Sunday, September 26, 2010
Munger Says `Thank God' U.S. Opted for Bailouts Over Handouts
(Bloomberg.com) Charles Munger, the billionaire vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., defended the U.S. financial-company rescues of 2008 and told students that people in economic distress should “suck it in and cope.” Click here for the rest of the story
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Bill Gross' Latest Newsletter
(pimco.com)
Don't Care
I haven’t gone to a cocktail party in over 10 years. Granted, perpetually watching Seinfeld reruns on Friday and Saturday nights makes for a dull boy, but the alternative is excruciating. Uh, which would I prefer – solitary confinement or water boarding? I lean strongly in the direction of a warm bed and peace as opposed to a glass full of tinkling ice cubes and a room resonating with high-decibel blather. I suppose the parties wouldn’t be so bad if there was something original to be said, or if “you” had a genuine interest in “me” as opposed to “you,” but let’s face it folks, no one does. The only reason any of us really cares about cocktail conversations is to quickly redirect someone else’s stories into autobiographies that we assume to be instant bestsellers if only in print. If not, if the doe-eyed listener seems simply fascinated by what you’re saying, you can bet there’s a requested personal favor coming when you finally shut up. “Say Bill, I was wondering if you knew somebody at…that could…” Yeah right! But, as my chart shows, 90 seconds into a typical conversation, no one gives a damn about you and your problems – maybe those shoes and that dreadful eye shadow you’re wearing, but not anything audible coming out of your mouth.
Read the entire letter
Don't Care
I haven’t gone to a cocktail party in over 10 years. Granted, perpetually watching Seinfeld reruns on Friday and Saturday nights makes for a dull boy, but the alternative is excruciating. Uh, which would I prefer – solitary confinement or water boarding? I lean strongly in the direction of a warm bed and peace as opposed to a glass full of tinkling ice cubes and a room resonating with high-decibel blather. I suppose the parties wouldn’t be so bad if there was something original to be said, or if “you” had a genuine interest in “me” as opposed to “you,” but let’s face it folks, no one does. The only reason any of us really cares about cocktail conversations is to quickly redirect someone else’s stories into autobiographies that we assume to be instant bestsellers if only in print. If not, if the doe-eyed listener seems simply fascinated by what you’re saying, you can bet there’s a requested personal favor coming when you finally shut up. “Say Bill, I was wondering if you knew somebody at…that could…” Yeah right! But, as my chart shows, 90 seconds into a typical conversation, no one gives a damn about you and your problems – maybe those shoes and that dreadful eye shadow you’re wearing, but not anything audible coming out of your mouth.
Read the entire letter
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Warren Buffett: "When It's Raining Gold, Reach For a Bucket"
(CNBC.com) Warren Buffett has a new nugget of pithy advice for investors in his new letter to Berkshire shareholders: "When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."
Buffett recalls that last year's letter called corporate and municipal bonds "ridiculously cheap" compared to U.S. Treasuries. And we says Berkshire did "back" that view by making some purchases, but "I should have done far more. Big opportunities come infrequently."
Read the entire article
Buffett recalls that last year's letter called corporate and municipal bonds "ridiculously cheap" compared to U.S. Treasuries. And we says Berkshire did "back" that view by making some purchases, but "I should have done far more. Big opportunities come infrequently."
Read the entire article
Grantham’s ‘Horrifically Early’ Calls Challenge GMO
(Bloomberg) Jeremy Grantham warned in January 2000 that U.S. equities were “more overpriced than at any time in the last 70 years due to the massive overpricing of technology and especially dot-com stocks.”
By the end of 2002, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had fallen 40 percent and technology shares were down 73 percent. The forecast didn’t help his firm, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo Co., because he’d been bearish since 1997. Assets declined 45 percent in the late 1990s as customers sought out better- performing mutual funds that liked the technology stocks Grantham disdained
Read the entire article
By the end of 2002, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had fallen 40 percent and technology shares were down 73 percent. The forecast didn’t help his firm, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo Co., because he’d been bearish since 1997. Assets declined 45 percent in the late 1990s as customers sought out better- performing mutual funds that liked the technology stocks Grantham disdained
Read the entire article
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A Parable by Charles Munger
(slate.com) In the early 1700s, Europeans discovered in the Pacific Ocean a large, unpopulated island with a temperate climate, rich in all nature's bounty except coal, oil, and natural gas. Reflecting its lack of civilization, they named this island "Basicland."
The Europeans rapidly repopulated Basicland, creating a new nation. They installed a system of government like that of the early United States. There was much encouragement of trade, and no internal tariff or other impediment to such trade. Property rights were greatly respected and strongly enforced. The banking system was simple. It adapted to a national ethos that sought to provide a sound currency, efficient trade, and ample loans for credit-worthy businesses while strongly discouraging loans to the incompetent or for ordinary daily purchases.
