Blugolds

I love Canada, and Canadians. I work with a fella who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as contracted after leaving the service. Through all deployments as well as contracting, Canadians were right there with him, side by side. When the initial disagreements between our countries popped off and Canadians were booing the national anthem, he said he didn’t blame them. My coworker felt betrayed not by Canadians, but by our own administration for disrespecting our allies, who did in fact bleed and die for America. He was just as pissed as the Canadians. There are plenty of your neighbors to the south who haven’t forgot and haven’t changed, regardless of what the politicians do. I feel a lot closer to the avg Labatt drinking, walleye catching, hockey playing Canadian than I do with any asshat in Washington. If the US has any “unbreakable, iron clad bond” with any country in the world, it should be Canada!

Are you guys referring to MMT?

"Justice is blind" the fact that he went to such great lengths to maintain impartiality and objectivity is admirable. Especially as it seems in todays political climate that may be in question. I always enjoyed reading opinions because the writing gave you a glimpse of the person behind the decision. I always liked the cases with opinions that allowed you to feel the empathy on the page. "to ensure that he was being absolutely fair and following the law even if it didn't match his personal beliefs." In the opinions you can often tell that although the personal beliefs of the writer influence what they feel it should be, within current legal boundaries and given precedent they are limited, and I can respect that more than trying to look for ways to bend things to their own ideals. In simple terms, "I wish it was this way, but we arent there yet, so for now, this is our decision, but it gives us something to strive for".

Obviously priceless to you, what a great story and heirloom to pass down, awesome story thanks for sharing. Makes me curious as to what he would write, he obviously did a fine job of touching them on a level that was enough to get people to want to help and even go above and beyond. I feel like nowadays you’d be lucky to get a rubber stamped token reply with a lot of these jokers. How does he store them? 550 is a lot of pictures! You would think that would make a cool exhibit on loan to a local museum etc. Just the history and timeline and the stories would be cool to share.

I dont know much about Carney, but from what I have read in the last few posts re his CV, it sounds like Carney is everything that Trump wants people to think HE is, shrewd businessmen, the guy everyone comes to, dealmaker, negotiator, globally recognized for business acumen etc. Sounds like he can walk the walk. Despite any flaws in Trump, nobody can ever say there has or probably ever will be, a character who is the absolute best I have ever seen in identifying a subset of the population that responds to X behavior (that he happens to have in spades) and then finding various ways to capitalize on that for his own financial benefit. There just has never been anything like it that Im aware of. So in that regard, Trump is the MIchael Jordan, Tom Brady of (IMO) grifting. Carney seems like the facade that Trump tries to present. The idea of businessmen being good politicians and vs versa can be a benefit/liability for the avg joe. I think it all depends on how interests are aligned and who they want to benefit from decisions. Unfortunately it seems as though it’s always an extreme. Frankly, I always find myself (At least in my country) to be stuck in the middle, too much $$ to benefit from the democratic policies, and not enough or a business owner to benefit from the republican policies, so I end up feeling like Im taking it up the shorts by Uncle Sam no matter what.

+1 “dont hate the player, hate the game” I certainly dont have a problem with buybacks and return of capital, that is available to anyone who is an investor, thats the game, now if we talk about carried interest, and why certain groups get favorable treatments that are unavailable to the avg joe, thats bullshit. Same with the Washington insider trading etc etc can go on and on. If the rules of the game are fair and everyone knows them, and some choose not to play and not benefit from it, thats on them, if the rules are skewed to favor a few, that…I have a problem with. And they’re all guilty of it, almost every politician has mentioned closing the carried interest loophole in their campaign and yet here we are. I agree that Trump is definitely not “the establishment” he detests them, but that doesn’t mean he is for the avg guy, IMO its just more of the same, ie. selling bibles, sneakers, crypto etc. He is in the WH to make as much money as he can for the Trump clan and thats it IMO. That’s not to say that behavior isnt pretty much synonymous with Washington, but I dont feel, based on what we have seen thus far, that it’s any different with Trump. Other than maybe Tom Massie and Bernie Sanders (agree with them or not, and That’s why I mentioned two from different parties, I dont think either one is in it to get rich and genuinely wants to do what THEY think is right), Im pretty sure everyone that gets into politics is doing it to feather their own nest.

+1

Speed Queen for washer/dryer…Bosch makes the best dishwashers..

