Parsad

The headline should be: "Buffett attacks his self-created strawman." I've never met a serious person who is against legal immigration. Well, the new executive order on travel restrictions also includes green card holders for now. So those that have already gone through the legal immigration vetting process are now being held at gates and borders. Cheers!

I can't speak for all of Canada, BC or even Vancouver. What I can tell you is that all my cousins and their children, as well as my brother and sister-in-law, and myself, have it better than my parents or their parents did. We all have better and nicer homes, multiple cars, better jobs, better access to food, better healthcare, more technological resources, better access to information, etc. There are two significant areas that are different...yes, housing is expensive and elementary/high schools are more crowded. I'm sure people could find other differences given enough time and thought, but there is no denying that quality of life overall is as good or better than previous generations. And this isn't true only for them. Most of their friends, my friends, and associates are much better. Like every generation, there will be a different set of challenges...but that's part of life. The number and acceptance of blended marriages/relationships is something that wasn't even totally acceptable just one generation ago. Today, in my family and extended family alone, we are essentially a United Nations coalition! This would have had challenges in my mother and father's generation, and would not have been acceptable in my grandparent's generation. There are always going to be people who look at the glass as half-empty...these are the Trumps of the world. There have been a number of stories in Vancouver about refugee families who have come here...muslim and non-muslim. Some of their experiences resonated with what my father, mother and their families went through as immigrant families. I watched with repulsion...a very, deep sickening feeling...as Donald Trump banned immigrants/refugees from several pre-dominantly muslim countries. Yet, he will speed up the process of Christian refugees attempting to emigrate to the United States. Blatant religious persecution...they have become their enemy. I cannot imagine Canada ever becoming a melting-pot like the United States, rather than the multi-cultural nation it is. For much of my life, and I think many Canadians have felt this way...that their country always played second-fiddle or was lacking relative to the United States. I don't think Canadians feel that way anymore! Cheers!

Buffett on immigration...but what does he know...not like he's given this much thought! Cheers! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-what-i-tell-people-who-are-anti-immigration-224409573.html

it would allow trump to say that mexico is paying for it. which, i think, is all that he cares about. I think you will see some serious inflation either over the next four years, or in the ensuing years as a result of some of the policies that are going to be implemented. Alot of cash is going to flow into assets over the next few years from reduced taxes, repatriation, etc. Combine this with tariffs on imported goods, increasing national debt due to a lack of tax revenue and increased infrastructure expenditure, and you could see hyper-inflation at some point. Cheers!

Letter will come out in early February after we have set the AGM date. Cheers!

Eloquently put! Cheers!

How many people were hurt, had their rights infringed, or were killed in 2015 or 2016 by these illegals? Compare that number to how many were hurt, had their rights infringed, or were killed in 2015 or 2016 by guns? Restricting illegals or firearms...which would have more impact on the safety, livelihood and freedoms of Americans? I'm also guessing restrictions on firearms would be far cheaper than the $25B that is going to be spent on a wall! Cheers!

Haha! That's hilarious! Don't tell anyone, otherwise Trump's going to build a wall along Canada's border, and make us pay for it!

Cardboard, have you been to China in the last few years? It's nothing like you are saying or imagining. They've embraced capitalism in such a way, that it would make Adam Smith blush. I saw as many people suffering there, as I do in Canada or the United States...and the prosperity was equal as well. In terms of the deception, control, restriction of freedoms and rights, etc, it's probably no better or worse than any Western democracy. I would say that such behavior will become part of this new U.S. administration rather quickly as well...both driving the capitalist engine and censoring the press, freedoms, rights and deception is already part of their manifesto. Cheers! Sunrider, I did not mean to offend yours or anyone else's sensibilities, especially your experiences. My point was that China today, contrary to Western opinion, isn't the same Communist regime as history, or your past experience, remembers. Any government, when given too much power, can infringe on the people's rights...even one that espouses democracy. India is a democracy...that doesn't mean people have it better than they do in China presently. Doesn't mean corruption isn't as rampant, or property rights aren't trampled. I think we all know that Germany was a republic at one time. But changes in ideology take hold due to economic circumstances...we are witnessing something similar, hopefully to a far lesser degree, globally. The only way to protect a democracy is to never let that type of ideology take hold. Once half the population starts to buy the propaganda, the half truths, alternative facts...well, you have a problem. Again, I am not discounting your experiences or anyone else's under a communist regime. I'm just saying what I witnessed in China, and only as a visiting tourist, was not completely accurate based on everything we read here. Cheers!

+1. Criticize the things he does, not the things you dream up in your imagination that he might do. I'm sure he's going to do a ton of things which I will absolutely hate, but on day two: so far so good. He's continuing the drone war which I am not happy about, but Hillary would have done that as well. He signed a few executive orders which I think don't go anywhere near far enough (defunding foreign aid for abortions, for example. I'd like to see all foreign aid eliminated), but small steps in the right direction are still steps in the right direction. I wouldn't expect to agree with almost anything Hillary did. I agree...in terms of business and the economy, so far so good. I just wish he would worry about that more than how he is portrayed, or crowd size, etc. I'm also terribly worried that this administration will take women's rights backwards a couple of decades. I don't have any children of my own, but I do have cousins and nieces in the U.S. We will watch and see! Cheers!

Yes, when presented as "alternative facts"! ;D Cheers!

Cardboard, have you been to China in the last few years? It's nothing like you are saying or imagining. They've embraced capitalism in such a way, that it would make Adam Smith blush. I saw as many people suffering there, as I do in Canada or the United States...and the prosperity was equal as well. In terms of the deception, control, restriction of freedoms and rights, etc, it's probably no better or worse than any Western democracy. I would say that such behavior will become part of this new U.S. administration rather quickly as well...both driving the capitalist engine and censoring the press, freedoms, rights and deception is already part of their manifesto. Cheers!

