Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[thowed]

On 11/30/2025 at 9:10 PM, Charlie said:

 

John Hjorth and me with our outsized Berkshire positions can only smile about some comments. 

 

I don't know what the 'geographical' equivalent of 'mansplaining' is!

[John Hjorth]

28 minutes ago, thowed said:

I don't know what the 'geographical' equivalent of 'mansplaining' is!

 

@thowed,

 

Have you considered this quoting of Charlies  [ @Charlies] one line may be considered out of content, viewing taking the whole content of  Charlies [ @Charlies posts on the matter, subject at hand, into considereration?  - All while Charlie [ @Charlie ] is naturally fully able to reply for himself!

[Charlie]

1 hour ago, thowed said:

On 11/30/2025 at 10:10 PM, Charlie said:

 

John Hjorth and me with our outsized Berkshire positions can only smile about some comments. 

 

I don't know what the 'geographical' equivalent of 'mansplaining' is!

 

 

When we made our house larger, because of our twin babies the architect looked at my wife

and me and told us: "In our village we have a saying that says: "Never build a house for a

lawyer (me) or a teacher (my wife). 

[Dalal.Holdings]

11 hours ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Europe’s Green Energy Rush Slashed Emissions—and Crippled the Economy

Political consensus is cracking, industry is hobbled and high-profile projects are being postponed thanks to some of the highest electricity prices in the developed world

 

By 
Tom Fairless
 and 
Max Colchester

Dec. 1, 2025 at 9:00 pm ET

European politicians pitched the continent’s green transition to voters as a win-win: Citizens would benefit from green jobs and cheap, abundant solar and wind energy alongside a sharp reduction in carbon emissions.  

 

Nearly two decades on, the promise has largely proved costly for consumers and damaging for the economy.

 

Europe has succeeded in slashing carbon emissions more than any other region—by 30% from 2005 levels, compared with a 17% drop for the U.S. But along the way, the rush to renewables has helped drive up electricity prices in much of the continent.

 

Germany now has the highest domestic electricity prices in the developed world, while the U.K. has the highest industrial electricity rates, according to a basket of 28 major economies analyzed by the International Energy Agency. Italy isn’t far behind. Average electricity prices for heavy industries in the European Union remain roughly twice those in the U.S. and 50% above China. Energy prices have also grown more volatile as the share of renewables increased.

 

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/europes-green-energy-rush-slashed-emissionsand-crippled-the-economy-e65a1a07?st=iZzHK3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

 

Europe cutting its emissions and sacrificing its industry and economy in the process looks particularly insane in the context of this graph:

The problem with a lot of environmentalists is that they do not think like engineers: cutting emissions in Europe is not going to make a dent in global co2. Even the U.S, which did not embrace Paris Accords/etc is on a downtrend. There is only one country environmentalists should focus on and it’s China (but of course no one in China will listen to some of these crazies

[John Hjorth]

13 hours ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Europe’s Green Energy Rush Slashed Emissions—and Crippled the Economy

Political consensus is cracking, industry is hobbled and high-profile projects are being postponed thanks to some of the highest electricity prices in the developed world

 

By 
Tom Fairless
 and 
Max Colchester

Dec. 1, 2025 at 9:00 pm ET

European politicians pitched the continent’s green transition to voters as a win-win: Citizens would benefit from green jobs and cheap, abundant solar and wind energy alongside a sharp reduction in carbon emissions.  

 

Nearly two decades on, the promise has largely proved costly for consumers and damaging for the economy.

 

Europe has succeeded in slashing carbon emissions more than any other region—by 30% from 2005 levels, compared with a 17% drop for the U.S. But along the way, the rush to renewables has helped drive up electricity prices in much of the continent.

 

Germany now has the highest domestic electricity prices in the developed world, while the U.K. has the highest industrial electricity rates, according to a basket of 28 major economies analyzed by the International Energy Agency. Italy isn’t far behind. Average electricity prices for heavy industries in the European Union remain roughly twice those in the U.S. and 50% above China. Energy prices have also grown more volatile as the share of renewables increased.