As the son of mother who was a lifelong librarian I've always loved books, she had more than I can count and would often get to take home many that were withdrawn or duplicates that would otherwise get discarded. Libraries often have withdrawn sales. Estate sales are great, especially in our metro area, most sales have 50% off everything the last day (sunday usually) and you can also negotiate from there because its otherwise going in the dumpster or donated and they just want it gone. The beauty of that is sometimes you can find a home that the previous owner shared similar interests to you, and they have a decent collection of books/resources on a topic that you are interested in ie investing. Goodwill/ thrift stores used to be a good source, but those times have passed it seems like, they have gotten better over the years at identifying desirable names with value compared to decades ago. I've always loved the fact that without meeting someone, or knowing them personally, you can get a good feel for someones interests, almost a blueprint for their personality based off looking at their personal library, I think about that often at estate sales. The collection of books almost paints a picture of who the person was, what they were interested in, pursuits etc. They purchased the book, in theory read it, and felt it was worth keeping. I also prefer to hold a copy in my hand, my wife prefers her kindle and I get it, I understand the convenience of the kindle, but I cant help but think that "picture" or road map will be lost with a bunch of digital copies of books on a kindle years from now. Long live hardcover books!

The propaganda picture of the boy was from the Washington Post, didn’t realize that was Pro Hamas Terrorist media. Hadn’t heard of the Ramallah incident, and mutilating a body after killing is certainly barbarism. Since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip on 7 October, Euro-Med Monitor has documented numerous brutal Israeli violations, including mutilating the bodies of dead Palestinians by harassing corpses on camera, dragging them, urinating on them, and even cutting off their limbs. The rules of international law stipulate the necessity of respecting and protecting the bodies of the dead during armed conflicts, in accordance with Rule 115, which states that, “The dead must be disposed of in a respectful manner and their graves respected and properly maintained.” The Fourth Geneva Convention also stresses that, “Each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled. Mutilation of dead bodies is prohibited.” Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor wholeheartedly denounced the Israeli soldiers’ boasts of mutilating the bodies of the dead, and their publishing of video clips documenting these horrific practices. The Geneva-based rights group views these acts as reflections of the severity of the soldiers’ sadism and their flagrant violation of the rules of war, and called on the international community to immediately intervene. And it doesn’t matter who does it, thats fucked up. What bothers me, on either side, is the vilification of the entire population, Israeli or Palestinian by the other side and using the behavior of a relatively small group of people as justification for all out annihilating of the entire group.

Just to clarify, you do or dont differentiate between avg Palestians and Hamas or are they one and the same?

Hoping most readers wont look it up? I dont even know what lipodystrophy is and if we’re being honest I would have to refresh my memory on cystic fibrosis I seem to remember a lot of difficulty breathing and back slapping to break up mucus or something..but Im not a Doctor, seems like you might be…either way it seems as though you are claiming these pictures misleading at best and fraudulent at worst. Ok Got it. Perhaps they are all just propaganda. I will concede that I am not qualified to accurately determine the condition/diagnosis' of the above pictures. Why the hell would any Jews want to live in Gaza? I certainly wouldnt want to live in Gaza, not because of the people, because there is a good chance I’d be killed by dropped bombs or shot…seems like odds of that increase if I was wearing a PRESS jacket.. You are telling me that Israeli soldiers accidentally drive into the West Bank and get detained by Palestinians…I find that extremely hard to believe that soldiers of the most powerful mitiary in the region, with the best technology in the region, if not the world, accidentally wander in and get themselves detained. I also find it hard to believe that Palestinians are ripping hearts out of chests…but IF that is true, yes that is incredibly barbaric and psychotic. I do find it hard to believe though. . Also to be clear…I am not the one who is saying they are starving…Im just looking at the pictures and reports coming from all over the world via various news agencies…this isnt Blugoldnews. Com here…these are major news agencies all over the world, the World Health Organization and the United Nations…but perhaps that is all just antisemitism? Also France, UK, Canada saying whoa guys, lets some fucking food in there this is bad…hell even Germany had the balls to mention it. Hell Trump even said “a lot of people are starving” but I suppose that was hyperbole? So either your facts are wrong and its not VERY far from the truth, or literally the entire rest of the world says what is happening is fucked up and Israel is going too far…

Then its the chicken or the egg...Do the people starve because of Hamas, or does Hamas exist because the people are killed/starve? I agree, Hamas is not the answer, but I can see why there is a resistance to the abuse. Negotiation is not possible when neither party has any intent to negotiate in good faith, and both parties would be quick to point out that describes the "other side". The fact is, there is one dominant aggressor here, as you said, with more money, power etc. If Israel wanted to abolish Hamas it would start with treating the Palestinians as humans, give them a quality of life. The more stakes in conformity people have, the less undesirable behavior. But as long as they are treated as sub-human, resistance will exist, thats human nature, so here we are back to the original dilemma. The majority of Palestinians are stuck in the middle between Israeli gov and Hamas, with no money/power to do anything.

