Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Ooooh ooooh, I thought of one. I owned UWink, which was a series of interactive restaurants from the CEO of Atari and Chuck-E-Cheese. Um, didn't go well (although I got out in advance after sensing it wasn't working out) but really neat concept (you…
No offense at all. I think that China has significant potential (enough to say yes) to surpass the US economy by 2015-2016. If that happens, I think it's a very different world and my view is that the world stage will look very different over the ne…
How do you present austerity to a country that has been used to a high level of excess and choice for many years? Not easily, and it won't be politically popular in the slightest. Hence, I'm not expecting it.
Certainly not, but I'm not going to get into it in great detail. I just see nothing that does not indicate that the US is in a state of decline that has the potential to become disorderly (and as I noted in the debt ceiling discussion, there is no g…
I don't think anyone's cheerleading the decline of the US or calling for DOOOOM - simply a decline (and that decline can be orderly over a long period or disorderly) in the overall and a decline in the individual standard of living, as well as a dec…
I actually think it's a lot less gloomy than Marc Faber (nothing against Faber, who I like and find his soundbites - "Vee are all doomed", in his particular accent - amusing), and I think what Rickards provides is thought-provoking and useful in a l…
Had Wynn Macau, sold it for a fairly nice profit. Made a small profit on Lynas last year, but that thing is way too ridiculously volatile for me. I have some other stocks, but tend to prefer somewhat quieter holdings.
Rickards is really my favorite economist and while I don't agree with him on everything, he's probably the one my views are closest to. Given that his expertise is in threat finance, his presentations provide a unique perspective on global finance, …
I wouldn't worry about China in 2016 as much as the increasing age of every country for themselves as the US becomes less of a focus and there is no other clear leader. China is looking out for China now and China will be looking out for China in 20…
We're damned if we do and damned if we do not. If we do, that - by definition in my opinion - is kicking the can down the road. We're in trouble later because the whole thing is already unsustainable and confidence in our ability to be fiscally resp…
You're correct. However, I prefer quite a bit more flexibility from TGINX and DLENX (although I prefer the former) in exchange for a bit less yield. For me it's a balance of yield and what are the features/what does it offer.
If I had to pick, I continue to like DLENX and TGINX better than PREMX, due to their ability to overweight corporates and their overall flexibility, versus simply holding govt. bonds. That said, I dumped quite a bit of TGINX yesterday and am down to…
I'll say Berkowitz is rather brilliant (although his ego is a bit much - see the discussion of "mere mortals" and understanding AIG recently and that ridiculous article thanking the government), but I wouldn't say the same about Miller. It's a bit r…
There's always the possibility of a period of underperformance, but there's performance vs. expectations as another factor. Additionally, every manager will underperform at one time or another - you see it on this board with "hot funds" and then the…
Yacktman is one of the few funds out there that doesn't just sit fully invested and go, "Well, it was a bad year" if the markets go South. The fund can go fairly heavily into cash and did so in 2008. It can not hold anything besides stocks, as far …
The only way that oil is going much higher is if we really are bumping into some sort of "peakish" oil ceiling, or as I've noted before, getting to the point where peak "cheap to get" oil is here. Otherwise, you hear people talking about $5/6 a gall…
Cambium Global Timberland (http://www.cambiumfunds.com/). The US pink sheet version is CMBXF (the original issue trades on the London market.) There is no ag land ETF, but some land investments within other investments, such as the Soros-backed Adec…
I continue to go with wide diversity of strategy and asset classes - everything from investments (including one fund that is invested in a palace) listed on foreign markets to commodities, EM stocks, real asset investments (Brookfield Infrastructure…
Yeah, I'm not defending Hussman or anything, just trying to kind of psycho-analyze. It's clear that Hussman has done and continues to do extensive analysis and his weekly letters are technically well-written. It's simply that it's very much based in…
Not changing holdings. Additionally, as noted on CNBC about a billion times this week by goverment muppet Steve Leisman without any mention whatsoever of the consequences, we cannot technically default because we can print money. I don't doubt the d…
The issue with Hussman is the academic nature of his outlook and investment process. If you look at all of his countless factoids and whatnot that he provides on a weekly basis, he's not necessarily wrong on various points in theory. He's simply nev…
My note is that I'd actually suggest the more aggressive form of inflation protection of Pimco Commodity RR (PCRDX for D shares, I think), given the age and given the long-term reinvestment of the rather large distributions of the fund has had a his…
No. I can't remember. Which is why I've been investing in emerging markets. Those countries aren't perfect either, but their ambitious plans for various parts of their economies are at least exciting and impressive (and I've gone into detail about q…
I definitely can see the "Dynamic" and other terms used as selling/marketing. I do feel a little better about the fund coming from Highbridge, and I do think the managers have pretty considerable experience. The fund is nearing its first B-day, and …
My guess is that active management of commodity futures and what I would consider fairly substantial use of leverage at times are elements of the higher cost. It's certainly a different fund from the Pimco offerings, but all three are fine funds and…