 

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/europes-green-energy-rush-slashed-emissionsand-crippled-the-economy-e65a1a07?st=iZzHK3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

As a part one, here, are some screenshots from my households power management app, taken earlier today before and after 14:00 [2:00 PM], it's and around 22:00 [10:00] PM] here now in Denmark:

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Here are two clips from my households monthly power bill, received in one of my three digital inboxes on 23^rd November 2025, the main one here in Denmark called E-boks. There exists three in all here in Denmark, I have them all three enabled, the two other only containing stuff from public authorities, covvering the households power consumption for October 2025, due and payable 1 December 2025 vy automated payment service called 'Betalingsservice' [translates to English 'Payment Service']. Lige my e-mail account, I never delete anything, and I don't sort either, I can find everything back in time since they each individually got activated [redudancy], finding everything by the use of search funtions, almost never printing and archiving anything, old fashion style. E-boks is the oldest one, reaching 15 - 20 years back, and thus with the biggest amount of documents. All three are free services, however some creditors charge a nomial fee for charging for invoicing this way [here, DKK 7,79]. 

 

 

Here is the underlying specification to the stuff above :

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

More later, in part two, elaborating and explaning the stuff above.

[John Hjorth]

4 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Europe cutting its emissions and sacrificing its industry and economy in the process looks particularly insane in the context of this graph:

The problem with a lot of environmentalists is that they do not think like engineers: cutting emissions in Europe is not going to make a dent in global co2. Even the U.S, which did not embrace Paris Accords/etc is on a downtrend. There is only one country environmentalists should focus on and it’s China (but of course no one in China will listen to some of these crazies

 

This is straight out wrong, not just to call it rubbish. The graph is a token of the exact opposite, related to CO₂ emissions. It's a certain sort of global 'social dumping', ref. Google AI overview :

 

 

The good engineer does not engage in cutting and optimizing COGS [cost of goods sold] by cutting corners and doing short cuts by suggesting and advancing iniatives that are polluting. In that respect, especially China is huge sinner, culprit, India also getting more bad over time, a long as it is evolving, developing

 

On plastic pollution of the planets oceans, it's estimated that about 80 percent of that plastic pollution is from the estuaries of Indian and Chineese rivers.

 

 It just get dumped in the rivers because nobody cares about cleaning up as an integral part of a production process, finally and eventually ending up in one of the five ocean gyres on the planet, for others to clean up the mess, creating phenomens like i.e. the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

The Ocean Clean Up

 

The Ocean Clean Up - Oceans

 

The Ocean Clean Up - Rivers

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

I'm personally donating to it every year, I don't give a danm about it's not tax deductible for me, as a Dane. It's one of the few things that I been able to find, that actually appears to me to make real difference in this space.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Just at the west end, border of the close where our home is located, there is gate, with stairs down to 'Odense Å sti , Åstien' [translates to Odense Creek Footpath], just below and futher to the west a huge meadow area, grassland used primarily for grazing cattle in summers, through wich Odense Creek is twisted, next to the west of the meadow again, rural Funen is beginning.

 

Odense Creek is dead, dead as stone. The mouth of Odense Creek leads the creek into Odense Fjord, which also is totally dead, slimpy - No fish, no plants.

 

Nobody is doing anything. Moral hazard all over the place. I know the chairman of the water utility providing water and  water disposal to the city Odense. He is a hell of defence attorney by profession, and a socialdemocratic city counsel member, holding the chairman position in the water utility, politically appointed, as a 'bone, to munch'. What does he do about it? : Nothing!, all while ordinary comsumption water and toilet water are mixed!, and not getting properly filtered, emitted to Odense Creek - the whole sewer system in the city in decline, gradually declining into disrepair, decay, lapse, collapsing!. Because he's not taking the intiatives for a turnaround by becoming unpopuilar by rasing the consumer prices, to invest in much needed change, he's a politician!

 

When I was a kid we often went after school to a place about 3 kms from where I grew up in Southern Odense to a side creck ending up in Odense Creek, where somebody had installed a tow in a thick tree branch only just reachable from creekside by a kid, to take a swing in the tow over the creek, the creek was swallow there, but if one or more got wet, by failing, the opportunity was also to drink a bit fresh water while already dipped in! -I woulden't dare today!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

The good engineer makes sure participating in making the world a better place for thy next, not worse! Economic growth can be combined with doing things responsibly! t's only a matter of will!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Europe is boycutting these contries for doing so! We don't want their cheap stuff because of that.

