Greater and Lesser Fools Grizzled investors will tell you that if you feel euphoric after a trade, it wasn’t a good one. You should feel awful and be second-guessing yourself. That’s the sign of a great trade.” –Andy Kessler, “A Stock-Trading Dupe is Born Every Minute”; The Wall Street Journal (2/21/2021). Admittedly, three weeks does seem...Read More
WSJ: “Struggling Real-Estate Giant Realogy Strikes Deal With Amazon” [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire, and competes with Realogy subsidiary Coldwell Banker Burnet.] “We lose money on every...Read More
“The Innovators Issue” “No one reads Playboy for the articles,” as they used to say. Likewise, I’m pretty sure no one reads the very glossy Wall Street Journal Magazine (pictured above) for its celebrity profiles. Want proof? The Table of Contents of the current issue finally(!) appears on page 33, preceded by — yup! —...Read More
Next: Costco Does Health Care “Your margin is my opportunity.” –Jeff Bezos [Editor’s Note: Edina Realty is a subsidiary of a Berkshire Hathaway-owned entity.] For anyone horrified by spiraling U.S. medical costs, the just announced Amazon-Berkshire-JP Morgan initiative is welcome news. While the companies’ focus (at least initially) is to provide better care for their...Read More
Alternative Headlines, or, Putting Financial Penalties in Context “Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Wednesday agreed to pay $5.5 billion to the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency to settle a probe into its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the financial crisis.” —The Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2017). Shelling...Read More
Outsiders Trump, Sanders Take New Hampshire “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” –Deuteronomy 16:20. One of my favorite classes in college was “Criminal Justice,” taught by Stanford Law School Professor John Kaplan (no relation). Kaplan asserted that there were only ever four reasons to imprison lawbreakers: 1) punishment, i.e., to hold them morally accountable; 2) isolation,...Read More