Read Munger's entire piece here
The Europeans rapidly repopulated Basicland, creating a new nation. They installed a system of government like that of the early United States. There was much encouragement of trade, and no internal tariff or other impediment to such trade. Property rights were greatly respected and strongly enforced. The banking system was simple. It adapted to a national ethos that sought to provide a sound currency, efficient trade, and ample loans for credit-worthy businesses while strongly discouraging loans to the incompetent or for ordinary daily purchases.
Read Munger's entire piece here
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, November 13, 2009
Buffett & Gates--Keeeping America Great
(www.cnbc.com)From Columbia University
ANNOUNCER: The embodiment of the American dream, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, self-made billionaires whose values run as deep as their wealth. One redefined an industry, the other the modern investor. But both put their stock in America, and by investing in business and humanity, reaped the rewards of this great country's capitalist tradition. Today that tradition is under siege, our way of life questioned. And with America at an inflection point, a future generation looks for guidance from the world's two greatest capitalists. Now, they are going back to school, not to learn, but to teach. Showing the next generation of business leaders that wealth is not about the money you amass, but the number of lives you enrich. Tonight in a CNBC town hall event, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates share their secrets to keeping America great.
Read the transcript here
ANNOUNCER: The embodiment of the American dream, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, self-made billionaires whose values run as deep as their wealth. One redefined an industry, the other the modern investor. But both put their stock in America, and by investing in business and humanity, reaped the rewards of this great country's capitalist tradition. Today that tradition is under siege, our way of life questioned. And with America at an inflection point, a future generation looks for guidance from the world's two greatest capitalists. Now, they are going back to school, not to learn, but to teach. Showing the next generation of business leaders that wealth is not about the money you amass, but the number of lives you enrich. Tonight in a CNBC town hall event, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates share their secrets to keeping America great.
Read the transcript here
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers
(bloomberg.com) In the months leading up to the September 2008 collapse of giant insurer American International Group Inc., Elias Habayeb and his colleagues worked nights and weekends negotiating with banks that had bought $62 billion of credit-default swaps from AIG, according to a person who has worked with Habayeb.
Habayeb, 37, was chief financial officer for the AIG division that oversaw AIG Financial Products, the unit that had sold the swaps to the banks. One of his goals was to persuade the banks to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read the entire article
Habayeb, 37, was chief financial officer for the AIG division that oversaw AIG Financial Products, the unit that had sold the swaps to the banks. One of his goals was to persuade the banks to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read the entire article
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Pimco's Gross calls top of rally in risky assets
(marketwatch.com) The six-month rally in risk assets -- while still continuously supported by Fed and Treasury policymakers -- is likely at its pinnacle," Gross wrote in his monthly market commentary.
The U.S. economy and most other developed economies became too reliant on rising asset prices, rather than the production of goods and services, in recent decades. When the financial crisis hit, governments and policymakers had to slash interest rates and take other more dramatic action to prevent asset values plunging, Gross explained.
Read the enitre article
The U.S. economy and most other developed economies became too reliant on rising asset prices, rather than the production of goods and services, in recent decades. When the financial crisis hit, governments and policymakers had to slash interest rates and take other more dramatic action to prevent asset values plunging, Gross explained.
Read the enitre article
Charlie Munger: Boom and bust is normal
(bbc.co.uk) Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett's long-time business partner, and the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
Like Buffett, he was born in Omaha, but became a lawyer in Los Angeles before meeting Buffett, and becoming a fellow investor. The two spent many hours on the phone together, discussing business, and evolving the approach to investing that has paid off so spectacularly for them both.
View the video here
Like Buffett, he was born in Omaha, but became a lawyer in Los Angeles before meeting Buffett, and becoming a fellow investor. The two spent many hours on the phone together, discussing business, and evolving the approach to investing that has paid off so spectacularly for them both.
View the video here
U.S. Equities Will ‘Drop Painfully,’ Grantham Says
(bloomberg.com) U.S. stocks will “drop painfully from current levels” in the coming year amid disappointing economic data and shrinking profit margins, according to investor Jeremy Grantham.
The so-called fair value for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is at the 860 level, the chief investment strategist at Boston-based Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co., which oversees about $89 billion, wrote in a quarterly report. The gauge fell 1.2 percent yesterday to 1,066.95. It has rallied 58 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 on rising confidence a U.S. economic recovery will boost corporate earnings.
Read the entire article
The so-called fair value for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is at the 860 level, the chief investment strategist at Boston-based Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co., which oversees about $89 billion, wrote in a quarterly report. The gauge fell 1.2 percent yesterday to 1,066.95. It has rallied 58 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 on rising confidence a U.S. economic recovery will boost corporate earnings.
