ERICOPOLY

She didn't announce an increase in ST cap gains rate -- if she were to do that, she would be taxing it at a rate higher than ordinary income. Short-term (ST) capital gains today are taxed at ordinary income tax rates.

All corporate earnings are pretty much double taxed. Taxed twice when dividend is paid... or... Taxed twice when capital gain is realized. Example: BAC earns net income of $1.20 per share Dividend of 20 cents is paid (taxed twice) Capital gain of $1 is realized when shares are sold (taxed twice) The stock rose by $1 in recognition of retained earnings that were already taxed. Pretty shitty isn't it.

Sort of... you can't tell it how fast you plan on driving and then have it plan the proper route for you. It can set you out down a path and then only later tell you that you won't make it unless you slow down. It's not quite what they advertise it to be.

I would agree with you if gas stations were typically located a few hundred miles apart, with none in between. People in gasoline cars don't need to think about whether they'll make it from gas station A to gas station B when they are planning what route to drive on summer vacation. They simply don't even consider the possibility that driving 80 versus driving 65 will leave them stranded with an empty gas tank.

I don't blame the EPA because the EPA just puts out a number. The average person who talks to me about my car doesn't understand how much range declines with just a modest increase in speed -- like from 65 to 75. Tesla uses the EPA's number as a marketing tool without enough clear emphasis that there is a huge drop-off in range at higher speeds. Probably because they don't want people to see it as the unsexy car that has to be in the slow lane when you set out on the exciting first roadtrip of summer. There you are in your fancy new car, going 65 while everyone is passing you. You dare not speed up for fear that you won't make it to your destination. Elon Musk does not want people to think of his cars that way. It's different with electric cars because the buyer needs to properly assess what the range is going to look like given their preferential speed of driving. This is critically important to get right because of the lack of charging options between waypoints.

I bought the car but not the stock. So just like the shorts have lost a lot of money on Tesla, Tesla has cost me a lot of money. But at least I get to drive around with my losses. I didn't buy the stock, nor did I short it. I just said I have no way of valuing it when it was $30 -- some people thought it was overpriced at $30 and shorted it, but they were really overvaluing their ability to see into the future. I believe value investing works if you stick to things that can be valued with a higher degree of certainty -- and you need a predictable thing to wager on in order for that to happen. So that's where you get to all the attributes that Buffett likes about companies -- I just think he figured out at some point that in order to be a value investor you really need to stay within a circle of predictability.

I predict more alcohol will be consumed when driverless cars eliminate the "designated driver". Also, currently I see people have one drink at the bar (or at lunch) before driving home. Why not have three instead? Driverless cars are therefore likely to drive sales of booze and healthcare. So if you own a pub, you'll probably see your margins expand as you can sell more drinks per customer. I bet this is already happening with Uber and Lift -- would love to see the data. I drank an extra few last night because we used Uber to drive only a mile across the neighborhood to a dinner party. There were more liquor sales generated last night and it's 100% thanks to Uber.

You'd also get a 300-mile range with the new 90kwh battery. How often do you wish you had a longer range on your 85? It doesn't work that way. Nobody is going to drive a P90D at 55 MPH in order to attain 300 mile range EPA estimate. My P85 starts out with 265 EPA range, but I only get 200 actual miles out of a full charge. I drive 75-80 MPH. Higher speed,more drag, less range. Where is the customer driving a car that sporty and adheres to 55 MPH? Musk is full of shit here, and IMP should stop bullshitting people. Don't be sneaky, you can just be honest and be less of a salesman. It won't hurt to come clean.

I love Spaceballs. Seen it a dozen times. We're combing the desert!

Well, I hate to say it... but I'll probably need to trade in my car for this one because mine takes about 4.2 seconds to get to 60. That's 50% longer!: With the "Ludicrous Mode," the new Tesla Model S P90D will get to 60 in just 2.8 seconds. http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/17/autos/tesla-ludicrous-mode/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-dom

From the slide deck of Q2 earnings presentation: Under the fully phased-in Advanced approaches 5, the estimated CET1 ratio increased to 10.4% from 10.1% in 1Q15, due to higher CET1 capital as well as lower RWA – As previously disclosed, U.S. banking regulators have requested modifications to certain wholesale (e.g., commercial) and other credit models to exit parallel run, which is estimated to negatively impact the CET1 ratio; if these modifications were included, the estimated CET1 ratio would be approximately 9.3% at 2Q15

Not me, but somebody else on here can likely answer it.

