We have previously referred to the performance record of the late Bill Ruane (1925 - 2005) of the Sequoia Fund, which he managed along with Rick Cunniff and Bob Goldfarb for many years.In a letter to shareholders that Mr. Ruane wrote in February, 1997, he makes a point that we believe is very important and a point which is still not widely appreciated...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Two worthwhile videos for investors
Here are links to two videos which we believe are worth investors' time to watch and understand. The first is a recent market commentary from economist Brian Wesbury, entitled "No Bubbles, Sugar, or Dead Cat Bounces."The second is a video interview of technologist and author George Gilder by Steve Forbes.Both discuss many subjects we have written...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Backing and Filling
It is our view that investors should not focus too much on the markets but rather on the fundamentals of the underlying companies in which they invest.In line with that, we don't put much store in technical analysis, which is primarily focused on analysis of market moves and the short-term factors of security market supply and demand that create changes...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Globalization
Today's news confirming the acquisition of the venerable New York Stock Exchange by the Deutsche Borse brings the issue of globalization home to many investors.Free to Choose TV, which makes available all ten episodes of Milt Friedman's original 1980 television series Free to Choose, as well as all five episodes of the 1990 version of the same series,...
Monday, February 14, 2011
Anatomy of the Negative Income Tax
Manhattan Institute Scholar and author Guy Sorman has published an illuminating examination of the negative income tax (NIT) entitled "Why Not a Negative Income Tax? Replace the Welfare State with Cash Subsidies for the Poor."The article notes that the federal welfare apparatus alone cost $522 billion in 2008, growing every year, and that does not...
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Morning investment comments from Gerry Frigon
Catch Taylor Frigon Capital Management's President and Chief Investment Officer Gerry Frigon live every morning at the opening bell on KCOY television's "Your Money." For investors outside the Central Coast area of California (from Santa Barbara to Monterey), those segments can be found on the internet at KCOY's website.This morning, in the clip...
Monday, February 07, 2011
The foundation of freedom is primarily economic, not political
Venture capitalist Bill Frezza has published an excellent essay today entitled "Egypt needs free enterprise more than democracy." In it, he refers to and expands on the insights published by influential economist Hernando de Soto last week in that author's Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "Egypt's economic apartheid," which catalogs the lack...
Thursday, February 03, 2011
George Gilder lights the beacons of Gondor!
Anyone who has seen Peter Jackson's epic cinema adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings cannot fail to remember the visually stunning and dramatic scene in the third movie -- the Return of the King -- when the beacons of Gondor, an ancient alarm signal used to call for aid in the event of dire emergency, are lit. One by one the beacons flare...
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Professor Walter E. Williams on the origins of conflict
Every investor should become familiar with the work of Professor Walter E. Williams, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is the author of six books, one of which was made into the PBS documentary series Good Intentions, as well as a host of articles and publications and an ongoing syndicated column.Recently,...