Read the entire article
Friday, October 9, 2009
Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
(vanityfair.com)
Day One
Wednesday, September 17, 2008: After Lehman and A.I.G.
When Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, began his run that morning along the southern tip of Manhattan and up the East River just after six, the sun had yet to come up. He was tired and stressed, having slept only several hours in one of the three tiny, grubby bedrooms in the New York Fed’s headquarters.
Read the entire article
Day One
Wednesday, September 17, 2008: After Lehman and A.I.G.
When Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, began his run that morning along the southern tip of Manhattan and up the East River just after six, the sun had yet to come up. He was tired and stressed, having slept only several hours in one of the three tiny, grubby bedrooms in the New York Fed’s headquarters.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Warren Buffett to CNBC: No Regrets From Crisis Weekend One Year Ago
(cnbc.com) Warren Buffett tells CNBC he has no regrets about any of the decisions he made over the weekend one year ago in September, 2008, when the financial crisis was at its worst.
In a taped interview with Squawk Box's Becky Quick airing tonight, Buffett says he "looked hard" at a telephoned offer that Friday night to buy AIG's property casualty operation in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion, but decided against it.
He recalls telling AIG CEO Bob Willumstad that night, "Unfortunately, I can't do this deal. And don't waste your time with me, so go someplace else."
Read the entire story
In a taped interview with Squawk Box's Becky Quick airing tonight, Buffett says he "looked hard" at a telephoned offer that Friday night to buy AIG's property casualty operation in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion, but decided against it.
He recalls telling AIG CEO Bob Willumstad that night, "Unfortunately, I can't do this deal. And don't waste your time with me, so go someplace else."
Read the entire story
Monday, September 14, 2009
Transcript: Jean-Marie Eveillard
(forbes.com) Jean-Marie Eveillard is senior adviser of First Eagle Funds.
Steve Forbes: Jean-Marie, thank you very much for joining us.
Jean-Marie Eveillard: My pleasure, Steve.
Forbes: You have been called a value investor. Can you define what you mean by value investing?
Eveillard: Well, value investing, it, as you know, it's Ben Graham, who in the '30s, found the value school--founded the value school. And it's the idea that you look at businesses, you try to figure out what they're worth. Not in terms of the next quarterly earnings, but what, if you have the cash, what kind of price you'd be willing to pay for it today, for the entire business.
Read the entire transcript
Steve Forbes: Jean-Marie, thank you very much for joining us.
Jean-Marie Eveillard: My pleasure, Steve.
Forbes: You have been called a value investor. Can you define what you mean by value investing?
Eveillard: Well, value investing, it, as you know, it's Ben Graham, who in the '30s, found the value school--founded the value school. And it's the idea that you look at businesses, you try to figure out what they're worth. Not in terms of the next quarterly earnings, but what, if you have the cash, what kind of price you'd be willing to pay for it today, for the entire business.
Read the entire transcript
Live Blog: Jim Rogers on the Crisis, Banks, Investment
(cnbc.com) Abolish the Federal Reserve and let AIG go bankrupt for the world economy to emerge cleaner from the financial meltdown, legendary investor Jim Rogers told CNBC a year ago.
But governments around the world have rushed to bail out banks and pumped trillions of dollars in their economies to avert an economic disaster. A year after Lehman Brothers collapsed, here is what Jim Rogers tells CNBC (most recent quotes at the bottom):
Read the entire article
But governments around the world have rushed to bail out banks and pumped trillions of dollars in their economies to avert an economic disaster. A year after Lehman Brothers collapsed, here is what Jim Rogers tells CNBC (most recent quotes at the bottom):
Read the entire article
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Closely Watched Buffett Recalculating His Bets
(nytimes.com) Warren E. Buffett has two cardinal rules of investing. Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.
Well, a lot of old rules got trashed when the financial crisis struck — even for the Oracle of Omaha.
At 79, Mr. Buffett is coming off the worst year of his long, storied career. On paper, he personally lost an estimated $25 billion in the financial panic of 2008, enough to cost him his title as the world’s richest man. (His friend and sometime bridge partner, Bill Gates, now holds that honor, according to Forbes.)
Read the entire article
Well, a lot of old rules got trashed when the financial crisis struck — even for the Oracle of Omaha.
At 79, Mr. Buffett is coming off the worst year of his long, storied career. On paper, he personally lost an estimated $25 billion in the financial panic of 2008, enough to cost him his title as the world’s richest man. (His friend and sometime bridge partner, Bill Gates, now holds that honor, according to Forbes.)
Read the entire article
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