[Spekulatius]

I paid north of 25c/ kWh in MA for power which is not far off from what @John Hjorth seems to be paying. So YMMV.

 

Also US homes are way less energy efficient , especially 3000-4000 sqft McMansions. Add to this the much harsher winters in the US and $800/ month heating and power bill quickly becomes reality. 

[Dalal.Holdings]

Instead of relying on individual anecdotes, here is much more robust data from the article:

 

 

The damage to industries in Europe is clear

 

Even more amusing is that whatever fossil fuel usage Europe has saved, China's increase in energy use far surpasses those savings:

 

An engineer would not look at the above and say that the way to stop climate change is to focus on energy usage in Europe. The focus should be aimed at China. Europe's contribution to global CO2 is irrelevant.

 

Edited December 3, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[John Hjorth]

21 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Instead of relying on individual anecdotes, here is much more robust data from the article:

 

 

The damage to industries in Europe is clear

 

Even more amusing is that whatever fossil fuel usage Europe has saved, China's increase in energy use far surpasses those savings:

 

An engineer would not look at the above and say that the way to stop climate change is to focus on energy usage in Europe. The focus should be aimed at China. Europe's contribution to global CO2 is irrelevant.

 

 

And the never ending spamming saga of this topic, with endless data presentations of more or less irrrelevant data stuff considered related, relevant to the implied, implicit topic title, name of this topic, is getting drowned, burried in endless repetition of : 'Why?'!

 

It's not even fascinating, funny to observe and study any longer!

 

I coulden't phrase it better than what Charlie [ @Charlie ]  posted  above in this topic, not that long ago. Your posts are biased, because the proportions of what are you focusing on are getting wrong by almost endless repetition, sometimes also dead-wrong, every nuance, shade and detail in assesing things get lost 'in translation', You really don't have a clue, because you're not living here, the outcome naturally being platitudes, generalisations and oversimplifications, ref. Charlie [ @Charlie ].

 

Let me give you a specific example here : You have several times mentioned and refered to the Draghi report. Have you read it, or even tried? I'll kindly suggest you to read the Wikipedia article about Mario Draghi [, also dubbed 'Super-Mario'], which I did before starting to read the Draghi report. Here I'll tell you about my experience with it. I started reading the excutive summary, and found out it's basically written by all his buddies in academia all over the place, likely the same political orientation as Draghi himself. [Me : 'Okay, duly noted, John, keep on reading ...].

 

Next, same place, just a little lower : It becomes clear to me, that the report is the masterplan of Draghi's wildest wet dreams about about investing all over EU, for borrowed money in the name of EU, with EU as debtor, all in solidarity among all the EU member countries.

 

This introducing a good deal of moral hazard for certain EU contries who already don't behave in a responsible way in the first place. Here, who are the EU largest laggards in agreed increased military spending in NATO after POTUS - rightfully - was pressing hard for it : Spain, Italy, Greece? Yes, of who also a few never really fixed their banks, by a horse cure, just dragging the pain out, asking, yelling for more EU support, Christmas all around, especially Greece also consiciously, maintaining one of lowest public retirement ages for the population in Europe, that the coutrys finances obviously coulden't support, fraud by a corrupt finance minister in the countrys financial reporting to EU, caught with the trousers down by some sublic servants in Brussels under mandatory follow-up as a condition for EU support. - Remember?

 

Who are intented to make the capital allocation in this thought out large-scale investment program for in solidarium borrowed money, naturally! - EU, naturally!

 

In fact, the Draghi report is a stab at the largest EU power grab that I've experienced to this day!

 

So, this place I stopped reading on, and I'm never to start reading it again. It's socialist rubbish, a socialists set on print wildest wet dreams about how to fix Europes issues.

 

He [Draghi] has dubbed himself 'a liberal socialist' , ref. the Wikipedia article about him. To me, he isen't, I consider him a communist, disguised in another coat, and suit. And I consider him straight out dangerous for us all, and I consider him a mad man, totally deranged.