Israel broke the last ceasefire! What incentive does Hamas have to offer goodwill to a gov that has done nothing but lie. This conflict didnt start Oct 7th it has been going on for decades. Israel kills, kidnaps, denies food and water, acts generous by giving a starvation + ration of food when they do allow it...give me a break. Im not a Hamas supporter but I can understand why they are angry. Imagine your entire family, your kids etc are killed in a random airstrike or murdered by trigger happy soldiers "mowing the grass" your home is stolen or destroyed, your family has lived there for 100+ years but some settler from NY thinks he wants to live/claim your farm and has the escort of Israeli soldiers to do as he pleases, maybe he beats your grandmother in front of you at gunpoint. These are all common place, if you take literally everything away from people and treat them like animals what do you expect? They have nothing left! Just imagine if the roles were reversed. If Israel didnt have the backing of the US and were poor. Imagine if another country kept Jews in an open air prison, starved them, killed them daily, withheld food, water, medicine, imagine this went on for decades! Who could stand for that? Nobody! In fact it sounds very similar to past history. Imagine some of those jewish prisoners resisted their treatment with violence, would that resistance be just? Look at the pictures of kids starving, KIDS starving, thousands of them dead already and those still alive, starving. Its such BS because people lump all of the Palestinians in with Hamas, and blame them for "their gov" but most werent even alive, let alone voting age when Hamas was elected, and Palestinians are protesting Hamas! So what is the rebuttal then? You justify killing and starving a couple million people because they are all to blame right? All Americans responsible for the actions of Biden/Trump? They voted for them! Israel funded Hamas via Qatar for years..why? Israeli method of dealing with a school shooter would be to bomb the entire school and kill the other kids and teachers too. But its "ok" because they got the mass shooter. And lets stop with any disagreement with the current extreme Israeli gov says as Antisemitic. Even from their own! Any disagreement labeled a self loathing jew or antisemitic, Bernie Sanders the antisemite, former PM a self loathing Jew! What a joke! And before someone tries to lump me in with Antisemites or pro Hamas supporters, one of the men in my life, a teacher, mentor, friend and one of the most interesting men I have ever known in my life, is a Hungarian Jew! He and his mother escaped the Nazis only because his grandfather was the captain of a ship (his grandfather served under Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic!) I know/love many Jewish people, I've been in Anne Franks home, I wouldnt hesitate to hide them in the 30's. I do believe the Israelis have a right to exist, and a right to protect themselves, I also believe the same for the Palestinians. This is far beyond self preservation. I hope that someday there can be a two state solution. Using starvation as a tactic is SICK and twisted, it was SICK when the Nazis did it to the Jews and its sick when Israel does it to the Palestinians. If anybody thinks this is justified and there is no other way...I think you're a psychopath. This is fine right? Just protecting themselves from these future terrorists! Imagine being a parent and seeing your children like this.

The thing is, if you would have asked people 6-12 months before Buffett had made the Apple or Japanese investments what options were out there, people would have said, this bum is never gonna have anything to swing at. We don’t know all the deals that came close and then didn’t pan out. And just like fishing, there is always a chance that the next cast is gonna land the lunker. I get the concern that more wasn’t done during past opportunities like Covid etc but hindsight is always 20/20. I’m still hoping BHE becomes the place they can park large amounts of capital with satisfactory reliable returns, especially with the inevitable need for more energy production in this country in the next decade. And Greg is gonna be a good guy to have quarterbacking that. Maybe that’s naive but that’s my hope as a BRK shareholder.

@nsx5200 interesting compare/contrast of trends, hadn’t thought of some of those points. It’s clear there are those being and will-be left behind. Struggle to return to “the glory days” of those in the Middle East and those here in the US. Interesting to think about where that tipping point of resistance is, I assume it correlates with the percentage of the population that is left behind. Small niche industry isn’t going to make waves, but it obviously takes less than 50% to make a huge impact. Also when considering the losses, it’s interesting to think of what happens when the majority of the population IS brought along with an Industrial Revolution, plenty of jobs, improvements in living etc. thanks for the post, good thought exercise

Our Au Pair is from SA. She’s white, I think if we’re being honest, she is probably mixed but looks like white with a nice tan. Anyway, it’s rough there, her family was robbed, tied up in the house etc. crime runs rampant, walls around the house, bars on windows, don’t leave at night, don’t go in certain areas. She’s been with us for 2 years and heads back next month. Last year we had her parents come over for a visit, both white, said the same thing. They were astonished that we park cars on the streets, all homes are in the open without fences/walls, they said it felt soo safe. I have no doubt that crime in general is horrible in SA, for everyone, AND that often whites are targeted. It can be both. Do I also think that it is a publicity stunt that Trump all of a sudden cares? Yep. Do I think that it’s selective in how human lives are valued in the world and when they care about who is being targeted and needlessly killed and needs to be “helped” by the US taking action and step in? Yep.

