Warren Buffett
How To "Measure" Risk
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/09/2015 18:20 -0500While investor behavior hasn't sunk to the depths seen just before the crisis, Oaktree Capital's Howard marks warns, in many ways it has entered the zone of imprudence. "Today I feel it's important to pay more attention to loss prevention than to the pursuit of gain... Although I have no idea what could make the day of reckoning come sooner rather than later, I don’t think it’s too early to take today’s carefree market conditions into consideration. What I do know is that those conditions are creating a degree of risk for which there is no commensurate risk premium."
Corporate Buybacks: Connecting The Dots To The F-Word
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/09/2015 17:20 -0500Corporate executives offer three main reasons for share repurchases: 1. Buybacks are investments in our undervalued shares signaling our confidence in the company’s future; 2. Buybacks allow the company to offset the dilution of EPS when employee stock options are exercised or stock is granted to employees; or 3. The company is mature and has limited investment opportunities, therefore we are obligated to return unneeded cash to shareholders. The logic behind each of these explanations is in the vast majority of cases is flawed, to be kind, and deceptive to be blunt.
What Keeps A Billionaire Awake At Night: "Envy, Hatred, Social Warfare" And The "Destruction Of The Middle Class"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/08/2015 16:32 -0500There is something morbidly ironic when one of the world's richest men, in this case South African Johann Rupert, who has made billions (his net worth is roughly $7.5 billion) peddling Cartier jewelry and Chloe fashion as founder and chairman of luxury conglomerate Richemont, whose 20 brands also include Vacheron Constantin and Montblanc, said tension between the rich and poor is set to escalate, that the "envy, hatred and the social warfare" may crush society, and that "we are destroying the middle classes at this stage and it will affect us."
The Stock Market Is Disappearing In One Giant Leveraged Buyout
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/05/2015 18:47 -0500This is the end game of unfettered capitalism. The signs are all here. When you cast aside reasonable restraints, the unscrupulous among us will rise to the top and exploit everyone else. What we have left is a new American feudalism where CEOs move around like a pack of ruthless Somalian warlords. Riding behind the banner of efficiency, they replace employees with robots, outsource their work to foreigners and tell their employees to train their own replacements, and collude with hedge fund managers to strip companies of their most valuable assets to temporarily boost the stock price.
5 Investing Myths Debunked
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/02/2015 13:43 -0500There are many half-truths perpetrated on individuals by Wall Street to sell product, gain assets, etc. However, if individuals took a moment to think about it, the illogic of many of these arguments are readily apparent...
Corrupt West Has ‘No Ammunition’ For Next Crash
Submitted by Sprott Money on 06/02/2015 12:16 -0500As has been noted frequently in the past, most of the business news posted by the mainstream media is a collection of economic fairy-tales which utterly pervert what is actually taking place, most particularly with respect to reporting on the Western bloc. Occasionally, however, we will get some sort of mild, pseudo-confession, which gives us just a glimpse of the economic carnage in these once-prosperous/once-affluent societies.
It Cost US Taxpayers At Least $250,000 To Repatriate A Bicycle-Challenged John Kerry
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2015 19:44 -0500The somewhat farcical journey home from Europe for Secretary of State John Kerry continues. As we noted previously, after breaking his leg on an arbidged Tour de France'-esque accident in which he hit a curb, he was flown to Geneva in a helicopter where he was "stable and never lost consciousness," which makes sense (unless as many have suggested his brain lies considerably lower in his body than most humans). But then the escapade got beyond unreal as The White House sent a massive "specially-equipped" C-17 airplane (used to carrying over 100 combat troops and equipment into battle) to fly him to Boston for surgery. We assume he is covered by Obamacare, since the cost of this rescue mission - assuming roughly 10 hours flight-time - is at least $250,000... and all to avoid an Iran deadline no one expects to meet...
With 4 Days To Go, Bid For Warren Buffett Lunch Tops $1 Million
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2015 13:05 -0500
Understanding The Next 10-Years Of Low Returns
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2015 17:10 -0500Markets are not cheap by any measure. If earnings growth continues to wane or interest rates rise, the bull market thesis will collapse as "expectations" collide with "reality." This is not a dire prediction of doom and gloom, nor is it a "bearish" forecast. It is just a function of how markets work over time. This time is "not different." The only difference will be what triggers the next valuation reversion when it occurs.
The "New Era" Is An Old Story
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/24/2015 18:45 -0500It’s not monetary easing, but the attitude of investors toward risk that distinguishes an overvalued market that continues higher from an overvalued market that is vulnerable to vertical losses. That window of vulnerability has been open for several months now, and the immediacy of our downside concerns would ease (despite obscene valuations) only if market internals and credit spreads were to shift back toward evidence of investor risk-seeking. Eventually, the final refuge of speculation is to abandon historically reliable measures wholesale, resting faith instead on the advent of some new era in which the old rules simply don’t apply.
Greece Is On The Ragged Edge: Bloodied Idealogues Vs. Bloodthirsty Technocrats
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/24/2015 16:25 -0500"I would be more than happy to see the cradle of democracy put the imperial autocrats and financial kleptocrats in their place, teaching them a thing or two about enlightened self governance."

The Bloodied Idealogues vs. The Bloodthirsty Technocrats
Submitted by Bruno de Landevoisin on 05/23/2015 17:44 -0500Along with the privilege of leadership, comes responsibility. The entire financialized abominNation is a national disgrace.
Ray Dalio Slams Buffett For Being "Wrong On Gold", Says "Social Disruption" Is Inevitable
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/20/2015 16:30 -0500"we're beyond the point of being able to successfully manage this... and I worry about another leg down in the economy causing social disruption."
"Gold should be a part of everybody's portfolio to some degree because... it is the alternative money. Warren Buffett is making a big mistake."
More Buffett Hypocrisy: "Eco-friendly" Billionaire Seeks to "Squash" Nevada Rooftop Solar
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/18/2015 11:01 -0500"Warren Buffett highlights how his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. utilities make massive investments in renewable energy. Meanwhile, in Nevada, the company is fighting a plan that would encourage more residents to use green power," Bloomberg reports, in the latest example of the world's ultra-rich not practicing what they preach.
It's Only Fair To Tax The Wealthy, Obama Says: "They Are Society's Lottery Winners"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/13/2015 13:59 -0500"when I say that, I’m not saying that because I dislike hedge fund managers, or I think they are evil, I’m saying that you’re paying a lower [tax] rate than a lot of folks who are making $300,000 a year... There’s a fairness issue involved here. And by the way, if we were able to close that loophole, I could now invest in early childhood education to make a difference. That’s where the rubber hits the road. That’s … where the question of compassion and ‘I’m my brother’s keeper’ comes into play. And if we can’t ask from society’s lottery winners to just make that modest investment, then really this conversation is for show."




