Burton A. Johnson's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/190898/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/176480-bunning-vs-bernanke?source=feed#comment-802415 802415 I wish he were my senator.
Other than some Wall Street gamblers, who needs Bernancke and, for that matter, the Federal Reserve?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:17:43 -0500 I wish he were my senator.
Other than some Wall Street gamblers, who needs Bernancke and, for that matter, the Federal Reserve?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/175889-five-foreign-stocks-yielding-more-than-6?source=feed#comment-786631 786631
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:36:48 -0500
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/175643-hero-of-the-day-jackie-ramos?source=feed#comment-782872 782872 Does she have a web site?
How can one contact her?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:14:53 -0500 Does she have a web site?
How can one contact her?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/166531-naked-shorting-datapoint-of-the-day-carl-icahn-edition?source=feed#comment-717090 717090 You can sell anything you want to sell, whether or not you own it.
The problem comes in the latter case when you can't deliver.
Unless your a big Wall Street Bank.
In that case, you get a U.S. Treasury bailout.

Burton Johnson]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:32:50 -0400 You can sell anything you want to sell, whether or not you own it.
The problem comes in the latter case when you can't deliver.
Unless your a big Wall Street Bank.
In that case, you get a U.S. Treasury bailout.

Burton Johnson]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/165726-why-exxon-should-significantly-increase-its-dividend?source=feed#comment-713361 713361
You also didn't mention that the governments where major foreign oil companies are located withhold 20% in taxes on dividends. If you yearn for a meloncholy and futile experience, try to get back that 20% that is withheld.

Finally, I can remember, and I'm not over 100 years old, when the U.S. Government tax on "unearned income," such as corporate
dividends, was 70%! Do you think the Obamistas haven't thought of that, which, after the Death Tax is the perfect envy tax.

Why not just make ALL dividends and interest tax exempt?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:13:05 -0400
You also didn't mention that the governments where major foreign oil companies are located withhold 20% in taxes on dividends. If you yearn for a meloncholy and futile experience, try to get back that 20% that is withheld.

Finally, I can remember, and I'm not over 100 years old, when the U.S. Government tax on "unearned income," such as corporate
dividends, was 70%! Do you think the Obamistas haven't thought of that, which, after the Death Tax is the perfect envy tax.

Why not just make ALL dividends and interest tax exempt?

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/162701-expecting-acorn-international-to-grow-into-a-mighty-oak?source=feed#comment-686381 686381
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:08:32 -0400
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/161473-bad-news-for-the-news-industry?source=feed#comment-678354 678354
It's so nice to have a choice and to be able to find out what really is happening. It's particularly satisfying to read news now on the Internet that previously would have been sequestered and suppressed or distorted beyond recognition if reported at all by the liberal propogandists who have controlled our press, media, and academia for decades. What a sanctimonious, self righteous, pompous bunch they are!

Let's pray they do not receive any governmental bailouts. They deserve to go broke.

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com
]]> Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:35:55 -0400
It's so nice to have a choice and to be able to find out what really is happening. It's particularly satisfying to read news now on the Internet that previously would have been sequestered and suppressed or distorted beyond recognition if reported at all by the liberal propogandists who have controlled our press, media, and academia for decades. What a sanctimonious, self righteous, pompous bunch they are!

Let's pray they do not receive any governmental bailouts. They deserve to go broke.

Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/161267-10-notes-on-risk-in-the-markets?source=feed#comment-676023 676023
All the math you need in investing is basic arithmetic, a little algebra, and a computer than can figure compounded return.

Risk, as defined by Warren Buffett, is the possibility of a complete loss of capital. I've yet to see risk better defined. Risk is not price volatility.

Every dervitave that is added to an investment portfolio only serves to magnify and diffuse risk of loss.

Nobody needs a Nobel Prize to invest successfully.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:45:31 -0400
All the math you need in investing is basic arithmetic, a little algebra, and a computer than can figure compounded return.

Risk, as defined by Warren Buffett, is the possibility of a complete loss of capital. I've yet to see risk better defined. Risk is not price volatility.

Every dervitave that is added to an investment portfolio only serves to magnify and diffuse risk of loss.