 

And where is he now? -He is out!  -And you - a professional money manager, operating out of NYC!, is using him as a source for your posts in this topic?!

 

- Please give me a break!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Next : Where is this guy named Thierry Breton with this awesome curly hair, his age considered, that you still now and then refer to in this topic? [I consider him of the same mold as Mario Draghi, personally, despite he being a former CEO of large listed companies!] : He's also out, by now, because a lot people in Brussels got enough of him, squeezing him out!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Then there is Ursula van Leyen with her advancing and talk for pushing for 'EU needs an European Military Force'. Financed by what? Membership countries funds, for EU to control, naturally, what else?

 

Then there is the incumbent chair of EU second half 2025 - my PM Mette Frederiksen, using her EU soapbox to talk about 'Europe needs to join forces', though not precisely referring to Ursula van Leyens statements on the matter.

[Dalal.Holdings]

15 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

And the never ending spamming saga of this topic, with endless data presentations of more or less irrrelevant data stuff considered related, relevant to the implied, implicit topic title, name of this topic, is getting drowned, burried in endless repetition of : 'Why?'!

 

It's not even fascinating, funny to observe and study any longer!

 

I coulden't phrase it better than what Charlie [ @Charlie ]  posted  above in this topic, not that long ago. Your posts are biased, because the proportions of what are you focusing on are getting wrong by almost endless repetition, sometimes also dead-wrong, every nuance, shade and detail in assesing things get lost 'in translation', You really don't have a clue, because you're not living here, the outcome naturally being platitudes, generalisations and oversimplifications, ref. Charlie [ @Charlie ].

 

Let me give you a specific example here : You have several times mentioned and refered to the Draghi report. Have you read it, or even tried? I'll kindly suggest you to read the Wikipedia article about Mario Draghi [, also dubbed 'Super-Mario'], which I did before starting to read the Draghi report. Here I'll tell you about my experience with it. I started reading the excutive summary, and found out it's basically written by all his buddies in academia all over the place, likely the same political orientation as Draghi himself. [Me : 'Okay, duly noted, John, keep on reading ...].

 

Next, same place, just a little lower : It becomes clear to me, that the report is the masterplan of Draghi's wildest wet dreams about about investing all over EU, for borrowed money in the name of EU, with EU as debtor, all in solidarity among all the EU member countries.

 

This introducing a good deal of moral hazard for certain EU contries who already don't behave in a responsible way in the first place. Here, who are the EU largest laggards in agreed increased military spending in NATO after POTUS - rightfully - was pressing hard for it : Spain, Italy, Greece? Yes, of who also a few never really fixed their banks, by a horse cure, just dragging the pain out, asking, yelling for more EU support, Christmas all around, especially Greece also consiciously, maintaining one of lowest public retirement ages for the population in Europe, that the coutrys finances obviously coulden't support, fraud by a corrupt finance minister in the countrys financial reporting to EU, caught with the trousers down by some sublic servants in Brussels under mandatory follow-up as a condition for EU support. - Remember?

 

Who are intented to make the capital allocation in this thought out large-scale investment program for in solidarium borrowed money, naturally! - EU, naturally!

 

In fact, the Draghi report is a stab at the largest EU power grab that I've experienced to this day!

 

So, this place I stopped reading on, and I'm never to start reading it again. It's socialist rubbish, a socialists set on print wildest wet dreams about how to fix Europes issues.

 

He [Draghi] has dubbed himself 'a liberal socialist' , ref. the Wikipedia article about him. To me, he isen't, I consider him a communist, disguised in another coat, and suit. And I consider him straight out dangerous for us all, and I consider him a mad man, totally deranged.

 

And where is he now? -He is out!  -And you - a professional money manager, operating out of NYC!, is using him as a source for your posts in this topic?!

 

- Please give me a break!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Next : Where is this guy named Thierry Breton with this awesome curly hair, his age considered, that you still now and then refer to in this topic? [I consider him of the same mold as Mario Draghi, personally, despite he being a former CEO of large listed companies!] : He's also out, by now, because a lot people in Brussels got enough of him, squeezing him out!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Then there is Ursula van Leyen with her advancing and talk for pushing for 'EU needs an European Military Force'. Financed by what? Membership countries funds, for EU to control, naturally, what else?

