Richard Branson on lifelong learning

My biggest motivation?  Just to keep challenging myself.  I see life almost like one long University education that I never had - everyday I'm learning something new.

~ Richard Branson

John Templeton on poverty and wealth creation

The conditions in the world today and throughout history show that many nations and their people remain impoverished because they neglect the principles of wealth accumulation - or because of the flight of capital into safer places.  There are many examples of great poverty in otherwise rich lands, poverty arising because government alone owns almost all the wealth and neglects to stimulate entrepreneurship.  I have observed that encouraging individuals to accumulate wealth brings both prosperity to nations and happiness to workers.  That, I believe, is the major lesson in economics of the past.

~ John Templeton, Looking Forward: The Next Forty Years, 1993, pp 90-91

Jacob Hornberger on the economic policies of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franklin Roosevelt

Three New Deals by Wolfgang Schivelbusch... compares the extreme similarities between the economic policies of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franklin Roosevelt.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Hitler actually wrote Roosevelt a letter commending him on his economic policies and pointing out that Germany was following much the same road.

~ Jacob Hornberger, "Leftists' Perverse View of Capitalism," The Future of Freedom Foundation, June 11, 2021

Jacob Hornberger on the statist morass

Today, I pointed out, both Democrats and Republicans are leading America to disaster, especially with their out-of-control federal spending and debt.  We might well end up experiencing a perfect storm involving monetary, economic, and foreign-policy crises. 

American libertarians have the potential for leading the world out of this statist morass.  But we can do so only by adhering to libertarian principles and making the case for a genuinely free society.

~ Jacob Hornberger, "My Talk at Porcfest," The Future of Freedom Foundation, June 28, 2021

Peter Atwater on expanded unemployment benefits

We've gone from maternity leave to paternity leave to eternity leave as employees are simply choosing not to come back to work at all.

~ Peter Atwater, tweet, June 28, 2021

Andy Grove on corporate transformation

A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin.  Methods have to change.  Focus has to change.  Values have to change.  The sum total of those changes is transformation.

~ Andy Grove

Vince Lombardi on persistence

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

~ Vince Lombardi

Gisela Velarde Ley, RIP

Gisela is survived by her loving husband, David Wendel Ley of Houston; their daughter, Elizabeth (her “little Ellie”) who was the light of her life; and her cherished Bichon Frise, "Lucky." 

This was a photo taken north of Santa Barbara in 2009. Gisela was was a fashion designer who spent 9 years in LA and whose favorite color was pale yellow.

Gisela Velarde Ley
September 8, 1970 - February 1, 2021

Philip Duffy on centralization

If you commit yourself to centralization, you doom yourself to conflict.

~ Philip Duffy, June 27, 2021

Phil Duffy with daughter Erin
Linderhof Palace in Ettal Germany
May, 2009

Peter Drucker on prediction

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

~ Peter Drucker

Bloomberg Businessweek on the FOMO economy

It's not just crypto: It's stocks such as those of AMC Entertainment Holdings, GameStop, and Tesla that are beloved on Reddit and Twitter, and it's the houses and condos being snapped up almost as soon as they list. The pressure to keep up with neighbors, friends, and social media meme lords who seem to be in the process of becoming wealthy - or, at least, talking about it - can feel unbearable.

[...]

People flush with pent-up savings after a year of lockdowns have more ways than ever to throw darts at the financial dartboard: zero-commission, zero-minimum trading apps; social media message boards; and exchange-traded funds you can hop in and out of as easily as stocks, including a few that explicitly play to the trend-chasing crowd with such tickers as BUZZ and, yes, FOMO.

[...]

Another cause of FOMO right now is the lack of a strong competing narrative.  Warning against risky short-term speculation and saying "it'll all end in tears" are widely derided as boomerisms.  Partly because it seems out of touch with Generation Z's economic reality, but also because asset prices keep bouncing back.  Bitcoin's rebound from a more than 80% decline in 2018 to a record high this year, along with property and stocks, is classic regret fuel for those who missed out.