Nobody needs a Nobel Prize to invest successfully.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
President
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/159657-sure-its-legal-but-is-it-right?source=feed#comment-660730 660730
FDR's chickens have come home to roost.

Ashes to ashes, socialist to socialist.

Burton A. Johnson
valueinvesting.com]]> Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:04:10 -0400
FDR's chickens have come home to roost.

Ashes to ashes, socialist to socialist.

Burton A. Johnson
valueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/159256-recession-is-easing-check-your-underwear?source=feed#comment-657086 657086
As a boy, I always knew that the label on a pair of Jockey Shorts was on the inside, i.e., skin-side, of the upper elastic border of the back of the shorts. That is, one never had any doubt about which way the shorts went on one's body.

Nowadays, however, manufacturers have taken to putting the label on the outside of either/or the front and back, and in extreme cases on the inside of the front. A few diabolical manufactures actually place labels on both the inside and outside of the front and/or back.

I still can differentiate the front of my torso from the back, but I am uncertain as to which side of the shorts goes where because of the exceptionally confusing placement of the label. The seemingly random label placement certanly couldn't significantly cut manufacturing or distribution costs, and it's hard to imagine that it's in response to consumer demand.

In the interests of supporting mental health, I hope the pending Obamacare health legislation addresses this problem. It claims to have a cure for everything, except suckers, but it went unmentioned in the first 385 pages. I just couldn't read anymore.

Burton A. Johnson, JD,MD
bajvalueinvesting.com
Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:48:44 -0400
As a boy, I always knew that the label on a pair of Jockey Shorts was on the inside, i.e., skin-side, of the upper elastic border of the back of the shorts. That is, one never had any doubt about which way the shorts went on one's body.

Nowadays, however, manufacturers have taken to putting the label on the outside of either/or the front and back, and in extreme cases on the inside of the front. A few diabolical manufactures actually place labels on both the inside and outside of the front and/or back.

I still can differentiate the front of my torso from the back, but I am uncertain as to which side of the shorts goes where because of the exceptionally confusing placement of the label. The seemingly random label placement certanly couldn't significantly cut manufacturing or distribution costs, and it's hard to imagine that it's in response to consumer demand.

In the interests of supporting mental health, I hope the pending Obamacare health legislation addresses this problem. It claims to have a cure for everything, except suckers, but it went unmentioned in the first 385 pages. I just couldn't read anymore.

Burton A. Johnson, JD,MD
bajvalueinvesting.com
Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/149185-fsb-s-list-of-fast-growing-small-public-companies?source=feed#comment-657023 657023 I do my own research, and this type of article is immensely helpful.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:26:14 -0400 I do my own research, and this type of article is immensely helpful.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158688-how-goldman-sachs-games-the-system?source=feed#comment-654909 654909
Do you remember how she ran $1,000 into $100,00 in one year trading commodity futures when she was a young, struggling lawyer and her husband was governor? GS only made 97%.

Burton A. Johnson
valueinvesting.com]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:34:24 -0400
Do you remember how she ran $1,000 into $100,00 in one year trading commodity futures when she was a young, struggling lawyer and her husband was governor? GS only made 97%.

Burton A. Johnson
valueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158849-blacklist-grows-for-troubled-banks?source=feed#comment-650988 650988
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:02:07 -0400
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158563-reviewing-the-fdic-s-role-in-this-crisis?source=feed#comment-649007 649007
The FDIC is essentially an illusion.
Our problems go back to the Depression when the FDIC was conceived by Marriner Eccles.

For once, John Kenneth Galbraith got it right when he described the Federal Reserve under Mr. Eccles -- and by extension the other agencies established by FDR uncle Eccles tutelage, as "the center of Keynesian evangelism in Washington."

Nothing has changed in the intervening 70 years.
The Keynesian True Believers are still in charge and must maintain their hegemony by frantically hanging more mirrors and adding more fuel to the smoke machine while passing the bill to the people who are actually productive.

Burton A. Johnson, MD.JD
bajvalue investing.com]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:39:19 -0400
The FDIC is essentially an illusion.
Our problems go back to the Depression when the FDIC was conceived by Marriner Eccles.

For once, John Kenneth Galbraith got it right when he described the Federal Reserve under Mr. Eccles -- and by extension the other agencies established by FDR uncle Eccles tutelage, as "the center of Keynesian evangelism in Washington."