yes seems like you get it, I’ve contributed max to HSA for over a decade, pay all expenses out of pocket and let the contributions compound, able to invest them in a variety of products, in the past my employer offered HSA through different provider but this new one they switched to offers more options. Save receipts for medical expenses to be deducted in future years, the only triple tax advantaged vehicle available. If you don’t need to use the money to help cover expenses and you can let it ride it’s a good gig albeit IMO low contribution limitations. Many retirees pay around $1k/mo for medical coverage, you would think they would allow that much in contributions rather than the paltry single/family contribution limits

Same, previous positions/employers viewed a $3 item/gift the same as $1M, just the potential of appearance or accusation of conflict of interest was enough. Its the reason the Hare Krishnas were able to raise millions in the airports in the 60’s-70’s

There is still an element of specialty with guys like Ajit vs straight up AI IMO. I agree that AI could significantly change the business but I still think there is a need for it to be supplementary vs the ultimate say in policy. For instance, we’ve seen tech streamline industry in real estate, vacation rentals, flights, ride services and vehicle purchases. One thing that sticks out to me, I have overheard two coworkers that had vehicles that were diagnosed with serious expensive repairs needed in the near future, dealership was offering them a low trade in value, they purchased and sold a new vehicle via carvana that made an offer without even seeing the vehicle. Carvana dropped off the new vehicle and picked up the previous vehicle, no questions just put in a rollback. Unless Carvana has an Army of mechanics I don’t know how that model is sustainable and how you maintain a decent margin. And these are two instances that I have heard of in the last cuu ok low months in passing. carvana has become the go-to way to dump problem vehicles without accountability. They weren’t making a ton on the sale either as that price was very competitive, so they are competitive on the sale price but taking it in the shorts on the trade in value. This example shows how even with tech advancements and streamlined direct to consumer business can take a piece of the pie, it might not be a piece that you want anyway. There is value in professionals in positions ensuring things are done right rather than turning it all over to AI etc. If competitors want to just write business via AI without checks and balances let them, I’m not sure that’s a sustainable model, if you want quantity that might work..for a bit..if you want quality, I don’t think a ton changes because you’ll still need the Ajits of the business to oversee everything, that becomes your advantage. I might not have articulated the concept well, but I think a lot of these models that sound good in theory for business open up ways to exploit them and while it may seem fine to start, eventually the consumer learns how to take advantage of them and already slim margins fall and models can fail.

Yeah also a No DIV voter, along with what hopefully remains to be the majority of shareholders

Warren commented on that very thing during the meeting, he described deploying capital just for deployment sake as the stupidest thing he could do. I doubt strongly that would be Gregs strategy.

looks like B down $10/sh pre market as of now. could be because BRK overvalued, or could be related to new captain at the helm. I tend to lean toward the Steve Jobs -> Tim Cook line of thinking, there’s a possibility that Greg ends up optimizing things with better more hands on management, not that subs will lose their autonomy but just some critique and possibly more accountability from sub management vs Warren. It’s tough to know just how hands off Warren was and if there is room for optimization there and if Greg is able to do it. He’s got big shoes to fill and I think he’s probably wired to not want to let Warren and BRK shareholders down, he knows all eyes are on him. cautiously optimistic and confident is my mindset, not necessarily due to a perception of Greg’s ability, it’s just that Buffet is the GOAT.

Our ports are very similar with the majority of my port sharing your 1-3, the remainder in 4-5 with the addition of COST. As stated the majority is waiting for good entry when opportunity presents, smaller positions in various other names when opportune time. Also significant portion in ETF sharing the same reasoning as Par, no need to force things when singles and doubles will do. CSU is a very high quality with beautiful management, seems to always be priced at a premium. I’ve listened to several podcasts and have added to my position over the years. They do things right on so many levels. Wish I owned more. Some might call it a boring port, but it works and allows me to ignore the noise. Also always remember Charlie saying, rather than being exactly right, try to never be exactly wrong, none of the holdings in the port will ever be exactly wrong and I sleep well at night.

remains to be seen, but just to play the other side of this, when was the last time they got a call, we probably dont hear about all the calls, but when was the last time they got the call and it ended up working out great for BRK? And there have been some calls that have been out of desperation because there was nobody else with enough cash and flexibility to get a deal done in a day or less. My point is, as BRK gets bigger and bigger, those little mom and pop businesses that want to sell to BRK are going to be more and more insignificant. And the big deals are going to be more out of necessity because of crisis, and BRK is one of the only players that can be trusted to make a decision and honor a commitment on that scale if need be. So I don’t know if it changes much who is at the helm, either you’re a smaller payer and want the preferential treatment of your baby to come under the BRK umbrella and be preserved, or you’re a big fish and got yourself in a pickle due to your own decisions or there is a crisis affecting the country or the world and you need access to capital quick and need it to be honest and reliable. Either way BRK probably still stands alone for those scenarios. I dont think that probably changes from Warren to Greg.