cwericb

Downplay the deaths all you want. But do you realize that - 200,000 deaths - is about half the number of Americans killed in WWII? Just keeping things in perspective. Most people would find this horrific.

“1.) your leader lies pretty much every time he speaks - so nothing he says can now be trusted. Please read this point a second and third time. It is REALLY important especially when dealing with a pandemic... for those of you who seem to have forgotten :-) 2.) your leader does not believe in science. Please read this point a second and third time. It is also REALLY important when dealing with a pandemic. 3.) your leader muzzles / intimidates / politicizes the health apparatus normally charged with managing the pandemic. This is also really important then dealing with a pandemic. 4.) your leader refuses to work with all states and local governments to create a unified approach to dealing with the pandemic (communication, actions etc). This is really important. 5.) your leader is unable to work with other political parties to create a unified approach to dealing with the pandemic. This is also really important. 6.) your leader refuses to champion the two activities that will have the greatest impact in controlling the virus: wear a mask and social distance. This is also really important. 7.) your leader is not compassionate: in the US hundreds of thousands of people have died and many hundreds of thousand will die in the coming months... the virus is a humanitarian disaster and Trump is focussed primarily on... getting himself reelected. His actions in dealing with the pandemic are informed by whether or not they are going to get him reelected. Despicable is the only way to describe this.” Funny how when confronted with irrefutable facts such as the above, Trump supporters seem to disappear or change the subject. But if they do comment the excuse is ‘... well, Biden would be worse’ even though none of the above 7 points seem apply to Biden.

The U.S. has 200,000 dead. Canada has 9,200. Factor in the difference of population and the US death rate is over double that of Canada - 2.6 times to be exact. The reason Canada’s Covid rate is now starting to increase is probably no great surprise. It is likely due to the change in weather as Canada heads into what Canadians call “The Flu Season”. The Fall cold and wet season is just starting to settle in and will likely get a lot worse before it gets better. The question may now be, will the Northern States see the same type of increase in Covid cases? Is Canada’s increasing rate a precursor of what is coming as we transition from summer into fall and winter? One might also surmise that a certain amount of the increase may well be also due to trans-border crossings. While the border is closed to tourism, there are still thousands (tens of thousands) truckers and other essential workers crossing the border every day. I believe that half the U.S. states are still seeing cases trending up. You can't share a 3,000 mile border with a country that has a widespread disease and not expect it to spread over that border. Lock-downs, contact tracing and travel restrictions can work very, very well, but it is simply not practical in many locations.

Yes! Alfred E. Neuman for President in 2020 !

I have always thought that I buy shares and they drop 50%, then I have nothing to show for the 50% I lost. If I buy a house and the value drops by 50%, I still have a place to live, just as I did before the price drop. And real estate usually appreciates in value over time. Just my way of thinking.

When you stop and think about it, 18% average increase in one year - over the whole country - is fairly substantial. Anyone know average price increase since Turner made his prognostication in 2012?

If the virus is still around next year the spring of 2021 could be another big step up for single family home prices. Crazy times. Crazy indeed. Shows how the devil is in the details. At first glance, one would have assumed that Covid would have a serious detrimental effect on residential real estate and construction. But now we see people scrambling to get out of condos, apartments and city centers and looking for less densely populated areas. With an infectious disease on the loose, who wants to live in a building with perhaps several hundred other people? Also, the movement towards ‘work from home’ has quickly accelerated changing attitudes towards residential neighbourhoods. Many now no longer need to live within major cities or indeed even the suburbs. Many are looking at Covid-19 as a warning that this pandemic may not be an isolated incident or that a cure may not be just around the corner. Because of this, many are looking for single family homes or duplexes and smaller communities are becoming very attractive. This movement is in part to blame for the explosion in the price of materials. In the spring, manufacturers and suppliers felt that the market would be slow this year when the opposite has happened thereby leading to serious lumber and other shortages. Priced a 2x4 or 2x6 lately?

Average Canadian house prices increased 18% in the past year. It is now 8 years since Garth Turner made the prediction that the Canadian housing bubble was about to burst. Prices in the past 12 months increased from a low of 5.3% in Alberta (which is struggling with low oil prices) to a high of 31% in P.E.I. Last month set a record for the most home sales ever, 33 per cent more homes changed hands in August 2020 than the same month last year. Glad that I ignored Mr. Turner’s warnings as prices in our area have been increasing by about 15% yearly and double that this past year. Our situation is somewhat unique as we experienced strong immigration for several years and now combined with that, we have been able to control Covid-19. No hospitalizations, no community spread and no deaths. People from other parts of Canada and elsewhere are buying and building here, sight unseen and realtors can barely keep up with the traffic. A realtor will walk through a listing videoing the home for the customer who makes an offer at the end of the tour. One side effect of this influx of people is that we have had a couple of relatively massive budget surpluses that I believe is probably due to wealthy people becoming residents.

