Archive for December, 2008

New from Congressional Motors!

December 31st, 2008

This is hilarious:
New from Congressional Motors

William Wilberforce

December 25th, 2008

“Everyone should know Wilberforce,” Abraham Lincoln once said.
Wilberforce who? William Wilberforce.
I just put down an excellent biography by William Hague called William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner.
First off, I had no idea who William Wilberforce was before I read this book, nor did I realize how great a man he was […]

Pondering Madoff

December 23rd, 2008

David Kotok is the chief investment adviser and writes a market commentary for Cumberland Advisors. I love anything that quotes the Mishnah:
“For this reason, man [i.e. the first human being] was created alone to teach that whoever destroys a single life is as though he had destroyed an entire universe, and whoever saves a single […]

Harvard and Yale are Really Down Big Time

December 23rd, 2008

This is a great post from Paul Kedrosky about Harvard’s real results are really, really bad right now. Seems that investment banks, brokers and commercial banks aren’t the only ones pretending things are better than they really are.
Harvard Losses

Negligence and Culpability

December 16th, 2008

Tremont’s Rye Investment Management unit had $3.1 billion, virtually all of its assets, invested with Madoff, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information is private. Tremont had another $200 million invested through its fund of funds group, Tremont Capital Management.
“We believe Tremont exercised appropriate due diligence in connection with the Madoff […]

Our financial system is barely working

December 13th, 2008

I received phone calls from two friends this week and I think they illustrate how our banking system and broader financial system is barely working.
A friend from the southeast of the U.S. called me on Monday and asked for my advice and help (please excuse my generalities to protect my friends and their exact situations […]

What Costco tells us about the Economy

December 12th, 2008

This is a great blog post from Jeff Matthews:
Jeff Matthews Costco Post

Jon Stewart on the Auto Bailouts

December 5th, 2008

This is hilarious:
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Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview
Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video

Jon Stewart Auto Bailout talk

Mauboussin on Strategy

December 1st, 2008

This is a great writeup by a Michael Mauboussin who is a strategist for Legg Mason. I agree with his conclusions and the similarity between the flack Buffett received in 1999 is very similar to the flack he is getting today.
Mauboussin on Strategy

Separation

December 1st, 2008

I am reading a wonderful new biography about William Wilberforce, the great British anti-slave trade campaigner. As part of the book, the author, William Hague, describes the slave trade, how slaves were kidnapped and transported in the most brutal conditions with no regard to health or humanity.
One of the more disgusting stories describes how […]