From a tragic plane crash near Buffalo to devastating fires in Australia, we're reminded there's a lot of ruin in the world. Loss of life makes blogging about losses (or gains) on brokerage statements seem insignificant. With that in mind, here are five items for your weekend reading.
- Southeastern Asset Management has released its annual report for its Longleaf Fund, Longleaf Small-Cap Fund, and Longleaf International Fund. All performed poorly last year, and the flagship Partners Fund suffered its worst year in its history. Mason Hawkins and Staley Cates remain among the very best value managers, and I expect their funds to bounce back at some point. When, I don't know -- and they admit they don't either -- but I suspect going forward their biggest challenge will be managing funds with a lot of assets, size-wise. Of course, if another Depression hits, then all bets may be off for them and us.
- Canadian value manager Tim McElvaine won't be releasing his annual report until next month. But he has posted his December letter to shareholders. He's had a bad 2008 as well. But he only gets paid when his shareholders do -- and he has to make up their losses to do even that. McElvaine used to work with Peter Cundill, is a class act, and I wish he didn't keep such a low profile. Yet I imagine keeping a low profile is among the reasons he's such a class act. ;-)
- Judy Shelton writes in The Wall Street Journal to encourage abolishing legal tender laws. And points out the movement will likely be a bottom-up one: "The fiasco of the G-20 meeting in Washington last November -- it was supposed to usher in "the next Bretton Woods" -- suggests that any move toward a new international monetary system based on gold will more likely take place through the grass-roots efforts of Americans. It may already be happening at the state level. Last month, Indiana state Sen. Greg Walker introduced a bill -- "The Indiana Honest Money Act" -- which would, if enacted, allow citizens the option of paying in or receiving back gold, silver or the equivalent electronic receipt as an alternative to Federal Reserve notes for all transactions conducted with the state of Indiana." Let's hope a trend is underway.
- Michael Sesit explains that the bank recovery is stalled by donations to Congress. What a surprise!
- Investigative reporter Tim Carney does some digging, and finds that the stimulus bill that's hailed by the White House as having no earmarks -- actually has the biggest earmark in history. And the beneficiary is the new president's adopted home state. Again, what a surprise.
Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week.
I think the hope underlying any sort of new Bretton Woods is pretty slim. Governments like to inflate. It would take a very powerful movement indeed to arrive at a system where this would be severely curtailed let alone stopped. They devalued even with Bretton Woods after all. Still, fingers crossed.
Posted by: Zach | February 15, 2009 at 09:27 PM
Zach: I agree, but I'm no big fan of Bretton Woods. I'd much prefer a real gold standard, not a gold exchange standard. Which we had before WWI.
Posted by: CONTROLLED GREED.com | February 15, 2009 at 11:06 PM
I didn't mean to sound like the pep squad for Bretton Woods. I know what you're talking about would be better.
Posted by: Zach | February 18, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Zach: I didn't take you for a cheerleader, and apologies if I came across that way.
Posted by: John | February 19, 2009 at 06:04 PM