Howard Davidowitz on the "wealth effect" of capital markets in 2010 on retail sales

About thirty percent of America did much better [financially in 2010] because of the performance of capital markets, so I knew there was going to be a comeback. I don't think it's indicative of anything going forward because I think if you look at our fiscal and monetary policy, we went $2 trillion in the hole last year. Two, trillion. Two TRILLION! To produce this. And unemployment, went up! ... to 9.8, and we spent two trillion.

They're printing money, we're going bananas! We've got 2.6 trillion on the [Fed] balance sheet, he's got government securities and the mortgage-backed securities. If interest rates go up a point he's bankrupt. Everything he bought is going to be underwater. All his mortgage-backed securities are underwater. The whole country is underwater. We're going nowhere.

~Howard Davidowitz, chairman, Davidowitz and Associates, Bloomberg.com interview, December 31st, 2010

Howard Davidowitz sees continued problems for CRE and community banks in the US

In the end, what do you do with the retail space? This is going to be a huge question for retailers in the next ten years. That's why Wal-Mart is starting to build smaller stores. That's why Wal-Mart is building more overseas than they're building here.

[Commercial real estate landlords] already have occupancy problems, rent problems and everything else right now. I don't think commercial real estate problems are fixed by any means. That's why we're going to close hundreds of community banks going forward.

~Howard Davidowitz, chairman, Davidowitz and Associates, Bloomberg.com interview, December 31st, 2010

Howard Davidowitz on the coming transformation of the American retail marketplace

With the explosion of online sales, what happens to all of these retail malls and the tons of shopping centers that are marginal? I think there are huge questions going forward about size of stores, location of stores, distribution facilities. Huge changes are going to be taking place in the next five years as people continue to shop online.

~Howard Davidowitz, chairman, Davidowitz and Associates, Bloomberg.com interview, December 31st, 2010

Epitaph For 2010?

Once left for dead, shares of bailed-out American International Group Inc. have defied critics and rallied to become one of the market's top performers in 2010.

On Tuesday, AIG's publicly traded shares closed 45 cents lower at $58.93, capping a nearly 97% gain in the year to date and over 42% in December alone. The insurer is the fourth-best performer in the S&P 500 index this year.

~The Wall Street Journal, "AIG Stock's Unlikely Comeback", December 28th, 2010

Fred C. Koch on the value of failure

I hope your first deal is a loser, otherwise you will think you're a lot smarter than you are.

~ Fred C. Koch, founder, Koch Industries, to his son Charles G. Koch upon joining the family business, as quoted in "The Science of Success", 2007, pg. 10

Will Durant on history serving as a determinant of the present economic and social structure

In the end nothing is lost, for good or evil every event has effects forever.

~Will Durant, historian, "Our Oriental Heritage," 1935, pg. 264

Will Durant on the permanence of bad ideas

There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found flourishing somewhere in the present.

~ Will Durant, historian, "Our Oriental Heritage," 1935, pg. 244