Self test for Covid 19 1) Pour a shot of whisky, gin or rum into a glass. 2) See if you can smell it. 3) If you can smell it then drink it. 4) If you can taste it, it is reasonable to assume you are currently free of the virus. I tested myself nine times last night and I was virus free each time, thank goodness. I will test myself again today because I have developed a headache which can also be a symptom.

"President Donald Trump on Thursday mocked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face mask even as the US continues to lead the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 6 million infections. Speaking to a largely mask-less crowd in Pennsylvania, Trump asked his supporters if they know "a man that likes a mask as much" as Biden. "It gives him a feeling of security," the President said. "If I was a psychiatrist, I'd say this guy has some big issues." "

“Yep. I can clearly see people with agenda or Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) twisting facts.” Well this is only common sense! We all know that a President would never twist facts, exaggerate, or lie. I mean, remember dear old George Washington and the cherry tree? 200 years from now they will still be telling stories about Pres Trump who was so honest that he couldn’t tell a lie. Covid-19 - it just disappeared 100 years later, just like he said. And there is no truth to the story that it took a whole book to list all of the lies. This book never existed... “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President’s Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies” published by Scribner. Damn Lefties, they all have TDS

Yes. The “Fair and Friendly” portion of Fairfax has left the building long ago. The judge’s remarks in the Fibrek case and Prem’s performance at the trial has caused further substantial damage to the reputation of both Prem and Fairfax. It is quite unfortunate given their previous reputation. I would humbly suggest that Fairfax would be well advised to get to work on their PR for starters. And secondly to clean up their act and give a little more thought to appearances. I am not going to pretend to tell Prem how to run his business, but appearance are important. If you are going to operate close to the line in some instances, at least try to do it with a little guile. Leadership was once defined as ... “The art of telling a man to go to Hell - in such a way as he cannot wait to get there.”

“The only reason Blackberry is even around is because of Prem putting John Chen in charge.” Oh I don’t disagree with that, it’s like when he had Bill Gregson turn around The Brick. However unfortunately, one tends to get remembered for the less savory things one does more than the good one does. Just saying.

Yep, the BB shareholders are up in arms. I guess their underlying assumption was that either BB doesn't need the liquidity or that there is a long line-up of potential lenders who would be prepared to lend a half-billion at 3.75% with no conversion privilege. I am from the school of thought that FFH's last note flotation was at 4 5/8%, so if that's what FFH pays for debt, what should a riskier outfit like BB pay? Maybe 7%? Seriously, a 15 minute walk through their financials for the past 3 or 4 years is enough to make a guy want to puke. Maybe there is a long line-up of outfits wanting to lend money to companies that have drastically transformed their business and are cashflow negative? I don't see it, but I've been wrong plenty of times before... SJ Blackberry shareholders are still up in arms about this: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/concerned-shareholder-objects-to-blackberry-s-related-party-transactions-with-fairfax-851354230.html SJ Your prior actions tend to form your reputation... "Fairfax and Mr. Watsa have a history, when presented with a conflict of interest, of working against the interests of minority shareholders and for the benefit of Fairfax. In September 2019, the Québec Superior Court rendered a judgment in which it found that Mr. Watsa and Fairfax, as insiders of Fibrek Inc., acted in a "blatant conflict of interest situation" for the benefit of Fairfax by enabling the acquisition of Fibrek at the "lowest cost possible," to the detriment of Fibrek's minority shareholders who were bought out at an unfairly low price. The Court also found that despite the trust and confidence Fibrek placed in Mr. Watsa and Fairfax, Mr. Watsa purposely refrained from disclosing Fairfax's true intentions to Fibrek management."

" 'Don't they care?': Europeans astonished as U.S. hits 5 million cases” “ROME -- With confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe. Perhaps nowhere outside the U.S. is America's bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe's epidemic. Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world's highest official death tolls at over 35,000. But after a strict nationwide, 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/don-t-they-care-europeans-astonished-as-u-s-hits-5-million-cases-1.5057041

Do the demographics, land mass size, population, population density etc too. NYC has a population density of 38,424 per square kilometer NZ has a population density of 15 people per square kilometer. Complete waste of time even looking at this comparison. Why dont you post a twitter link on the data from Antarctica to really hammer the point home. Hold on there just a minute. You make accusations of cherry picking the data then you do exactly that. Instead of comparing population density of the U.S., you use NYC. And you do that because the comparison between the two countries doesn’t support your argument. NZ population density: 15 people /sqK US population density: 36 people /sqK NOT 38,424 / sqK Pretty dishonest trying to compare the country to NYC. How about sticking to the facts for a change.