Nothing has changed in the intervening 70 years.
The Keynesian True Believers are still in charge and must maintain their hegemony by frantically hanging more mirrors and adding more fuel to the smoke machine while passing the bill to the people who are actually productive.

Burton A. Johnson, MD.JD
bajvalue investing.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158441-shrinking-banks?source=feed#comment-648931 648931
Could another elephant in the parlor be the FDIC, another one of FDR's ideas that has turned into a racket, that essentially guarantees every crooked and/or stupid banker a blank check on the U.S. Treasury?

Could the third and fourth elephants be Fannie and Freddie, that, pressured by the likes of Barney Frank and Sen. Dodd, to buy up the those toxic mortgages, equitize them, and sell them off to gullible bankers around the world?

The parlor needs to be emptied and aired out. Don't count on it happening.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com ]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:12:32 -0400
Could another elephant in the parlor be the FDIC, another one of FDR's ideas that has turned into a racket, that essentially guarantees every crooked and/or stupid banker a blank check on the U.S. Treasury?

Could the third and fourth elephants be Fannie and Freddie, that, pressured by the likes of Barney Frank and Sen. Dodd, to buy up the those toxic mortgages, equitize them, and sell them off to gullible bankers around the world?

The parlor needs to be emptied and aired out. Don't count on it happening.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
bajvalueinvesting.com ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158592-warren-buffett-and-brett-favre-s-big-mistake?source=feed#comment-648892 648892
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:54:37 -0400
Burton A. Johnson, MD,JD
bajvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/158389-the-tyranny-of-the-cpm?source=feed#comment-648839 648839
The question arises, if I diminish the number of my clicks, will my IQ and income rise correspondingly?

Burton A. Johnson
BAJvalueinvesting.com ]]> Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:40:51 -0400
The question arises, if I diminish the number of my clicks, will my IQ and income rise correspondingly?

Burton A. Johnson
BAJvalueinvesting.com ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/156149-real-estate-has-hit-bottom-not-even-close?source=feed#comment-638276 638276 I can't undertand why you ever respected them.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:04:21 -0400 I can't undertand why you ever respected them.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/156755-warren-buffett-s-stock-portfolio-part-i?source=feed#comment-638116 638116 The BDX Spider Graph, which is new to me, is a wonderful tool.
I hope Mr. Jun has a book or at least many more articles in mind.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:35:36 -0400 The BDX Spider Graph, which is new to me, is a wonderful tool.
I hope Mr. Jun has a book or at least many more articles in mind.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/156841-justice-watch-lawsuit-raises-serious-questions-on-tarp-decisions?source=feed#comment-636648 636648
Obamacare, anyone?

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:24:18 -0400
Obamacare, anyone?

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/156841-justice-watch-lawsuit-raises-serious-questions-on-tarp-decisions?source=feed#comment-636644 636644
Obamacare, anyone?

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:22:51 -0400
Obamacare, anyone?

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/152422-what-if-the-new-new-york-times?source=feed#comment-607925 607925 Which news items will they supress, which will they spin beyond recognition, which "news" will they simply make up to fit their ideological agenda? How many more puff pieces on Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Alger Hiss will we be asked to believe?

Burton Johnson, MD,JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:46:19 -0400 Which news items will they supress, which will they spin beyond recognition, which "news" will they simply make up to fit their ideological agenda? How many more puff pieces on Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Alger Hiss will we be asked to believe?

Burton Johnson, MD,JD
BAJvalueinvesting.com]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/151712-how-debt-repudiation-presents-systemic-risk?source=feed#comment-605521 605521 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:52:28 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/151352-portfolio-diversification-and-risk-the-basics-of-beta?source=feed#comment-603729 603729
The above was true the first time Warren Buffet said it, and it still is.

He has also defined risk as the possiblity of total loss of capital in an investment. That's also a simple truth.

I think virtually all investors trying to limit risk by diversification and the use of various derivatives, hedging techniques, and esoteric formulae are basically attempting to modify the effect of short-term, random changes in the market prices of their investments.

Furthermore, I think that extensive diversification actually increases the risk of loss by dissemination and diffusion of it among multiple holdings that must be monitored. The excessive turnover imposed by widespread diversivication and hedging also imposes a significant increase in brokerage costs.

