PBS Interviews with John M. Barry, author of “Rising Tide”

2002 Interview (i.e. before Hurricane Katrina)

Quote: “And the river is perfect. Man is not perfect. So if man makes a mistake against the Mississippi, the river is certain to find it, and if it has time, it will exploit it.”

2011 Interview (during 2011 floods)

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Related book: Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America

Related video: John Barry: Lessons from History & from Sea Level

Japan Investing Summit 2012

As a reminder, the Japan Investing Summit is next week. Click on the link below for more details.

Japan Investing Summit 2012 is a collaboration of ValueConferences and The Manual of Ideas with the sole objective of bringing you the most compelling investment ideas in Japan. As this is a fully online conference, there is no need to travel or incur thousands of dollars in attendance fees. Our flexible online schedule gives you access from the comfort of your own home or office to all event content on November 7-8, as well as for an additional two weeks.

Sheila Bair on Charlie Rose

Sheila Bair enters at about the 26:40 mark.

Link to: Sheila Bair on Charlie Rose

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Related book: Bull by the Horns

Bill Bonner on Capital Account

Link

Passport Capital Q3 Update

Via ValueWalk.

John Burbank has become bearish on the global economy. Taking a cue from Seth Klarman and David Einhorn, John Burbank criticizes the easing policies of central banks.  Burbank states ‘while central banks huff and puff to create real GDP growth, they appear to be near exhausting their resources. We believe that much of the growth we’re seeing is understated inflation, not real.’

Burbank in particular, is bearish on China. He notes the slowing energy consumption. Burbank says that GDP growth numbers from China ‘can hardly be believed.’

Despite the bearish outview, Burbank is finding value in US dividend yielding large cap equities. Burbank discusses some of his top holdings, and why he likes the companies.

Bill Gross – November 2012 Investment Outlook: Time To Vote!

So I pulled out my magic lamp that for some reason works only every October 22nd, and rubbed until the Genie appeared in his red and white checkered cloak with a 10-inch diameter Flavor Flav clock hanging ceremoniously around his neck. Being a rather forward, although not disrespectful Genie, he immediately said, “Mr. G, instead of the yield on the 10-year Treasury, perhaps this year you should wish to know who is going to win the Presidential election?” After some thought I replied, “Nah, I need some breaking news, Mr. Genie, something that will make a difference, something that will shock the world, like when does the iPhone 6 come out?” Obama/Romney, Romney/Obama – the most important election of our lifetime? Fact is they’re all the same – bought and paid for with the same money. Ours is a country of the SuperPAC, by the SuperPAC, and for the SuperPAC. The “people” are merely election-day pawns, pulling a Democratic or Republican lever that will deliver the same results every four years. “Change you can believe in?” I bought that one hook, line and sinker in 2008 during the last vestige of my disappearing middle age optimism. We got a more intelligent President, but we hardly got change. Healthcare dominated by corporate interests – what’s new? Financial regulation dominated by Wall Street – what’s new? Continuing pointless foreign wars – what’s new?

Notes from David Einhorn's Presentation at the Great Investors' Best Ideas Investment Symposium

Via Market Folly.

Einhorn made a presentation entitled 'If you give a miner a dollar..." and said to short dirt.  And by dirt, what he means is to short iron ore.

While Einhorn said that everyone "should have gold miners in their portfolio," it became clear he was less sanguine about other types of miners.

Notes from Kyle Bass’ Presentation at the Great Investors' Best Ideas Investment Symposium

Via Market Folly.

Bass mentioned that 90% of what he owns is in bonds (he has a ton of RMBS/subprime exposure).  He joked that he's constantly a contrarian since many other speakers at the event expressed disdain for bonds (though to be fair, the others were negative on treasuries, not RMBS).

Chanticleer Letter: The Lure of Low Interest Rates

My latest commentary has been posted on the Chanticleer Investment Partners website. To read this letter, please click on the link below.

Link to: Chanticleer Letter: The Lure of Low Interest Rates

Across 1,000 genomes, rarities abound

Every person’s genetic instruction book is a trove of never-before-seen genetic variants, according to an ongoing effort to map human genetic diversity.

In recent years, scientists have discovered that humans carry far more rare genetic variants than anyone ever thought. Now, a major effort to map the diversity of humans’ genetic makeup — called the 1000 Genomes Project — has turned up even more variety than researchers had expected. The project has now lived up to its name, completing a comprehensive sampling of 1,092 people from 14 different populations around the world, an international consortium of researchers reports in the Nov. 1 Nature.

Among the anonymous people sampled, researchers found 38 million single DNA unit changes, known as SNPs. Of those, about two-thirds are newly discovered and many are rare, found in less than 0.5 percent of people. These variants, along with small and large insertions and deletions and rearrangements of DNA, may affect health and disease risk and can help scientists trace humans’ migrations around the globe.

 “The magnitude of rare variation observed in human populations has really been driven home to everyone,” says Nancy Cox, a quantitative human geneticist at the University of Chicago. Large numbers of rare variants in the 1,092 study participants indicate that human population growth has been “superexponential,” Cox says.