Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Larry Swedroe-- The Quest for Alpha: The Holy Grail of Investing
Larry Swedroe succinctly makes the argument for passive investing vs active investing in his latest book, "The Quest for Alpha: The Holy Grail of Investing".
The Dream Ticket for 2012
After watching the Republican Debate in New Hampshire last night on CNN, I'd like to weigh in on my choices for 2012. The country is in turmoil. The current occupant of the White House is clueless about the economy. The announced opposition candidates leave a lot to be desired. It's time to put someone in the White House who's in touch with common people, and understands their needs and desires.
Or
Or
Monday, June 13, 2011
"The Big Man," Clarence Clemons, At His Best
Learned today that Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band suffered a stroke and is seriously ill. I wish him all the best and hope for a full recovery. The above footage is from a Bruce Springsteen concert in Stockholm June 7, 2009.
"When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band
From the coastline to the city all the little pretties raise their hands."
~ Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Markets in Everything: The Anthony Weiner Action Figure
The Weiner action figure can be found online at: Herobuilders. The Australian reported:
A TOY company known for producing action figures of US political figures has started advertising its latest addition, the Anthony Weiner doll.Herobuilders.com is offering two versions of the doll modelled after the New York Democrat who shot to fame around the world last week after admitting to having sent a lewd photo of his crotch to a Seattle college student on Twitter.The Weiner doll comes as a standard doll for $US39.95 ($37.85) and an adults-only “anatomically correct” version for $US49.95 ($47.35).Both figures are dressed in a T-shirt and gym shorts — with the words “tweet this” printed on the shorts.For an extra $US18.00 ($17) customers can add a toy BlackBerry for the doll to hold.
The Grouch: It's time for Rep.Weiner to respect the office by resigning his position in Congress, and recognize that his conduct was disgraceful and inappropriate, and outside the norm of acceptable behavior. He should just go away quietly, get the help he needs and heal his relationship with family and friends. I hope he has the good sense to stay away from public office again, and live the rest of his life without much fanfare in the private sector.
My LeBron Prediction Comes True
As part of my predictions for 2011 (see http://thebizoflife.blogspot.com/2010/12/grouchs-predictions-for-2011.html), I stated that LeBron James would not win an NBA championship this year in spite of and because of all the hype surrounding his move to Miami. The gods always have a way of bringing mere mortals back down to earth. I never would have guessed that the Mavs, known for playing "soft" basketball over the years, would outperform the vaunted threesome so dramatically in the 4th quarter of the championship series with Nowitski and a bunch of role players. Hubris is a harsh mistress.
My next prediction is that LeBron will win the NBA championship at least once with the Heat in the next five years, but only after he swallows some humble-pie, and the Heat get some better coaching, a beefed-up bench and a center who can rebound and play defense.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
More Jim Rogers
On his investment strategies:
“I am long commodities, long currencies, and short stocks. But we will see what happens. You should invest in only what you know, otherwise keep your money in cash. The reason people lose money is because they keep jumping around investing in things they don’t have a clue what they are doing. Normal people should just wait. Wait until there are good opportunities and take advantage of them. There are plenty of opportunities besides banks. Cotton is going through the roof, corn is making all time highs. Invest in farmers. Invest in agriculture. I think agriculture is going to be one of the great industries of our time.”
On what one commodity he would invest for the next 10 years:
“Agriculture. I am a terrible market timer but maybe rice. Maybe sugar.”
On the United States deficit:
“America is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. These clowns in Washington are running up the debts. They are not solving the problem, they are making the problem worse. We have a serious crisis facing us and no one seems to understand it.”
On what it will take for Congress to get serious about passing a deficit plan:
“Throughout history, countries have never dealt with this kind of problem until there is a crisis or a semi crisis. The way things are going we are going to have a crisis. It is going to be in the currency markets. Perhaps as early as this fall you will see a lot of currency turmoil in the dollar or the euro. That’s how these things usually start.”
On whether a crisis in Europe would impact world markets:
“Of course it will. We are going to have problems. Nobody wants to take pain even when its staring you in the face. We have made a lot of mistakes. We have got to deal with those mistakes and saying we don’t have a problem is going to make the problem that much worse. There is going to be some pain. We have had pain before. People have been going bankrupt for a few thousand years. Hopefully if that happens you have got shorts. That’s why you are hedged.”