 

Then there is the incumbent chair of EU second half 2025 - my PM Mette Frederiksen, using her EU soapbox to talk about 'Europe needs to join forces', though not precisely referring to Ursula van Leyens statements on the matter.

Your reply is gibberish as usual. I don't bother to read past the second line anymore.

 

That you cannot understand how to read charts from major publications like WSJ is amusing. Keep sharing your personal power bills though. Very relevant and useful data to the topic at hand.

 

You and @Charlie should keep chanting how Europe is great while having most of your capital invested in the U.S., in a company like Berkshire which is as American as a company can get (unlike multinationals that dominate large caps). Your actions speak louder than words. Thank you for sending your capital this way across the Atlantic!

 

Leave the discussion to investing in Europe to those of us who are meaningfully invested in Europe.

[Charlie]

8 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

You and @Charlie should keep chanting how Europe is great while having most of your capital invested in the U.S., in a company like Berkshire which is as American as a company can get (unlike multinationals that dominate large caps). Your actions speak louder than words. Thank you for sending your capital this way across the Atlantic!

 

Leave the discussion to investing in Europe to those of us who are meaningfully invested in Europe.

 

@Dalal.Holdings John Hjorth and me are super anti-fragile. 

If Trump fucks up, we have still our home in Europe and Berkshire will be on a buying spree and if Europe fucks up, we will still survive with our Berkshire holdings that will be on a buying spree in Europe.

Buffett: "A sign of a good/great business man is that he owns a good/great business."

 

All these macro statements have nothing to do with successful investing.

Successful investing is finding a great business, buying it cheap and sit on your ass. 

Edited December 3, 2025 by Charlie

[Dalal.Holdings]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

 

@Dalal.Holdings John Hjorth and me are super anti-fragile. 

If Trump fucks up, we have still our home in Europe and Berkshire will be on a buying spree and if Europe fucks up, we will still survive with our Berkshire holdings that will be on a buying spree in Europe.

Buffett: "A sign of a good/great business man is that he owns a good/great business."

 

All these macro statements have nothing to do with successful investing.

Successful investing is finding a great business, buying it cheap and sit on your ass. 

Well Charlie, you can continue to post your thoughts and ideas about your American investments like BRK on this forum. I may discuss the merits of your posts with you, but I won't attack you or dismiss you by calling you a "European money manager" like my buddy John tries to do with me.

[John Hjorth]

The Economist - November 29^th 2025 :

 

 

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

<No comments>

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/german-army-chief-says-contact-with-us-military-cut-off-by-pentagon-p2xc7w9td

 

Quote

Katherina Reiche, the economics minister, announced a “matchmaking platform” that will aim to link spare capacity in underperforming sectors such as car-making with demand in the arms industry.

Quote

“There are of course many in the car-parts industry who hope they can apply their capacity and resources to defence,” he said. “But you always have to say that the scale of production and the working methods are different, so you always have to warn that this process will not be easy.”

 

The nice thing about defense is that it is exempt from many of the crazed regulations in Europe like emissions, etc. It is also something that nations don't want to import from places like China, but rather grow their own capabilities at home. Defense spending by Merz has the potential to jump start Germany's industrial base...

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3335217/macron-urges-chinese-firms-invest-france-eu-tech-gap-widens

 

Quote

China once exported cheap goods to Europe – now, French leader urges its firms to transfer tech expertise

 

Quote

“We want to welcome more Chinese investment through projects and re-industrialisation strategies, and this is what will allow us to break the cycle we’re currently in,” he said on Thursday in Beijing, where he attended a French-Chinese Business Council meeting alongside President Xi Jinping.

 

Macron called for “mutually beneficial projects” in sectors where he acknowledged China’s technological advantage, and urged Chinese firms to play a role in Europe’s development.

Quote

Eight of China’s 10 largest exports to France by value were technologically advanced goods. EV batteries, laptops, solar panels and turbojet engine components featured in the top five, though small parcels still topped the list, mainly from e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu.

