Ushuaia Posted December 4 Posted December 4 21 hours ago, Pelagic said: Has anyone been to a notary reading session in Germany to confirm this actually happens? Feels like a law that was put into place 300 years ago and no one has thought to revisit since. https://x.com/nathanbenaich/status/1862208030596636770 Yeah, being a notary is a nice job in Germany. You get paid very well for the fact that you can read something. In every real estate transaction, I have to listen to the same thing for the thousandth time.
Dalal.Holdings Posted December 4 Posted December 4 52 minutes ago, Ushuaia said: Yeah, being a notary is a nice job in Germany. You get paid very well for the fact that you can read something. In every real estate transaction, I have to listen to the same thing for the thousandth time. Do you have to read the entire document aloud?
Dalal.Holdings Posted December 4 Posted December 4 (edited) Progressives in the USA wanted to make America more like the EU. That's why they lost. Canada, EU are bastions of progressivism. Climate change activists, regulations galore. That's why America has taken the lead in so many areas. The irony is that progressive areas are now symbols of failure: uncontrolled migrant populations, homelessness, crime, dysfunctional government (look at UK/France/Germany/Canada), inability to build infrastructure, energy crises (Germany), wide deficits, decreased labor productivity, lack of innovation, and overall economic stagnation... The "degrowth" crowd wanted this, after all, so you reap what you have sown. Progressives have actually become regressive. Edited December 4 by Dalal.Holdings
backtothebeach Posted December 5 Posted December 5 I wouldn’t expect any great reforms from Merz in Germany. Here is what he said on TV recently: “Christian Lindner [liberal democrat party leader] had called for daring "more Milei" - i.e. to take the ultra-libertarian Argentine president as a model. Merz "was completely horrified" about this comparison: "What this president is doing there ruins the country, trampling on the people." He’s an empty suit who doesn’t know what he is talking about, and will enter into a coalition with the social Democrats or the green party. Only cosmetic changes are possible in such a coalition. Doesn’t mean the German stock market (DAX) can’t continue to perform at 8.5% CAGR (since inception), including dividends.
Luke Posted December 5 Posted December 5 (edited) 39 minutes ago, backtothebeach said: I wouldn’t expect any great reforms from Merz in Germany. Here is what he said on TV recently: “Christian Lindner [liberal democrat party leader] had called for daring "more Milei" - i.e. to take the ultra-libertarian Argentine president as a model. Merz "was completely horrified" about this comparison: "What this president is doing there ruins the country, trampling on the people." He’s an empty suit who doesn’t know what he is talking about, and will enter into a coalition with the social Democrats or the green party. Only cosmetic changes are possible in such a coalition. Doesn’t mean the German stock market (DAX) can’t continue to perform at 8.5% CAGR (since inception), including dividends. Yep, they are conservatives that dont dare much change because their voters prefer no change Germany is the champion of industries that were relevant 20-30 years ago, automobile, machinery etc. Future is in semiconductors, software, robotics etc and there is pretty much nothing there. He doesnt look and speaks like an innovator either...one can only hope... Edited December 5 by Luke
Pelagic Posted December 5 Posted December 5 On 12/4/2024 at 8:26 AM, Ushuaia said: Yeah, being a notary is a nice job in Germany. You get paid very well for the fact that you can read something. In every real estate transaction, I have to listen to the same thing for the thousandth time. Interesting, and I'm sure there's a trade organization of notaries doing everything in their power to preserve the status quo. I saw a further comment in the twitter thread regarding a new couple who needed a notary for some marriage documents and the notary took a percentage of their net worth as a fee which seems egregious considering most notaries in the states charge a flat fee.
Spekulatius Posted December 5 Posted December 5 Notaries in the US work at Kinko’s, UPS or as bank tellers. But before complaining about this , look at inefficiency in the US retail sector, including stuff like title insurance which is really a result of a lousy privately owned record keeping system. Most of the rest of the world doesn’t have this stuff. The US is an amalgam of amazing efficiency in some sectors and totally backwards and almost comically bad systems and infrastructure in others. Case in point, look at the Light switches in the US. I also made some of pictures of power line poles when I moved here. Those in SF looked worse than those in Portuguese favelas and still hadn’t changed almost 30 years later. You notice these things when you immigrate from one country to another.
