Discipline, Hard Work, and Practice … Like Playing Golf
A Charlie Munger quote from Poor Charlie’s Almanack, If you’re going to be an investor, you’re going to make some investments where you don’t have all the experience you need. But if you keep trying to get a little better over time, you’ll start to make investments that are virtually certain to have a good […]
Binged on Buybacks Then, Seeking Bailouts Now
Dealbook (The New York Times) column’s readers throw in their two cents on the debate on share buybacks in the context of businesses requesting government bailouts during the current COVID-19 epidemic: “What is the point in saving cash for a rainy day when the government is going to bail you out anyway?” “Part of the […]
Empty Fantasies
American Zen teacher Joko Beck in Nothing Special: Most of our difficulties, our hopes, and our worries are empty fantasies. Nothing has ever existed except this moment. That’s all there is. That’s all we are. Yet most human beings spend 50 to 90 percent or more of their time in their imagination, living in fantasy. […]
Mindfulness is Enlightenment
Vietnamese-born monk and writer Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Zen Keys (1994): I remember a short conversation between the Buddha and a philosopher of his time. “I have heard that Buddhism is a doctrine of enlightenment. What is your method? What do you practice every day?” “We walk, we eat, we wash ourselves, we sit […]
Looking in the Distance
Scottish agnostic cleric and writer Richard Holloway writes in Doubts and Loves: What is Left of Christianity (2001): By definition, religions of salvation are in the bandage business, they have come to heal our wounds. They do not sit alongside us in the chair looking in the distance, comparing points of view; they want to […]
All of Humanity Against the Coronavirus Pandemic
Bill Gates offers an authoritative assessment of the first modern pandemic and explores scientific advances needed to stop COVID-19: The coronavirus pandemic pits all of humanity against the virus. The damage to health, wealth, and well-being has already been enormous. This is like a world war, except in this case, we’re all on the same […]
The Collapse of the Boeing-Embraer Joint Venture
Boeing terminated the proposed joint venture between Boeing and Embraer to design, build, and sell commercial airliners worldwide. Boeing had previously agreed to purchase an 80% stake in Embraer’s commercial aircraft division. Ernest Arvai of the AirInsight group wonders, Over the weekend, Boeing terminated its agreement with Embraer to acquire the E2 series of commercial […]
Charlie Munger Isn’t Impressed with Donald Trump
Charlie Munger has never been a particular fan of Donald Trump. According to Yahoo! Finance: “I think [Trump] deserves some credit, but a lot of it just happened,” says Munger, 95, in his first interview after the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting…. Munger, a Republican, said the strong economic performance resulted largely from the natural economic […]
Is Amazon a Value Stock?
Speaking at the 2019 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting of shareholders, Warren Buffett on why Amazon could be a value stock: Yeah. It’s interesting that the term “value investing” came up. Because I can assure you that both managers who — and one of them bought some Amazon stock in the last quarter, which will get […]
Bad Advice
In 1887, President Grover Cleveland welcomed an old friend to the White House. Weary of the office, he said to the man’s 5-year-old son, “My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States.” The boy was President Franklin Roosevelt. The Strawfoot, […]