Well folks, the 2010 Values Voters summit just concluded and I've got to be honest: It makes me sad. Mostly, I think it arises from the knowledge that, in a vast percentage of cases, people are not binary in terms of being "good" or "bad". The same mindset that pervaded the Values Voters Summit seems to me as if it would have resulted, several generations ago, in opposing the Civil Rights Act, before that equal rights and suffrage for women, and before that, the emancipation of slaves. … [Read more...]
What a Superpower China Means for the United States
September 12, 2010 By 3 Comments
When I was 16 years old, I was sitting in the hallways of the local high school, waiting for class to begin, discussing the state of the world with Molly. She stopped me and asked a simple, direct question: "Do you believe that the life of an American is more valuable than the life of any other human? Because the answer to that question is going to determine your economic, political, social and moral worldview." As we established in the first essay on the rise of the Chinese … [Read more...]
How to Marry a Millionaire – An Economic Update on the 1953 Film
August 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
In 1953, a great movie starring Lauren Bacall, Bette Grable and Marilyn Monroe was released called How to Marry a Millionaire. I got curious as to how much money it would take to equal the same net worth today so I did an inflation adjustment because I wanted to know how big their motivation was in the film. Turns out, someone who had $1 million in 1953 would have roughly $8 million today. That kind of asset base should generate cash dividends or interest of $34,000 per month without … [Read more...]
It’s Officially an Epic Fail: The Tonight Show Ratings with Jay Leno Are Down to 1992 Levels
July 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The ratings are in for The Tonight Show now that Jay Leno is back in control and ... you guessed it ... the show has tanked and is ranking the lowest it has since 1992. The ratings are higher than low point of Conan O'Brien's show due to the large number of older viewers with the biggest drop for the new Leno incarnation coming from the (you guessed it again), 35 and under crowd. Why? For the same reason that I, Aaron, my grandmother, and a lot of other people we know refuse to watch Leno … [Read more...]
Not Every Value Investing Position Is “Buy and Hold”
May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I'm a value investor. My favorite type of holding is a company that generates high returns on non-leveraged equity, has a strong competitive position that is virtually unassailable, and is trading at a stupidly low price-to-earnings ratio. These are rare and when they come along, you have to be willing to make a substantial commitment (as Buffett said, when it is raining gold, reach for a bucket not a thimble). Since I don't like selling stuff, I love the fact they can sit in my accounts, … [Read more...]
It’s Comforting How Oddly Predictable Humans Can Be on the Small Things
February 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A few days ago, Aaron got a message from one of our friends, Jimmy, at about 4 in the morning. We were both still up working on a project that's going to have some fairly large financial ramifications for us in about a year or two, so we happened to read it in near real-time. Anyway, Jimmy said he wished he could come down to our dorm room, curl up on the lower bunk, as Aaron played video games and I read at my desk, drinking coffee out of a gold-rimmed cup and saucer, reading a book with a … [Read more...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. 