Random means something that occurs in no definate pattern and is thereby unpredictable, so all the energy put into such investing is useless in the pursuit of protecting capital and obtaining superior long-term compounding of it. Louis Bachlier got it right over 100 years ago. It helps to go back and review his work from time-to-time.

Market prices flucuate, and flucuate widely and randomly. Investors can't do anything about that but to accept it while investing for the long term.

I'm convinced the best way to control risk, i.e., the possibility of permanent loss of capital, in an investment is to buy only businesses that have a superior, sustainable, long-term economic advantage, low debt, and outstanding management, and to never pay too much for them, based on business criteria. That doesn't require a PhD in math or a Nobel Prize in economics.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:09:59 -0400
The above was true the first time Warren Buffet said it, and it still is.

He has also defined risk as the possiblity of total loss of capital in an investment. That's also a simple truth.

I think virtually all investors trying to limit risk by diversification and the use of various derivatives, hedging techniques, and esoteric formulae are basically attempting to modify the effect of short-term, random changes in the market prices of their investments.

Furthermore, I think that extensive diversification actually increases the risk of loss by dissemination and diffusion of it among multiple holdings that must be monitored. The excessive turnover imposed by widespread diversivication and hedging also imposes a significant increase in brokerage costs.

Random means something that occurs in no definate pattern and is thereby unpredictable, so all the energy put into such investing is useless in the pursuit of protecting capital and obtaining superior long-term compounding of it. Louis Bachlier got it right over 100 years ago. It helps to go back and review his work from time-to-time.

Market prices flucuate, and flucuate widely and randomly. Investors can't do anything about that but to accept it while investing for the long term.

I'm convinced the best way to control risk, i.e., the possibility of permanent loss of capital, in an investment is to buy only businesses that have a superior, sustainable, long-term economic advantage, low debt, and outstanding management, and to never pay too much for them, based on business criteria. That doesn't require a PhD in math or a Nobel Prize in economics.

Burton A. Johnson, MD, JD
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/147294-reviewing-munger-s-the-psychology-of-human-misjudgment-part-ii?source=feed#comment-577585 577585 Likewise, your possesions may have excellence, but
you yourself don't derive excellence from them."

Epictetus

Epictetus, as usual, got it right. He was a slave-turned-philosopher and tutor to the upper classes - Marcus Auralius was one of his star pupils. Epictetus limited himself to the pursuit of reality. He left probability and possibility in the lap of the gods, where they belong.
Mr. Munger and his pal WB have been in the reality business for decades.

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:38:01 -0400 Likewise, your possesions may have excellence, but
you yourself don't derive excellence from them."

Epictetus

Epictetus, as usual, got it right. He was a slave-turned-philosopher and tutor to the upper classes - Marcus Auralius was one of his star pupils. Epictetus limited himself to the pursuit of reality. He left probability and possibility in the lap of the gods, where they belong.
Mr. Munger and his pal WB have been in the reality business for decades.

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/147316-adrs-in-the-otc-market-with-dividend-yields-greater-than-5?source=feed#comment-577549 577549 What about the 20% withholding on those dividends by the host government, especially on tax-qualified accounts?

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.]]> Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:17:57 -0400 What about the 20% withholding on those dividends by the host government, especially on tax-qualified accounts?

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/125868-moody-s-wakes-up-whacks-23-banks?source=feed#comment-552602 552602 ]]> Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:19:38 -0400 ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/135589-bailed-out-banks-how-they-stack-up?source=feed#comment-551980 551980 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:04:53 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/117671-risk-management-or-risk-manipulation?source=feed#comment-383114 383114
1. Have a reliable method of determining value.

2. Never pay too much for that value.

3. Never make an investment decision based on predicting the future.

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:39:46 -0500
1. Have a reliable method of determining value.

2. Never pay too much for that value.

3. Never make an investment decision based on predicting the future.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/112786-2008-was-crazy-but-predictable?source=feed#comment-342429 342429
What and when did you predict for 2008?

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:03:46 -0500
What and when did you predict for 2008?

Burton A. Johnson, M.D., J.D.
Burton A. Johnson Portfolio Management, Inc.]]>