Archive - May 4, 2011 - Blog entry

Quebec's hedge funds are about to get a boost from some big players...

No one was interested in information from the kingpin himself?

Equity underperformed credit as HY put in its worst close-to-close widening in two weeks and filled the gappy gamma-driven chasm from last week. CMBX activity starting to signal systemic fears perhaps and a pick up in vol skews (downside protection bid) remain worrisome as so many under-currents indicate less than stellar confidence.

Unless we, as a Country, decide to "go Luddite" that is...

Do you think Banzai7 is going to let this issue disappear like everything else that's not nailed to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi ass?

First and foremost, China and Russia agreed late last year to begin trading with one another in their own currencies, NOT the US Dollar. In that step alone, two of the largest emerging markets (and economies) in the world moved away from the US Dollar. Add to this the fact that China just agreed to expedite trade relations with Brazil and you’ve got the beginnings of a flight from the US Dollar and the end of the Dollar’s reserve currency status.

Wanna buy a bridge? Uncle Sam has a few for sale.

In “Fight of the Century”, Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less?

So here’s a CEO, someone with actual business experience (not some moron academic who’s never run a business a day in his life) telling us the following: food prices are up a lot and going higher in the future, despite high food prices, farmers are quitting farming (lower supplies are coming), food companies will be going bankrupt (even lower supplies are coming).

As one of my readers noted, single family foreclosures have boosted the multifamily rental market, and of course, speculators are doing the bubble thing again. Damn, that was quick. But what happens when interest rates go up, stagflation becomes more prominent, or housing brings us back to recession (that is assuming you believe we ever left it). Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Like last year, I took on the unenviable task of trying to capture everything that was said at this year's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Over 18,000 words and 24 pages later, I hope my notes provide a fair representation of what Munger and Buffett had to say.