~ Lionel Laurent, "The FOMO Economy," Bloomberg Businessweek, June 14, 2021

Karen Harradine on Bill Gates as climate change critic

[Bill] Gates is a fierce critic of C02 emissions and a climate change ideologue, so much so that he is about to publish a book on the topic.  But why is he preaching to us on climate change when he must be one of the heaviest personal users of carbon in the world? 

In 2017, Gates took 59 flights, presumably in his private plane, which he has described as a ‘guilty pleasure.’  I am certain that his guilty pleasure produces a lot more CO2 than my own dark chocolate fetish. His flights emitted 1,600 tons of carbon dioxide in a single year whereas most of us produce only 10 tons annually. 

In February, it was rumoured that Gates had bought a superyacht, something he has yet to confirm or deny, although he certainly charters them.  The timing is suspicious, given that several billionaires took to the seas in superyachts in March to escape Covid-19 and the unpleasant effects of medieval lockdowns.  The environmental damage they would have done to our oceans’ delicate ecosystems bears examination.  One superyacht uses around 500 litres of petrol per hour and pumps out 2.1 million tons of C02 a year.

~ Karen Harradine, "The megalomania of Bill Gates - Part One," The Conservative Woman, December 12, 2020

MacKenzie Scott on wealth inequality

It would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands.

~ MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, June 15, 2021

(Scott gave an additional $2.7 billion to 286 charitable organizations, bringing her total donations to $8.5 billion in less than a year, likely a one-year record for a living person.  She became the richest woman in the world in September 2020.)

George Bernard Shaw on false knowledge

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

~ George Bernard Shaw

Ronald Stöferle compares gold with bitcoin

Gold is like a solid, stable, reliable SUV while bitcoin is like a Ducati Panigale, like a really, really strong motorcycle.  Once it starts raining it's getting a bit dangerous and slippery on your motorcycle.  However, I think this whole competition between gold and bitcoin is ridiculous.  In our funds we combine both.  But of course the volatility of bitcoin is tremendously higher as the track record is not 5,000 years.  So we have to manage expecations when it comes to gold.  Gold's job is not to make you rich.  I think mining stocks can make you rich, silver can perhaps make you rich, cryptos and so on.  The job of gold is to preserve your purchasing power, to protect your savings.  And I think gold is doing that job pretty well. 

~ Ronald Stöferle, "Is inflation transitory or not?," interview with Daniela Cambone of Stansberry Research, 11:10 mark, June 16, 2021

Rob Salkowitz on the collectible comic book boom

Several factors may be contributing to the [collectible comic book] boom. Though the pandemic sidelined in-person conventions and auctions where many expensive collectibles changed hands, sometimes through impulse purchases, more serious buyers had the time and focus to pursue their collections online. Rising markets, including in areas like cryptocurrency, may have lead to a “wealth effect,” encouraging people to open their wallets wider for discretionary passion purchases. Also, the practice of getting the condition of collectible comics graded by third party agencies like Certified Guarantee Corporation (CGC) has now been around for nearly two decades, painting a clearer picture of the exact number of copies of rare issues in existence and painting targets on certain high-grade issues for blue chip buyers. 

Beyond that are extrinsic factors. Collectible comics are a store of value, and one that can be easily stored and transported, making the format attractive to individuals who prefer to maintain part of their wealth discretely. There’s also the matter of momentum. Big gains in the market bring in money that’s seeking returns, irrespective of the intrinsic value of the underlying asset. Comics are ordinarily not the easiest market to crack because of the huge amount of esoteric knowledge necessary to identify what makes certain books collectible, but all bets are off if everything is going up in value in huge chunks. 

~ Rob Salkowitz, "What The Hell Is Going On In The Collectible Comics Market?," Forbes.com, June 23, 2021

A copy of Marvel Spotlight #5 (1972, Marvel Comics)
sold for $264,000 at a Heritage Auction

John Bogle on investing and avoiding mistakes

Investing is not nearly as difficult as it looks.  Successful investing involves doing a few things right and avoiding serious mistakes.