73 Reds Posted December 5 Posted December 5 22 minutes ago, Spekulatius said: Notaries in the US work at Kinko’s, UPS or as bank tellers. But before complaining about this , look at inefficiency in the US retail sector, including stuff like title insurance which is really a result of a lousy privately owned record keeping system. Most of the rest of the world doesn’t have this stuff. The US is an amalgam of amazing efficiency in some sectors and totally backwards and almost comically bad systems and infrastructure in others. Case in point, look at the Light switches in the US. I also made some of pictures of power line poles when I moved here. Those in SF looked worse than those in Portuguese favelas and still hadn’t changed almost 30 years later. You notice these things when you immigrate from one country to another. Notaries in the US have no interest in the document. They are merely acknowledging the indentity of the person signing the document. Almost anyone can become a notary - all that is required is proper eyesight. Notaries in Europe have a much more time-consuming role. More like a Medalion signature guarantee here for things like transferring securities. Medalion guarantees can be difficult to obtain depending on where you live. A little pushback on title insurance. Anyone who owns property here would be crazy not to obtain owner's title insurance, particularly since the cost is a relatively minimal one-time charge. I have seen homebuyers not want to purchase title insurance even when they finance a property where the lender requires mortgagee title insurance. They don't understand that the cost is next to nothing when they are already paying for lender insurance. Interestingly title insurance is the only insurance that provides no coverage for future events; it only insures title up to the date you take ownership. As such, it should be one of the most profitable and easiest risks for title companies to rate.
Dalal.Holdings Posted December 6 Posted December 6 Interesting bit from Bezos on why America is where it is vs others like Europe
Dalal.Holdings Posted December 6 Posted December 6 https://www.ft.com/content/169816b5-39e9-4f05-ae84-43ef8e277c76 This is the first time I've seen EU seriously consider joint fundraising. I'm not sure it will be Eurobonds, but it sounds like a step in that direction. Non-EU members like the UK can participate too. Trump is the catalyst that is pushing Europe to take charge of itself as I pointed out earlier. And I think long term that's a good thing for everybody... It seems like $500B won't get them that far given how long they've come to rely on the USA to provide the vast majority of their defense apparatus. That amount is less than the annual U.S. defense budget... The EU has a lot of spending and investment it needs to do. These industries will take time to spin up as they've been neglected on the continent for so long... Quote Trump’s threat to withdraw US security guarantees from underspending Nato allies has spurred European capitals to explore more radical defence funding options, including joint borrowing that has traditionally been ruled out by fiscal hawks in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Senior European officials discussing the plan are now focused on setting up a financing vehicle for defence, which would issue bonds backed by national guarantees from participating countries rather than the EU as a whole. The financing model, which would be open to non-EU states such as the UK and Norway, is gaining traction among a key group of EU member states, six people involved in the talks told the Financial Times. While the precise borrowing target is still to be agreed, those involved in negotiations said it would need to be more than €500bn.
Spekulatius Posted December 7 Posted December 7 Anyone watches Romania? There was a thinly veiled large scale effort for Russian actors to influence the election via TikTok amongst all media: The election was annulled, which I have not seen before in Europe
WayWardCloud Posted December 8 Posted December 8 Yep. Georgia as well. So much for the theory Putin would stop at Ukraine.
d29 Posted December 8 Posted December 8 19 hours ago, Spekulatius said: Anyone watches Romania? There was a thinly veiled large scale effort for Russian actors to influence the election via TikTok amongst all media: The election was annulled, which I have not seen before in Europe I am Romanian. Cancelling the elections was the correct move although state institutions failed miserably and should have prevented what happened before the elections took place, not in the middle of them. There is still a lot of work to be done.
Spekulatius Posted December 8 Posted December 8 36 minutes ago, d29 said: I am Romanian. Cancelling the elections was the correct move although state institutions failed miserably and should have prevented what happened before the elections took place, not in the middle of them. There is still a lot of work to be done. Thank you for your perspective. I think cancelling and election result is a tricky move that can result in voters backlash and it undermines democracy, but probably not as much than a rigged election. when you look at. Map, you see why Putin will target Romania to shut the door on Ukraine. He has already a Transnistria puppet regime to help out as well. Europe is under attack from Putin, not just Ukraine, that is sure (to me). To think that some sort peace or even truce deal with Putin makes this all go away is probably the most wishful and naive thinking I am aware of in some circles.
