prudentinvestor

Charlie Munger Wants Banks' Wings Clipped

" .... I guess you have to admire his honesty but then you also have to ask why in the world they invested the kind of money they have recently in an industry they think should be downsized and restructured.... "

Perhaps because he understands that what he thinks should happen for the general good, and what is most likely to actually happen are not the same.

Preview from Europe: Slumdog Stock Market

"The government needs to just step up and solve this problem once and for all by seizing 100% control of Citi, writing down its assets, restructuring it, and selling it off. The reality is that the current policy of merely injecting capital into financially unviable companies will merely prolong the recession"

Perhaps the current policy just allows more time for powerful, well-connected bank executives to devise new methods that maximise their personal gains before the inevitable. Why any of the people who brought about this crisis is still running a bank remains a mystery.

Buffett Behind Stock Buybacks

Buybacks are fine, as long as executives' options strike price is increased by the ratio (outstanding shares before)/(outstanding shares after).

Otherwise, they are an insidious way of inflating executives' option-based compensation at the expense of shareholders.