~ John Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group

John Bogle on investing and excitement

If you’re in investing for excitement, you’re a damn fool.

~ John Bogle, index fund pioneer

Thomas Jefferson on gun control

The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

~ Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776 

(Dan Ferris' quote of the week on the Stansberry Investor Hour podcast, 9:30 mark, June 17, 2021)

Thomas Jefferson
1993

Tom Slater on growth investing and prediction

Many people are focused on trying to predict economic variables.  They are inherently extremely difficult, if not impossible, to predict.  At the same time, there are a lot of predictable trends—in communications, computation, machine learning, energy generation and storage, gene sequencing, and synthetic biology.  We focus on predictable trends and the opportunities they create.

~ Tom Slater, "Why Moderna, Illumina, or Meituan Could Be the Next Tesla Stock," Barron's, June 18, 2021

Gert Boyle on work ethic

Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.

~ Gertrude "Gert" Boyle, former president and chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear (1924-2019)

After the GameStop short squeeze, Andrew Ross Sorkin asks Ken Griffin if the markets are "fair"

Sorkin: Let me ask you a maybe more meta question about all of this, which is, do you believe that the markets unto themselves are completely fair and when I, when I say fair, do you believe that my mother has the same opportunity to make money in the market, as you do?

Griffin: It all comes down to a matter of horizon and strategy.  It’s like asking if I went and play golf this weekend with Tiger Woods, would I win.  Of course not.  But there are various ways to compete with Tiger Woods off a golf course and do very well.  I’m not gonna play him on his game, on his course.  Your grandmother might be very aware of a change in technology or otherwise that will impact our economy.  She might look at the car you drive five years and go, hmm, Andrew bought a Tesla.  And I think EVs (electric vehicles) are the future of America and I’m going to buy Tesla stock.  And if she bought Tesla stock five years ago, she would have made a lot more money than we made at Citadel.  So, I never underestimate the skill of the American retail investor at understanding emerging trends, where real wealth is created and their ability to take advantage of that wealth transformation.

~ Ken Griffin, "Citadel Founder & CEO Ken Griffin Speaks with CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' Today," CNBC, February 19, 2021

Robert Blumen on the futility of economic stimulus

The US economy does have an excess of unemployed workers, empty storefronts, and idle resources of all kinds.  Why not give it a go?  A bit of stimulus could not hurt. 

Not. So. Fast. 

...The problem is not a pricing problem. The problem is that businesses have been prohibited from operating...  Resources are not priced out of the market.  People and businesses are instead banned from producing. This is a problem that pricing cannot solve because the transactions are not allowed.  Venues can legally operate only at a reduced capacity at which they are not profitable.  We have a “making it illegal to produce things” problem.  And stimulus can’t do anything about that even if you are stupid enough to be a Keynesian.

~ Robert Blumen, "Why Stimulus Does Not Stimulate," Mises.org, June 15, 2021

Joel Tillinghast on the traits needed to be a great investor

Investors often don't realize that there is a hidden cost for everything that normal persons desire: action, excitement, fun, comfort, social acceptance, popularity, and social exclusivity.  There's also shadow income from patience, boredom, worry, courage, pain, loneliness, being a nerd, and looking like an idiot.  The most expensive emotions are seeking comfort and panic, which induce unplanned purchases and sales.

[...]

Almost by definition, the biggest mispricing will involve a glaring, hideous defect that popular opinion thinks cannot be overcome.  That's when your lonely, preferably well-researched conclusion that it either can be resolved, or isn't so bad, will be rewarded.  In principle, we would always buy understandable, well-run, durable franchises at bargain prices, but in practice the market must think that some element is missing.  On average, you are being paid for being a nerd and sorting out the true situation.  Even more, you are rewarded for the courage to act on an unpopular opinion that made you look like an idiot, provided it turns out to be correct.  Before then, there's endless pain and worry that, indeed, the crowd is right.

