This Time It’s Different*
By John Mauldin
June 19, 2009
1245423640
This Time It’s Different*
Peter Bernstein, R.I.P.
Welcome to the New Normal
The Three Amigos
Credit Spreads - Bullish or Bearish?
ISM - Is Less Bad That Good?
Contain Your Enthusiasm
London, The Baltics, and Rome
I have often written that the four most dangerous words in the investment world are "This Time It's Different." If memory serves me, I have written several e-letters disparaging various personages who have uttered those very words, and gone one to confirm later that it wasn't different. It almost never is. And yet - and yet! - I am going to make the case over the next few weeks that it really is different this time, with only a lonely asterisk as a caveat. What prompts my probable foolishness to tempt the investing gods is the rather large amount of bad analysis based on unreasonable (dare I say lazy or surface?) readings of statistics that is coming from the mainstream investment media and investment types with their built-in bias for bullish analysis. Normally, gentle reader, your humble analyst is a paragon of moderate sensibilities, but I have been pushed over a mental edge and need to restore balance. I anticipate that this topic will take several weeks, as trying to cover it all in one sitting would exhaust us both. It should be fun. But first...
Sadly, Peter Bernstein passed away at 90 years young on June 5. One of the great honors and privileges of my life has been getting to know Peter and his lovely wife, Barbara. Introduced at a small dinner five years ago, I have been privileged to share many dinners and meetings with him in the years since, soaking up his wisdom. Only a month ago, he made a presentation (by satellite) to Rob Arnott's annual conference and was at the top of his intellectual game. His writing of late has been some of his best. Peter cofounded the Journal of Portfolio Management
and truly was the dean of investment analysts.
He wrote 10 books (five after the age of 75!). I am often asked what books I would recommend for insight into the economic world. At the very top of my list has always been Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk.
If you have not read it, then get it and put it on top of your summer list. Capital Ideas
is also brilliant. The Power of Gold
is a must-read. You can get all three in a set at Amazon.
Peter Bernstein, R.I.P.
Jason Zweig wrote a very moving obituary in the Journal
and reminded me of a few quotes I've heard from Peter. "'What we like to consider as our wealth has a far more evanescent and transitory character than most of us are ready to admit.' He urged investors to regard their gains as a kind of loan that the lender - the financial market - could yank back at any time without any notice.
"Asked in 2004 to name the most important lesson he had to unlearn,...
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