered. I am an old guy, but when you say your PSA was only 6 and mine was in the mid 80's it kind of puts things in perspective, not much wonder my docs were surprised that it had not spread. Since my experience I have been fairly vocal on the subject with people I know. I guess I really dodged a bullet and urge everyone to get checked. It is so simple. Have a doc, nurse, whoever draw a little blood, it gets sent to a lab, checked for PSA level, and if the level is zero or just a bit higher, you're probably good, if it is elevated you may have a problem that you can probably fix easily and save your life. This test is so SIMPLE, PAINLESS and it can SAVE YOUR LIFE. Here are some stats: on Prostate Cancer........ Lifetime Risk: 1 in 8 men (US/Canada). Incidence: It accounts for roughly 20-23% of all new cancer cases in men. Age Factor: About 6 in 10 cases are diagnosed in men aged 65 or older.** Mortality: Roughly 1 in 44 men will die from the disease. Survival: When caught early, the 5-year survival rate is nearly 100 ** NOTE: That also means that 4 in 10 are younger than 65!