Cleveland Fed: State of the Consumer

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

US consumer data does not comport with the optimistic market today (H/T: Jason Zweig)

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2012/0112/01houcon.cfm

 

&nbsp… Continue reading

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Happy Holidays from the Margin of Safety Blog

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

The Wall Street Journal can be surprising. I never heard of this little girl before seeing the embedded video on WSJ.Com today, but she apparently came out of nowhere and did well on the TV show, America’s Got Talent. Enjoy:… Continue reading

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More on Europe from SocGen and Kyle Bass

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

From a SocGen Analyst’s note released today:

The extraordinary events we’ve seen these past months are now threatening the euro project, and calls for its dismissal, which were laughable a year ago, are becoming more mainstream. Risk aversion has increased dramatically and we are arguably in as bad a shape as in 2008/2009. Peripheral bond yields are now much higher than they were back then… Continue reading

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A Close Examination of Federal Stimulus Spending in Silver Spring, MD…

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

…and the US. Whew. (H/T: Cafe hayek) More evidence that the Austrian School is correct. Paul Krugman still believes we just needed more of this:

 
On another note, George Mason University has quite an impressive number of thinkers in their economics department… Continue reading

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“It’s a Disaster, the United States…” Kyle Bass

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

Bass’s usual upbeat outlook on Japan, Europe and the US as broadcast on BNN today. I wish the interviewers would have allowed Bass to fully answer their questions. They cut him off too many times to ask a new question in the middle of thoughtful analyses.

I do not believe Bass is a permabear like Roubini and Shilling. I think he has thoroughly analyzed developed western economies, sees… Continue reading

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The President and CEO of the CFA Institute Presents…

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

…a video introduction to the Institute’s annual report. John Rodgers has done a fine job and is an excellent spokesman for the CFA Institute. Now, if it could only help charterholders like me raise capital for our investment vehicles…… Continue reading

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Recent Earthquakes, A Graphical Comparison

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

This is an interesting perspective. (H/T Infectious Greed)… Continue reading

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I, Cheeseburger

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

H/T Cafe Hayek for the link

Another example of the beauty of free markets in the spirit of the famous: I, Pencil.

We rarely examine sufficiently the counterfactuals to the success of free markets, which allows anti-capitalists such as Michael Moore (as big an exploiter of capitalism as ever existed) and the OWS movement to win public relations campaigns. As I

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Two Value Investing Blogs Added to the Blogroll

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

I have added two blogs to the value investing blogroll: Oddball Stocks and Whopper Investments.

Of course, I do not agree with every recommendation in those blogs and I have in fact passed on several of the companies that they have bought/recommended, but I think their analysis is thoughtful and they have a conservative approach. And, I am certain they would not agree with all of… Continue reading

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Part I of my Notes from The CFA Institute’s Conference: “Security Analysis and the Search for Value”

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Ray Galkowski, CFA

The CFA Institute conducted a conference on value investing in New York on November 29 and 30. The program was excellent. I am posting some of my notes and some of my favorite quotes from the presentations to give you a flavor of the event. This is not a summary of the presentations given during the conference—you had to be there—and my quotes may

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