Quote

By contrast, four of France’s top exports to China by value were critical technologies, including aircraft engines, medicine and medium- to large-sized aircraft. Cosmetic products topped the list, accounting for 9 per cent of China’s total import value from the European country. The rest were fashion and agricultural goods such as cognac, handbags, flax, jewellery and wheat.

Quote

“We had the fastest train in the world, the fastest plane in the world, the best nuclear power plant in the world … now what we have is L’Oreal.”

Quote

Echoing this, Philippe Le Corre, head of the Asia programme at French business school ESSEC, called on China to undergo a “reverse Deng Xiaoping” by making major investments in both France and Europe.

 

Did he say "please" and "thank you" to Xi?

[NnnnotSoSmart]

On 12/3/2025 at 4:59 AM, Charlie said:

If Trump fucks up, we have still our home in Europe and Berkshire will be on a buying spree and if Europe fucks up, we will still survive with our Berkshire holdings that will be on a buying spree in Europe.

Am I wrong, or has there been a notable scarcity of European equities in Berkshire's portfolio? Posco?  Think they took a sizable loss on that one.

 

[NnnnotSoSmart]

25 minutes ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Am I wrong, or has there been a notable scarcity of European equities in Berkshire's portfolio? Posco?  Think they took a sizable loss on that one.

Not to mention the complexity of dealing with 27? different countries, multiple legal systems, various currencies, and divergent financial reporting standards (IFRS vs. U.S. GAAP) in Europe that introduced risks and confusion that they (Warren and more-so Charlie) preferred to avoid.

[Dalal.Holdings]

31 minutes ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Am I wrong, or has there been a notable scarcity of European equities in Berkshire's portfolio? Posco?  Think they took a sizable loss on that one.

 

 

Buffett has always been super America concentrated. He has meaningfully opened up to Japan recently, but he has yet to make any similar sized moves into Europe (and he's retiring in 4 weeks)...

 

I guess he thinks there's something wrong with Europe that has kept him away all these years despite supposed "cheap" valuations

[Marco Van Basten]

57 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

 

Buffett has always been super America concentrated. He has meaningfully opened up to Japan recently, but he has yet to make any similar sized moves into Europe (and he's retiring in 4 weeks)...

 

I guess he thinks there's something wrong with Europe that has kept him away all these years despite supposed "cheap" valuations

With all due respect, Buffett has not exactly been a great stock picker over the past two or three decades, so I would not use him as a stamp of disapproval.  What has Berkshire's equity portfolio compounded at in the last 5, 10, 15 and 20, and 25 years?  There certainly have been many attractive businesses in Europe that did extremely well over time - Ryanair, Safran, Aena, Hermes, LVMH/Dior, ASML, Richemont, CRH, Belimo, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, are  a few examples.  He certainly missed a number of businesses in the US - Vulcan Materials, GE (in the last three years), Google/MSFT/META, Transdigm, Monster Energy, V/MA, Progressive/Fairfax, RSG/WM, WSO, and the list goes on.  

 

Edited December 4, 2025 by Marco Van Basten

[Dalal.Holdings]

26 minutes ago, Marco Van Basten said:

With all due respect, Buffett has not exactly been a great stock picker over the past two or three decades, so I would not use him as a stamp of disapproval.  What has Berkshire's equity portfolio compounded at in the last 5, 10, 15 and 20, and 25 years?  There certainly have been many attractive businesses in Europe that did extremely well over time - Ryanair, Safran, Aena, Hermes, LVMH/Dior, ASML, Richemont, CRH, Belimo, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, are  a few examples.  He certainly missed a number of businesses in the US - Vulcan Materials, GE (in the last three years), Google/MSFT/META, Transdigm, Monster Energy, V/MA, Progressive/Fairfax, RSG/WM, WSO, and the list goes on.  

 

No kidding. That's why I (unlike some Europeans/others on here) do not own Berkshire. Size is a big issue for BRK.

 

However it is still interesting to note that WEB entered Japan meaningfully as U.S. valuations surged in recent years but not Europe. The only European thing I can think of over the years is Munich Re which was never huge and was in 2010 time frame.