~ Joel Tillinghast, Big Money Thinks Small: Biases, Blind Spots, and Smarter Investing, pp. 23-26

Berna Barshay: "AMC stock is a slot machine now"

To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this in my nearly 30-year career in the markets.  To me, with the banners and signs, we have officially crossed over into “weirder than GameStop” terrain. 

While professional investors might want to wade into the treacherous waters of betting on a fall in AMC, I would recommend that non-pros just stay away.  As I told a friend, “AMC stock is a slot machine now.”

~ Berna Barshay, "Here We Go Again... AMC Is the New GME, But This Time with Free Popcorn," Empire Financial Daily, June 2, 2021

Mary Kay Ash on appreciation

Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.

~ Mary Kay Ash

Bill Murray on winning an argument

It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person.

~ Bill Murray

Jesse Livermore on mistakes and learning

If I learned all this so slowly it was because I learned by my mistakes, and some time always elapses between making a mistake and realizing it, and more time between realizing it and exactly determining it.

~ Jesse Lauriston Livermore

George Bernard Shaw on mistakes

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

~ George Bernard Shaw

James Madison on external enemies

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

~ James Madison

Jesse Livermore on how bull markets end

A market does not culminate in one grand blaze of glory. Neither does it end with a sudden reversal of form. A market can and does often cease to be a bull market long before prices generally begin to break.

~ Jesse Lauriston Livermore

Jesse Livermore on the stock market

The stock market is never obvious.  It is designed to fool most of the people, most of the time.

~ Jesse Lauriston Livermore

Jesse Livermore on patience and investing

I've found that the big money was never made in the buying or selling, was made in the waiting.

~ Jesse Livermore

Ronald Reagan on inflation

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

~ Ronald Reagan, 1978

Alfred Adler on principles

It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. 

~ Alfred Adler, Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology

Hans-Hermann Hoppe on government

The State is nothing but a criminal organization.

~ Hans-Hermann Hoppe

David Novak on how to treat employees

People leave when they don't feel appreciated.  That's why we've made recognition a really high value.  Our business is people-capability first; then you satisfy consumers; then you make money.

~ David C. Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands

Murray Rothbard on how the libertarian sees government

Instead of a bumbling and inefficient tool of society, the radical [libertarian] sees the State itself, in its very nature, as coercive, exploitative, parasitic, and hence profoundly antisocial. The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress. 

~ Murray Rothbard, Reason, March, 1974

Philip Grant on the modern day version of the emperor's new clothes

Talk about intangible assets.  Italian artist Salvatore Garau sold an invisible sculpture titled ‘Io Sono’ (I am) for €15,000 ($18,300) in a May 18 auction overseen by contemporary house Art-Rite, Italy 24 News reported.  That compares to pre-auction estimates of €6,000 to €9,000 in proceeds. 

Garau explained his uber-minimalist work: “The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that nothing has a weight.  Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.” 

‘Io Sono’ is meant to be displayed in a 150 by 150 centimeter space free from obstructions, the artist went on to explain.  In addition to his own slice of the void, the buyer will also receive a signed and stamped certificate of authenticity, as well as peace of mind: The work boasts a net-zero carbon footprint.

~ Philip Grant, Almost Daily Grant's, June 1, 2021

Myles Udlard on AMC Entertainment's $230 million capital raise

Q: The thing that's funny about this is they're raising cash to buy assets, to buy more of a thing that's not full already?  So we'll see how that strategy works out over the longer term.  It doesn't really matter, I guess, but if you're going to spend the cash, buy more movie theaters?

Myles Udlard: That makes sense.  They're in the movie theater business.  It goes all the way back to Hertz.  Hertz last year was being told by the market that it didn't have to file for bankruptcy and so these CEO are now looking at the meme market and they're saying, "Screw it.  I will go on offense.  The market is telling me to do that, whether it's a joke on Reddit or not."

~ Myles Udlard, "AMC higher on $230M capital raise," 3:05 mark, Yahoo Finance, June 1, 2021