Latest I heard from Portugal is that there is a problem in Lisbon, but the rest of the country is not bad. This from my sister who has a second home in Portugal and has just returned to Canada and is finishing up her 14 day isolation.

Seeking Alpha article on Fairfax. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.: Undervalued But No Catalyst In Sight https://seekingalpha.com/article/4364646-fairfax-financial-holdings-ltd-undervalued-no-catalyst-in-sight?utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&mail_subject=frfhf-fairfax-financial-holdings-ltd-undervalued-but-no-catalyst-in-sight&utm_campaign=rta-stock-article&utm_content=link-0

Thanks for that. I thought I was going nuts. I posted last night and this morning it was gone. So I essentially reposted.

“Integrity”? Here are some quotes about Prem Watsa from the article about the Fibrek court case : “Canadian investor Prem Watsa was “purposely forgetful” and offered a “mindboggling” explanation in court testimony explaining why he backed a low-ball bid for a pulp mill in a sale to Resolute Forest Products Inc., a Montreal judge concluded in the seven-year-old case.” “Watsa’s testimony was so vague and filled with so many uncertainties, unlikelihood, unsubstantiated denials and contradictions that it is very difficult for the court to give credence to the affirmations and explanations of the witness whose memory appeared to be failing on the most crucial aspects of his testimony,” “ Fairfax “was in a blatant conflict of interest situation,” the Quebec judge said” “Fairfax agreed to sell its 33 million shares to Resolute for $1 apiece — locking in a price that dissenting shareholders considered too low. The judge considered the fair value of Fibrek shares to be $1.99, and found Watsa’s explanation for accepting less “mindboggling.” Now that’s not a couple of cents per share in the difference. Nor is it a debatable difference. At the time I said on this board that the deal was dead wrong and that it made a joke of the Fairfax motto of “Fair and Friendly” acquisitions. Meanwhile, his defenders here tried to justify the buyout as “Watsa was simply acting in the best interests of Fairfax”. Or, I suppose you could put it another way since Watsa owns a sizable portion of Fairfax, “Watsa was simply looking after Watsa’s best interests”. Rather putting Prem Watsa on a pedestal, perhaps consider that he simply stole $33,000,000 from Fibrek shareholders (myself included) and then got caught with his pants down. So when you consider the present Rivett and Torstar situation ... well, there just seems to be an odd smell coming from the company.

" Definitely my perception of the US as a country has changed, even if I cannot really explain it. " Ditto. I have always been a fan of the US and have defended it many times to people who have not felt the same way. Gven that the President is rude, lies like a rug and is obviously a bully, this reflects back on those who tolerate him. This 'anti-mask' and 'you can't tell me what to do' attitude can only be described as very, very selfish - 'I don't care who I give the virus to - you can't tell me to wear a mask'. The US has lost a lot of respect around the world and is unlikely to regain that for some time. Unfortunately, it seems that many do not care. Hopefully someone will be able to make America great again.

It's an interesting point. I've thought about this in the past because it kinda works like that with HIV. I'm not sure how it will shake out. But I am sure sooner rather than later this issue will come before the courts. It’s a bigger issue for business than for individuals, imo. Imagine an outbreak in a large office building etc. FWIW, I wonder how these meat processor for example deal with this. They likely get sued already. Yes one would think that once things settle down, the lawyers will get busy. The problem with criminal charges, of course, is proving the case. However, in areas where masks are mandatory you will have a certain number of twits who will still refuse to wear them, as well as those who will object to any bylaw on the grounds of their perception of "civil rights". If it were publicized that not wearing a mask could possibly kill people and potentially lead to serious criminal charges, it might persuade more to understand the seriousness of wearing masks.

Excellent point on HIV.

If, I am drinking and my judgement is impaired, and I get behind the wheel and accidentally kill someone I will be charged with manslaughter. If I make a conscious, unimpaired decision to refuse to wear a mask and accidentally give someone the Coronavirus who later dies, should I not be charged with manslaughter?

The US Government has abdicated authority on combating Covid. US retail stores has had to step up to fill the vacuum. Publix, Walmart, CVS, Target, Kroger, Kohl’s, Best Buy, etc. are all requiring the wearing of masks. What a dysfunctional, gutless government.