“What are the similarities between a forecaster and a one-eyed javelin thrower? Answer: Neither is likely to be very accurate but they are typically good at keeping the attention of the audience.“
“The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.” (Source).
Fascinating read about who stands to benefit in the very long run from a warming world.
“Draw a line around the planet at the latitude of the northern borders of the United States and China, and just about every place south, across five continents, stands to lose out.“
“Incredible growth could await those places soon to enter their prime. Canada, Scandinavia, Iceland and Russia each could see as much as fivefold bursts in their per capita gross domestic products by the end of the century so long as they have enough people to power their economies at that level.“
Learning how to invest is a life long journey but as a start one needs to acquire technical knowledge.
Exams like the CFA cover a lot of material but tend to be broad and not deep.
We have recently come across an outstanding course – The Analyst Academy – on how to be a professional investment analyst.
The course is the closest to the real thing we have seen and is run by Stephen Clapham, who has a wealth of experience and even written a book on stock picking.
There are other specialist courses – primarily on forensic accounting, balance sheet analysis and valuation.
If you enter the code YURI10 you will get a 10% discount exclusive to Snippet Finance readers (Affiliate link, please read our disclaimer).
There is a lot being written about China’s push for self-reliance.
One of the biggest parts of this story over the next decade is likely to be the battle for semiconductor technology of all kind.
The electronic design automation (EDA) industry is controlled by three firms and are all US. China is now making first moves into this industry., crucial for semiconductors.
Europe is also getting involved and has just signed a €145bn declaration to develop a next generation processor and 2nm technology.
Sobering chart – despite (or because of) a 97% rise in human population and 285% rise in GDP, since 1970, the population of vertebrate species has declined -60%.
A great piece of analysis applying Helmer’s 7 powers to the content business in order to establish if content has ability to maintain profitability and resist competition.
Scale is one such power – this chart shows there is a slight positive linear correlation between size of budget and eventual box office returns.
Network effects are also interesting – given the social dynamics of shared experience and discussing content. Franchises really shine here.
An investigation by Reuters suggests China is using “gray-zone” warfare to subdue Taiwan via military exhaustion.
“The risk of conflict is now at its highest level in decades. PLA aircraft are flying menacingly towards airspace around Taiwan almost daily, sometimes launching multiple sorties on the same day. Since mid-September, Chinese warplanes have flown more than 100 of these missions, according to a Reuters compilation of flight data drawn from official statements by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense.”
We leverage the Snippet ecosystem to expand our footprint holistically in the space we operate. We have a long runway for our KPIs. After all it is a global and iconic brand.
A fun list of banned corporate “words” from FundSmith.
Business lessons from a man who at one point commanded one in every nine dollars in the United States.
“Vanderbilt’s legacy provides timeless and universal lessons in business success. He thrived in an era of enormous technological change as railways revolutionised the American economy. Yet his approach to business is evident in many of the successful businesses we see today; tapping new markets through lower prices, respecting shareholders, sharing scale advantages and sacrificing short term profits for long term gains.“
Some amazing stats on the state of US federal finance – debt levels are about to hit World War II peaks (as % of GDP), and the projected 2020 deficit (at 16% of GDP) is the largest since 1945.
This interesting chart shows the fall in the corporate effective tax rate for large cap stocks over the years.
Under Biden’s plan – which will raise $2.2trn by raising and broadening corporate taxes (vs. $700bn Trump corporate tax cuts) – this trend could reverse (costing 10% of S&P EPS).
