“If you sit by the river long enough, you will get to see the bodies of your enemies float by.”
Variously attributed to Confucius, Sun Tzu, Samurai training and “Arabs.”
First, some housekeeping. As David Snowball mentioned some time ago and has confirmed recently, MFO as you know it will be going on a publishing hiatus during the New Year. My monthly contributions will also be Continue reading
“There is no such thing as a former KGB man.”
Vladimir Putin, 2004
Another month passes and we make the discovery that our current bout of inflation is not going to be as transitory as the Administration and the Federal Reserve were Continue reading
“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.”
– Charles De Gaulle
One of the more interesting additions to portfolios, looking at various reports for the third quarter just ended, is that of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce company in China. Over the last year, the company has been in the news any number of times. There have been huge fines imposed on it by the Chinese government. The founder, Jack Ma, after giving a rather provoking speech in 2020, dropped out of view for a time, although he has now resurfaced. Over the last twelve months, the share price has Continue reading
“What is this optimism?” asked Cacambo.
“Alas!” said Candide, “it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong.”
~ Voltaire, Candide: or, The Optimist (1762)
Suffice it to say that September was not an easy month for equity investors. The equity markets entered the month overextended in terms of valuation metrics. And by the Continue reading
“It’s a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ every year.”
~ Truman Capote
Is THE MARKET overvalued at this point? How do share prices relate to the underlying fundamentals of the businesses they represent? Is inflation eating away the value of my savings (and our currency) now?
How should I invest to Continue reading
“The predicament
You find yourself in,
Is not as dire,
As you imagine
The door you
Think is closed,
Is an illusion,
Self-imposed …”By J.P. Niemeyer, 5/21/2021
One of the things I would suggest to people is that they broaden their horizons with regards to the things they read about Continue reading
“Look straight ahead. What’s there?
If you see it as it is
You will never err.”
Bassui Tokusho
I’m probably not the person to weigh in on the issue of whether the indications of inflation that are surfacing in the economy are anything more than temporary as we are being told by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. That said, at least in terms of energy and food, something more than anticipated seems to be happening. When the cost of gasoline Continue reading
“The idea that a nation can tax itself into prosperity is one of the cruelest delusions which has ever befuddled the human mind.” Winston S. Churchill, speech at the Royal Albert Hall, 21 April 1948
Yesterday I thought this would be a relatively easy piece to write. The Vanguard S&P 500 fund, according to Morningstar, closed out on April 30th with a year-to-date total return of Continue reading
“Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.” Margaret Thatcher, interviewed on This Week, 5 February 1976
Another month of equities hitting new highs across the indices. In many instances, active equity managers, especially value managers, are again outperforming passive strategies. Sadly, the same has not been Continue reading
“Snow on the pines
thus breaks the power
that splits mountains.”Otaka Gengo Tadao (大高源五忠雄,one of the forty-seven Ronin).
Last month, David Snowball opined on Morningstar’s John Rekenthaler’s requiem for mutual funds. And while David agreed with Rekenthaler that the end of the fund industry was not imminent, both feel that it is inevitable. I have felt that to be the case for some time. Rather than be the Cassandra Continue reading