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.siliconcontinent.com/p/how-brussels-writes-so-many-laws

 

Quote

A law faces a double hurdle, where a qualified majority of member states and of members of parliament must support it. The system should produce gridlock, more still than the paralysis commonly associated with the American federal government. Yet it works fast and produces a lot, both good and bad. The reason lies in the incentives: every actor in the system is rewarded for producing legislation, and not for exercising their vetoes.

 

Quote

In Brussels, policy equals legislation. Unlike national civil servants and politicians, civil servants and politicians who work in Brussels have one main path to build a career: passing legislation.

 

Quote

Legislation is valuable to the Commission, as new laws expand Commission competences, create precedent, employ more staff, and justify larger budgets. The Commission, which is indirectly elected and faces little pressure from voters, has no institutional interest in concluding that EU action is unnecessary, that existing national rules suffice, or that a country already has a great solution and others should simply learn from it.

 

Quote

Negotiators often work in “marathon” sessions that stretch until dawn to force a deal. The final meeting for the AI Act, for instance, lasted nearly 38 hours. This physical exhaustion leads to drafting errors. Ministers and MEPs, desperate to finish, agree to complex details at 4:00 a.m. that they have not properly read. By the time the legislation reaches the chamber floor, the deal is done, errors and all.

 

Quote

The European Parliament is the institution that is accountable to the voters. But it is the parliamentary committees, and their ideology, that matter, not the plenary or the political parties to which MEPs belong. Those who join EMPL, which covers labor laws, want stronger social protections. Those who join ENVI want tougher climate rules.

 

Quote

The dynamic empowers a small committee majority to drive major policy change. For example, in May 2022, the ENVI committee (by just 6 votes) approved a mandate to cut by 100% CO₂ emissions from new cars by 2035. De facto, this bans new petrol and diesel cars from that date.

Less than four weeks later, in June 2022, Parliament rubber stamped that position as its official negotiating mandate, with a “Ferrari” exception for niche sports cars. This four weeks left almost no time to debate, consult national delegations, or reconsider the committee’s position. From that slim committee vote, the EU proceeded toward an historic shift to electric vehicles continent-wide.

 

Quote

The result of this volume bias in the system is an onslaught of low-quality legislation. Compliance is often impossible. A BusinessEurope analysis cited by the Draghi reportlooked at just 13 pieces of EU legislation and found 169 cases where different laws impose requirements on the same issue. In almost a third of these overlaps, the detailed requirements were different, and in about one in ten they were outright contradictory.

 

Quote

By the time any proposal comes up for an official vote, most alternatives have been eliminated behind closed doors. A small team of rapporteurs agrees among themselves; the committee endorses their bargain; the plenary, in turn, ratifies the committee deal; and the Council Presidency, pressed for time, accepts the compromise (with both Council and Parliament influenced along the way by the Commission’s mediation and drafting). Each actor can thus claim a victory and no one’s incentive is to apply the brakes.

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This “trilogue system” has proven far more effective at expanding the scope of EU law than a truly pluralistic, many-veto-player system would be. In the EU’s political economy, every success and every failure leads to “more law,” and the system is finely tuned to deliver it.

 

Incredible analysis of the EU rule-making system by this Spanish guy (former MEP) at the LSE. "Show me the incentives and..."

 

Edited December 4, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[cubsfan]

^^^ That's amazing. Sounds like the system exists for benefit of the bureaucrats only. Like D.C.

[Charlie]

11 hours ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Am I wrong, or has there been a notable scarcity of European equities in Berkshire's portfolio? Posco?  Think they took a sizable loss on that one.

The name is Tesco, not Posco. 

Edited December 5, 2025 by Charlie

[Charlie]

12 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

I guess he thinks there's something wrong with Europe that has kept him away all these years despite supposed "cheap" valuations

Profitability is lower in Europe, Circle of Competence, companies are not run in the favour of shareholders, legal problems, employee has more rights,

low quality banks in Europe, Berkshire not so much known as in the US....

 

Buffett made a road trip in Europe.

 

Look at a list of the most profitable companies of the world. Then you have the reason. 

Edited December 5, 2025 by Charlie

[NnnnotSoSmart]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

The name is Tesco, not Posco. 

I stand corrected. Thank You.