Mephistopheles

LOL that cracked me up. Would be hilarious if he tries to claim the $25m, something we can’t put past him either

I would love that. Not even kidding:

Report that Khamenei is planning on fleeing to Russia if protests worsen https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/iran-ayatollah-khamenei-escape-moscow-protests-revealed-h5f95ctb5?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdpaI4KCGrWXtajOndfBxk_Lbpn_36feCKrPpdgfFzGU2mKhwiT2fXD_18XNbQ%3D&gaa_ts=695b3de9&gaa_sig=PjUI7w_PhjfKSzrHChlnROK88gM2It43sIKL-67n9ebbFoFkqRy9fZngR_VYlcRhytxFi7iSvVDq-HAh4tpn6w%3D%3D

Gotta give Trump credit for pulling this off with a scalpel with probably close to zero civilian casualties. Let’s see if he can pull some similar shit in Iran.

All the Trump cultists on twitter retweeting all the ecstatic Venezuelans that are overjoyed to see Maduro gone. I wonder how they’ll behave when Trump takes all their oil. It’s not about removing a brutal dictator (which he was). It’s about removing a brutal dictator who has oil. It would be honorable if Trump gave the oil back to the people or shareholders, and next do the same with Fannie and Freddie.

Probably more Presidents than not have done illegal shit with foreign policy. This worsened when Congress voluntarily gave up power after 9/11 to the benefit of the President. This was abused by every President since then, maybe except Biden. I’m glad it wasn’t a full scale invasion like Iraq!

Yea I think that Trump wants the oil and its likely that larger amounts of Venezuelan crude come back on the market in the next few years. Maybe Iranian too at this point. Probably not a good outlook for oil prices but I’ve learned now to spend too much energy (pun) on oil.

I just feel eventually you reach a tipping point and the floodgates open. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of Bezos, Griffin, Musk, Chevron all rich people and businesses that have fled blue states. And the blue states continue to behave like idiots. How much can you harass people before they vote with their feet?

I so hope this makes it to the ballot, and passes. It has to be a positive for JOE

Lol at Ackman pump Dec 30/31, just in time to pad his reported results for the year. Just like last year! I think if this deal doesn't get done before midterms, the shares are going to come crashing down again...

Walz is such a clown. Too bad Kamala didn’t choose Josh Shapiro due to him being Jewish to appeal to the left wing antisemites. Probably could have won Pennsylvania

Thanks guys, I had imagined that it's harder than it seems (to influence long rates) but this clarifies.

Why do you think not? Let's say you have a Fed that wants to bring down long term rates, this is the way to do that right? Now if is 2.5 and growth 2, perhaps it won't be as effective, but that was my original question. Let's say they do QE at post GFC levels purely for the purpose of driving down rates...what would happen in today's world?

The way to negate that is you borrow and invest in the same currency. Of course you'd want to invest in blue chip/safe companies and that's the hard part. Not sure what's high quality in Switzerland. Would like Chubb given the Buffett endorsement, but it's not available on IBKR.

Nice. Question, do you use IBKR by any chance? Just realized that the rate is like 1-1.5% for CHF. You found some good stocks there I'm sure?

I think it's highly likely that the next Fed Chair follows Trump's wishes of lowering rates. So it seems obvious that short term rates will drop in the next couple of years. I'm wondering if they can pull this off for long term rates as well. QT has stopped. Are they going to go back to QE in a major way to drive down rates? Not an expert on macro, so am curious to know what sort of power the Fed has via QE. And how would this pair in a high inflation scenario? We can also assume the deficits will remain large and maybe get larger in a slowdown. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts especially @wabuffo, our resident expert on this matter!

I was just drunk and trying to be funny

Buffett retiring to focus on other endeavors perhaps??. Is there some shit at Berkshire we don’t know about? CEOs just don’t retire to “spend time with family”. Something is cooking and I don’t like it.

Thanks. Although I do like how they highlight their share count on the first slide of their investor presentation. What’s the story with Mercado?

Well it's all factored into the pricing though. Selling cash covered puts vs. owning the stock and selling covered calls should theoretically give you the same result. The interest you earn on the cash evens out with the lower yield from the put. I guess what I'm saying is there is no free lunch in this case. But I've never looked into this in detail, so maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Same as if you own the stock yes, but on margin, unless you're doing cash secured puts.

Coupang just seems like it has the critical mass to continue outperforming in the Korean retail market. Has all the ingredients that made Amazon a monster: fast shipping, free/cheap shipping/membership cost, hassle free easy returns. Now having positive fcf last couple years, so it looks to be in inflection. Bigger they get, the easier it is to get bigger. And the price is pretty good for something growing fast: 44x FCF. Seems too good to be true, what am I missing? It's weird that it's not traded in South Korea. Could that be why it hasn't drawn enough retail interest?

lol!!

So did Epstein kill himself?

Merry Christmas to all! Including all the losers and haters