It may not be enough if we're still importing from OPEC and have to act as peacekeeper in perpetuity.
LOL, OMFG Jesus. Well, there you have it folks. "I was in the NYC. I was watching the towers burn from the Bear Steans trading floor in midtown Manhattan. A bunch of my friends died in the South Tower. The political establishment used this tragedy to rob us blind" Really? You are going to equate 9/11 with political ambitions about trading? Ug!
About trading? What are you talking about? I said it was a tragedy and that politicians used it as a pretext to crank up the military spending.
So in place of increased military/intelligence readiness, what would you propose in dealing with groups with the stated objective being the destruction of the west ?
Biggest Winner of Famed Buffett Bet? Girls Charity MoneyBeat By Nicole Friedman Dec 30, 2017 8:00 am ET The real winner of Warren Buffett‘s 10-year bet against hedge funds is Girls Inc. of Omaha. Mr. Buffett bet $1 million in 2007 that an index fund would outperform a basket of hedge funds over a decade. The proceeds would go to charity, and Mr. Buffett designated his local Girls Inc. affiliate as the recipient if he won. When the closing bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange Friday, the famed investor locked in his victory. Mr. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has said throughout this year that he is confident he would win. From the start of the bet through the end of 2016, Mr. Buffett’s S&P 500 index fund returned 7.1% compounded annually. The competing basket of funds of hedge funds selected by asset manager Protégé Partners returned an average of 2.2%. And because of a twist in the bet’s history, Girls Inc. of Omaha is likely to get much more than $1 million.Mr. Buffett and Protégé Partners originally put about $320,000 each into bonds that would appreciate to $1 million over the course of their wager. But the bonds appreciated much faster than expected as interest rates fell so the two sides agreed to go for a bigger prize. In late 2012, they agreed to buy 11,200 shares of Berkshire B shares, which cost $89.70 at the end of 2012. They’ve climbed 121% since then. After Friday, the last day of trading in 2017, those 11,200 shares are worth $2.22 million. “I guarantee you it will be put to good use” by Girls Inc., Mr. Buffett said in a December interview. Following Mr. Buffett’s investing advice, Girls Inc. of Omaha plans to invest the donation passively and use the investment proceeds to cover the ongoing expenses for a new project: transitional housing for 16 young women who are aging out of foster care, said Executive Director Roberta Wilhelm. The organization bought a property in 2016 and will renovate it next year, with a goal of welcoming the first residents in 2019, she said. “That’s a really life-changing gift for the girls, and it’s certainly a big change for our agency as well,” Ms. Wilhelm said. Girls Inc. of Omaha is a local affiliate of Girls Inc., a national nonprofit. The Omaha organization provides after-school and summer programs for girls ages 5 to 18. Its annual budget is about $2.8 million, Ms. Wilhelm said. Ms. Wilhelm said she has followed Mr. Buffett’s bet with “anticipation and hopefulness” for the past decade. “Of course I had full confidence that he would win, but I thought, ‘10 years, it’s so long. Who knows?’” she said. Mr. Buffett has previously auctioned off his car and his wallet to support Girls Inc. of Omaha. One year, he donated 17 ukuleles to the organization and taught a ukulele lesson himself.
It does not have to be an all or or nothing reaction. It’s a scale ranging from doing nothing and allocating a meaningful portion of the GDP, I think the right answer lies with some sort of cost/benefit analysis. Obviously, that’s not what happened.
I think you are correct in a utopian situation, but a cost/ benefit anal of fighting terrorism will never be easy in an open society...anyway Happy New Year to all !