CDOQ

China realized that running the economy is more important than avoiding all COVID deaths because eventually more people might die because of a bad economy. 

The French are missing from the action and they may not like it:-) Things to note: Every minute on the clock represents a year  The AAA and the D batteries are a reference to the country's credit rating.  Pause the video towards the beginning to see what the guy is eating from the can.  Pause the video towards the end when the toast is served to see the names on the toast.  The name of the butter is bond. 

Charlie Munger , my hero, handed out the following parody at " A Morning with Charlie" in Pasadena, California on July 1, 2011 (formerly, this annual gathering with Charlie was known as Wesco Financial Annual Shareholder meeting).  The parody identifies the causes of the recent financial crises in the US. Most "experts" have not been able to do that. Furthermore, it offers valuable lessons in human behavior, economics, accounting, and morality. I am still laughing after having read the story twice:-). Enjoy!  --- In the country of Boneheadia there was a man, Wantmore, who earned his income as a home mortgage loan originator. Wantmore operated conservatively. All his home loans bore interest rates of 6% or less, and he demanded of all borrowers large down payments, documented proof of adequate income and an immaculate credit-using history. Wantmore sold all his loans to life Insurance companies that, before closing purchases, checked loan quality with rigor—th...

After attending the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder ( BRKA )meeting last few years, this year I attended WESCO Financial Corporation ( WSC ) 50 th shareholder meeting instead. WSC is run by Charlie Munger who is also vice-chairman of BRKA . After reading a book on Charlie Munger last year, I am fascinated by the man. He has been one of my heroes for a few years and my admiration for him continues to increase as I learn more from him. WSC shareholder meeting is a very different affair than BRKA shareholder meeting. WSC meeting is brief and to the point, just like Munger :-) Following are my notes from the meeting (note the direct communication style of Munger ): Munger started the meeting with answering the questions he had prepared for himself:-) Q1: How serious is the economic mess? A: It is deadly serious. People are extremely disappointed and you can't tell what happens when people are extremely disappointed. Q2: What caused the economic mess? A: Economics is a Complex ...

One of my heroes is Dr. Russell Ackoff . I have read a few books he has written and have learned Systems Thinking from him. I am surprised that the field of Systems Thinking is not well understood. Following is my attempt to share what I learned from one of Ackoff's recent lectures. Albert Einstein once said, "You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it." According to Dr. Russell Ackoff most managers agree with Einstein's statement but not many know what it means. It is easy to agree with something whose meaning is vague. In the Renaissance era, when the science as we know it today was born, a scientific inquiry method called Analysis was developed. Analysis comes naturally to us. Just watch kids breaking new things and being curious about the parts. The understanding of something follows a three step process in analytical thinking: 1. Take it apart 2. Understand (function, role, behavior) what the parts do 3. Assemble the understanding of the pa...

Friends, I never thought that one day would get excited about going to Omaha, Nebraska. However, I was ecstatic to attend the “Woodstock of capitalism"-Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting-last weekend in Omaha. Thanks to my friend, Shriniwas, who owns a few shares of Berkshire Hathaway. There were 27,000 attendees from all over the world. Most of the crowd was very unassuming. I met people with net worth of $100M+, managers of $100B funds, mechanics, farmers, etc. All admirers of Warrant Buffet and Charlie Munger! We started with a cocktail party on Friday evening which was hosted at the jewelry store, Borsheims, owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Very unique party-millionaires standing in line for a long time to get free food Next morning around 6:30AM, we stood in line to get in the stadium where the meeting was being held and it was supposed to begin at 8:30AM. We learned that people had been in line since 4:00AM to get good seats. We did get OK seats and managed to sh...