On when our economy will recover:
“When we accept reality, stop spending money we don’t have, go down to a lower level, and start over. We are no longer what we used to be. The largest creditors are in Asia. I don’t like this. I am an American citizen, but we have got to face the facts.”
On who he would like to see running the Federal Reserve:
“I would rather Trichet were running the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke are you kidding? I would rather anyone run the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke. Mr. Bernanke has been wrong about everything in the last seven or eight years. I would rather have Touché but if I could have anyone I would have Merkel. I would want Merkel to sit there and say you guys have got to take a haircut.”
On whether bond holders should take a haircut:
“Absolutely. They made the mistake, why should innocent German taxpayers wake up one morning and say oh I have got a bill here to pay off some Greeks sitting on the beach. It’s just not right. It’s not morally right and it’s not economically right.”
“I am long commodities, long currencies, and short stocks. But we will see what happens. You should invest in only what you know, otherwise keep your money in cash. The reason people lose money is because they keep jumping around investing in things they don’t have a clue what they are doing. Normal people should just wait. Wait until there are good opportunities and take advantage of them. There are plenty of opportunities besides banks. Cotton is going through the roof, corn is making all time highs. Invest in farmers. Invest in agriculture. I think agriculture is going to be one of the great industries of our time.”
On what one commodity he would invest for the next 10 years:
“Agriculture. I am a terrible market timer but maybe rice. Maybe sugar.”
On the United States deficit:
“America is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. These clowns in Washington are running up the debts. They are not solving the problem, they are making the problem worse. We have a serious crisis facing us and no one seems to understand it.”
On what it will take for Congress to get serious about passing a deficit plan:
“Throughout history, countries have never dealt with this kind of problem until there is a crisis or a semi crisis. The way things are going we are going to have a crisis. It is going to be in the currency markets. Perhaps as early as this fall you will see a lot of currency turmoil in the dollar or the euro. That’s how these things usually start.”
On whether a crisis in Europe would impact world markets:
“Of course it will. We are going to have problems. Nobody wants to take pain even when its staring you in the face. We have made a lot of mistakes. We have got to deal with those mistakes and saying we don’t have a problem is going to make the problem that much worse. There is going to be some pain. We have had pain before. People have been going bankrupt for a few thousand years. Hopefully if that happens you have got shorts. That’s why you are hedged.”
On when our economy will recover:
“When we accept reality, stop spending money we don’t have, go down to a lower level, and start over. We are no longer what we used to be. The largest creditors are in Asia. I don’t like this. I am an American citizen, but we have got to face the facts.”
On who he would like to see running the Federal Reserve:
“I would rather Trichet were running the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke are you kidding? I would rather anyone run the Federal Reserve than Ben Bernanke. Mr. Bernanke has been wrong about everything in the last seven or eight years. I would rather have Touché but if I could have anyone I would have Merkel. I would want Merkel to sit there and say you guys have got to take a haircut.”
On whether bond holders should take a haircut:
“Absolutely. They made the mistake, why should innocent German taxpayers wake up one morning and say oh I have got a bill here to pay off some Greeks sitting on the beach. It’s just not right. It’s not morally right and it’s not economically right.”
Friday, June 10, 2011
Jim Rogers at His Best
“Ben Bernanke has been wrong every month for eight years. I don’t know why anyone listens to him?”
One of the world’s most successful investors, Jim Rogers, speaks his version of the truth over and over again, yet few people listen to him.
Rogers always claims to be a poor trader, but his strategic bets over the years have been excellent as well as his reading of global political and economic trends.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Bitcoin and the End of State-Controlled Money
Bitcoin is the world's first fully decentralized, peer-to-peer (p2p) virtual currency. It allows users to make anonymous and untraceable cash transactions anywhere in the world without any sort of real-world intermediary. So unlike PayPal and other online services, it can't be squeezed in the same way by governments or other control agents.
Created in 2009 by a shadowy figure who goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, there are currently about 6 million bitcoins in circulation. That number will eventually rise, in regular intervals, to a total of 21 million by 2033. A money system without any sort of central bank? A currency whose supply increases at a steady and predictable rate according to a concept elucidated by the Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman?
Just how revolutionary is Bitcoin?
Reason.tv sat down with Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Jerry Brito to learn how Bitcoin operates and what the implications are for traditional state-based fiat currencies. “Whether Bitcoin succeeds or fails is neither here nor there,” says Brito, who predicts that currencies in the future will almost certainly be deregulated and decentralized - with or without governments’ consent.
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