Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[John Hjorth]

4 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

This thread is not for investing, it’s for ranting. Reported.

 

Much better to provide specific pushback in the separate topics in the Investestment Ideas forum related to listed companies, which eliminates i.e. discussions about the colour of the lipstick of the Danish PM [, who atually as a socialdemocrat introduced a decrease in corporation taxation the day before yesterday, as a basis for a new government!].

[james22]

9 hours ago, Sweet said:

Europe had two world wars bro, fought predominantly on their soil, and a Cold War that split the continent in half.  Major facepalm.

 

During the 17 years between 2008 and 2025?

[Sweet]

20 minutes ago, james22 said:

 

During the 17 years between 2008 and 2025?

Sure, in the same way the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion prevented China from developing - checks notes - until the 1960s and 1970s.

[james22]

42 minutes ago, Sweet said:

Sure, in the same way the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion prevented China from developing - checks notes - until the 1960s and 1970s.

 

Well, China also the First Sino-Japan War, the Boxer Rebellion, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Civil War, and Mao's Great Leap Forward.

 

Lots of externalities and bad decisions by a authoritarian.

 

Europe has none of those excuses since the end of the Cold War.

 

Losing your best men in World Wars and War Guilt has an effect, sure.

 

But Europe's response (over-regulating bureaucracy) has been *their* choice. 

[Sweet]

33 minutes ago, james22 said:

 

Well, China also the First Sino-Japan War, the Boxer Rebellion, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Civil War, and Mao's Great Leap Forward.

 

Lots of externalities and bad decisions by a authoritarian.

 

Europe has none of those excuses since the end of the Cold War.

 

Losing your best men in World Wars and War Guilt has an effect, sure.

 

But Europe's response (over-regulating bureaucracy) has been *their* choice. 

Agree.  If you know my post history ITT, which you probably don’t, I know Europe has loads of problems.  Over taxed, over regulated, declining culture, declining demographics.  I just don’t think it’s as bad as that tweet you posted makes out.  I don’t see any chance in the near term either.  Plus I do think American exceptionalism is real.

[james22]

1 hour ago, Sweet said:

Agree.  If you know my post history ITT, which you probably don’t, I know Europe has loads of problems.  Over taxed, over regulated, declining culture, declining demographics.  I just don’t think it’s as bad as that tweet you posted makes out.  I don’t see any chance in the near term either.  Plus I do think American exceptionalism is real.

 

[Sloanes Teddy]

Would either of you mind explaining to me what American exceptionalism is?

 

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, Sloanes Teddy said:

Would either of you mind explaining to me what American exceptionalism is?

 

It means Amerika is special and dominant. It makes the rules and others have to follow.

 

On that topic, this podcast dropped from Freakonomics:

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519?i=1000771225038

 

 

 

 

[Sweet]

2 hours ago, Sloanes Teddy said:

Would either of you mind explaining to me what American exceptionalism is?

 

That there is something about America, in terms of its innovation, culture, regulations… whatever… that makes it just that bit better than everyone else when it comes to economics and tech.

[CorpRaider]

12 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

This thread is not for investing, it’s for ranting. Reported.

I mean people were just posting on about the problems and I´ḿ thinking yeah but we know we were all very very wrong, right?

Edited 13 hours ago by CorpRaider

[Dalal.Holdings]

11 hours ago, CorpRaider said:

I mean people were just posting on about the problems and I´ḿ thinking yeah but we know we were all very very wrong, right?

Well I was posting about the problems while also making good money in Europe. The EUR appreciation since start of 2025 was a nice tailwind to European returns too.

 

You realize there is nuance, right? For example, my posting and Euro centric analysis protected me from investing in European industrials, chemical companies, auto companies, etc which have been devastated. I owned some German SME mittelstands that were exposed to auto that I thankfully threw in the towel on. Meanwhile, I went nuts with European defense stocks since early last year (recognizing the huge shortfall in their defense spending the past decades and Trump was going to hold them accountable), some of which have multi-bagged. So that’s the other major tangible benefit of actually understanding the problems Europe is going through.

 

Meanwhile, a bunch of value guys like Einhorn have been pitching European chemical cos for years. (Go take a look at how Lanxess and Solvay have done since he pitched them)

 

I like Adyen here along with MTU, Buzzi, some others. Still hold Kongsberg which spun off KMAR.OL and is up nicely since I bought near the lows late last year. Sold out of Indra Sistemas which multi-bagged since I bought early last year. Made a quick return on WAF.DE which went much higher after I sold. Still hold TKMS which I got from spinoff from TKA and is up nicely. Other too that I haven’t listed. Made nice quick returns on Evolution gaming last yr. Quick buckon BOL.PA. HSW.L I still hold. it goes on.

 

So no, I wasn’t wrong and my European adventure has worked out quite well. It would have been even better if European leaders figured out how to get out of the way and actually boost GDP, but you can only ask for so much.

 

Meanwhile, a bunch of Europeans (including on this forum) brag about “Live in Europe, invest in America” while I did the exact opposite. I guess it’s really European citizens who were wrong and missed out on those European returns because they instead sent their capital to invest in America ! Lol

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Dalal.Holdings