fenris

Most valuable comment in this thread so far. If you can figure out how to give institutional investors something they don't have already, that can make a difference in their performance, you have potential for at least a solid small business. Probably one that you can sell to a larger player once you have established a client base. People did it for different types of SEC filings (ie. insiders, holders, extracting/scraping financial data, governance), bank/insurance/utility regulatory filings, bankruptcy court filings etc. Heck, people sell mall traffic data and oil tank storage readings. If you find a source of valuable information others are not aware of - or you if you find a better way of presenting/analyzing the existing data - you have a fighting chance to build a business.

Per your link: "Price to earnings ratio, based on trailing twelve month “as reported” I believe the conversation centered around the "current year" (2014) 16-handle number which should be a composite of 2014 analyst estimates (and hence adjusted for one-offs etc).

:-X .. And this is exactly what happened (to date). Russia chose the 'Special War' first but now it is intervening directly.

Please, let's take a look at Oaktree and the number of its portfolio managers. http://www.oaktreecapital.com/people/portfolio-managers.aspx Now let's take a look at their 'strategies' (read: funds): http://www.oaktreecapital.com/strategies/ Public equities are $3.4bn of the total of $91bn in AUM: http://www.oaktreecapital.com/about/ The consolidated Oaktree 13F does not represent the "Howard Marks portfolio". It represents the equity & equity-linked holdings of a large, diversified credit and distressed alternative asset management firm with a variety of funds, strategies and managers. Marks may be the voice and face of Oaktree, but he is not picking the stocks here.. A good chunk of the US equities (unless they are debt related and part of one of the distressed funds) was probably selected by this team: http://www.oaktreecapital.com/people/team.aspx?cat=listed-equities&t=value-equities

Credit panel is always excellent. Some of the smartest people in the business and Milken himself.

Not sure if this has been posted before, just came across the link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/66429709/John-Hempton-Fairfax-Financial-V-SAC-unsealed-emails-communications

Love it 8)

Apparel retail and casual dining (deadly combo: middle class consumer squeeze and decline of brick and mortar)

I think a move into Eastern Ukraine is more likely than not. By no means is it certain, but I think it's likely. After Crimea, the remainder of Ukraine is gravitating towards the EU and NATO for support and protection. In my mind Russia has two options: address this now, while Ukraine is still a mess, or fight a covert proxy war with NATO with the aim of destabilizing Ukraine and getting it back into the Russian sphere of influence. The latter seems risky and if it proves unsuccessful it may still lead to a full scale military operation at a later time. It ultimately boils down to risks and costs. What are the risks and costs of 'liberating' Eastern Ukraine today vs. it becoming a NATO outpost tomorrow? Lastly: during the last few days of the Sochi Olympics, right before the stealth invasion of Crimea, there was an increasing stream of video snippets (mostly cell phone video or cash dashcam) from Russia showing columns of trucks and APCs. In the last few days similar videos have surfaced, supposedly from the border region with Ukraine. This time the videos are showing tanks, artillery and other heavy metal. This may well be false information, I have no way of verifying its accuracy. But all signs that I see show that trouble is brewing - hence I am on guard. Maybe everything will blow over, I'd certainly hope so.

I believe they have that for bags, watches and art. Might work for expensive shoes. http://www.bagborroworsteal.com/howitworks https://hautevault.com/rent-mens-watches

It's more likely that the planned Tesla Gigafactory will mine the remaining Bitcoin. You can discount that future cash balance and pretty much get the car business for free.. ::) In all seriousness, what bothered me about the quote was the word "white," as if that had anything to do with the point Andreessen was trying to make.

"U.S. Small-Cap Rally Sends Valuation 26% Above 1990s" "As prices surged and earnings increased at a slower rate than analysts anticipated, smaller companies have become more expensive than they’ve been 86 percent of the time since 1995" "The Russell 2000 is trading for 49 times reported earnings, compared with a multiple of 39 in March 2000" "The outperformance accelerated this year even as earnings growth trailed large-caps. Profits from Russell 2000 companies climbed 6.8 percent in the last quarter, compared with 8.6 percent in the S&P 500. While bigger companies exceeded analysts’ estimates by a combined 4.6 percent, smaller firms missed by 13 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/record-rally-in-u-s-small-caps-sends-valuation-26-above-1990s.html

Why do you think that?

That I doubt. There may be less or no more buying for a while but if the Chinese economy goes sideways for a while heads will roll and having premium property outside the country is the true "safe haven". I highly doubt the property would be sold for the cash to flow back to China.

What do you mean by "functionally illiterate"?