In and around Orange County, California and the World
Posted in Business, Investments, Observations on Jul 11th, 2008
A fellow value investor brought a remarkable article to my attention: Hard numbers: The economy is worse than you know by Kevin Phillips of Harper’s Magazine.
Ever since the 1960s, Washington has gulled its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics, the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured. [...]
Posted in Books, Business, Investments on Jun 3rd, 2008
Robert Hagstrom gives a good description of Buffett’s style of focus investing; basically investing in 10-15 companies you understand very well and can monitor closely rather than investing in more companies that you can’t understand as well or monitor as closely.
Hagstrom then goes on to argue that Buffett’s value investing principles can be applied to [...]
Posted in Books, Investments on May 27th, 2008
This book, by New Yorker writer James Surowiecki counters popular notions of “the madness of crowds” with convincing arguments for why groups often come with more accurate predictions than experts. The basic theory is that the biases of individuals, if they act independently, cancel themselves out. When individuals in a group don’t act [...]