One man's garbage is another man's treasure! Buffett would probably disagree with you, as do I. I love good food, but I also have no problem chowing down on a Big Mac or Filet-o-Fish. Cheers!

This hasn't been a "value investing" message board in a few years. It's basically a politics board with some investing thrown in. I'm not sure that is a fair assessment. Show me another message board or investment website with as comprehensive a database of comments and analysis on equities like we have in the "Investment Ideas" section without "internet trolls"? How about a list of investing/finance/psychology books with comments from readers, other than on sites like Amazon, etc? Politics may seem annoying at times, but history shows that how politicians handle periods of crises, can ultimately decide the severity and duration of the eventual outcomes. Whatever people may want to say about Obama, and really Dubya as well, in my opinion the overall outcome of the financial crisis was handled relatively well by both, when you look at the magnitude of how things could have unfolded and how fast liquidity disappeared. How would things have turned out under Clinton, Reagan, Roosevelt, Nixon, Kennedy...and Trump? Studying the historical actions and outcomes of political leaders, and their parties, actually can provide investors valid information in making decisions. Ultimately, as value investors, we base our decisions on fundamentals. But during some periods of excess or crisis, macroeconomic events can have significant, and long-term effects...such as the Great Depression, World War 2, the creation and likely breakup of the European Union, etc. Cheers!

I absolutely agree with you on the "Martin Luther King" bust report in the media. Just a petty, waste of time effort by the media. But can you explain why they spent nearly 4 minutes of a 5 minute and 46 second press conference on the crowd size? You don't believe that was even more petty and stupid than the Martin Luther King bust reporting by the press? Try something for me and let me know if this changes your perspective on the press conference. Every time Spicer says "Trump" or "President", replace it with "Kim Jong-Il" and "Supreme Leader". If those same comments came from North Korea, you would think it was effing crazy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amz62uUYPeo I agree with you on the importance of news reporting. Not sure why you took a shot at me as well in your post with the "Maybe you don't" comment. All that aside, I believe you would agree with me that accuracy in reporting by the President and his staff is even more important than the reporting by the Press, correct? And disclosure of the President's finances, business relations, etc is as important from a conflict of interest perspective as well, is it not? Cheers!

Not meant to be an ambush at all. I'm glad Hillary didn't win, but I was equally worried about Trump. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but that leash is pretty short. My question is asking how long is the leash for those that supported him? And is it ok to ignore ethics and transparency, if it achieves the promised longer-term goals? Those answers would be different for each person I would presume. Cheers! Cheers!

Ok, I absolutely get that stance. But if his team is contradicting their position from day one on his tax returns, how do you feel that he will actually be committed to making economic improvements over the next four years? And believe me, I'm not pro-Hillary either. I think both choices, Americans were damned. I just don't know if the lesser of two evils was picked, and we won't know that until we see what happens! Cheers!

There's a number of topics we could address from either perspective...pro-Trump, con-Trump. I'm only asking about the two things that have occurred since he became President. In particular, disclosure of taxes. As investors, students of Buffett, ethical behaviour and in terms of intellectual honesty...this is completely contradictory to what he told supporters and non-supporters alike...he would release his tax returns after the audit was complete. Now his team is saying that they won't release them at all. How do those that voted for Trump, that he would clean up the mess and be transparent...feel about this contradiction in personal disclosure? Cheers!

I don't want this to get into a huge political discussion and will delete all posts that degenerate into one. But I just wanted to get an intellectually honest answer from anyone who voted for Trump: Questions: - Does it concern you that the very first press conference by the President's team was centered on "crowd size for the inauguration" instead of anything important? - Does it concern you that the team has now said that they won't release the tax returns regardless if the audit is completed? As investors, we all respect and want transparency through disclosure, so is this not antithetical to our intellectual frameworks as investors? Cheers!

Those are only good in the U.S., correct?

I've done that before. Fewer calories and cheaper than a regular Big Mac, but the bun doesn't taste the same. The Quarter Pounder idea by Rkbabang would work and taste better, but not any healthier than a regular Big Mac. They are now making three sizes of Big Macs in the U.S., and it should be coming soon to Canada. A smaller, lighter version; the standard one; and a Mega Big Mac. Cheers!

While the food is the same as the U.S., the Canadian locations are generally much cleaner and fresher/newer than their U.S. counterparts. I also agree that there are better places than McDonald's for burgers, but you have to admit that an Egg McMuffin is pretty tasty, cheap and quite healthy...the ham one with English muffin, not sausage, bacon, or biscuits. Cheers!

Thanks very much guys! It's always been my pleasure to run this board. I'm very fortunate and lucky for it. If it wasn't for this board, and then all of the things that happened to me because of it, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. I couldn't be more grateful for it all, especially all of the friendships made over the years! Cheers!

All four games were terrific this weekend. I thought it would go down to Brady versus Rodgers in the Superbowl...so far, so good. Only concern is the way Green Bay's defense gave up in the 2nd half. So many uncontested balls to Dallas receivers. They can't play like that against Atlanta or New England...Rodger's arm and the offense won't be enough if the defense plays with apathy again. I don't expect Pittsburgh to get past New England. Cheers!

It's a public company...I cannot make a comment on this until the company has done so. It's not as simple as you think. Because the company will be dissolved or sold (shell) after a year, all associated costs, tax liabilities, legal, accounting, filing costs, have to be accounted for before any distribution. Otherwise, there may be a shortfall and we would have to claw back distributed capital from shareholders. For a small company, it was a very complex deal. You'll hear something soon enough. Cheers!