I’m busy catching up on office-stuff, so the Boston writeup will have to wait till this evening. Meanwhile, here’s a slideshow of Japan pix from the only woman who ever got me to order half-priced sushi! Enjoy!
Quote of the Day
From a BusinessWeek interview with Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Mundell:
Q: Why are the Chinese such huge savers?
A: The large savings comes about through population policy. Historically, Chinese had children as durable goods to provide for retirement. When the one-child policy was introduced, it cut off this form of social security so the Chinese turned to high savings — instead of investing in children, they invested in savings for their old age.
Question of the night
Went out for a fantastic meal at Clio after the exhibit hall closed. I’ll dish about it all later. But first: do you know the story of how your parents met?
See, over dinner, we discovered that all 4 women in attendance knew how their parents met, while all 3 guys didn’t know. We started asking busboys, and the only one who did know how his parents met seemed kinda fruity.
SO: do you know how your parents met, exactly?
Monday Morning Montaigne: Of taking a break
No Monday Morning Montaigne this week, dear readers. While I did start reading Book Two of the essays this weekend, and found the first three — Of the inconsistency of our actions, Of drunkenness, and A custom of the island of Cea — quite engaging and worth rambling about, I didn’t have time to do so. I didn’t get into a writing mood during the train ride up to Boston yesterday, and the loud 3-second buzz that occurs every 3-4 minutes in my hotel room has left me a frazzled wreck.
Really, the fact that I’ve put these sentences together is something of an accomplishment.
Bio Logic
I’m off to the BIO conference in Boston, dear readers! Blogging may be pretty light, as I likely won’t have much free time, between exhibit hall hours and dinner. Still, I’ll try to take neat pix, make funny observations, and otherwise entertain you when I’m back.
Can I drink a G&T in Barbaro’s memory?
In addition to being the Comics Reporter, a smart cultural critic, and official VM Bestest Pal, Tom Spurgeon also knows a little something about horse-racing. Here’s his guide to the Kentucky Derby (and the other Triple Crown races), which I guess is being run in a few minutes.
He hath a way
Berkshire Hathaway just held its annual meeting, in which Warren Buffett fields questions from shareholders. For six hours. He’s 77. I’m just sayin’.
Anyway, the Wall Street Journal had some highlights from the Q&A (I think it’s $-to-read, but that’s probably why Rupert Murdoch bid $5 billion for it, and not the Times or the WaPost). I never really knew anything about Buffett till the dot-com boom, when he was getting lambasted in the press for not buying into internet companies. At the time, he basically responded that none of those companies had a viable business model, and he didn’t understand how any of them could make money. Since he wasn’t one to trade on volatility, he stepped aside, was regarded as a dinosaur, and is now back to being regarded as the sage of investors. Perspective’s a funny thing.
I think his aversion to derivatives mirrors his dot-com experience:
In fielding a question about derivatives, which he once referred to as “financial weapons of mass destruction,” Mr. Buffett told shareholders that he expects derivatives and borrowing, or leverage, would inevitably end in huge losses for many financial participants.
“The introduction of derivatives has totally made any regulation of margin requirements a joke,” said Mr. Buffett, referring to the U.S. government’s rules limiting the amount of borrowed money an investor can apply to each trade. “I believe we may not know where exactly the danger begins and at what point it becomes a super danger. We don’t know when it will end precisely, but . . . at some point some very unpleasant things will happen in markets.”
And, in fact, he brings the derivatives issue back to the mentality that ruled the dot-com era: volatility.
Exacerbating the problem of derivatives and leverage is the short-term trading mentality and high turnover in the stock and bond markets, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger added. “There is an electronic herd of people around the world managing an amazing amount of money” who make decisions based on minute-by-minute stimuli, said Mr. Buffett, adding, “I think it’s a fool’s game.”
It seems that the Q&A is also a venue for people to grill Buffett about his personal life:
A shareholder from St. James, N.Y., who said he brought one of his five daughters to the meeting, asked Mr. Buffett to explain why he supports organizations such as Planned Parenthood. “It just doesn’t seem to jibe with the hero that I studied,” the shareholder told Mr. Buffett amid boos from the audience.
“Men set the rules for a lot of years, and I think it’s wonderful that women can make reproductive choices,” Mr. Buffett replied, as shareholders applauded and cheered.
Almost makes you wanna raise $109,500 to buy a single share of Berkshire Hathaway.
(Speaking of which, here’s a link to a PDF of the tangled web of investing in PetroChina.)
(Update: more coverage from a variety of sources.)
Diss tribute
 People actually buy books when there are so damn many?
Diss cover
People actually bought books when they had covers like these?
Unrequired Reading: May 4, 2007
Imagine how much better this blog would be if I had time to write about all these stories!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: May 4, 2007”