You posted this when I was on vacation so I missed it. I've done plenty of irrational things. Hopefully on balance I'm rational enough. I found out recently that my paternal great-grandmother's brother-in-law was this man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reichsfreiherr_von_Boineburg-Lengsfeld He was my grandfather's "Uncle Hans". Now, if you Google "Boineburg conspirator" you'll learn that he was the man that rounded up the Gestapo and SS in Paris during Valkyrie... and then had to let them go again when Hitler survived the attempt. He's pretty much the only conspirator (that I can find) that lived (the others were executed). There must be some streak of luck to that. So, you know, am I rational to really care about this any more than the next person? It's a fairly distant relation, so it's a bit silly. But it's still fun to think about how close you are to historical events... not everyone's grandfather's uncle was in on the plot to assassinate Hitler. That was a pretty cool find even if it's useless.

Happy Birthday!

You cannot buy and sell men, only business operations. Speculating on what they're worth on the slave market isn't really going to help in figuring out what multiple ACE would offer for MKL or FFH.

It's probably the combined ratio of Chubb that earned them that premium.

It was suggested to be 12 months roughly from the closing of the first acquisition. So that would be roughly at year's end. A new timeline hasn't been suggested as far as I know.

That's the primary reason to go Roth. The tax bill is settled. The Regular IRA will compound at 10% annually -- so the tax liability will also compound at 10% annually. So think of the Roth IRA as letting you make a phantom contribution (the tax bill) that will compound at 10% annually. The Regular IRA doesn't let you do that, so you have to somehow come up with after-tax 10% compounding for the monies that will eventually settle your tax bill, which is obviously much harder.

Buffett and Munger learned that in order to confidently buy a company for less than intrinsic value, they must first predict the future path of the business (it's future earnings). Therefore they decided to purchase businesses that have a far more predictable future. That's where all the talk about "moats" and "boring businesses" and "high quality" comes into play. They realized that they have an advantage in predicting the future if they focus their efforts on finding predictable situations. Otherwise they won't invest ("too hard" pile).

You could put 100% of your net worth into a house. But you can hedge out fire/flood/earthquake risk with insurance. So you can do that with a lot of concentrated equity positions too... using put options. So to answer the question, there would need to be an options market for the security.

I think discussing any leisure activity and hobbies is fine. It's like this... war is boring most of the time, and then there are brief intervals of extreme excitement/fear. You drink, shoot drugs, chase women, talk about cars and hobbies to pass the long boring interludes. But you drop all of that discussion when the shooting starts up again.

After being spoiled by the excitement of 2006-2009, and then again in late 2011, I just find it more interesting during these days of doldrums to debate the ethics of criminalized prostitution and drugs. Money, women and drugs. Not enough money to be made lately, so thoughts lean to women and drugs. Let the trade winds blow again and we'll get back to the business of money hopefully.

These two historical accounts are page turners: The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough http://www.amazon.com/The-Johnstown-Flood-David-McCullough/dp/0671207148 A Dawn Like Thunder by Robert J. Mrazek http://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Like-Thunder-Torpedo-Squadron/dp/0316056537/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432848102&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Dawn+Like+Thunder

Bill Gates' sponsored company, Terrapower, seems optimistic that they'll have a working "fast reactor" within the next 10 years: http://www.the-weinberg-foundation.org/2013/07/23/bill-gates-nuclear-company-explores-molten-salt-reactors-thorium/ http://terrapower.com/pages/technology The TWR offers additional benefits over today’s light water reactor (LWR) designs: Provides up to a 50-fold gain in fuel efficiency, which means less fuel producing more electricity. Increased fuel efficiency also means less waste at the end of the reactor’s life. Eliminates the need for reprocessing and significantly reduces and potentially eliminates the long-term need for enrichment plants. This reduces proliferation concerns and lowers the cost of the nuclear energy process. Directly converts depleted uranium to usable fuel as it operates. As a result, this inexpensive but energy-rich fuel source could provide a global electricity supply that is, for all practical purposes, inexhaustible.

Only distributable cash (present and future) counts towards intrinsic value. Taxes owed by the corporation don't count towards distributable cash, obviously.