Economists love the concept of opportunity cost because it gives you a the real long-term value of an investment or purchase in relative terms – which is really the only way to calculate value. On Wednesday the DOW hit 10,000 again. The US financial press did their part to ring the bell while the banking community celebrated the boost in perceived value and the increased likelihood that the public would buy their wares.
Fox News, like clockwork, has given former asshole …

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There’s a spectacular interview on ft.com today with my favorite FT journalist John Authers with Bruce Greenwald who teaches Ben Graham’s value investing course at Columbia.
Bruce talks about behavioural finance and the irrationality of investors, the often ignored mathematical realities of the market, the brutality and danger of short selling (all short sales are treated as short term capital gains), the power and value of franchise and much more!
I love his constant reminder of what value actually means: First look …

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 In 2002 Warren Buffet sent this stark warning to his investors:
“In our view [...] derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”
Bill Gross was rumbling about the looming crisis in November last year.
Marc Andreessen predicted the “oncoming nuclear winter” on April 18th in Ning’s D round announcement when they raised $60 Million.
And here we are. Our biggest banks are failing. California (the worlds 5th largest economy) is running out of money. …

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A great article on wired about the free web economy.
Interesting quote:
“Anything you can consistently convert to cash is a form of currency itself, and Google plays the role of central banker for these new economies.”

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