Liberty

Thanks, that was a good read. Reminds me of Pirates of Silicon Valley, which dramatizes that pariod: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/

Gio, I'm not sure that anything Brooklyn Investor wrote goes against what you're saying. Are you speaking in general, or about something specific in that piece?

The always excellent Brooklyn Investor on tapering, Schiller's P/E, market overvaluation, etc: http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.ca/2013/09/tapering-market-overvaluation-etc.html

Thanks, subscribed to both. That'll be a change from tech podcasts :)

Thanks!

Yeah, it's evolutionary psychology 101. Won't change any time soon, though on the individual level it's possible to become conscious of these traits and try to reign them in. Also, some people are more 'tone deaf' to these things than others (ie. I tend not to give a crap about all that signalling stuff, but who knows if that's just a contrarian type of signalling, showing that I'm above all that, so I must be cool, right?). Heh.

Ok, thanks. The "...future nobody wanted" part made it sound a bit too Michael Moore-ish for my taste :)

The title makes it sound highly critical and kind of anti-business. Is it just the title, or is that the overall tone of the book?

I looked at VRX when gio suggested it earlier this year at the $70's. I could not understand it, so I didn't invest. What is your thesis on that? +1 Really curious to get your thesis and estimate of IV. I find it really hard to figure out how much it is reasonable to pay up for good businesses...

The noise they make disqualify them for me. Have you found near silent models? I haven't.

In quebec, GSHPs will make more sense in the vast majority of cases. When we get a house I want one.

:D

GSHP are a great way to make your heating and cooling more efficient, but they don't really compete with solar systems because they don't produce power.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/20/dairy-queen-employee-receives-international-attention-after-act-of-altruism-goes-viral/ Feel-good story of the day :)

Thanks! I caught the back half yesterday. This reminded me both of how much I enjoy listening to Warren and of how awkward Moynihan can sometimes be when speaking publicly (doesn't finish all his sentences, etc).

What a character. Philip Seymour Hoffman could play him in a film. Thanks for sharing.

That would be my guess.

Can you tell us if a thread exists about it on the investment board? ;)

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, thanks for posting. :) You are very articulate in front of the camera. That wasn't your first TV experience, was it?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-11/buffett-backed-heinz-expects-160-million-cost-on-job-cuts-1-.html

Wasn't that more of a liquidity thing than a "failing because your assets are worthless and you have no long-term earning potential anymore" situation, though? I think the government made money on most of the bailout and got out of most things it injected capital into. That's different from nationalizing institutions that have no real profitable business and leaving the taxpayer money into them to be destroyed over time... That's my understanding, anyway. Saying "they were failing" hides that fact that there are many ways to fail, some less recoverable than others (f.ex. The difference between John Malone getting a margin call because he was over-stretched - bad but if he can get through he still owns good productive assets - and someone else running a business into the ground because the fundamentals are terrible and that can't easily be fixed, so that even if you save them, it's just temporary and they'll keep destroying value).

Not day to day, but he had the original idea, is chairman, the largest shareholder, is helping with strategy, and those who run it are his cousins. So he's pretty involved, as much as he's gracious about giving credit to others.

Wait, what? What do you mean solar cycles?

True, but it can make sense to reinvest the extra margin into growing the business (other countries next?) and having a bigger margin of safety so that if there's a bump in the road they are more financially resilient (both Tesla and SpaceX came a hair from bakruptcy in 2008-2009, I don't think he wants to go through that with Solarcity too) IMO. And maybe if they are more financially successful they'll attract more competitors to their model (like how Tesla is making everybody else invest more into EVs and up their game) and that'll do more for solar than if they are alone eeking out razor thin margins, walking along the edge of the precipice. Musk if very long-term oriented and wants his companies to catalyze whole industries, not do everything by themselves.