John Hjorth Posted December 8 Posted December 8 5 minutes ago, Spekulatius said: ... Europe is under attack from Putin, not just Ukraine, that is sure (to me). To think that some sort peace or even truce deal with Putin makes this all go away is probably the most wishful and naive thinking I am aware of in some circles. +1
cubsfan Posted December 8 Posted December 8 1 hour ago, Spekulatius said: Europe is under attack from Putin, not just Ukraine, that is sure (to me). To think that some sort peace or even truce deal with Putin makes this all go away is probably the most wishful and naive thinking I am aware of in some circles. It seems as if the pacifists in Europe have learned their lesson. I think they understand that the Russian threat is real, and that defense is actually worth paying for. With a truce deal, they will arm Ukraine to the teeth, if they are serious.
d29 Posted December 8 Posted December 8 1 hour ago, Spekulatius said: Thank you for your perspective. I think cancelling and election result is a tricky move that can result in voters backlash and it undermines democracy, but probably not as much than a rigged election. when you look at. Map, you see why Putin will target Romania to shut the door on Ukraine. He has already a Transnistria puppet regime to help out as well. Europe is under attack from Putin, not just Ukraine, that is sure (to me). To think that some sort peace or even truce deal with Putin makes this all go away is probably the most wishful and naive thinking I am aware of in some circles. Of course it is not ideal to have this decision come so late and there are dangerous and unknown ramifications from it. But we live to fight for some more time. If you are interested in the background there are some decent investigative articles you can read with Google Translate, this one is well worth your time to at least skim: https://snoop.ro/strategia-cu-bani-rusesti-cum-au-ajuns-reclamele-la-medicina-naturista-si-stirile-cu-sfinti-sa-influenteze-votul-romanilor-la-prezidentiale/
Spekulatius Posted December 10 Posted December 10 (edited) Ashtead moving their listing to the US: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ashtead-move-primary-listing-us-075934041.html I think we will see the day when BP moves to the US as well. Will be quite the day when British Petroleum becomes US Petroleum. They can toss the energy transition crap at the same time. Get rid of corporate deadwood by not making them a good offer to move. Very convenient. Edited December 10 by Spekulatius
CorpRaider Posted December 10 Posted December 10 (edited) Return of Amoco Edited December 10 by CorpRaider
John Hjorth Posted December 10 Posted December 10 7 hours ago, Spekulatius said: Ashtead moving their listing to the US: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ashtead-move-primary-listing-us-075934041.html I think we will see the day when BP moves to the US as well. Will be quite the day when British Petroleum becomes US Petroleum. They can toss the energy transition crap at the same time. Get rid of corporate deadwood by not making them a good offer to move. Very convenient. To me personally, this very unlikely to ever happen, at least with the existing tax regime in the US for withholding dividend taxes on dividends from shares held by owners not resident in the US. Lots of UK pensioners and pension savers are relying on tax free BP dividends. And then again, Rama's cries have happened before, and for a reason.
formthirteen Posted December 11 Posted December 11 This listed company could be a winner in Europe: Quote <Company name redacted> covers the entire waste recycling chain, from collection to recovery, as well as a full range of Business Services and Public Sector Services, including cleaning, temporary work, energy and outsourced aeronautical services. Here's a photo of their headquarters:
Dinar Posted December 11 Posted December 11 I think Heidelberg materials which I mentioned before will do very well.
Dalal.Holdings Posted Saturday at 03:09 PM Posted Saturday at 03:09 PM It’s amazing that up until recently that Europeans couldn’t acknowledge anything wrong about the path they were on. And yet the Ursula’s and Lagarde’s are still in charge of the mess they created
Spekulatius Posted Saturday at 04:46 PM Posted Saturday at 04:46 PM To @Dalal.Holdings point, some metrics in annual reports are really awful. For example, I look at Thermador - a French building distributor and not a bad business at all. However, they clearly have a productivity issue.
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